The Skrulls have already infiltrated Earth in the third episode of Secret Invasion. “Betrayed” was written by Roxanne Paredes and Brian Tucker and directed by Ali Selim.
“Betrayed” opens with three Skrulls preparing for a mission at their base. Beto (Samuel Adewunmi) expresses some doubt, but his associate assures him they’re fighting for the future. They each receive a dossier with a picture of a soldier on it. Meanwhile, Gravik (Kingsley Ben-Adir) takes in his machine. He’s joined by the other members of the Skrull council. Gravik explains he sent three officers to infiltrate the Royal Navy to and execute a strike on a U.N. target. This will inevitably summon Earth’s heroes. Gravik states that to counter them, the Skrull must become super themselves.
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Gravik says they no longer just change faces but also change powers. He describes them as “Super Skrulls” and says they’ll be weapons of mass destruction. With the humans at war with themselves, the Skrulls will take over. Gravik invites them to join in the extinction of the human race.
New York City, 1998
Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) arrives at a diner in the rain. He orders a Black coffee. A woman in a booth is revealed to be Varra, AKA Priscilla “Cilla” Fury (Charlayne Woodard). He asks whose face she has adopted. She says that depends on where this goes. Fury says they can’t be involved romantically because of their profession. She counters that they don’t officially exist.
In the present day, Chris Sterns (Christopher McDonald) is on TV. The right-wing news program warns viewers to stock up on guns and bottled water because it looks like WWIII. Cilla turns it off and asks how Fury can watch it. Fury says a broken clock is right twice a day. Cilla asks what transpired to bring him to Earth. Fury claims he retired but may take up revenge. He asks if she’s been in touch with Gravik. He says he needs to know who she became in his absence. She says that she became a widow and became herself.
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Her phone rings, and she answers it. Cilla says she doesn’t have that information at hand. Fury asks if it was important, and she says no. As soon as she leaves the room, Fury looks at Cilla’s phone.
At the Skrull base, Gravik wakes G’iah (Emilia Clarke). He wants to talk about Brogan and how the cops knew about the location. Brogan didn’t know. G’iah suggests Brogan made a desperate educated guess. She says in his position, she would have lied. She’s a good liar. Gravik seemingly accepts this and then tells her he’ll see her early tomorrow. He says she’s coming with him.
Tomorrow
Gravik and G’iah get off a plane. Then they begin traveling by car. Gravik says her father Talos (Ben Mendelsohn) called for a parlay. He says Talos wants to talk about her. They arrive at the location, and Gravik gets out. G’iah inputs a coded message into a cell phone. Soon, Gravik and Talos are meeting among the portraits. Gravik discusses 1930’s Statesmen of World War I by Sir James Guthrie. He says it highlights the difference between statemen, whose stories are told in ink, and soldiers, whose stories are told in blood. Gravik says he chooses blood all day long.
Talos says it isn’t just Gravik’s blood, and Gravik agrees. Soon they’re seated at a table in a crowded restaurant. Talos says he wants him to stand down and stop murdering innocents. The conversation turns to G’iah. Gravik says Talos should be grateful he hasn’t sent her back in a body bag. Talos lunges at him. As he does so, every other patron transforms into Gravik.
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Talos says Gravik will take their people to the edge of extinction. Gravik says to look at how humans treat each other. Talos says humans are at their most formidable when threatened by a common foe. Gravik asks if he’s forgotten how Skrulls work. Talos says he’ll reveal Gravik’s intent to humanity’s leaders. Gravik says this will make Talos the author of Skrull extinction. Talos says the humans will recognize not all Skrulls are “infected.”
Gravik says G’iah stays with him, then. Talos stabs Gravik’s hand with the knife and chokes him. He says G’iah’s name should stay out of his mouth going forward. After Talos leaves, Gravik heals his hand with a healing factor.
Spy Phone
When Talos gets outside, he bumps into a stranger. A phone falls to the ground. The stranger hands it back to him. Gravik returns to the car. Soon Talos is eating in a pub. He’s approached by Fury. Talos says Fury has a lot of audacity to ask for his help after their interaction the preceding day. Fury says he has a line on a rebel Skrull who is high up in the government and currently in London. Talos asks what Fury wants from him. He makes Fury say, “Help me, Talos. Because I am useless without you.”
Soon the pair are traveling in a car. Talos explains that G’iah handed off info to him using a burner phone. Fury identifies “Neptune” as a British submarine. He contacts Sonya Falsworth (Olivia Colman) and tells her the Skrulls plan to use it to attack the U.N. delegation and start WWIII. Falsworth wants an apology for the bug he placed on her owl statue, now named after Fury (and with an eyepatch). She says she’s trying to figure out who leaked information about the butcher shop interrogation in the previous episode. However, Fury does get the Neptune captain’s name, photo, and location.
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Robert Fairbanks (David Bark-Jones) lives near Naval Command HQ. In the car, Talos questions the relationship between dogs and humans. Fury says he’s been cleaning up after Talos for decades. Talos sees it differently. He says Fury didn’t begin ascending the ranks until Talos and nine of his people became his spy network. Talos takes credit for Fury’s information and successes at S.H.I.E.L.D.
Fairbanks
Fury and Talos infiltrate the base but are very quickly made. They dispatch several soldiers. Talos passes a room where a child is occupied with a video game. Fury gets a call from Talos over the radio, calling him to the end of the hall. But because Talos calls him Nick, Fury knows it’s a trap. He arrives in the room with the kid held hostage. Talos is being held hostage by Fairbanks.
Fairbanks says he’ll release Talos when Fury releases the child. But Fury says it isn’t a negotiation. The hostages are released. Fury asks Fairbanks what he’s working on. A map shows a U.N. plane crossing the Atlantic. Under the ocean, Neptune is moving into range. The crew is incredulous at the order to attack U.N. Flight 819.
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Fury and Talos try to talk Fairbanks out of the attack. Fairbanks says Talos is a shell of his former self. Fury asks why Talos doesn’t call in a missile strike. Talos says only Fairbanks knows the code. Fury shoots Fairbanks in the thigh. On the Neptune, they prepare to launch. Fairbanks asks if G’iah is the “spineless traitor.” Talos kills Fairbanks with a bullet to the chest.
Terminus
Talos calls G’iah and says he needs the launch termination password for Fairbanks. G’iah subsequently knocks out two guards as she breaks into the area where the Skrulls keep their prisoners. G’iah reaches the real Fairbanks. A screen shows the subject’s memories. G’iah gives the code to Talos. He instructs her to run. The launch is aborted.
G’iah seemingly escapes on a motorcycle. Fury asks Talos why he isn’t with Gravik when he agrees with him. Talos says he isn’t with Gravik because he’s with Fury. G’iah’s escape is interrupted by a vehicle driven by Gravik. G’iah claims she has to extract the soldiers from the failed mission. Gravik says it wasn’t a failure, as the objective was identifying the traitor. He pulls a gun on G’iah. G’iah asks if he’s a leader of Skrulls or their worst enemy. Gravik shoots her, and she apparently dies, returning to Skrull form.
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Back at her house, Cilla pulls keys from a jar. She seems to be watched and followed as she takes a train. Soon a banker opens a lock box for her before giving her some time alone. Inside the box is an envelope containing a gun. Her phone rings, and a voice instructs, “St. James Church, one hour.” She says she needs to speak to Gravik, but the voice says she’s talking to him.
New episodes of Secret Invasion are released Wednesday on Disney+.
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