User Reviews

A special episode about Atomic Eve turned out to be an excellent prehistory of the heroine who received superpowers, the soundtrack pleased, the characters are all well spelled out and shown, I want to note the battles in this episode, they were well animated. The ending was classic and we all knew what would happen. Sorry for Eva's mother, of course. We were also shown in this episode at the beginning of the heroes known to us and of course the Omni-man. It is also worth seeing the scene after the credits in which they show what was happening at the moment at Mark Grayson. I give the episode an excellent 10 out of 10. We are waiting for season 2.

Interesting seeing the backstory of Eve. Although it annoys me that she can manipulate objects down to the atomic scale and yet her usefulness in fights seems so weak.

Compare her fights and her abilities in this prequel special and then watch invincible again. Eve could've ended multiple fights in the tv show in a split second by changing the atoms in whatever bad guy's weapons. Instead she shoots weak force fields. What happened to her changing cloth ski masks into metal? She throws a pink force spear? Wat?

Also kind of annoying that the only nemesis for a superhero is the exact same but evil reverse of the superhero. Aka the bizzaro superman phenomenon. Eve has to defeat people who have the power to transform the atoms within themselves! Dun dun dun!

If this is the quality of season 2 we're in for a rocky road. It's not all terrible the strengths of the show do carry over here but the directing and writing leaves a lot to be desired. I don't know if this was because of the writers strike but something just felt off.

There are interesting ideas here, atom Eve has the coolest powers from the show and exploring that in a "boyhood" type origin story with some extremely disturbing implications are the real strengths here. Along with an action scene reminiscent of the show at the end.

Unfortunately it's all handled rather poorly, the parents are caricatures with no real depth. They don't act like realistic a holes just OTT movie a holes. Like sure awful parents like this exist but put some effort into making them believable. The plot develops in a very random "and then this happened" way which if you are a fan of Matt stone and Trey Parker, you'll know that will lead to a very boring progression of story.

There are really bad attempts at reinforcing the main theme of the episode. Like student film levels of heavy handedness. Eve has a bad family and in once scene a picture frame breaks and we see a shot of the fractured family just after an argument. That's stupid. Don't treat your audiences like they're stupid. That could've been handled better.

The main voice actor is a bit off. I don't know if this is their first gig but there are times where the under acting of certain lines pulled me out. It's not just them as there are other weird line deliveries that could've at least used another take.

There was also a really bad needle drop near the end of the episode that did not feel earned at all. Certain plot elements are rushed and not given the time to be fleshed out. So when this song started playing it felt quite emotionally manipulative and unearned.

The animation as well was also off at points. Invincible as a show had moments where the budget was apparent and it was obvious that the main bulk was going to the cast and not the poor animators, but Eve has these weird lines under her eyes when she was younger that just looked weird. That might seem like a nitpick but I don't remember anything like that appearing in the show maybe I need to rewatch it? Maybe it was the screen I was watching it on?

Because of the poor handling of these elements, especially with the outcast vibes they're we're going for with Eve's character I found it really hard to invest in her and the story. Which is a shame since she was one of the best from the show.

In short, I would not recommend this as an entry to the show. It felt like I completely different show. I don't know wtf what happened.

Seriously, it's insane how generic and cliche this was. At every turn I could think of 20 things to make this story better. It's so weird because Invincible usually plays around with these tropes so well having good and original execution. Meanwhile this has been done before, and the execution was mostly mediocre. Not to mention how the plot doesn't hold up to scrutiny and compromises the world building, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

First off, the presentation. This has some of the most boring direction for animation. Nearly every shot is static and basic. The animation budget was clearly limited in areas of the TV show, but good direction hid it well enough, and they saved it up for the key moments, which made it look great. Comparatively, here, it's not well hidden thanks to boring direction. It just feels so lifeless and stilted. The only exception to this is the action scene with Eve and her "siblings" which is admittedly very good, but sadly the scene itself is another can of worms when it comes to the writing. Aside from that I also liked when Dr. Brandyworth explains Eve's backstory making it seem nicer than it was while the visuals show her homeless mom being paid rather than being a colleague who volunteered. And yup, that's about all I liked with the visual presentation. Don't ask me about sound and music because I already forgot. That's the least of the problems though, let's get to the writing.

