Viltrumite History is CRAZIER Than We Thought! Invincible Season 4 Premiere Reaction
The Viltrumites were unstoppable… so what REALLY happened to them?
From Omni-Man’s past to the Great Purge and the deadly virus that nearly wiped them out, Invincible just changed everything we thought we knew.
Check it out!
Nolan and Debbie represent Odysseus and Penelope in The Odyssey.
TLDR: Penelope raises Telemachus while Odysseus is away, and has to survive the many suitors until Odysseus returns home and all is well.
Debbie has to raise Mark and Oliver while Nolan is away. He's likely gonna fight his way back to Debbie while she dates, but the suitor(s) never fit correctly until Nolan returns.
Some very light S3 spoilers below.
The House
Nolan brought Debbie a tree on their first date, not flowers. Odysseus and Penelope's bed was made from a tree, which represents the stability of their marriage and their home. I was wondering why the writers wouldn't have Debbie and Mark move out of that traumatic house. For some reason, Debbie refuses to leave the house that her and Nolan lived in, even though his memory pains her. Then there's Paul. Even when she and Paul were kissing, they did it downstairs, not in the bedroom. Similarly, Penelope never allowed any of her suitors into her and Odysseus' bedroom. The bed they shared could not be moved, because it was made from a literal olive tree (notice that Oliver connection btw). Nolan's family remains exactly where he left them because like Odysseus' bed and home, the strength of their foundation will not allow them to be moved; they must be reunited because they are that tree. No matter what Nolan does, no matter where his journey takes him, he must be reunited with his family for him to be whole and for his story to end; all the same, Debbie, Mark, and Oliver depend on Nolan for the stability his presence brings.
While I'm on the fence of the endgame being The Necessity of Patriarchy, the writers have done their due diligence to give Debbie depth. As a Penelope reference, she's not able to exist wholly without Nolan. Some may call that problematic. Yet, Odysseus cannot be happy and whole without his wife. As a final test to make Odysseus prove himself to be her husband, Penelope tells her maidens to move her bed; only the true Odysseus would know that he crafted their bed, their marriage, from an olive tree and that it cannot actually be relocated. Penelope acts as cunning Odysseus' equal and forces him to prove his love in different ways. Nolan's return won't be easy or simple. I'm interested to see the ways Debbie challenges Nolan to prove himself to her.
Debbie also shows strength and courage unlike any other human character in the series. Not only by being Nolan's wife, but by standing up to him and challenging him once she confirms his betrayal in S1. Even Mark couldn't stand up to Nolan until after he called her a pet. Mark fights on his mother's behalf, similarly to Telemachus fighting to defend Penelope. Telemachus and Mark both lose.
On Nolan's Odyssey home, I'd want to see him reflect on his time with Debbie, truly yearn for her like Odysseus does for Penelope. The point of TO isn't that the the family needs the Patriarch to function, but that the father ALSO needs his family. Odysseus and Penelope's story is one of twin souls, not a man and his pet.
Mark and Telemachus
I would almost say I don't like Mark, but I get his role as a parallel to Telemachus.
In The Odyssey, Telemachus cannot kill the suitors and save Penelope and his father's household. It's Odysseus' return that marks the end of the story. Telemachus falls in line BEHIND Odysseus.
So Mark's struggles will likely, for now, never lead him to be stronger than Omniman. Not until Nolan's Odyssey is complete. The Odyssey centers Odysseus, so instead of the son becoming stronger than the father, the narrative completely depends on Odysseus' strength to fix everything. Telemachus, or Mark, doesn't surpass his father because Odysseus and Nolan are just especially unique, as is defined by their Odyssey, or journey home.
What's funny is that April, the nanny, acts as Athena does to Telemachus. So they've split Telemachus up into two sons in a way. Mark is Telemachus without Athena's aid.
Okay the writers are using The Odyssey as a template for the story. What's the point?
Besides it being a very cool adaption of one of the greatest stories ever and showing why history matters, it also adds an interesting take on fatherhood and the bonds between a married couple. Will the writers really allow Nolan to reunite with his family, or will they make it a tragedy? I can't say, but I'm fine with either route.
Notes:
This connection made me like the show a whooooooole lot more. I might end up making some more posts about how the writers path away from TO, and what these other elements bring to Invincible that makes it unique. That could be fun.
I'm on the end of my vacation so I'm in the mood to write, but also can't be bothered to prepare a bigger post than this.
