r/Invincible • u/mwthecool Omni-Mod • Nov 24 '23

Invincible [Episode Discussion] - S02E04 - It's Been a While EPISODE DISCUSSION

Episode 4 - It's Been a While!

Mark answers the call to save an alien species, but the mission has unexpected personal consequences.

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519

u/mmcintoshmerc_88 Battle Beast Nov 24 '23 edited Nov 24 '23

No offence Cecil but, I could've told you this clone plan wasn't going to work. Read almost any comic ever Cecil! It never ends well!

308

u/Treyman1115 Nov 24 '23

I wonder if he figured that Donald will figure it out eventually on his own. He didn't really try that hard to keep from finding out

366

u/Laggingduck Nov 24 '23

“Am I a.. a robot?”

“yeah donald no shit, anyway there’s not any time for that we have a situation like I said earlier”

113

u/Osmodius Nov 24 '23

"I thought it was obvious. Quit wasting time".

29

u/legit-posts_1 Machine Head Nov 24 '23

God that's so Cecil that I read it in his damn voice in my head!

10

u/Original-Ad4399 Nov 24 '23

Reminds me of Rick Sanchez 🤣

2

u/soka__22 Invincible May 18 '24

i read this in cecil's voice and it made it 10× funnier

1

u/Laggingduck May 18 '24

After seeing what actually happened I kinda wish this was real, poor Donald

1

u/soka__22 Invincible May 19 '24

no spoilers pls

1

u/Laggingduck May 19 '24

oh shit my bad, but you can imagine that him being a robot isn’t a happy thing no matter what

20

u/[deleted] Nov 24 '23

Is there a reason Donald knew Cecils password? Like, you'd think Cecil would be smart enough to know to make a password no one could guess no matter how well they knew him. And if it's that he wanted him to find out, then why classify those files for Donald at all?

First he lets the Martian join the Guardians of the Globe, now he uses a password that another employee can guess on the first try? Cecils been getting dumber and dumber, and I hope they end up explaining it instead of just making him dumb for plot convenience.

19

u/GayDHD23 Nov 24 '23

i think it's less so an example of Cecil being dumb than it is an example of Donald being smarter than Cecil, at least this time. It's a good reminder why Donald is so important to his entire operation that Cecil felt the need to clone/reconstruct him rather than hire anyone else.

3

u/[deleted] Nov 24 '23

That doesn't make sense though. Why did Cecil secure his files with just a password that a coworker could guess on the first try? Cecil not securing his top secret files doesn't make Donald look smart at all, it just makes him look dumb. Especially as the head of a top secret organization.

19

u/theCroc Nov 24 '23

That's the point. Donald didn't guess it. He knows it. There is a reason he is Cecil's right hand man. He is smart and no doubt figured out Cecil's passwords a long time ago.

2

u/[deleted] Nov 24 '23

So Cecil is too dumb to use two-factor authentication? And so dumb he allows someone else to figure out his password? Not having your password stolen is incredibly easy.

Even if Donald already knew it, that doesn't make Cecil look any better here.

13

u/chalks777 Nov 26 '23

being in that building at all is like 10 factor authentication.

1

u/Rafael502 Dec 12 '23

Should've gone with the 11th factor then.

Many comoanies nowadays require an employee to insert their badge into the computer before they can even attempt the password.

3

u/theCroc Nov 24 '23

Well evidently by what we saw on screen....

1

u/xRyozuo Jan 10 '24

my guess to save this situation is cecil knows, doland finding out by himself that he is a robot and how he died is just a part of reincorporation. Who knows if this is even the first time its happened. Seeing how cecil isnt above using the inventions of the people he captures (like the robot soldiers), im surprised he didnt clone him. Which makes me think donalds always been a robot. The show was missing its westworld homage!

4

u/Petersaber Nov 26 '23

I think it's more of a case that Donald is so damn important for Cecil's operation. He didn't "guess" the password, he most likely knew it. Cecil trusted him with it, probably.

1

u/xRyozuo Jan 10 '24

but then whats the point of having user restricted access? lol

2

u/Petersaber Jan 10 '24

For other people that aren't Donald?

