Secret Invasion – Season 1 Episode 5 “Harvest” Recap & Review

Harvest

Episode 5 of Secret Invasion begins with President Ritson being rushed to the ICU. He is critically injured and Fury whispers in his ear, “Do not trust Rhodes.” He sits outside the room to stand guard and keep Ritson alive.

Meanwhile, Pagon has doubts about Gravik’s leadership. His plan failed and the New Skrullos’ leader did not kill Fury when he had the chance. It is revealed that Gravik wants the DNA of the Avengers that Fury has hidden somewhere. In his rage, Gravik drives his long alien whip through Pagon’s heart, killing him. He calls the other Skrulls around Pagon “faceless and nameless.” Beto is especially shocked to see this as the operatives are sent to kill Varra for disobeying Gravik’s order.

Gravik also calls Rhodes (Skrull duplicate) and asks him to keep Ritson alive. The leader wants Ritson to think that the Skrulls were behind the attacks with the Russians, even as news channels broadcast Talos’ heroic acts. Rhodes is instructed to show Ritson the “New Skrullos” in Russia as well to further drill the belief in him. 

Fury puts a gun on Rhodes’ neck when he comes to the hospital. But Fury cannot do anything to show Rhodes is a Skrull (called Raava) except kill him. To his utter shock, Rhodes has already put out the video where Gravik as Fury killed Maria. The news goes viral within hours.

Sonya shoots SIS Director Weatherby in the leg to expose him as a Skrull. Why didn’t Fury do something like this? Because he would have been killed? Then why did Raava say what he did? Well, anyway…. after he is exposed, he gives up the location of Dr Rosa Dalton.

Gravik is attacked by the rebelling Skrulls, including Beto. But he is too powerful for them. He publically murders Beto as a message not to question any action of his. Meanwhile, Fury meets G’iah at a secret location. He beseeches her to stand up and not let her father’s heroic death go to waste. She reveals that Gravik did not find “The Harvest” and instead used Cull Obsidian (one of Thanos’ sons) and Flora Colussus’ (Groot) DNA in the machine.

Sonya meets with Dalton and her partner Victor at her home laboratory. She sets it on fire after Rosa explains to her how the machine works. Sonya shoots Victor in the head after he threatens to kill Rosa.

G’iah sits with Talos’ dead body and prepares to bury it. She goes to Priscilla for help. They perform the last rites and G’iah offers her mother’s ring to the pyre. After the funeral, G’iah asks why Priscilla is waiting for Gravik’s men to kill him. She recalls how she fell in love with the house when she first saw it and imagined a life with Fury. Suddenly, attackers break into the house, resulting in a battle between them and G’iah and Priscilla. 

Rhodes meets with Ritson and he lays Gravik’s plan on him. He pushes Ritson to launch a strike on the New Skrullos, claiming that Sonya is supporting it.

Fury uses the Widow’s Veil to slip past airport security and meets with Sonya in Finland. Sonya reveals that she didn’t know Rhodes was a Skrull. And since the US is an ally, she corroborated the New Skrullos location.

Gravik has threatened Fury to give him the Harvest, or else he will allow the strike to destroy their home base. He is prepared to kill his own community if that is what it takes to win the war.

Fury explains that the Harvest is the collective DNA of all the Avengers who fought in the Battle of Earth. It contains the DNA of even Carol Danvers, the strongest of them all. Gravik was a part of the party that collected the samples but doesn’t know its location.

At one of Fury’s graves in Finland, he shows Sonya the vial. Although Fury had changed its location to protect it from Gravik, now he is giving it away. He dons his iconic long black overcoat and eye patch, telling someone over the phone, “It’s time, let’s finish this,” as the episode draws to a close.

The Episode Review

The final showdown between Gravik and Fury will be as enticing as first imagined. Although the narrative has certainly taken a new turn in episode 5, Secret Invasion has laid down a pretty solid foundation for the new phase of the MCU. This short season saw a new beginning with familiar heartbreaks and some very interesting characters being introduced.

Episode 5 took on the responsibility of filling gaps in storytelling from the previous episodes. This burden truly zapped any urgency out of the episode, making it more of a somber, contemplative effort. Besides Gravik standing up to the rebels, we didn’t have much action here. Overall, it felt a little lopsided considering how much catching up it has to do with character development and sorry arcs.

Having paid all its dues, we eagerly look forward to the finale next week, which should be a happening affair.