Secret Invasion certainly isn’t lacking in the talent department. Samuel L. Jackson is giving Nick Fury more depth and nuance than ever before, Emilia Clarke is giving it her all and then some, and Ben Mendelsohn always delivers his best. And yet, despite this stacked cast, it’s Olivia Colman’s Secret Invasion performance I’ve been completely bewitched by.
In only a handful of scenes, Colman’s character Sonya Falsworth has become one of the most intriguing and mysterious personalities in the entire MCU. Colman’s innate charm shines through every time she’s on screen, but there’s so much more hiding beneath the surface. We have no idea who she is. There’s no comic book history we can draw from to try and understand her desires. She is a wild card in a way not many MCU antagonists get to be.
Normally speaking, a villain’s motivations in the MCU are clear from the start. We as the audience need to know why the featured hero or heroes are the only ones who can reasonably defeat them. But Sonya is a different beast entirely. What is her endgame? What does she gain from winning the war that is fought in the shadows? Or perhaps even losing it? Is she doing this for personal reasons, or acting on behalf of the U.K. and the rest of the world? Nobody knows. Not even Nick Fury.
And while one could argue that the sense of mystery surrounding Falsworth is just a result of the secrets that permeate the entire premise of the show, there’s more to it than that. She may be a Skrull, who knows? But what’s really so compelling about her is that the charming and personable way she presents herself doesn’t seem to be a mask; it is simply part of who she is, just as much as her capacity for torture is part of who she is.
In Secret Invasion‘s second episode, Sonya interrogates a captured Skrull for information about Gravik’s plans and their experimental mutations. Her chitchat is initially pleasant, but there’s no mistaking her gravitas, confidence, and most of all, her experience. This is a woman who walks around in a gorgeously luxurious maroon wool coat, who’s just as comfortable in an office filled with expensive antiques as she is crawling around in a sewer tunnel beneath a butcher shop. This is a woman who knows which buttons to press and has no problem seeing a sentient being writhe around in pain after she made his blood boil beneath his skin. It’s just another day in the life of Sonya Falsworth.
I’m dying to know more about Falsworth, but at the same time, I want her to remain a riddle. I want to be surprised and horrified and delighted every time she shows up in a scene. Colman is clearly having the time of her life playing this role, and I am having the time of my life just watching her.
(featured image: Disney+)
