Invincible finds some desperately needed joy in hell

What’s Happening

So get this: Mark Grayson goes on a metal, and surprisingly fun, adventure.

B+ Invincible finds some desperately needed joy in hell Mark Grayson goes on a metal, and surprisingly fun, adventure. William Hughes — By William Hughes | | 3:00am Image: Prime TV Reviews Invincible Copy to clipboard × Copy Link Copy Link — Facebook X Reddit Bluesky Email — 0 There’s something funny about the fact that Invincible only managed to get fun again this season into hell. (let that sink in)

After two episodes of Mark Grayson giving himself an ulcer on the topic of taking lives (and one boring-ass space road trip), the show’s fourth season finally finds some desperately needed joy tonight with “Hurm,” its fourth episode, and it’s not especially complicated about how it goes about doing it: giving Mark a few clear things to punch and a lot of enjoyably heavy-metal world-building to surround it all.

The Details

The key aspect about “Hurm” is that it’s one of those things I wasn’t sure Invincible knew how to be anymore: focused. I suspect this is largely a consequence of the episode’s status as an original story, as opposed to Invincible ’s usual slavish devotion to recreating moments from the comics.

It’s not just that this little digression through perdition allows the show to tell a single, complete story for once; it also allows both Invincibles—the series and the character—to actually relax for a second. When was the last time we got to hang out with this version of Mark, who cracks jokes, goofs around in fights, and lets himself get fixated on the minutiae of things like a demon’s magical helmet ?

Why This Matters

It’s not like the resulting story is completely disconnected from the show’s overall storytelling goals, as Mark is clearly still wrestling with his attitude toward, and the consequences of, head-exploding superhero violence. But he’s doing so in an environment where—planet cracking threats and demons getting exploded by having a firehose of lava shoved down their throats aside—he’s in absolutely no danger of either being hurt or hurting anyone he cares about.

The entertainment world moves fast, and this is a prime example.

The Bottom Line

This story is still developing, and we’ll keep you updated as more info drops.

What do you think about all this?