The MCU has had a good run with the inception of its TV show catalog with WandaVision back in January 2021. The studio took good advantage of the streaming giant Disney+ by introducing new characters into the ever-expanding universe such as Moon Knight, Ms. Marvel, and She-Hulk, and also giving more emphasis to the supporting characters often sidelined in the feature films made for the big screen by making them the lead characters of their own shows, examples being Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Hawkeye and Vision. Their latest attempt Secret Invasion fits into the latter category, making Nick Fury played by veteran actor Samuel L Jackson the star of the show. It is the ninth television show by the studio which is set in the same universe as the movies and the first one in the currently ongoing Phase 5.
The critics got to see the first two episodes of the series which will consist of six episodes and the reviews dropping in have been lukewarm at best. At the time of writing, the show is sitting at 67% from 33 reviews on the website Rotten Tomatoes, dethroning She-Hulk: Attorney at Law as the lowest-rated MCU series on the site. She-Hulk: Attorney At Law sits at 80% but the show was widely panned by the general viewers with a miserable 32% audience score, which we hope isn't the case with Secret Invasion.
The reason for the low score of the first two episodes is cited to be the slow-running pace which might exhaust the viewers and that the series doesn't have the budget to be the espionage thriller the studio is trying to sell. Not all reactions are negative to the project as critics also lauded Samuel L Jackson's performance, some claiming it to be his best of the franchise and complimented it for the more mature and darker approach to the events in contrast to the usual jokey and whimsical tone the franchise pursues.
This score will definitely change as the remaining four episodes of the series are yet to be seen by the critics. The same happened with the Star Wars series Andor which got similar reception in the first two episodes but it ended up as one of the best-reviewed shows of the franchise. Secret Invasion can follow a similar kind of trajectory if received well when the rest of the episodes are shown to the reviewers. The first episode of the series will premiere to the general audience on 21st June 2023 at 12:30 pm IST on Disney+ Hotstar with a new episode premiering every Wednesday till 26th July 2023.