All the reviews about it being slow are correct, as is the - seeming - inability to describe characters we could care for (excepting possibly the soldier). So how will they 'make it up to us' and finish the season in the next 2-3 episodes while making it semi-believable and possibly even worth watching? No chance!
25 Reviews
Fast Forward Theory- A decent 5 minutes...
blahblahadvertising29 November 2021
So I have a theory...If you can watch a movie and press fast forward either because the dialogue isn't engaging, or the scene isn't stimulating for whatever reason, it's a reflection of how good, or rather not good, a film is. When you can you just fast forward 20 seconds at a time like in this episode and I watch the show in about a 5-10 minute.
Figured it out.
jamosmonk27 November 2021
You know how in every movie there exists in the story the main characters whose actions and decisions are for a reason and helps move the plot forward. Well there also exists the background characters who would still carry out the day to day tasks of life, collecting garbage, mopping floors, walking to work or a friend's house, various other things that we don't need to know because they have nothing to contribute to advance the actual plotline that is the whole reason we are even watching this production, even though they are activities that would be occurring in the background of the world situation that has been developed for us viewers to watch and they hope we will be interested to see. THAT is what this series is. We are watching the irrelevant and unnecessary background characters Instead of the main characters and main storyline. Wonder why no one has done it before.
I feel bad for Shamier Anderson...
critic-97-41765725 November 2021
Warning: Spoilers
For having to play such a loathsome character. He plays the arrogant American military officer who barks at people in their own countries as if he's not the the one who's the foreigner. Loved it when the British soldier just let him on his way.
Underrated show
john-8740225 November 2021
Warning: Spoilers
This show isn't getting the credit it should and people keep giving it bad reviews for being slow, but I think that speaks more to the increasingly short attention spans than it does the show.
The two issues I've had so far is that it appears that perhaps San Neill's character and the story line from that area is already killed off before it really gave us anything, but it's possible it makes a return in the finale or so.
The other is that the show is dark. Not dark as in humor, but the lighting is actually dark and makes things hard to see. Perhaps it's because all the electricity for the most part is out across the world so from that perspective it's more understandable. Just wish it was a tiny bit brighter.
I appreciate that the show is taking things slow. When shows give you too much too early they tend to flame out. This show is more concentrated on the journey than showdown which in my opinion is a nice change of pace.
The show also proves that you don't need big stars and tons of CGI to make something interesting. 8/10 for me this week and I hope they finish the season strong. I'll assume we get a cliffhanger at episode 10.
The two issues I've had so far is that it appears that perhaps San Neill's character and the story line from that area is already killed off before it really gave us anything, but it's possible it makes a return in the finale or so.
The other is that the show is dark. Not dark as in humor, but the lighting is actually dark and makes things hard to see. Perhaps it's because all the electricity for the most part is out across the world so from that perspective it's more understandable. Just wish it was a tiny bit brighter.
I appreciate that the show is taking things slow. When shows give you too much too early they tend to flame out. This show is more concentrated on the journey than showdown which in my opinion is a nice change of pace.
The show also proves that you don't need big stars and tons of CGI to make something interesting. 8/10 for me this week and I hope they finish the season strong. I'll assume we get a cliffhanger at episode 10.
Rediculous phone message
scott67725 November 2021
Warning: Spoilers
One, who the hell still has a landline and message machine? Two, what message machine leaves a message to listen to that's minutes long, and then let's the caller leave a 5 minute reply?
Three, put more bloody aliens in it. All this distruction and we see only 1 alien, and its way out in the countryside...
Three, put more bloody aliens in it. All this distruction and we see only 1 alien, and its way out in the countryside...
This on of the best series I ever saw
oferg6510 December 2021
Wajo returns!!!
DrMarazanvose25 November 2021
Warning: Spoilers
The amount of actual content in this show is minimal compared to the broadcast time.
Someone, somewhere, had the idea that if everything is slowed down to a crawl then it becomes serious and meaningful. It may work when done occasionally - just not every scene please.