1

u/xRyozuo Jan 10 '24

He has his own username. And for him the video was restricted

5

u/mismatched7 Nov 24 '23

I took him acting irrationally as showing that in his own way he loved Donald and was willing to do something dumb to bring him back

199

u/limelover420 Nov 24 '23

Is he a clone or a robot? I figured with the knife bending like that, it probably meant he was a robot with metalic bones just with flesh over it kinda like Schwarzaneggar in the Terminator films.

152

u/Zaziel Nov 24 '23

I guess the question is: has he always been a robot?

123

u/Knuc85 Nov 24 '23

This is what I was thinking. Is this Donald #2 or... #3? How about #20?

55

u/princevince1113 Battle Beast Nov 24 '23

considering you can see bits of organic spine crumbling out of omni man’s hands after he kills donald, i’d say the donald that died was the flesh and blood original and s2 donald is either a robot with his memories or original donald with a 95% robot body

30

u/HippieDogeSmokes Nov 24 '23

OG donald was completely disintegrated, but I wouldn’t be shocked if both were cyborgs. Like how the terminator has organics over a robot skeleton

6

u/Calm-Tree-1369 Nov 24 '23

I'm guessing a cyborg clone with a metal endoskeleton, so similar to Terminator like you said.

4

u/Status_Implement_757 Nov 24 '23

Nah not completely, his glasses only bend and cracked slightly

10

u/torvaman Nov 24 '23

and why does cecil bring back donald? what makes donald so important that he needs to be replicated?

21

u/[deleted] Nov 24 '23

The guy teleports for fun and costs the taxpayers 5 million dollars each time he does it. He won't hold back when it comes to revive the people he values.

10

u/[deleted] Nov 24 '23

Good assistants are hard to find. Cecil spared the hassle

2

u/Mampt Nov 28 '23

That's pretty clearly the arc they're setting up for him, especially having him finding the glasses and start questioning himself right next to the Maulers cloning part. Their whole thing is they don't know who the clone is and who the original is (and in all likelihood, the original is lost to time and they're both clones of clones of clones). They didn't really have much of a story this episode, so it was more to set that up as a parallel to Donald where, like them, he starts to question if he's real or not and, again like them, probably has been replaced several times over

1

u/chocho1111 Nov 30 '23

I think this one is the first robot Donald. First time we saw how Omni-Man killed him, by essentially breaking his spine. I don’t really think if he was a robot it would have affected him in a paralysing way, or Nolan would have made a remark on that. Also, it kinda makes sense: Cecil managed to find a man whom he can trust, gets the job done and doesn’t complain. Essentially the perfect soldier. Hard to replace that, unless…

25

u/LurkerOnTheInternet Nov 24 '23

The knife bent so he's a cyborg. I bet his body was created with the technology of the crazy evil guy in S1, who turned innocent college kids into lobotomized cyborgs. Cecil was shown to have taken him in for his knowledge.

4

u/Ecstatic_Deer Nov 24 '23

Nah, he's definitely not a robot. He bleeds after stabbing himself which was why he was relieved. He probably underwent an Allen situation. They cloned him to be stronger than an average human. They may have even used Mark's cells since they showed them testing Marks blood in S1.

2

u/Edmontonthrw Nov 25 '23

He's relieved, but then they zoom in and show him being shocked, because the tip of the knife bent.

2

u/Ecstatic_Deer Nov 25 '23

Yes, hence why I said, "they cloned him to be stronger than the average human". He bleeds so he knows he's real and alive, not a robot, but the knife is bent so there's still something very different about him that hasn't been revealed to us. I think it's possible they spliced Donald with Mark's viltrumite DNA, but it could also just be a genetic process similar to how Allen the alien was made.

2

u/Glaive-Master_Hodir Nov 25 '23

I thought maybe they cloned him with some viltrumite blood.

2

u/WinterH-e-ater Nov 24 '23

I think he is a clone and Cecil mixed some Invincible DNA to make him more powerful

37

u/musecorn Nov 24 '23

I really wished that when he was going to see footage alleging his clone status, a software block would stop him from actually understanding what he's seeing similar to Westworld's "hmm, that doesn't look like anything to me"

15

u/JackedUpReadyToGo Nov 24 '23

I'm just amazed he had Cecil's password. Come on Cecil, you run this huge government spy agency, please tell me you aren't writing your passwords on a Post-It note on the back of your monitor. A guy as paranoid as him doesn't even implement two factor authentication?