The dialogue. It's hilariously bad. So bad at times, it's shocking this is what they went with. This feels like a first draft of a script, except I don't understand how it could have such cringe-worthy lines. They're still referring to super powered people as "freaks" in this. It's 2023, come on. In my entire life I've literally not once heard someone use that word in the way it's done here and in so much media. Eve also has the most cliche parents who hate her for being "weird" and by the slip of the tongue, they accidentally yell they wish she was normal! X-Men did this in 2000, over 2 decades ago, and it wasn't even the main focus of the movie! Look, this isn't even that bad, but I can literally pick apart the entire storyline for hours with the mediocrity and unoriginality. However, let's focus on the most glaring examples.

In this world, where there's presumably well liked, established heroes, are you seriously telling me that a kid who probably idolizes them would be freaked out and ignore her super powered friend? Especially her, who becomes Eve's friend out of nowhere because she's "weird." A simple change that doesn't really change the plot and has the same outcome, while subverting superhero tropes, is that her friend first has fun with this (and maybe we can flesh out the powers and show consequences), but then realizes being involved with a super powered person puts her at risk, and so then they come to an agreement to stay away from each other. Nothing actually changed but this is far more interesting, makes Eve's character more mature, is inline with the world-building, and doesn't make me roll my eyes!

Also can superhero content for once properly explain these stupidly over powered abilities and give them proper rules and limitations? This is the only issue the show has as well. We have the mental block for living matter. That's good. But there's still multiple moments where you ask yourself "why couldn't she just do this" or question the mechanics of her powers in general. (Kind of inconsequential, but when she's changing food, is she changing the actual taste or just the composition of the food, like what if this causes an eating disorder?). You can chalk that up to inexperience in this version due to how young she is, but whoever wrote this had 0 creativity and so there's no clever exploration or realistic learning of her powers. She only learns certain things in the heat of the moment from luck, I guess.

In battles we get no consequences for potential inexperience or misuse of her powers, so she's basically an adult. So much so that she literally commands cops to "fall back and form a perimeter or something." Clearly she says this not having any idea what she's doing. So of course the ADULT cops tells the KID "What? Get the hell out of here!" But then Eve saves the cop and suddenly he follows the orders??? This was literally done in The Avengers, except at that time heroes weren't prevalent, and cops were following Captain America, not a literal child!!! I cannot emphasize enough how embarrassingly idiotic this writing is. It genuinely pisses me off. You cannot be this unoriginal and silly, but I digress. Remember when in the show Grayson's inexperience with his powers literally made him harm people unintentionally? Couldn't this have been shown with Eve's much more complex and dangerous powers? Nope, because here Eve is perfect apparently! (I sympathize with her siblings more than her).

The Incredibles is literally a kids movie (but a masterpiece) where the superhero parents tell their kids the real bad guys will not hesitate to kill them. Here, when we literally have the TV-MA rating to explore this level of maturity, the criminals are quipping back at Eve with some of the worst dialogue I've ever heard. "The name's Kill-cannon, not get-beat-up-by little-girls-cannon." Imagine the first time she goes out to fight those criminals stealing dogs, she literally gets shot. Now under the pressure she escapes, and once back actually learns how to use her powers better to deal with this situation. It can also further affect her life. But nope, nothing. It is absolutely baffling there is no exploration of how being a kid superhero affects Eve psychologically. Why? Because she's pretty much a perfect hero since the beginning, and she never finds herself in actual dangerous or dark situations. Y'know what I want to explore? The consequences of leaving a metal mask on those criminals. What if these actions accidentally destroy their lives? But nah, this special is too boring to explore anything interesting.

