As Invasion continues to focus on the personal dramas affecting the characters we are following, there is a growing sense that ‘something’ is happening elsewhere in the world. There is a bigger picture, a greater disaster that they, and therefore we, are unaware of. Perhaps The White House has been destroyed? Maybe Paris lies in ruins? Possibly. But that is not what Invasion is about; this is intense internal drama, and at times this can be a challenge to maintain.
The issue in calling your television show Invasion is that, sooner or later, the audience are going to expect to see some invading. Occasional news bulletins and snippets of overheard conversation supply some information but a little is being made to go a long way.
There is also a moment later in the episode when incredulity is stretched, scenes involving Casper and his isolated classmates. Invasion has worked hard to maintain its realism and has earned the right to make a miss-step, but these moments feel underwritten, as if there is a need to get the group out of the quarry that has become their prison, and there was never really a workable plan to do so.
And then, at the end, with Trevante attempting a rescue, the fear is given physicality, and there is now a sense as to what humanity is facing. Only a glimpse, but a terrifying one.
The weakest episode so far, but perhaps the invasion has really begun.
