Crash
Episode 2 of Invasion begins with the Malik family in Long Island huddled together, watching as the street is ravaged by numerous bits of debris raining down from the sky. Needing to get to safety, Ahmed decides they should hide out in the basement. In close quarters. Aneesa and Ahmed butt heads, until the latter decides to head out and see if he can figure out what’s going on. With no one quite sure what to do, Ahmed ventures out into the chaos to try and find answers. ..
An eerie coincidence seems to be at play in the aftermath of the storm. All of the houses that were hit by debris appear to have been empty save for one: Ahmed’s. Could it be that Sam is the key to all of this? Well, when Ahmed and Aneesa rush back into Sam’s house screaming for help, he’s clutching his head in pain. He’s frantic and repeatedly screams “stop.” And just like that, he’s fine and the lights come back on. This voice appears to be communicating with him telepathically. ..
After Ahmed finishes talking to his mistress in secret, the glass in his house shatters. This causes Aneesha to see enough and decide to leave. She gathers her things and packs her bags before leaving. ..
Ahmed breaks the news that he is going to leave Aneesha that week. She shrugs this off though and decides she should drive.
As the bus arrives at the school, Casper Morrow can’t help but feel anxious. He knows that he won’t be able to make it through the day without being bullied. But as soon as he steps off the bus, all his worries disappear. He meets up with his friends and they start to play together. It seems like everything is going to be okay. But then things get a little bit weird. Jamila starts to become really friendly with Casper and starts to talk about him a lot. And even though Casper is really shy, he starts to feel comfortable around her. But then one of the other students on the bus starts making fun of him and Casper gets really mad. He doesn’t know how he’s going to make it through this day without getting into trouble. But then something amazing happens! Jamila comes over and helps Casper out with his social anxiety and she makes him feel really comfortable again. They start talking and eventually they all end up playing together in the playground until it’s time for lunchtime. It turns out that despite being bullied by an obnoxious student, Casper Morrow has turned into one of the most popular kids at school! He’s been able to overcome his social anxiety and now everyone loves him!
As the bus hits a pothole, Casper’s sketchbook slips on the floor and is picked up by Jamila. With things looking good between them, the pair share an earphone each and listen to “old” music. As they listens to the music, Casper notices sheep flocking together before debris pieces rain down from the sky. As it does, the bus swerves off the road and tumbles down a sharp cliff.
Meanwhile, in Tokyo, Yamato receives the news that the HOSHI12 has gone dark. Heading into JASA, Yamato learns that the I.S.S. has gone dark and they’re not alone. Both the Russians and NASA are also experiencing widespread issues. ..
The Japanese military eventually gets ahold of the video feed from the online HOSHI12 and sees the ripped hull of the ship for themselves. This causes a lot of worry in the country as Yamato slumps into a depressive state. She drinks heavily, sleeps with someone from a club and begins to experience some pretty freaky visions.
This episode begins with a flashback to Trevante Ward, where we see him as a young man struggling to keep his head above water. He has to balance his home life, his platoon, and the demands of war. This week we follow him as he goes about his day-to-day tasks in the Combat Outpost in Kandahar Province.
The squad eventually makes it into a small town where the villagers head out to greet the US soldiers. A translator does his best to interpret what these men and women are saying, and eventually decipher that there was an attack somewhere near a school.
The squad enters the building and finds a single student, bloody nose and weird trance-like posture, repeatedly drawing circles on a table. All the kids point out the window where a dust cloud on the horizon points them in the location they need to go. ..
Trevante and his team find a strange tripod towering over them within the dust cloud. They blast the object with a barrage of bullets, but it doesn’t seem to phase it. A pulse knocks them down.
The Episode Review
The second episode of Invasion provides a lot of new story and characters to explore, but the main plot line is still slow to develop.
The Yamato crew is in a depressive state, while the Malik family appear to be the key to all of this that’s going on. Casper looks like he could be important to the main story going forward too, as it appears that kids are the link to all of this. We’ll have to wait and see though but it would appear that the aliens are trying to communicate through Sam. And was that “watcher” they were saying? ..
The show’s opening episode was tense and dramatic, but it’s been a little slow since. I’m hopeful that this is just a brief moment and we’ll still have another episode to go. However, the show has already shown off some of its potential by featuring news characters and debris falling from the sky.
