Abhiroop Das
Created by Simon Kinberg and David Weil, Apple TV+’s ‘Invasion’ traces the story of loss and belonging as told through the eyes of a civilization facing an alien invasion. While the extraterrestrial attacks defy human understanding, the show instead chooses to decipher the equally confounding human reaction to it, with different strands of thought approaching the crisis differently. The three protagonists, Trevante Cole, Mitsuki Yamato, and Aneesha Malik, all come from diverse backgrounds, but find themselves in the same realm of existential dread, allowing them to join hands in the resistance against the alien forces. Season 3 follows two years of silence, which are disrupted by a new wave of attacks, this time by entities more advanced and ambiguous. The final episode of the season, titled ‘The End of the Line,’ serves as both a homage to the progress made by the characters thus far and an extension of it, with multiple battlefronts coalescing together to echo humanity’s desire to survive. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Invasion Season 3 Finale Plot Recap
The finale begins with Aneesha on Marilyn‘s trail, paying little heed to the worsening conditions of the soldiers. While she marches forward, placing an emphasis on catching them off guard, it is apparent that the death of Clark has coloured her judgment. Meanwhile, the Infinitas cult begins to collapse from the inside as the demand for breathable air increases. Enraged, Marilyn decides to continue on the path to the mothership all on her own, noticing the glowing tree roots that might lead her to the core of the megastructure. By the time Aneesha catches up to the team, it is already too late, and as a shootout ensues, she makes a solo run for it, hoping to catch the cult leader on her tracks. Elsewhere, Trevante, along with Jamila and Nikhil, reaches the precipice of the mothership, but gets cold feet due to his lingering trauma. Jamila asks him to put his trust into the plan and in their newfound companionship, and with that, the trio steels forward.
Upon reaching the trees, Marilyn runs into none other than Mitsuki and reveals that she has deeply researched the communications specialist. Following this, she attempts to convert Mitsuki into an Infinitas supporter, given her ability to understand and connect to the aliens. However, this exchange is stopped by Aneesha, forcing Marilyn to open fire and then rush to the mothership entrance all on her own. Injured, Aneesha struggles to carry forward and finds help in the form of Mitsuki. Together, they ponder over the burden of continuing this battle for survival despite knowing that the odds are tipped against them, but the doctor refuses to give up on hope. Recalling Clark’s final words, she reemphasizes the importance of persistently trying and shows her belief in humanity’s innate potential to improve as a species. This gives Mitsuki the final push she needs, and she decides to take another shot at using her powers for the greater good.
Elsewhere, Trevante and his group run into a problem when the aliens begin to attack their mental vulnerabilities. Before long, both he and Nikhil freeze on site, with their minds going back to traumatic memories from their past. For Trevante, it is a collection of his experiences with loss, be it his unit, his child, or eventually Caspar. For Nikhil, on the other hand, it’s the childhood memory of stealing money, an act that led to his mother’s death. Jamila is the only one seemingly unaffected by this memory attack, and yet her attempts to bring them back yield nothing. In that moment, Mitsuki reestablishes a connection with the alien roots, and a flashback reveals that Nikhil tried to save her when the WDC began experimenting on her body, but he was forcefully removed from the scene. Learning about this fact shakes up Mitsuki’s entire belief system, and she realizes that she must step in and protect the people she cares for.
Invasion Season 3 Ending: Where Does Mitsuki Go? Is She Alive or Dead?
After several episodes that translate into years of physical, emotional, and psychological suppression, Mitsuki finds a moment of release in tearing away the chip planted on her nape. Originally created to curtail her psychic connection to aliens, the implant now serves as a hindrance on humanity’s path to victory. As such, while the move is deeply personal in nature, it also plays a major role in the macronarrative of ‘Invasion.’ With all of her powers returning, Mitsuki makes a bold move to save Trevante, Nikhil, and Jamila, trapped deep inside the mothership. Roaring straight into the extraterrestrial communications network, Mitsuki draws the attention of all aliens back to her, even when that puts her at a compounded risk. Eventually, surviving the alien rampage does not do her many favors either, as moments before reuniting with Nikhil, she is swept into the air by a portal that vanishes shortly after consuming her.
Though Mitsuki’s abduction is meant to be a moment of surprise, the sequence also has a sense of finality to it. Levitating in the air, her mind vividly goes back to all the memories that have built up their own corners in her mind, creating a collage of the past two seasons. While emotionally potent, the scene can also be interpreted as a sign of closure, not just for Mitsuki but also for the audience. However, the final moments of the season show Nikhil turning his entire company upside down in complete dedication to locating her. In an earlier scene, he mentions how he absolutely must not let go of her, a mistake he has already made once, and this ambiguity seems to put that promise to the test. Given that Mitsuki is a communications and intelligence specialist, the scene of Nikhil and all of Dharmax desperately scanning through every camera and map gains a sense of irony, as she may not even be in the human realm anymore.
Throughout the story, Mitsuki’s deep-seated connection to aliens has served as one of the most inexplicable and yet relevant mysteries. Her ability gets all the more entangled with the plot here, as she is not only spared death by the hunter-killers, but also healed by the gardener variety of the extraterrestrial entities. To that end, it is unlikely that this portal experience means the end for her character. On the contrary, it is possible that Mitsuki has been directly transported to the alien base that exists outside of Earth. This leap in scope can mean several things for the story, but most pressingly brings her alignment back into the equation. Having intimately understood the alien consciousness, Mitsuki’s support for humanity wavers at several points, but it is the humanity displayed by Nikhil that reignites her trust in the species. As such, she is unlikely to give up without a fight, and her linkages to the alien world might undergo their biggest stress test.
