As the midseason finale approaches, Invasion has once again found its foothold by expanding its interconnected storytelling. The fifth episode, titled “A Voice From The Other Side,” explores a strange connection the invading aliens seem to share with humans through Mitsuki’s experiments, which could really change our understanding of the narrative as a whole.
In the previous episode, the aftermath of the human assault on alien attack vessels was shown, as the aliens upgraded into a more vicious, quadruped form and doubled down on their efforts of world dominance. Previously, Aneesha and her family begrudgingly accompanied the Movement members in rescuing a family during the attack on the alien vessels, and in the midst of the chaotic situation, her daughter Sarah went missing. Former Lieutenant Trevante Cole, who went to Oklahoma at site zero of the alien invasion following the clues from Caspar’s artwork, was captured for illegal infiltration. However, with the help of Officer Rose, who was intrigued to know about the mysterious disappearances of residents of the county and believed the correlation between Caspar and aliens, he escaped from county jail.
Spoilers Ahead
County Crisis: What Did Trev and Rose Learn About the Alien Abduction?
Invasion Episode 5 opens at one of the isolated farmside houses in Oklahoma, the residence of elderly couple, Martin and Lisa. Initially, viewers are introduced to the scene through a third-person perspective, presumably of the invisible alien entities who watch over the house from afar and gradually move towards it. Anticipating someone’s arrival, Martin comes outside on the front porch carrying his gun, and Lisa follows him, but they find no one out there. Lisa comforts her husband, as it seems they have lost someone close to them, whose return Martin still awaits. All of a sudden, the invisible entity returns and presumably attacks the couple. The beginning of Invasion Episode 5 will remind viewers of the death scene of Sheriff Jim Bell Tyson from the first season, and it is gradually revealed that the situation is more complicated than previously thought.
On the other hand, Officer Rose has given shelter to Trev, but now she has second thoughts about the legitimacy of the connection between Caspar’s cryptic artworks and the aliens. She realizes that for someone like Trev, whose tragic past of failing to protect people close to him has resulted in being afflicted with a savior complex, it is impossible to move on from the war that he has been fighting within. Nevertheless, Trev tries to reassure her about there being a causality hinted in Caspar’s artwork, and following one of the picture clues, they arrive at the house of Martin and Lisa.
On the front porch of the house, a shell-shocked Martin is seen sitting, whose speech and cognitive capabilities seem to have been affected by some traumatic experience. Still, what Trev and Rose can make out of his barely comprehensible statements is that both he and his wife, were abducted by the aliens, and he was able to make it out of there somehow. Martin mentions Billy, who seems to be someone close to Rose, being there as well, but before he can be questioned further, the military arrives to take him with them, prompting Trev and Rose to hide. Later, remembering the update regarding Billy, Rose breaks down, and Trev tries to console her.
Circle of Trust: Did Aneesha Reveal Her Identity?
Meanwhile, Aneesha, along with the group leader Clark and volunteers of the Movement, continues to search for her daughter Sarah but is unable to find any major leads. One of the volunteers, Jackson, traces prints of military boots, indicating that Sarah was abducted by them, and given the Malik family’s past history with how they were hounded by the forces, it hardly seems any surprise. Aneesha later blames Clark for putting her family in this situation, as she previously wanted to part ways but Clark had insisted they stay with the group. Clark promises her that finding Sarah is their first priority.
Luke blames himself for everything that has happened so far, right from the military capturing their family to meeting with the Movement group and Sarah’s abduction, and like a caring mother, Aneesha comforts him, stating he shouldn’t beat himself up over it. She knows the horrors of persecution firsthand, and the situation they have found themselves in is a by-product of that. Hanley, a rather disgruntled volunteer, suspects the Maliks to be hiding some information, as he wonders why the military would be so desperate to abduct a kid.