Clearly horrendous dialogue aside, there's more questionable moments in the plot. How was Eve actually hidden? Because if the baby is just missing clearly they'd look for her, and it wouldn't be hard to find her with their resources and checking for everyone in the building. Or he'd have to replace the baby, with the dead one from Eve's parents, but then what about DNA testing? So I'm a little confused by that. They joke about Brandyworth finding her, but really question it. How does he do it with seemingly no resources (also why/how was he let go when they clearly could've used him?), when the evil organization cannot find Eve. Also hilarious when he's used as a Deus Ex Machina. Where did he get that car? Speaking of the villains, in the ending portion, you're literally shooting in the lab with your 3 most important assets, you've got to be kidding me. Not to mention how they trap Eve and can't contain her, brilliant. Maybe knock her out? Weaken her? No? You literally don't need her here.

The climax with her entire "real" family being killed off is quite good, and suddenly the voice acting got great too, but it was too little too late, and it's comical that she now cares about her siblings, some that she literally killed! I can't be the only one who found her behavior in that action scene to be morally reprehensible. It was the most interesting part of this story and her siblings are just portrayed as evil, killed off, and then somehow Phase 2 dies happy in Eve's arms, and she forgives him? Before this Eve's supposed brother explains how they were created due to her, and she literally just accidentally kills one (without much reaction), and what does she say? "Ok so you're less good versions of me. Then this should be easy." Literally sociopathic behavior. What the hell. She gets no consequences for the behavior in this action scene. Also they don't really do much with them being able to control organic matter, which is the main difference they have to Eve. Plus, why did this even happen? Did they release them just so Eve MIGHT fight them? We've established there are many other heroes in this world. Eve is a kid. They have drones, that how they spotted Eve in the first place! Tell me this isn't an illogical plan.

The point of this special is to explain Eve's origins and develop her character more whilst presumably increasing her likability for the audience. Well, it backfired. I LIKE the character in the show, but the most forced sad upbringing, her lack of flaws, and actual development does not make me suddenly sympathize with her. Especially after morally reprehensible behavior. Explain to me why this story NEEDED to be shown to us this way, and couldn't have been simply told or subtly hinted at in the show, in a way that saves so much time, and probably fixes most of my issues since it doesn't have to be fully shown to us. There's so many more interesting stories to be told in this universe and you chose THIS? I hope this wasn't made by people who have big involvement in Season 2 because this genuinely worries me when I was beyond excited and confident for Season 2. I'm genuinely shocked people are liking this so much with how prevalent superhero fatigue has become. The genericness wouldn't have mattered if it was actually well enough executed. This is coming from someone who liked Blue Beetle! But this simply fell flat on its face for me, and felt pointless. The only reason I don't call it bad is because the animation is solid, and the climax was good, but It was close.

5/10.

When I saw this pop up on Prime, I was pretty amazed. Atom Eve is my favorite character from the comic. She was really the rock Invincible stands on. This is a GREAT adaptation of her two issue miniseries. Her origin is really a sad one, and now, after watching this, I'm going to have to re-read it. Samantha Eve Wilkins can see molecular structure and can effect it for good and bad. Her going out to be a superhero is tremendous and this is so good. I hope Prime will keep the parent series going or do a sequel to this. After all Atom Eve was a hero longer than Invincible. And she's really good at it. Everything about this was great, from the voice acting to the story to the animation. Excellent show.

Y'all killed it fr loved the fight scenes the plot the storyline everything I fw heavyyyy. I would actually watch a solo show for her cuz god damnnn tha was amazing. Also I needa conclusion to her friend across the street they needa make up fr. I wasn't sure how I was gon feel bout it goin into an episode solely about her but nahhhh that was actually fye fr and the end scene had me dead. I also appreciated how they made subtle nod to what's soon to come with omni mans face in the seemingly conflicted by wanting to take over but actually having some type of remorse or feelings for his family. Loved it can't wait for season 2.

