Invincible (4×04) Hurm Review

*For our review of the first 3 episodes of Invincible Season 4, click here.

The contrast between Invincible and Omni-Man has been a recurring theme throughout the series. As Mark/Invincible continues his journey of learning how to be a hero, it has seen a few bumps in the road as of late, with the notion of the right or wrong thing taking on a different meaning altogether. When the stakes are at their highest and the lives of the people he loves are on the line, his response has taken him to places he never though he would ever go. Not in the right place at the moment, Mark was certainly left conflicted moving forward but nowadays, if it’s not one thing, it’s something else. This week’s episode of Invincible is mostly a standalone story, however, it does not fail to remind audiences that there is still a lot going on, none bigger than an end of episode surprise arrival. For the most part, a distraction from the many other issues present at this point of the story, Mark is left with plenty to reconcile with over the episodes to come. In the end, there’s nothing like going to hell to help realign one’s perspective. After spending some quality time down there, anything else doesn’t seem so bad.

As mentioned, for a conflicted Mark, a heart-to-heart with Art (Mark Hamil) looked to set him straight. Feeling he was turning into his father and unworthy of the costume, Art urged Mark to hold onto it as the fact that he is even conflicted about his actions proves that he was far from becoming his father. Believing that he was on the way to another job, Mark, however, would find himself pulled into something else. That job, presumably to help Riley (Chloe Bennet) with Ka-Hor (Clancy Brown), proved to be a missed opportunity to stop the ancient undead Egyptian who was fed up waiting for Invincible to come back and be his new host body, so he took Riley’s body instead and escaped his tomb. Meanwhile, a reunion with Damien Darkblood (Brown) in hell was not exactly what he expected, but that’s where he ended up. Not exactly what it was made out to be, hell was not like how it had been documented for thousands of years. Intricately linked to the history of the Earth and the human race, its role was paramount in protecting the balance and keeping the surface world safe from the true horrors that lay further beneath for six ages of existence. Thinking that he had summoned Omni-Man, Damien got Invincible because he needed Mark’s help to defeat Volcanikka (Indira Varma) so that a weakened Satan (Bruce Campbell) could regain his powers and overtake the throne.

With the dynamic between Mark and Damien being kind of a buddy cop movie of sorts, watching the two play off of one another, as the former became more acquainted with Damien and the many intricacies of hell, was a blast to watch and more strong writing in filling out this part of the Invincible universe. Ultimately, not a challenge that the two couldn’t overcome, it merely set the stage for what came next. Satan, unleashed upon the return of his magical crown, made quite the impression, letting Campbell let loose in entertaining fashion, as his forces got ready for the battle to come. In what was a tense battle between Satan, Damien, the other demons, and Volcanikka, they held their own but with the help of Invincible, they held her at bay at least for now. As a result, he and Damien earned the right to go back to the surface world.

However, Eve still struggled with the news that she was pregnant and how to tell Mark, who grabbed an old costume that Art had kept aside for him (coming in handy after the last battle). Along with the news that Debbie and Paul were going to sell their houses and move in together, that made for a lot to catch up to. That being said, Eve couldn’t get to deliver her big news after she and Mark were interrupted by a surprise return. Damien, on the other hand, was tasked for a mission of his own.

Yeun and Kirman carry the episode through the former’s performance as a man who was literally going through some things and the latter’s strong writing, balancing Mark’s arc with the inventiveness of the series’ version of hell, and its lore. Giving viewers another facet to unpack, this will certainly not be the last time the series will be going down there.

still courtesy of Prime Video

If you liked this, please read our other reviews here and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter or Instagram or like us on Facebook.

Keith Noakes

The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.