Later, as Clark’s daughter, Ryder, tries to comfort Luke by sharing stories of her childhood, Luke once again mistakenly reveals the fact that they were hiding their identity and that they had found a particular important object, an alien shard, which the military desperately wants to acquire. Previously, Aneesha faked her identity in front of Clark and the rest of the Movement volunteers under the name of Ana Lewis, for obvious reasons of distrust towards strangers, as she knows how people of her religion and ethnicity are treated, especially in the situation they have found themselves in. Hanley overhears the conversation between Luke and Ryder and tries to incriminate Aneesha in front of Movement volunteers. However, a timely rescue by Clark, who lies about Aneesha previously mentioning her true identity to him and takes the blame for not revealing it to the group, helps pacify the situation. Aneesha later thanks Clark for the kind gesture and states that she will try to broaden the circle of trust. The group leaves for the military outpost, where Sarah is possibly taken.
What Did Mitsuki Learn About the Alien Hive Mind?
At the fallen alien mothership in the Amazon rainforest, Nikhil and his group of explorers, including Maya and Mitsuki, discuss the next course of action with WDC President Benya Mabote. Their attack on alien assault vessels has been returned with equal ferocity as the hunter-type aliens have ravaged the Earth, and they need to find a way to tackle the threat. Mitsuki states that she will try to search for answers by probing deeper into the formless entity, hacking whose signals she was able to provide an opening for the previous attack.
As Mitsuki decides to provoke the alien entity by torturing it to get a response, Maya gets concerned about Mitsuki once again losing herself in the flow of work, guilt, and pressure. Nikhil is of the opinion that Mitsuki should operate as she deems fit and wants to utilize her expertise with no regard to the possible impact it can leave on her. Almost like a military general, for Nikhil, nothing is off limits when winning the war is in question. Maya hasn’t developed such a hard-boiled, single-minded mentality, and she really seems to be protective of Mitsuki. By taking her into the rainforest, Maya tries to emphasize how biologically and otherwise, everything is interconnected—and whether Mitsuki likes it or not, being the centerpiece of the entire ordeal, she is important and needs to depend on others as well.
As planned, Mitsuki starts poking the alien entity’s consciousness and increases the external charges to provoke it further until the consciousness takes a recognizable human form in front of her, appears as a young Hinata, and begs her to stop inflicting pain. The entity is an alien hive mind and appears in the form of Hinata’s young self only in front of Mitsuki, as the rest of the team, including Nikhil and Maya, see nothing as such. It is revealed that it hasn’t appeared in this particular form to emotionally hurt Mitsuki, but in fact, as we previously speculated, Hinata’s consciousness is somehow connected with the alien hive mind. Despite getting the biggest shock of her life, Mitsuki proceeds with the questioning, and the hive mind questions her as to why humans are in conflict with them. When Mitsuki states that they will not surrender Earth, the place humans call home, to the alien invaders, the hive mind doesn’t seem to understand.
The hive mind takes its usual, shapeless resplendent form and uses Hinata’s consciousness to provoke Mitsuki’s guilt. As Hinata states her wish to touch Mitsuki, she removes her gloves and makes contact with the entity’s physical form, much to Nikhil, Maya, and the rest of the team’s surprise. Mitsuki gets engulfed by the entity, and she sees an ‘other side’ at the far end of the entity, where Caspar is seen searching for Jamila. Maya retracts Mitsuki by pulling out the connected gear before the situation grows worse, and as they watch over her, Mitsuki remarks about someone(s) being out there.
Mitsuki’s revelation and the ending of Invasion Episode 5 were of seminal importance to the alien situation, as they changed viewers’ understanding of the narrative. Caspar is connected to the same hive mind, as, in the first season, he was able to use the connection to stop an alien attack and has fallen into a coma ever since. Perhaps through Mitsuki’s connection, Caspar will be released from the hold after all. Also, the Oklahoma segment revealed how the missing persons were in fact abducted by aliens, perhaps as a means of infiltration —through Mitsuki’s connection, those victims might have a chance to get released as well, if they are still alive, that is. But the challenge Mitsuki will face is her personal connection, as Hinata’s consciousness is attached to the hive mind, and it remains to be seen how that affects her decisions from this point onwards.