The 6 minute phone box scene was frustrating to endure. As a side note anyone know of a device that allows you to leave a message that long?
The kid's scene with his dead mum was a complete emotional vacuum for me and rounded off with a crass throw away line by the girl to say she's all in with his whacky, non-sensical plan.
The only interesting character for me is Mitsuki - she has some energy and drive whereas everyone else is just doom and gloom at half speed.
I can foresee this series getting a second season and then quietly disappearing into the ether never to be thought of again.
Someone, somewhere, had the idea that if everything is slowed down to a crawl then it becomes serious and meaningful. It may work when done occasionally - just not every scene please.
The 6 minute phone box scene was frustrating to endure. As a side note anyone know of a device that allows you to leave a message that long?
The kid's scene with his dead mum was a complete emotional vacuum for me and rounded off with a crass throw away line by the girl to say she's all in with his whacky, non-sensical plan.
The only interesting character for me is Mitsuki - she has some energy and drive whereas everyone else is just doom and gloom at half speed.
I can foresee this series getting a second season and then quietly disappearing into the ether never to be thought of again.
Golshifteh Farahani gives a superb performance!
ssgtee26 November 2021
Especially in this episode Golshifteh Farahani gives a riveting performance that holds you on the the edge of your seat. In a series that can be sometimes slow and self indulgent, it is refreshing to see some really good acting. If you can hang on until the aliens finally make an appearance you will be rewarded with some very good story telling.
Good Show
jeffreypeace-9491816 December 2021
Warning: Spoilers
This is absolutely text book point of an attack on earth. Communications get taken out, no one knows what's going on, the government keeping things secret until it's too late etc. I notice a lot of people complaining about Neil not being in the show after the first or second episode, but who cares there are plenty of other actors who are doing their job well. The show is supposed to feel like we are losing to something we don't understand. I hope the 2nd season continues where it left off, so I can see Travente save the world.
Nothing Is Happening. Writing is criminal.
Pimilli25 November 2021
Warning: Spoilers
Back to back boring scenes.
The soldier going to the phone booth. Drones on.
Then the family drones on.
THEN the boring scenes of people in Japan. ENDLESSING TYPING ON COMPUTERS. ENDLESSLY. Who thought this is drama? Watching people in dimly lit rooms typing.
None of these people are interesting. None of them. None. How can that be?
The wife and the doctor suddenly want to be together? When did that happen?
The soldier going to the phone booth. Drones on.
Then the family drones on.
THEN the boring scenes of people in Japan. ENDLESSING TYPING ON COMPUTERS. ENDLESSLY. Who thought this is drama? Watching people in dimly lit rooms typing.
None of these people are interesting. None of them. None. How can that be?
The wife and the doctor suddenly want to be together? When did that happen?
Dumbest episode ever maybe in the history of tv shows?
guinden25 November 2021
Warning: Spoilers
I would also nominate this episode to the most boring episode ever in the series
Literally nothing is happening..
American soldier no swears at everyone and now have two words not one :p
Suddenly new love between characters who never really interacted with each other why? Who knows..
Horrible dialogues all over the episode..
Aliens only understand lesbians private videomessage apparently
The not doctor woman praised for who knows what she worked a day and suddenly the best doctor ever and quickly cheats her husband! I mean is there any character in the show that we should care about? :P
Wajo lol
in a military base can't find my son for few minutes conclusion omg must be dead!
Seriously who wrote this? Someone must have been high or drunk.
Seriously who wrote this? Someone must have been high or drunk.
Masochism at this point
adnan_ovcina26 November 2021
I guess at this point after 8 episodes it is more of a masochism to sit through this and see how bad and dumb it gets. No point to mention all dumbness this show gives us episode after episode. I thought to myself, I will sit through it this season and it will be cancelled anyways, but I also have a feeling that they committed to at least two seasons no matter what. In any case and due to that maso I mentioned I guess I will just look through season 1 to see how dumber it gets.
