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

[u/mwthecool]

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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[u/PWBryan]

Going from talking about his regrets to strangling Mark on a dime makes him much creepier

[u/viper459 → u/PWBryan]

yeah someone on this writing team has actually had an abusive dad becuase fuck me, that shit is way too accurate

[u/viper459 → u/[deleted]]

classic abuser shit. So much so we have an acronym for it, DARVO. Deny, attack, and reverse victim and offender. He manipulatively puts mark into a situation where mark is the bad guy for not accepting his "redemption", and then also makes mark's engagement with him a vital part of saving this entire species.

Nolan had a lot of different choices he could have made there, including turning himself in, fleeing somewhere far away, going to earth to explain shit, etc. etc. Instead he chose to lie, manipulate, and continue to abuse.

I'm with mark. fuck him.

[u/Lucas_Steinwalker → u/viper459]

Mark is definitely kinder than I am to help the bug people and care that one of them is his brother

Nolan so clearly created this situation as a manipulation.

[u/Redditer51 → u/Lucas_Steinwalker]

I'm surprised Mark didn't punch him. But I also understand why he hugged him, even though I was disappointed he did. He has a lot of complicated emotions towards Nolan, for sure.

[u/sonicmerlin → u/Redditer51]

I think Mark surprised himself too. He clearly wanted to punch Nolan, and Nolan was expecting a fistfight.

[u/Lucas_Steinwalker → u/Redditer51]

I understand the initial hug more than him not busting a hole through the wall and getting the fuck out once he discovered that his dad’s big play was to make him feel responsible for the life of his insect ass half brother that he cheated on his mom to sire while he’s trying to play the pity card after what went down on S1E8. Fuck him.

[u/azeTrom → u/Lucas_Steinwalker]

Mark probably doesn't have much experience recognizing abuse tactics....like he gets it somewhat but not fully here.

Plus he stuck around mostly to save the lives his father basically ruined from his actions, and fought with his dad because there was no other way to save them.

[u/viper459 → u/azeTrom]

the universe's strongest abuser trained in thousands of years of fascist abuse vs. the universe's most naive 18 year old, its a miracle he has the instincts to end up at "fuck you" at all tbh

[u/azeTrom → u/Lucas_Steinwalker]

Yeah Nolan really went out and had a kid when he knew it would cause the deaths of everyone on the planet....the writers do a good job of showing us what's going on in Nolan's twisted head, including the very real pain he's struggling with.

[u/AlarmingAffect0 → u/azeTrom]

Dude almost dived into a Black Hole. Then a bunch of insect aliens sang T.I.M.E. to him.