Invasion season 2 episode 1 recap & review: Something’s Changed

Open Go TV / August 23, 2023 / Reviews

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The first episode of the second season of Invasion sees Aneesha on the run with her family and Mitsuki entering the alien ship in the Amazon Rainforest. The episode is now streaming on Apple TV+.

Recap

It has been four months since the aliens invaded the Earth. All the countries of the world have come together to form the World Defense Coalition to win the war against aliens, who have taken over 30% of the planet. Several people have lost their lives and homes, and refugee shelters have been set up everywhere.

In Japan, Mitsuki is seen fighting the aliens that attack humans. Men from a company called Dharmax come looking for her and force her to go with them. They tell her that she can help them win the war.

On the other hand, Aneesha, who is on the run with her children, Luke and Sarah, reaches British Columbia, Canada. The family has been stealing necessities, such as gas and food, to survive. Luke has started acting recklessly and disobeying his mother.

Mitsuki is brought to the Amazon Rainforest in Brazil, where the alien ship fell after being shot. There, she meets Nikhil Kapur, whose company is in charge of the operation that aims to communicate with the aliens. Nikhil has sent the greatest minds to the ship, but no one has been able to communicate with the aliens.

Nikhil now wants Mitsuki to do the same, as she is the only person who has ever made contact with the aliens. He wants her to find out why they are here. Despite her reluctance to trust him, he convinces her to go inside the ship.

Aneesha is trying to keep her children safe from not just aliens but also humans, as it was the humans who killed her husband. She refuses to stay in one place for long, but her children are tired of constantly being on the run.

Luke argues with his mother because he wants to stay in an abandoned house. He takes the alien claw and is even ready to stay there alone, but he does what Aneesha wants him to do when Sarah starts crying.

Before Mitsuki is sent inside the ship, she has to pass a few tests that will judge her psychology and physiology. Dr. Maya Castillo, a cognitive scientist, conducts these tests and finds that no matter whose life is at stake, if given a choice, Mitsuki will always save Hinata.

Mitsuki storms out of the examination room when Maya asks her if she holds herself responsible for Hinata’s death. Maya tells Nikhil that Mitsuki failed her psychological evaluation badly, but he still insists on sending Mitsuki inside the ship, as he believes that she is his best chance at saving humans.

Nikhil does not care about Mitsuki, but he does care about his mission, so he makes Maya go with Mitsuki, even though the two women got off on the wrong foot. As there is no way to predict what Mitsuki might do, Maya will be there to monitor her.

Aneesha and her children stop at a place to inquire about the next gas station. They notice the presence of soldiers there, and Aneesha asks her children to stay away from the military. However, Luke sees that the soldiers have petrol in their trucks and decides to steal it.

The soldiers catch Luke stealing the petrol, and Aneesha arms herself with a gun. She tries to convince the soldiers that they are a harmless family, but when the soldiers find the gun on her and the alien claw in their car, they find out who she is.

The government has been looking for Aneesha and her family because they have the claw that can be used against the aliens. The soldiers then arrest her and her children and take the family with them.

There is another man in their custody. He introduces himself to Aneesha and her family as Clark, an English teacher who is now a survivor like them. He asks the family to trust him. Soon after, the soldiers stop their vehicles when an injured girl passes out in the middle of the road.

As soon as they stop, armed men attack the soldiers and rescue Clark. Aneesha chooses to trust Clark and go with him, but not before taking back the belongings that the soldiers took from her family.

Meanwhile, Maya takes Mitsuki inside the ship. No one knows what lies beyond an enormous power source, as no one has been able to get past it. Mitsuki needs to make contact with this power source, and Maya will monitor her from a distance.

Before entering the room where the power source is located, Maya warns Mitsuki that the others who went inside suffered memory loss and neurological damage, but that does not deter Mitsuki.

The girl who pretended to be injured and stopped the military vehicles turns out to be Clark’s daughter, Ryder. Aneesha realizes that Clark is a part of the organization called the Movement. While the members of the Movement call themselves activists, Aneesha believes they are anarchists.

Clark takes Aneesha and her children to their base. He tells them that the Movement works to keep people safe. Since it is late at night, he asks Aneesha to stay with them for the night and assures her that he will take her and her children to a refugee shelter the next morning.

Mitsuki enters the room, and the power source responds to her. When Nikhil sees this, he refuses to follow the protocol and does not bring Mitsuki out of the room after 15 minutes. He ignores Maya’s warnings and plans to keep Mitsuki in there until the connection breaks.

Mitsuki’s efforts bear fruit, and the power source responds to her with a song, much to everyone’s surprise. It is David Bowie’s “Space Oddity”, the song that Hinata responded with when Mitsuki contacted her in the first season.

At the same time, Aneesha sees the texture of the alien claw changing, and Luke tells Sarah that he can hear someone or something humming. Similarly, the doctors who are monitoring Caspar’s brain activity notice a tremor that is different from the others; this one is rhythmic and has a pattern. They believe that something has changed.

Review

The first episode of Invasion season 2 is a little lackluster. The show still lacks the vitality that could have made the episode more enjoyable.
However, one cannot help but admire the visuals. Apart from seeing the interiors of the alien ship, the audience also gets to witness Mitsuki making contact with the aliens, which gives them a scene that is visually appealing.
The episode uses Aneesha’s story to depict how humans cannot trust each other even when they have a common enemy. While all the countries are banding together to fight the aliens, there is still mistrust among the population.