Dull, dreary drivel! It just gets worse and worse
PlutoZoo27 November 2021
After posting reviews about previous episodes, I cannot believe that I have taken to reviewing this episode, however it is due to the fact that this monotonous pile of dull, insipid nothingness has gotten even worse. It is a show about practically nothing, invasion is happening, but at a snail's pace and the direction or lack of it, in the storyline of episode 8, renders any charitable allowance of a "build up" as a meaningless waste of good intentions on my part.
Our wandering soldier manages to arrive in London and locates a phone box, clearly marked as emergency calls only. Yet, he dials America without using the international dialling code, without putting any money in and proceeds to listen to a monologue answering message that addresses him directly, so he talks to it as if he's talking to a real person. It's really awful, another wasted hour.
Our wandering soldier manages to arrive in London and locates a phone box, clearly marked as emergency calls only. Yet, he dials America without using the international dialling code, without putting any money in and proceeds to listen to a monologue answering message that addresses him directly, so he talks to it as if he's talking to a real person. It's really awful, another wasted hour.
Not remotely grounded in reality
doorsscorpywag28 November 2021
Warning: Spoilers
Shouty American lands in London and starts screaming at people to get him on a plane so he can go home. English soldiers politely try to explain to him that there are no planes. So he shouts louder and threatens an officer who after being called a mofo decides to allow Shouty off the base and wishes him well in his quest to go home. (Of course he would.)
I would have shot him just to shut him up. The fact that probably all the soldiers there have families they haven't seen since this drivel began and are as worried for their loved ones safety as he is does not register with American Shouty.
He then wanders off and finds a phone box (yeah sure) and makes a ridiculously long phone call leaving an impossibly long message on his wife's landline answering machine. (yeah sure 2) Then minutes later he abandons his quest to get home, which was so important at the start, and finds a pub and presumably starts to get wasted. Unfortunately for him Caspar and his missus turn up and demand help using some nonsensical drawings to infuse Shouty with a new quest now his family had been forgotten.
Staring into space Japanese lesbian is put in charge again (again) and WAJO reappears so she sends it pixs of her and her possibly dead girlfriend. Which gets a reaction after everybody else fails.
We see a blurred alien crawling up an office block just to remind us this is an 'Invasion'. Some soldiers shoot at it and it scuttles off. Then it is back to the bunch of dullards that make up the cast.
The woman and her boring family do some stuff and Dragon Glass once again is important to the plot.
And that 's it really. An incredibly boring 50 minutes which seemed like 50 hours even if I used the FFW liberally.
I think the question on the minds of the audience is where is Sam Neill and why does he get out in Episode 1 whilst we are still watching in the hope he returns.
I would have shot him just to shut him up. The fact that probably all the soldiers there have families they haven't seen since this drivel began and are as worried for their loved ones safety as he is does not register with American Shouty.
He then wanders off and finds a phone box (yeah sure) and makes a ridiculously long phone call leaving an impossibly long message on his wife's landline answering machine. (yeah sure 2) Then minutes later he abandons his quest to get home, which was so important at the start, and finds a pub and presumably starts to get wasted. Unfortunately for him Caspar and his missus turn up and demand help using some nonsensical drawings to infuse Shouty with a new quest now his family had been forgotten.
Staring into space Japanese lesbian is put in charge again (again) and WAJO reappears so she sends it pixs of her and her possibly dead girlfriend. Which gets a reaction after everybody else fails.
We see a blurred alien crawling up an office block just to remind us this is an 'Invasion'. Some soldiers shoot at it and it scuttles off. Then it is back to the bunch of dullards that make up the cast.
The woman and her boring family do some stuff and Dragon Glass once again is important to the plot.
And that 's it really. An incredibly boring 50 minutes which seemed like 50 hours even if I used the FFW liberally.
I think the question on the minds of the audience is where is Sam Neill and why does he get out in Episode 1 whilst we are still watching in the hope he returns.
