A Deal with the Devil

Loved this episode. Didn't love the philosophy it's trying to communicate (let me explain before downvoting).

I saw another review talking about how this episode changed their perspective on morality, how there's no such thing as good people and bad people. Make no mistake: in the real world, there are bad people with despicable motivations who can't be reasoned with. There are people who are narcissistic and selfish to an extreme, who will throw you under the bus just for a better view. They are not the product of a tragic backstory. They do not just need someone to love them. They are not a good guy who got lost along the way. They are evil, and will do evil things unless they're resisted. So please, don't blindly adopt idealistic Hollywood morality just because it was in a show you like. I love Invincible, it's incredible entertainment. But it's off the mark when it comes to morality (pun intended).

The scenes with Cecil were quite good but damn every scene Mark was in completely felt forced and his emotions and of those around him felt forced as well. This felt more like I was watching a teen drama about 13year olds than a superhero cartoon. Half the guardians suddenly switching sides in the heat of the moment and also suddenly beating those opponents that even had to save them previously is pretty incosistent, which brings me to my (hopefully) last point. The glaring power level inconsistency during this episode. Mark couldnt beat those humanoids that saved him before but suddenly he can take them all on single-handedly.

This episode changed my perspective on world history.

I've realized I've been overly idealistic and I think society forces people to be idealistic to ignore the realities of world we live in.

This episode was about being pragmatic.

Evil people don't actually exist, good people don't actually exist, it's all about "can you see the forest from the trees?"

Most people are so deep in the forest they never look for the trees.

Mark can't see the bigger picture because he lacks wisdom. Cecil Stedman Is a wise man who use to be an idealist but has acquired wisdom through his actions.

Mark doesn't know what to do with the knowledge Cecil Stedman has bestowed upon him because mark lacks wisdom, but mark will learn the hard way, like so many people do.

This episode was brilliant, I've been thinking about it for days after watching just once.

This was a great civil war episode where ideologies clash and teams fall apart.

What I like most about Invincible that makes it different from most other superhero media is the focus on the consequences of the actions of superheroes and the real-life impact their actions have. Now I'm not gonna sit here and pretend that Marvel films don't address these things and they only have action and nothing else, I literally quoted from Captain America: Civil War which the main plot was what I'm talking about and that's why that movie was one of the best MCU films.

But what makes Invincible different is that it doesn't lose sight of that in the long run and the focus is mainly on that.

The escalation of things in this episode might seem way quick and sudden, but they set it up pretty well in the last episode in my opinion, and the gradual escalation made sense.

So far in 3 seasons, nothing could tear apart the Guardians of the Globe as they are seemingly the best and most powerful group of superheroes, but just like the Avengers, all they needed was a conflict from the inside to rip the team apart in an instant.

Pretty much all the things I like about Invincible happen here. It's not about flashy and cool action scenes in this show, it's about the ideologies these superheroes have and Mark's beliefs and inner struggles.

This episode also gives us a much-needed Cecil backstory and makes me love this character so much more. They make him a more understandable character where even when he's fighting Mark, you still don't hate him and don't really take sides, because you understand both of their perspectives and point of views. That's what great writing and great characters should hope to achieve.

I also think it was a great choice (and also good editing) to have the flashbacks in this episode, because I would be 100% on Mark's side if we didn't get to know Cecil better here.

Another great part of this episode is the romance between Mark and Eve. I think they did a great job of developing their new relationship in only two episodes and making it feel natural and earned. Some people will probably get mad at how Eve reacted last episode like they (including me) got mad at Amber for how she reacted to Mark being Invincible. But in my opinion, Eve's reaction and feeling felt more realistic, understandable, and natural for her character, unlike Amber's which felt like the writers just wanted to force an unnecessary conflict.

But I like the new romance and I like this episode a lot for the conflicts of ideologies I mentioned, and I think this is one of the best episodes of Invincible that encapsulates everything Invincible is about.

All in all, a great episode that's more about the characters and the clash of their beliefs than just some gory and bloody superhero action scenes.

I love backstory stuff, and this episode hit every note well, definitely a special episode of TV. 10/10. I have watched a lot of good episodes of tv but with this one, you can tell they had something in mind, i've been waiting for invincible to do something truly special, they have the potential for another 9.6+ episode easily and this was just an example of how good this series can be, without it going all out for an episode. I'm waiting until later in this season but i definitely expect a 9.5+ episode to drop because you can clearly see how close they are to being able to do that. What a show and what an episode.