Back to back insane, action packed episodes. 

The fight sequence with Conquest felt to me like it was done by a different animation studio, that’s how great it looked. Honestly rivaled Incincible’s fight with Omniman from the first season, and I’ve loved the parallels to that battle these last three episodes of Mark being forced to relive that trauma by seeing cities leveled and masses of citizens killed by his enemies just to taunt him. Conquest specifically uses Mark like a battering ram to rip people in half, basically a direct reference to the iconic train scene from season one. 

Mark definitely needed a win after Angstrom got away last week, but I think the deus ex machina from Eve was a bit of a strange way to give him that. He does ultimately kill Conquest on his own after that (and I love that this finale mirrors last season where he agonized over taking a life) but I think it’s a bit disappointing that Conquest was only around for this one episode and was—for supposedly the strongest Viltrumite they’ve ever seen—taken out too easily.

I’ll also say that the gore in this show is a double-edged sword, because seeing the heroes get obliterated during fights is unique and adds real stakes, but when they constantly walk away and recover, I start to lose faith that the show will actually carry out meaningful deaths. It was the same trouble last season with the lizard league fight and what felt like a fake out death for pretty much every character involved. I don’t necessarily think we needed a huge death this episode, especially after Rex last week, but watching Eve and Oliver get ripped apart and survive (not to mention Eve’s injury from episode 7) was just a bit much. It definitely strengthens the emotional investment in the fight when you see them get hurt, but you almost know they won’t actually die or face lasting consequences from their injuries.

Obviously those are just some tiny details I felt held it back a little. This was overall another amazing episode and probably my third favorite of the show. Mark is really gaining some power, and I like that his moral code is shifting. If I remember from the comics, this part was pretty interesting where the blue suit kind of starts representing a little black suit Spider-Man era for him as we see here with his willingness to kill. And wow, the voice acting from everyone was on point, but Jeffrey Dean Morgan was so perfect for Conquest. I’m glad they got him for such a memorable villain. 


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