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Invasion Review for 1.22, ‘The Last Wake Good-Bye’ aka ‘This is the End’ aka ’It’s About Family’ aka ‘Holy Cliffhanger!’ aka ‘Darn you, ABC!’

As I sat down to watch this episode-the last ever episode-I was excited and sad. I was sad and excited and holding back the urge to call ABC execs and tell them to go jump in the ocean. Still, I settled in with a nice milkshake and watched.

The first ten minutes blew me away. Everything was happening so fast and I was just waiting for something to go wrong. Yet, everything went right or right-ish, anyway! Which lead me to decide that things would end up going very wrong within the last ten minutes.

We began the episode pretty much where we left off: big yellow lights coming down, hybrids pushing people in the water, everyone scared out of their minds. Great stuff. Great stuff, I have to give a bit of time to.

Actually, I want to talk about three things:

One-The Tom and Russell two men army. Ok, it was a little over the stop and the gun fire did look fake-ish. But, it was Tom and Russell and they do seem to have a thing for reenacting moments from buddy cop movies of the 80s. I can’t fault them for going all gun crazy.

Two-Dave and Lewis in the car and calling for help from the army made me smile. It made me giggle. It was actually kind of funny. Why? Well, the fact that Dave kept yelling: ‘Look out the window.’, as Lewis was trying to talk. For some reason, when you are in that type of situation, you forget to just state the obvious: Look out the window.

Three-Everyone in the warehouse. Brett losing his mom broke my heart. And I was so scared for Larkin, Jesse, and Rose, as Larkin tried to keep the three of them together. BTW: Did anyone else hear Rose call Larkin ‘Mom’, as Larkin hid her under the stairs? Mistake or just a thing you say. It’s just, we have never heard Rose call Larkin anything but ‘Larkin’. Oh well, they are family.

Something else, this was maybe one of the best hours on television this year. Certainly, a great season finale. And while, I think they could have used the characters more in some places and while I felt it was too short, it was still great. What makes Invasion great is not the mysteries, it’s the characters and how they interact with one another and how they react to the mysteries.

Characters:

Tom-Oh Tom. He really is one of the most interesting characters on television. He was certainly one of the best characters on the show. For me, tonight was about how all he wants is to keep his family together. About what lengths he will go to in order to do that. For some reason, I seriously can’t think of things to say about Tom. I think everything was pretty much summed up in my first couple of sentences. One thing I do have to bring up: the last scenes with Tom, carrying poor Larkin to the water. That was truly one of the most intense and heartbreaking moments in the whole series. You could see the conflict playing over Tom’s face. Do you just let this person that you care about, that’s family die. Or do you take your loved one to the water, in hopes that they live. Szura’s words certainly rang true in that last scene.

Russell-Russell, Russell, Russ, Rusty, Russell. I know that he cares about his kids and wife. I know that he kind of had to go with Tom to find Mariel. I know that he had to help Mariel out, because he’s “a good man”. But, I just…there’s something about him that bothers me. He wants to protect his family, but he almost always goes about it the wrong way and he almost always ends up in some kind of trouble because of it. There are simply moments where I don’t ‘get’ Russell. The one interesting thing, or rather the two interesting things that came out of his scenes: Szura is apparently dead. We saw that the yellow lights are fish looking things that can come to the edges of the shore.

Mariel-I knew it. It isn’t her hybrid-ness that gets her in trouble. It’s the fact that she is a doctor and a mother. But really, most people would not have been able to just leave four pregnant women. I think it is pretty clear that Mariel still has strong feelings for Russell, which may have been one of the main reasons why she asked for his help. The two of them have seen a lot of freaky stuff together over the last couple of months and it really is effecting their relationship, which was once oh so chilly.

Larkin-Okay, I adore Larkin. She’s pure awesome (it so runs in her family). She protected Jesse and Rose above herself and the baby. She was smart enough to turn the radio on, so the kids and Lewis would know what was happening and who was coming. She’s just a really great character. And when she was shot? Oh, I felt so awful. Actually, that scene with her on the floor and everyone trying to do something was really well done. I know that had there been a second season, Larkin (and baby?) would have come back as a hybrid. Now that, would have opened up a whole new can of worms.