Horrible writing, editing and the most loathsome, selfish, jerk main characters ever created
msvillager27 November 2021
Painfully amateurish writing, editing, direction...it's all a pure train wreck. Whoever green lighted this BS needs to be fired, and never allowed to ever work in the entertainment media industry again.
The main characters are so unlikable, selfish, and narcissistic. You actually hope the aliens will end them. Except for maybe the British kid with epilepsy and the visions.
The main characters are so unlikable, selfish, and narcissistic. You actually hope the aliens will end them. Except for maybe the British kid with epilepsy and the visions.
Nothing much happens - again
bobetjo26 November 2021
Enough! Absolute Rubbish.
marts043326 November 2021
Wajo, Wajo, Wajo
valerianodellalonga26 November 2021
Yet another episode not making sense and keeping the storyline stale. Enough. This is the third one basically ending with the "Wajo, Wajo, Wajo" crap. Redundant and boring, I'm done with it. It's a shame cause it could have been a good show if it was edited and developed in a radical different way.
It's gets worse
cmc200028 November 2021
I'm done after mitsuki...
insptda7 September 2023
Warning: Spoilers
Soooo... Mitsuki is the only person who can open a line of communication? Why? And when she realizes that she, the smartest in the world, is unable to translate... She chooses to send d*ck pics (OK, not d*ck pics, but random vids)? This just simply tops off what has been a really boring series with perhaps too many storylines to really care about... Especially when they never develop any depth. It's sad... It seems to be produced well, most acting is decent to good. Just bland story telling that just scabs over itself. A kid who has alien foresight due to his seizures, a military husband who was in the middle of a marriage falling apart? (not quite sure what's going on) & a doctor who isn't a doctor that hasn't been touched in a really long time... Oh & a piece of random metal that apparently the aliens have an allergen to... Not sure I'll keep watching... But I just can't stop staring at this disaster of a show...
Meh!
gbarrett-3994117 August 2023
Warning: Spoilers
This episode is strange. The series is slow for sure. I'm not sure why the creators made the pacing and creative decisions. The "Navy Seal" character is weird. Casting a Canadian as an American is a strange move if the actor doesn't even try to sound or act like an American. Whoever made this series must think that Canadians don't have an accent. It's as stark a contrast as hearing an Australian pretending to be from Georgia. His actions and accent totally remove you from the reality that this show is going for. Why did they chose to make him a Navy Seal...don't know. Sounds cool I guess. The premise is ridiculous. I hope season two gets better.
Absurd and lazy writing. Snail's pace.
jeroen-10621 December 2023
"Invasion" Season 1, Episode 8, titled "Contact," takes a dive into the realm of science fiction that stretches beyond the bounds of plausibility, harking back to the days of '90s sci-fi extravaganzas like "Independence Day." However, unlike its predecessors, this episode fails to anchor its fantastical elements in a bedrock of believability, which becomes its Achilles' heel.
The episode's central plot revolves around a Japanese woman attempting to communicate with aliens, a premise that in itself invites intrigue. However, the execution of this idea quickly veers into the realm of the absurd. The methodology and technology employed for this alien communication are reminiscent of the far-fetched scenario in "Independence Day," where a human-made virus is used to infiltrate an alien mothership. This comparison is not flattering; it highlights a lack of originality and an over-reliance on outdated sci-fi tropes.
Moreover, the show's portrayal of technology is disappointingly superficial. In an era where the audience is more tech-savvy than ever, and when real-world scientists, language experts, and engineers are readily accessible for consultation, the writers of "Invasion" opt for a lazy approach. The use of techno-babble, accompanied by flashy but meaningless visualizations of nodes, 3D spaces, and lines of code, does little to mask the absence of genuine scientific grounding. This approach not only insults the intelligence of the viewer but also represents a missed opportunity to infuse the narrative with authenticity and depth.
