TV Review: ABC’s Invasion

I’m a hybrid, he’s a hybrid, she’s a hybrid, we’re a hybrid, wouldn’t you like to be a hybrid too?

Back in September I became interested in ABC’s TV show, Invasion. I liked the premise that there was something in the water that was mysteriously replacing people. I also liked the pace of the show. Instead of knocking us out every week with huge revelations, there was a slow peeling away of secrets that was promising to reveal something rather intriguing. Besides, even though the national timing was bad, the initial hurricane sequence was pretty exciting—especially for someone who lives in the hurricane-free Pacific Northwest.


Well, it’s been a while that the show is on, and though there have been many things that have happened, I’m starting to wonder if the show really knows where it’s going.

I was about ready to stop watching the show altogether until I saw a commercial for last night’s episode. I thought it looked promising so I decided to watch it. I have to say, it was interesting. This hybrid (that’s what they call the replaced people) girl has gotten pregnant by another hybrid and she looks like she’s very close to having babies. This is raising the question of whether the hybrids are the goal of if they are just a breeding ground to bring around some new, more terrifying creature.

So while I’m intrigued by the story, I’m finding myself uninterested by some of the revelations that are being made. Last night there was a medic who was introduced who was later revealed to be a notorious hybrid from a previous invasion in another place. I found myself not even being moved by that huge revelation at all.

I guess another part of my confusion on this show is that it’s not very clear who the bad guys are. OK, so we know that getting replaced and becoming a hybrid is a bad thing, but not all of the hybrids are bad people. So exactly what, or who, are we supposed to be afraid of?

I’ll probably stick around for the rest of this show because now it seems to be progressing at a more exciting pace, and I’d even recommend it to others, but be warned, this is even more of a serial drama than ABC’s Lost—if that’s possible. At least Lost has a story in the flashbacks that gets somewhat resolved by the end of the episode. Invasions episodes are more like chapters in a television novel.