When I first found out that Invincible would be getting a stand-alone episode, I was thrilled as much as the next person. After weeks of waiting, what I got was what feels like a parody of the original show. The animation is sub-par. The direction is boring, mostly static shots with only one sequence worth mentioning. The writing is clichéd, characters don't act and exist beyond their given role, the story is predictable as is the dialogue, and the things that need to happen for the story to progress just happen. On the whole it feels like an afterthought more so than a carefully planned out narrative. This is especially dreadful when compared to the first season of the show. Sure there were some typical tropes there as well, but usually they were at least directed and animated in an exciting manner. And when the time came, it absolutely demolished any preconceived notions of what a superhero show/movie is. Atom Eve however does none of that. It sticks to a very basic formula that was already overdone years ago and delivers it an average manner.

***SPOILERS***

Let's get into the more specific issues that I have with this episode. As I've mentioned, the animation is for the most part sub-par. The characters overall are as lively as cut-outs from the first season of South Park. There's barely any life to their movements, with facial expressions having zero nuance or fluidity. There were quite a few times where the characters went from looking bored, to suddenly becoming upset or excited. The worst example being when Samantha returns home after sneaking out. She gets berated by her mother for it and then suddenly starts crying. Her facial expression changed so abruptly that I just couldn't take it seriously. It was akin to a hard cut made for comedic purposes. Even when it came to the fighting sequences it just felt slow and janky, except for the final battle. This was the only exciting part of the episode and was probably where most of the budget went. I do have to admit that the ultimate fight did have it's creative moments and flowed really nicely, even if it didn't have as much weight as the fights in the original season. Important to note, the first season also had it's fair share of poor animation, but the direction more than made up for it.

In Atom Eve, there was no clever use of shadowy figures, smoke, debris etc., almost no intense close up shots, very little gore to make the violence feel impactful, nothing that made the original series feel unique and thrilling. Even the music was somehow worse! It was just scene after scene of static, sitcom-like shots, where two characters engage in dull dialogue that served only to further the generic plot.

This is my biggest gripe with Atom Eve. It's all monotonous and has been done a thousand times over. The "government is bad because it's bad and it's doing experiments that are bad." is probably the most egregious example of this. The government agency in the first season of the show wasn't necessarily a force for good, but it did have Earth's interest in mind first and foremost, with Cecil eventually becoming a character you actually somewhat sympathised with. If they just had a scene or even a bit of dialogue in Atom Eve to explain that she was developed as a countermeasure to Omni-man, this seemingly unstoppable force from outer space. Anything to explain why developing such a weapon would be necessary, it could have given the story a bit of nuance. But no, the evil scientist simply likes being evil, the evil director simply needs weapons in order to be powerful. It's just generic schlock. The relationships are the same. Normal parents just want to be normal, and they want their "freak" daughter to be normal. This was basically done twenty years ago by the X-men! The friend that is understanding at first is suddenly shocked to find out that Samantha has powers and straight up abandons their long-standing friendship, even though supers are known to exist and are likely immensely popular! This was one of the few characters that could have actually injected some normalcy into her life and it would have made sense. Trying to maintain a relationship while fighting bad guys is clichéd yes, but there's so much you can do with it, so much room to make it interesting and emotionally impactful. It just makes no sense, the narrative simply forces Samantha into being a misunderstood loner. Even the one person who could somewhat recognize and empathize with what Eve is going through, Dr. Brandyworth, doesn't offer anything to make the plot compelling in any way. He's just always there, somehow, to remind her of how dangerous her powers are. Not so much in that they are dangerous to those around her or even herself mind you, only dangerous in the sense that they'll make her visible to the nefarious government organisation. No effort is shown by the doctor to try and make her abilities flourish into something positive, despite her seemingly being the his magnum opus. Why not have him be the one person she can connect with? Why not make him a mentor of sorts, a person that reigns in her immense potential for destruction? He just pops in every now and then to remind Eve that she should just be normal. I swear half of his dialogue is just "You have to stop using your powers!". Everyone and everything is against Samantha being true to herself and the emotion stemming from this constantly enforced fact just comes off as unearned and artificial.

From reading the reviews, I truly do not understand how Atom Eve evoked as much emotion from the viewers as it supposedly did. It's bland, uninspired and a pales in comparison to the first season of the show.