It’s been a while since I’ve read the Invincible Comic book and, I gotta say, knowing what was coming did not soften the blow of what came. This episode, in which Omni-Man and Invincible come to blows and Omni-Man’s dirty deeds are finally laid bare to the world was heartbreaking and torturous and everything it needed to be. This episode was the culmination of a lifetime of deceit and “Where I Really Came From” made us feel every minute of it.
First of all, the action was top notch and more sadistic than usual. It was no secret that Mark would be outmatched, but the detached weariness that Omni-Man showed as he not only slaughtered innocent people but used Mark to slaughter innocent people all in a bid to preach to his son that the human race was fragile and weak was just evil. Taking any victory that Invincible was able to eek out and turn it into a bloody stain on his uniform was ruthless and really drove home what a horrible person Omni-Man is.
Despite this, he is conflicted. He has a mission, he has a purpose, and yet he is conflicted… weakened.
The voice performances both from JK Simmons and Steven Yeun were astounding. Is there an awards category for best voice acting? There should be.
What I actually liked about this episode the most is that any lesser show would have ended with the easy cliffhanger that left Mark beaten to a barely alive pulp, but this finale didn’t take the easy part as the climax occurs at the halfway point in the episode. The rest of the installment focuses on the aftermath, allowing the characters and the audience to process the heavy things that just happened. This was such a wise move in that most shows assume that this kind of thing happens during the break between seasons and, at best, is glossed over, so it was so refreshing and, to be frank, honest for this show to allow this type of prolonged resolution. To me, it brought an extra air of gravity to what happened.
Of course, it also allowed the show time to tease what was coming as well which was an added treat.
I enjoyed this episode… Heck, I enjoyed the entire season. It barely wasted a moment of its run on fluff and took what I remembered as a great comic book story and made it better through tweaks and surprises to the source materials that added to the big picture instead of changing things just for the sake of changing them.
A fully, fully recommend that you give this series a look if you haven’t done it yet.
Jason Gaston 