Dave-Dave recorded everything. He also noticed that relief group. I think Dave was really on to something with that. It seems like a lot of higher ups know about the hybrids and may actually want people to come back as hybrids. I think Dave is actually a great character, because he notices and figures out the stuff that average people would notice and figure out. Like I’ve said, Tom and Russell may be the ‘heroes’, but Dave knows what is going on. On another note: when he was holding Larkin’s hand and trying to keep her awake-that broke my heart.

Rose-Rose knows stuff. I loved the way she stated that Mariel died, but came back. And while she isn’t the same, Mariel is still her mother. I think it was what Rose said, that changed Brett’s views on everything. Rose may be very young, but she is a very insightful and intelligent little girl. Perhaps the theory that Tom is Rose’s birth father holds some water after all?

Jesse-Jesse certainly has changed. He’s gone from this dorky kid to a very brave (though tad emo) young man. I really liked the way he handled things at the Underlay home and that he told Brett that he was wrong with a lot of the things he thought just a week or so ago. He didn’t have a whole lot to do this week, but he did it well-the last scene with Larkin comes to mind, she‘s his family and he loves her. Jesse is brave and I think he could have handled the upcoming events with grace and strength.

Kira-She wasn’t given a real lot to do, but I still enjoyed her. I enjoyed the emotions that were playing in her short scenes: being scared during the shooting, the tears as Larkin lay bleeding in her living room, the way she kept Rose beside her in the bedroom and in the closet, as Jesse called Tom, the hug she gave Lewis, the way she simply said her mother was dead. Did we ever learn why Kira’s mother never came back as a hybrid? Did Kira’s mom have a ‘defect’ like Kira? Either way, I’m sure it is something Kira has thought about over the last two months.

Lewis-I did enjoy the way he was there to protect Jesse, Kira, and Rose. It was a good call to hide in the closet, though maybe he should have had the kids leave the house all together? Who knows. What I do know is this-Lewis is apart of the family group, even if he isn’t directly related to anyone.

Szura-His last words to Tom were chilling. Also chilling is the way he wants the hybrids to survive and become the ‘main’ race of the world. Of course, there are others like him out there. And even if Russell said he’s dead. Who knows just how well hybrids can heal?

Ships:

Tom/Mariel/Russell/Larkin:

I honestly believe all four actors have the most amazing chemistry when they are together. And that must’ve been something the casting people looked for. Tom’s concern for Mariel. Russell’s concern for Larkin and the baby, then his concern for Mariel. Russell helping Mariel, even though it would have been a disaster. Tom bringing Larkin to the water and then putting her in the water. It’s all the sort of thing that leads me to this: they all love their spouses, but they all care about one another. No wonder so many people like all kinds of different combos of these four.

There was not much on any other ship front, but I must say this:

Lewis/Kira: Lewis calling for Kira, the hug, the awkward way Lewis put the kids in the car, the way she didn’t want him to go out alone. All very sweet.

As for:

Jesse/Kira: Despite the fact that Jesse has a crush on her, I do think they have a better best friends/siblings relationship at the moment.

Things we learned:

-Higher ups in the military are hybrids or have some kind of investment in people dying and of their hybrids coming back.

-Hybrids need to be in water in order for a good birth. They may or may not die.

-There could be thousands of new hybrids all over the coast now.

-In the future (or even now) there are more humans that know about hybrids and they are (trying) to fight them. Interesting thought-Would the Underlay-Varon family have been a target? Would our favorite characters have been in the middle, between humans and hybrids, with no one to trust but one another?

- It takes a lot to kill a hybrid, but Szura must be dead.

-Since Larkin apparently wasn’t ‘rejected’, they will take a nearly dead pregnant woman.

Things we still don’t know:

-Pretty much everything else. Personally, I feel like the finale put a lot more questions out there and didn’t really answer all that much.

Closing thoughts: I think that with this episode we saw something: these characters were all a family. Tom, Mariel, Russell, Larkin, Dave, Jesse, Kira, Rose, even Lewis were this family that really could only trust one another.

All I can say is this, this really was one of the best shows on television and I will miss it and its characters.

Oh, and the online ‘Save Invasion’ petition now has 9145 signatures, after just three or four days.

Score:

Acting: 10/10
Script: 9/10
OMGWTF?! Moments: 10/10
Special Effects: 7/10
Questions Answered: 6/10
Character Use: 6/10
Character Interaction: 9/10
Overall Score: 57/70