6

u/musecorn Nov 24 '23

That surprised me too

7

u/[deleted] Nov 24 '23

Yeah, Cecils been dumbed down this season, and I really hope they end up giving an explanation.

7

u/JackedUpReadyToGo Nov 24 '23

He does seem dumber this season doesn't he?

Episode 1

Mark: "Put me in, coach!"

Cecil: "No, first get your head straight."

4 hours later, with nothing different

Mark: "Put me in, coach!"

Cecil: "OK, go take down the Mauler twins without any backup."

Episode 2

Cecil: "Here Mark, let me throw you into this delicate diplomatic situation with a civilization you didn't even know existed. No I don't have time to tell you anything about them."

Mark: "Uh, hey, this isn't a marriage ceremony it's a fight to the death."

Cecil: [Shocked Pikachu face] "Fuck 'em then, genocide the place."

Episode 3

Mark: "Hey, I need to go save a planet that needs my help."

Cecil: "But you work for me!"

Mark: "Sorry, saving billions seems more important."

Cecil: "Ugh, just like your father. He didn't listen to me either."

9

u/[deleted] Nov 24 '23

Yep, that and allowing the martian guy on the Guardians of the Globe. They had tryouts for the other characters and presumably did background checks, but this guy who is clearly not human can just waltz in and join?

That said, I feel like they actually are gonna explain this point. It's a bit too on the nose for them not to.

8

u/brownbubbi Nov 24 '23

He’s clearly a human male from planet earth USA

7

u/[deleted] Nov 24 '23

Ah damn, he definitely did mention that, you're right. THINK EDUCATIONALASSBRAINS, THINK!

3

u/Randym1982 Nov 24 '23 edited Nov 24 '23

I think a few characters are dumbed down for the TV audience. If I recall the comic, he acts suspicious but not THAT suspicious.

1

u/HonestTangerine2 Nov 25 '23

The fact that Cecil didn’t see this coming is kinda surprising. I’m shocked he didn’t block his own credentials from seeing it, he has to know Donald has his password. As his assistant it’s kind of a given he’d know a lot of Cecil’s administrative information.

6

u/ThatIslandGuy8888 Octoboss Nov 24 '23

Bruh when he saw blood and felt relieved I felt for him😭but the knife was bent…..

5

u/Little_Tool Nov 24 '23

When he approached the surveillance house you could hear this weird synth sound that reminded me of Westworld 1973. Definitely thinking he’s a robot.

4

u/Turtledonuts Nov 24 '23

I think Donald's always been an android. Where else would Cecill get a perfectly trustworthy, perfectly capable assistant who's also incredibly bland and blends into the background?

Also, how else would OG donald be able to react fast enough to shoot Nolan, and survive getting his spine crushed long enough to talk and hit that button?

3

u/kjm6351 Allen the Alien Nov 24 '23

Hell, he could’ve just talked to the blue people right down the street

2

u/sirslappywag Nov 26 '23

Did clone/robot Donald hear omni--man call him spineless? Like that was so unnecessarily cold lines to die too. Follow up do you think the video of it gets shown around the shadow government?

1

u/OneGoodRib Nov 24 '23

You know, I feel like it's a really big loss of potential that series where superheroes are unambiguously real never really address what actually happens in superhero comic books. Are the plots any different? Would people be interested in reading about a superhero gone rogue and a misguided cloning plan in a universe where those things were possible? Like in our world most people are interested in reading comics about people who go to work at an office every day and nothing interesting happens because it's real life, and most people aren't interested in reading comic books about real life tragedies where nobody valiantly saves the day or takes down the villain since that doesn't happen in real life.

So in a world like Invincible's where superheroes exist... what actually happens in superhero comics? Do people accuse the comic book heroes of being trademark infringement of actual heroes? Or are the comic books like coffee shop AUs about Immortal and Green Ghost on a business trip but there's only one bed in the hotel room.

2

u/Rosstin Nov 27 '23

In some of these “realistic superhero” stories, comic books don’t cover superheroes at all, they’re all westerns or some other genre that’s less “realistic” and more “fun” to the people in that world

I was just looking through a bin of comics at FanEx yesterday looking for some EC horror comics and instead I found a whole bunch of vintage romance comics, like soap opera stuff. There are so many genres that could be big alternatives