I’m going to review the new Sci-Fi show from Simon Kinberg and David Weil, Invasion. I also need to correct some nomenclature confusion from past episodes.

This show appears on Apple TV+ which is a service you can use through your phone, tablet, or computer, and that is natively available on Apple TV hardware. Apple+ is not a thing, Apple TV+ is the service, and Apple TV is the hardware. I’m going to try really hard not to misspeak again, but this feels like the entertainment version of the meteoroid-meteorite-meteor nomenclature confusion.

Back to the review.

Invasion is a show that seems to be giving away spoilers with its very name. I’ve watched the first four episodes, and this slow burn of a show starts off with the world suffering pockets of confusing destruction. The show’s summary lets the viewer know that this is gonna be aliens, just hold on. I actually think it was a mistake to give away so much with the title and summary. Because I know it’s going to be aliens, I find myself wanting to see Independence Day or V–style spaceships hovering over cities. I want to see the invasion forces of Falling Skies doing what they will to humanity. I want to see something, and as of 4 episodes in, we’ve only gotten hints – sounds from space, a fragment of a sighting in a melee – and these hints do not sate my need for aliens.

This is not a show about aliens, however, at least not yet. Instead, it is a show about people responding to their world falling apart for unknown reasons as satellites fall from the sky, mysterious events occur, and as people have to deal with all this chaos while dealing with the normal chaos of relationships, careers, and family.

Just don’t fall in love with any of the characters. This is a show not afraid to kill the folks you think are in it for the season. You are warned.

Is this a good show? I think so? Invasion does not offer instant gratification or cliffhanger endings. Just like life in the first weeks of the pandemic, it shows people just trying to survive while it’s unclear exactly what is wrong with the world, other than knowing that something really, really bad is happening, and it is happening everywhere.

This is not escapist fiction. This is a story written for this moment. I don’t really like this moment in history, and I kind of want it to hurry up and conclude. And I want this show to hurry up and show me those aliens. Get to the action or something. Am I going to keep watching? Yes. Is it worth watching? Not if you’re into instant gratification. I feel like this is the kind of show that might benefit from a binge-watch.

New episodes drop each Friday. With ten episodes planned and a second season already greenlit, Apple TV+ is showing that they believe this show will find an audience. And I guess it found me? Unless you are someone who is determined to watch every sci-fi show as they come out, maybe hold off watching until you know action is coming. Give us a follow on Twitter, where we are @cosmoquestx, and we’ll let you know when the aliens arrive and if it’s time to tune in.