I just watched the Episode 7 of the latest season of Invincible and I'm quite disappointed. This is one of my favourite series, I love it so much and want it to succeed, and so far they've been quite perfect with the plot logic and all, but they've just dropped the ball with this episode.
The Flaw Proper
It's one of the easiest flaws to fall for when you're creating a powerful character. You have to be careful to not make the character too powerful or else all the obstacles and conflict in his way would seem like nothing to him and no matter how you decide to weave the story a logical audience would always say "nah, he's so powerful he would have just done this or that instead".
This is also the main flaw in the Bible too, God as described by the Bible is just too powerful for any of those things in the Bible to have been a problem for him. For example his ability to know the future alone would have stopped him from creating Satan, acting surprised that Adam and Eve ate the apple, etc.
I digress.
So, always be careful how powerful you make your characters. In this Invincible episode they've just made that mistake. Grand Regent Thraag is too damn powerful. In the Episode before 7, they made him attack the Headquarters of the alliance with some of his men, and when they met resistance and their ship got destroyed he fled with his men.
Then in Episode 7 the top fighters of the alliance took the fight to him in his planet and he fought for all of us to see for the first time and he's just too damn strong.
Invincible gave him one of the most enraged punches ever. The sort of punch from the bottom of his heart he's gotten known for in the series, and Thraag reacted like it was just a forehead kiss.
Then Thraag's fight with Omni man showed us some more how powerful he was. Omni man who was the strongest so far in the series was just like a child fighting a grown up against Thraag.
Then Thraag simply tore off the head of a powerful Viltrumite like Thaddeus as if it was nothing:
All these show of strength just made it clear that the story should have ended in Episode 6 with Thraag destroying every single fighter the alliance had singlehandedly. No one could be a problem for him. There's no reason he fled when their ship got destroyed, and there's no reason any of the attackers left with their lives in the Episodes 7 because they were all nothing to him.
He is too powerful for any obstacle to be a threat. This is why the creators of Superman also made Kryptonite to be Superman's weaknesses, amongst other things. The only way this episode would have made sense is if there was the presence of other things or reasons to slow Thraag down or make him keep his distance, but there was no such thing.
🤦🏿♂️
The End
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