Invasion

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Golshifteh Farahani, Azhy Robertson and Tara Maayedi in Invasion on Apple TV+

"Do you ever want to run away?" asks Luke of his mother, Aneesha, in season one of Invasion, now streaming on Apple TV+.

Golshifteh Farahani, as mother Aneesha Malik, answers, "No, but I understand how you feel."

A lot of reviewers of this science fiction thriller also understand how Luke feels. They wanted to, and did, run away from Invasion's first season, released in 2021.

Not enough action. Too slow. Geez, enough with the touchy-feely. These were common themes in personal and critic reviews alike. Where are the aliens? Where's the heroism? Who do we root for?

And I, like Aneesha, understand how these reviewers feel. But no, I don't want to run away. I want more, lots more.

Invasion has three seasons, the last released in 2025. Its first season reminds me of Stephen King's novel The Last Stand, where disparate groups fight for survival in an unrecognizable world. Each group, unaware of the other, struggles not so much with aliens, but with their own human natures. The aliens arrive, but they take their time. (They don't show until episode six of season one.)

Invasion isn't video game action like Edge of Tomorrow. It's not the "Oorah" shout of Independence Day. It doesn't have a definitive heroine like Sigourney Weaver in Aliens. If you expect those things from this series, you'll be rightfully disappointed.

Invasion, like all great apocalyptic stories, teaches us who we are when we lose the trappings of civilized society. The invasion itself is just a plot device, a way of boiling off the characters' protective skins so that we see the bleached white bones of our own humanity. The central theme is always, who are we? What are we capable of? When we can't run away, what will we do to survive?

Five out of five stars.

PS: Be aware that the series is multilingual with English subtitles.