Invincible Season 2 Episode 3 Recap: Allen the Alien & Omni-Man Return

Invincible Season 2 Episode 3 “This Missive, This Machination!” is now streaming on Prime Video – and we have your full SPOILERS RECAP here! 

The third episode of Invincible Season 2 is just as dense as the previous one – albeit with more focused purpose. The two main storylines follow Mark Grayson as he tries to adjust to college life, only to get called up for a major intergalactic mission. Meanwhile, Mark’s mom Debbie tries to navigate her grief now that she’s an empty nester, only to be confronted by how deep the wound of Nolan’s betrayal goes. If all that wasn’t enough, we also get an episode-within-the-episode featuring the return of Seth Rogen’s Allen the Alien and some new interpersonal drama with the Guardians of the Globe. 

…And holy sh*t! What a cliffhanger ending! Episode 4 can’t get here fast enough! 

College Man – Debbie (Sandra Oh) drops Mark (Steven Yeun) off at college, in an emotional mother/son goodbye moment. Debbie ends the moment by ordering Mark not to do drugs, leading to a funny bit of speculation about whether or not they would even affect him. After Mark is gone, a depressed Debbie decides to call the number for the support that was recommended by Olga, the widow of Red Rush

Dorm Life – Mark and William (Andrew Rannells start living in a dorm room together and set it up with two very different flavors of life (Mark being more geeky/childish). The boys have THE “sock on the door” conversation about roommate ethics; Mark quickly observes how out of place his childish trinkets are amidst college kids, and throws them away – except for his favorite collectible, Seance Dog. By the time he gets back to the room, William has a sock hanging from the door; it works out for Mark, though, as having to crash in Amber’s (Zazie Beetz) room leads to them finally taking things all the way… 

Allen’s Origin – In a surprising pivot, Invincible Season 2 Episode 3 leaves the scene of Mark and Amber consummation as a voiceover narrator leads us into the origin story of Allen The Alien (Seth Rogen), who gets a full origin story montage. Turns out, Allen is a champion of the Unopian race who was genetically bred to be able to kill Viltrumites. Allen of course failed at that task and was eventually re-assigned to being a surveyor of planets on behalf of the galactic coalition. Allen’s mistake with Earth and Mark Grayson led to the GC getting its best chance yet to combat the Viltrumite threat.

Allen’s Death – The present-day story finds Allen being tasked with Galactic Coalition leader Thaedus (Transformers’ Peter Cullen) tasks Allen with finding a mole in the ranks, who is feeding information to the Viltrumites. Allen stops for a night of lovemaking with his girlfriend Telia, but the next day, a trio of seasoned Viltrumite warriors arrives at Coalition HQ on Talescria demanding to know more about intel about Nolan’s desertion of Earth, and his half-human son. Allen refuses to submit and is beaten to near death by the Viltrumites. In the end, Allen is killed in his regenerative chamber by none other than Thaedus!

Death Mates – As the Allen portion of the episode ends, the story returns to the Guardians of the Globe on Earth. Rex (Jason Mantzoukas) has a confrontation with Dupli-Kate (Malese Jow) over her relationship with The Immortal (Ross Marquand). Kate gets deep about how she and Immortal have both died countless times, bonding them. After Shapesmith cuts the tension with some antics, we get the small, cute, story arc about Rudy and Monster Girl going on a movie date, and Rudy experiencing a Burger and fries meal for the first time outside his robot body. 

Grief Counseling – Debbie attends a grief support group meeting and bonds with one man in the group. She gets invited out for drinks afterward and takes the big step of trying to be social. The outing takes an awkward, sad, turn when Debbie realizes that the man she’s befriended is actually the husband of Green Ghost, one of the Guardians that Omni-Man slaughtered. Debbie eventually breaks down and confesses who she is, pleading for forgiveness. Unfortunately, Green Ghost’s husband doesn’t have any to spare for her. 

Child’s Play – Mark sneaks back into his dorm room after getting lucky with Amber only to find William waiting up for him. The two talk about trying to be normal after all the superhero traumas they’ve experienced (respectively) – only to have the WTF times roll on as Seance Dog shows up at Mark’s door. A quick scuffle later, “Seance Dog” is revealed to be a bug-looking alien in disguise. The alien claims to be a Thraxan serving as an emissary for his people. He asks Mark to come back to Thraxa to help stop a world-ending threat. After weighing where his duties as a hero lie, and his personal concerns, Mark gets a final push from Amber and heads out into the stars (again) – much to the chagrin of his boss Cecile (Walton Goggins). It’s left unclear whether or not Amber hears Mark say “I love you” for the first time before their call is cut short. 

Emperor-Man of Thraxa – The Episode ends with Mark finally arriving on Tharxa where he’s taken to meet the esteemed emperor of the planet. Turns out, that Emperor is none other than Mark’s father Nolan – aka Omni-Man (J.K. Simmons)! 

Invincible Season 2 is streaming on Prime Video. Stay tuned to ComicBook Nation for more Recaps!