Secret Invasion Episode 1: Fury's Meeting With Sonya Hints At Her True Nature
Warning: This article contains spoilers for "Secret Invasion" Episode 1, "Ressurection."
Marvel's latest Disney+ series, "Secret Invasion," showcases the glorious return of Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) alongside the threat of undercover alien invaders. As Fury gears up for an unprecedented war with a rebel group of Skrulls, he recruits a few familiar faces and stops by to visit an old friend. Unfortunately, Special Agent Sonya Falsworth (Olivia Coleman) is not as welcoming or willing to help as he'd hoped — even if she's harboring some extremely useful information.
Agent Falsworth is the epitome of a secret agent: Neither Fury nor the audience can pin down whether or not she's being truthful. She may also be holding onto some resentment over Fury's (actually Talos [Ben Mendelsohn] in disguise) oversight in London, where the city took quite a bit of damage during the illusionary showdown between Spider-Man (Tom Holland) and Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal) in "Spider-Man: Far From Home." Falsworth aptly gives Fury bottom-shelf liquor as a lukewarm welcome and a secretive smile.
Olivia Coleman, who begged her agent to find her an MCU role, is the perfect actress to encapsulate the part's required air of duplicity. The illuminating light bathing Falsworth's wardrobe could be signaling that she's more enlightened than we think. She keeps Fury in the literal dark when he inquires about a robbery, which may clue the audience into some vital subtext.
Sonya knows much more than she's letting on
After deadly explosives are stolen from Kazakhstan, Fury inquires with his old MI6 pal who's less than thrilled to see him. Special Agent Sonya Falsworth dispatches her goonish troops to kidnap the old guard who allows himself to be taken prisoner. When he arrives at her lavish pad, he searches her possessions for clues before directly asking Falsworth for information.
The composition of each character during this exchange is vital to the treacherous atmosphere lingering throughout "Secret Invasion." When anyone could secretly be a disguised Skull, it becomes impossible to fully trust anyone. Rather than entertain his inquiries, she reminds Fury why this is all happening in the first place and how his actions helped bring them here.
Understandably, her chipper response of "doesn't ring a bell" — accompanied by a mischievous smile — does little to soothe Fury's suspicions. He even gives her an incredulous stare in return. She condescends him for not knowing what was in the storage vault and implies that he may be losing his skills in his old age. Reasonably, Fury doesn't believe her and instead taps the eye of her owl statue with a surveying bug to keep his eyes on Agent Falsworth and her possible connection to the rebel Skrulls.