Do Trevante, Nikhil, and Jamila Take Down the Mothership? What Happens to the Aliens?
The moment Mitsuki unleashes the full extent of her powers and draws all attention away from Trevante, Nikhil, and Jamila, the trio finally catches its big break and immediately gets into action. Notably, the syncing of the consciousnesses means that Nikhil briefly shares his memories and thoughts with the other two protagonists. This has a landmark effect on his psyche, as he no longer hides his single-minded desire to protect Mitsuki from the alien world. This commitment to the cause reframes their entire mission, which has so far been to plant a bomb at the heart of the mothership. While it is not a typical explosive, the bomb expands on the function of Mitsuki’s neural suppressor, converting it into a waveform explosion that can hit all of the aliens’ communication systems in one go. To that end, the trio successfully plants the bomb and defends it long enough for it to explode, instantly triggering a blackout in the mothership.
While the fall of the alien mothership is largely communicated by the visuals, be it the fading lights from the nearby flora or the collapse of the aliens, the most explicit confirmation of humanity’s victory over the aliens is that Trevante, along with the rest of his team, makes it out of the Dead Zone alive. However, Mitsuki’s absence from he group reminds us that it is not a complete win for the team, and that many sacrifices, whether fatal or not, have been made in the buildup to this moment. The place where the bomb is planted and later explodes is also crucial, as it is where Trevante made the deciding moves in his previous attempt to take down the ship. Unlike that iteration, he now has the help of Jamila and Nikhil, who, in sync with the army unit, help humanity come back on track. Their activity is noted by world leaders, who are implied to have sent rescue teams. Trevante is promoted to the rank of Commander, who is now respected instead of feared by the WDC.
Is Caspar Real or a Hallucination? Why Does He Disappear?
One major hurdle in Jamila, Trevante, and Nikhil’s journey to upend the mothership comes with its psychological warfare. While the attack is more apparent in the case of the latter two, Jamila is confronted with a thoroughly loosened grasp on reality. Out of the shadowy passages of the ship comes Caspar, who has long since been presumed to be dead, or at least disappeared. The surprise appearance of the psychic prodigy, once one of the protagonists of the story, is met with immediate alarm, as Jamila believes that this might be a play of the aliens. However, Caspar is quick to reassure her that this is not the case, explaining that she is unaffected by their malice due to his connection to her. Given that this spells doom for her two teammates, Jamila refuses to budge and instead realizes that the battle ahead is as much on the internal front as it is on the external. To that end, Caspar’s presence becomes the key to changing the tide in her favor, but not in the expected manner.
Caspar’s awareness that he shouldn’t be alive speaks to the show’s larger structure, which has, on more than one occasion, relied on the character coming back from the dead to help the protagonists win. This time, Jamila connects the dots upon hearing his perspective on the supposed death sequence in the premiere episode of the season. Caspar explains that the only reason he is still here is because she held on to his hand and believed in him long after his apparent demise, and yet that appears to be the very weakness targeted by the aliens. Jamila snapping back into reality is not portrayed as a moment of triumph but as a solemn realization that she must leave her past behind if she wishes to truly advance in her life. Resolute in this decision, she closes her eyes, and we watch Caspar, who is revealed to be a ghost-like figure, slowly fade out of existence. This brings a final full stop to his character, giving both him and his loved ones the closure they need.
Is Marilyn Dead? Does Aneesha Get Her Revenge on Infinitas?
While a scene of tragedy plays out inside the mothership, chaos and violence unfold right outside its gates, as Aneesha locks hands with Marilyn in a final showdown. Throughout the exchange, both sides try to make their case, with Marylin echoing the possibility of the souls of the dead migrating into the mothership. This perspective, however, is eerily reminiscent of the beliefs Aneesha held at an earlier point in the story, and she herself makes note of that. In addition, she explains the pitfalls of this line of thought and how it is an escape attempt from the traumatic experiences that now unite humanity. However, with the cult leader refusing to budge, the fight continues, only ending when the bomb goes off and the mothership begins to die out. Though defeated, Marilyn refuses to back down and charges straight at Aneesha, who shoots her to death, bringing an end to this chapter.
While Aneesha kills Marilyn out of self-defense, there is also another dimension to her actions, one that stems from a desire for revenge. The previous episode ends with the cult leader taking out Clark in a surprise attack, and that move momentarily fills Aneesha’s mind with rage and toxicity. It is only later, when her allies begin to fall left and right, that Aneesha is reminded of the good she possesses, both as a human and as a doctor, and this recognition goes a long way in defining her final battle with Marilyn. While the cult of Infinitas undoubtedly employs terror to its advantage, at its heart, it’s a community of similarly heartbroken people who are reliant on their seemingly supernatural experiences to make sense of reality. By that definition, the line between them and our protagonist is blurred out, with Marilyn serving as a grim reminder of the dark paths humans can take when in grief.
Read More: Who is Infinitas AKA Marylin Tanner? Who plays her in Invasion?
