Apple TV’s Invasion is a Thrilling Show About People, Not Aliens

Maybe it’s the effect of the Roland Emmerich blockbuster, but it doesn’t feel outlandish to say that modern disaster stories have lost the focus on humanity amidst the spectacle. It’s become far more about the destruction than the people running from it, even though characters are our lifelines into these experiences. (When “Greenland” pushed back on this recently and treated its disaster with complex characters, audiences positively responded.) “Invasion,” a new series that concerns a sudden alien invasion but is much more about the people, is a refreshing and often thrilling juggling of plot-threads that involve incredibly flawed or hurtful decisions made in the name of survival. The world is under attack, but this series from co-creators Simon Kinberg and David Weil is more interested in using its scope and ensemble for claustrophobic moral choices. Much of what is thrilling about this show comes down to how such an extreme situation brings out the true selves of its characters. 

Everyone is having the worst week of their lives in this series, their spirits challenged by ruthless conditions. But a special honor of nightmarish scenarios goes to Aneesha, played by Golshifteh Farahani, in a role that proves Farahani should be as big a star as she wants to, given the massive weight she carries in scenes that can be heartbreaking and/or scary throughout “Invasion.” Her family of four is in Long Island when the attack happens, devastating the neighbor’s properties. But before that beat, she learns something equally devastating—her husband and loving father to their two children has been cheating on her with an Instagram foodie model, a projection of the perfection that Aneesha has tried to achieve in her own life decisions, down to how she intricately prepares the kids’ lunches. Even worse, her husband Ahmed (Firas Nassar) is a coward about it, and still remains a coward in jaw-dropping but recognizable ways as the family tries to escape. Aneesha is shell-shocked, again and again by the choices he makes, and we ache for her—which makes it even more powerful when she makes certain desperate choices of her own, to save her family. 

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