This lack of commitment to realism in "Invasion" extends to its overall pacing and development throughout the season. With a narrative that meanders more than it progresses, the show struggles to maintain engagement. The recommendation to watch it at 1.25x speed is a telling comment on its sluggish pacing. In a time where television writing has reached new heights of sophistication and complexity, the lackluster execution of "Invasion" stands out as a glaring example of how not to approach science fiction storytelling.
In summary, "Invasion" S01E08 is a disappointment for viewers seeking intelligent, well-researched science fiction. Its reliance on outdated tropes, combined with a lack of scientific rigor and slow pacing, makes for a viewing experience that falls short of the standards expected by contemporary audiences. It serves as a reminder that even in the realm of fiction, credibility and attention to detail are paramount.
The episode's central plot revolves around a Japanese woman attempting to communicate with aliens, a premise that in itself invites intrigue. However, the execution of this idea quickly veers into the realm of the absurd. The methodology and technology employed for this alien communication are reminiscent of the far-fetched scenario in "Independence Day," where a human-made virus is used to infiltrate an alien mothership. This comparison is not flattering; it highlights a lack of originality and an over-reliance on outdated sci-fi tropes.
Moreover, the show's portrayal of technology is disappointingly superficial. In an era where the audience is more tech-savvy than ever, and when real-world scientists, language experts, and engineers are readily accessible for consultation, the writers of "Invasion" opt for a lazy approach. The use of techno-babble, accompanied by flashy but meaningless visualizations of nodes, 3D spaces, and lines of code, does little to mask the absence of genuine scientific grounding. This approach not only insults the intelligence of the viewer but also represents a missed opportunity to infuse the narrative with authenticity and depth.
This lack of commitment to realism in "Invasion" extends to its overall pacing and development throughout the season. With a narrative that meanders more than it progresses, the show struggles to maintain engagement. The recommendation to watch it at 1.25x speed is a telling comment on its sluggish pacing. In a time where television writing has reached new heights of sophistication and complexity, the lackluster execution of "Invasion" stands out as a glaring example of how not to approach science fiction storytelling.
In summary, "Invasion" S01E08 is a disappointment for viewers seeking intelligent, well-researched science fiction. Its reliance on outdated tropes, combined with a lack of scientific rigor and slow pacing, makes for a viewing experience that falls short of the standards expected by contemporary audiences. It serves as a reminder that even in the realm of fiction, credibility and attention to detail are paramount.
This might be a cure for insomnia if it wasn't so annoying
huntmikeer5 February 2024
Warning: Spoilers
As others before me have stated there is so much dragging going on here. Only on television. Would you be able to leave a 2 minute outgoing answering machine message and then be able to leave a 5-minute response? If you cut out all of the boring extraneous non-essential dialogue in this episode, it would have fit on that answering machine message. Again, I'm repeating what others have said before me, but it needs to be said again... In a military facility, the acting officer would have had the American arrested or shot during what amounts to martial law for his ridiculous behavior. The lead female character suddenly is willing to overlook her husband's deplorable behavior and simply forgive him? She was written as a much stronger character to begin with and now waffles. Sad.
Torturously boring
mrnathankirkpatrick13 April 2024
This may be the most unrealistic, melodramatic, boring writing I've ever seen in an episode of television. This episode feels like nothing but filler so they could meet the ten episode order they got for the season.
The opening scene where the solider makes a speech about having made a promise to get home? Wouldn't ever happen, and who cares? The world is ending.
The phone booth scene, the "you're not wearing your ring" scene, the "tell me about your mom, I want to meet her" scene. All way too overwrought. The writers were trying very hard to make the audience care.
The soldier storyline has never been interesting and I've never wanted a character to be killed off of a show more.
I may not watch anymore after this.
The opening scene where the solider makes a speech about having made a promise to get home? Wouldn't ever happen, and who cares? The world is ending.
The phone booth scene, the "you're not wearing your ring" scene, the "tell me about your mom, I want to meet her" scene. All way too overwrought. The writers were trying very hard to make the audience care.
The soldier storyline has never been interesting and I've never wanted a character to be killed off of a show more.
I may not watch anymore after this.
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