Read this review to see if the Invasion episode “The Message” is worth watching.
Mitsuki’s journey intensifies as she confronts new alien threats and uncovers hidden truths, pushing her growth and resolve to new limits in Episode Two.
About Invasion
- Season 3, Episode 2: “The Message”
- Directed by Alik Sakharov
- Written by Dan Dietz
- Synopsis: Mysterious alien signals force Mitsuki out of hiding. Nikhil is charged with a task that tests his loyalty.
- Airdate: August 29, 2025
- Starring: Golshifteh Farahani, Shioli Kutsuna, Shamier Anderson, India Brown, Enver Gjokaj, Shane Zaza, Erika Alexander, Eric Lange, Rachel Nichols, Shota Tsuji, Leo Chiang, Atom Paradise, and Kiarra Hamagami Goldberg
If you want to avoid spoilers for this episode, skip to the overall section at the end.
Warning: Spoilers for Invasion Season 3 Episode 2 “The Message“
Recap Invasion (2025): S3E02 – “The Message”
Last season, Mitsuke surrendered to an alien consciousness to open a portal for Trevante Cole, causing her to pass out in an Amazonian site, leaving her survival status unknown.
The episode picks up with Mitsuke in the Hida Mountains hunting rabbits and fishing, and she discovers a silver chain in the river. She carries a rabbit and exchanges vegetables with Saya. She gives her a leather pendant with the word “Moon” on it. The girl hangs it on her astronaut doll, thanks her, and returns home, where her grandfather happily waves to the former astronaut. The scene is very serene, and you can tell she’s found peace.
Mitsuke enters her cabin, dismantling booby traps before writing in her journal. She notes that Saya and her grandfather are the only people she has spoken to; she needs solitude and silence. While preparing dinner, she cuts her finger. Suddenly, she hears a painful sound and passes out.
After waking up, she replaces “silence” with “noise” in her journal and circles it, noting the incident and wondering what the noise is ⁰telling her.
She reads about Trevante’s return and hacks the WDC database to find his arrival time, noting that it’s the same time the noise started. She’s so distracted that it alerts the WDC before she can close her laptop.
Meanwhile, an analyst in WDC detects Mitsuki’s hack and tries to alert Director Byrne. He finally convinces her to listen, but they struggle to track the signal.
At Downed Alien Carrier Ship #5, a chemist tells Kapur he wants to pause mining, but another chemist tells him they can continue. The billionaire promotes her and fires him. He sarcastically tells him to enjoy his 20-hour flight home on a military transport.
Regan Byrne calls him to report they’ve been tracking Mitsuke’s signal to central Japan, and wants Nikhil to bring her in. The two argue back and forth over who’s responsible for her: the employer or abductor. Byrne informs him that the remaining hunter-killer aliens began behaving erratically three days ago, and Mitsuke’s hack happened a day later. He agrees to take a team to meet her.
Later, in Japan, Kapur comes to the grandfather’s house and tells his security not to use weapons so they don’t shoot their “most valuable asset in the head.” Saya’s grandfather denies knowing Mitsuke, but Nikhil discovers an astronaut doll with a pendant. He quickly figures out his former employee is there. Saya warns Mitsuki of the men who chase her through the woods. She shoots three and knocks out the fourth. Then she sends a text message telling him to find the cosmic ocean.
Nikhil gets the Vishnu reference and goes to a secret temple. She asks him why the WDC is after her, and that she just wants to get away from aliens and people. He promises to keep it civil, but she shows him the surgery scar on her neck and accuses him of handing her over instead of protecting her.
He argues she was a valuable asset in the alien war, but she denies it helped. Mitsuki suggests the WDC cut him open instead, but he says he came back with nothing. Suddenly, she hears the noise and passes out again. She wakes up and leaves, rejecting Nikhil’s help.
Kapur leaves and calls Byrne, and threatens to blow up the alien ships if they try to take them away from him. Hollander says her way failed. Back in Mie Prefecture, Former Japan, Kaede Tamura (June Fukumura) fires darts at a herd of hunter-killers, taking one down for examination. Hollander calls her and tells her to bring in Mitsuke
Meanwhile, Mitsuke retrieves a hidden box from a tree trunk in the woods. She hugs the girl and tells her she has to go away. Grandfather yells the girl’s name, and she returns the leather pendant. In case there’s some confusion, he points a rifle at her and tells her to stay away. Mitsuke says goodbye, and she’s lost her only friends.
But wait, she visits her friend Ume (Yukari Komatsu) in Kanazawa, “Former Japan,” after disappearing for two years. They discuss Kenji, Ume’s nephew, who arrived two days earlier and started sensing the aliens. He’s having piercing headaches, too, and claims to have made contact with aliens and witnessed worsening conditions. He also has scars on his arm to prove it.
Mitsuki decides to locate the aliens to uncover a new signal. But WDC’s Skywatch arrives and the assassin Kaede questions Ume since the CCTV shows she’s at the house. When she notices Kenji in bed, they threaten to take him with them. But a well-placed fire distracted them enough for her to escape.
Later, Kaede’s team goes to their hotel. But the cryptographer uses a decoy to make them leave. Then break into their room to locate the nearest alien cluster. When Kaede’s team arrives, they realize she’s been there because she didn’t clear the screen.
Mitsuke scales the fence at a restricted site and descends a shaft to the aliens’ nest level. Kaede surprises her and tries to get her to surrender. The woman hears the signal and loses consciousness, falling to the ground. When she wakes up, the team is dead. A hunter-killer approaches and withdraws as she whispers, “The Signal.”
At a lavish party at Nikhil’s mansion in Northern California, she goes up to see him. While the man insists all the aliens are dead or dying, she insists she’s talked with a hunter-killer in Kanazawa. She hopes Nikhil will help her with the alien message “They arise.”
Overall: Watch Invasion (2025): S3E02 – “The Message”
“The Message,” the second episode of Invasion Season 3, is a gripping and suspenseful installment that focuses on Mitsuki’s deteriorating mental state and her critical mission amidst a world still recovering from the alien invasion. The episode adopts a spy thriller aesthetic, intensifying the stakes as Mitsuki navigates both human and extraterrestrial dangers, all while her connection to the alien force deepens. Unfortunately, the pacing is slow, and Nikhil’s character is often irritating. But the episode’s strengths lie in its mounting tension and Mitsuki’s compelling character development, culminating in a striking alien encounter that foreshadows greater threats to come.
Watch the Invasion episode “The Message” because Invasion Season 3 Episode 2 skillfully blends suspense, action, and humor as Mitsuki’s encounter with an ominous alien message sparks a high-stakes pursuit.
I’m giving this episode 3 out of 5 stars.
All episodes of Invasion are available to stream on Apple TV+. New episodes of Invasion drop every Friday.”Click the link to read our review of the previous episode, “The Ones We Leave Behind.”
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