Warning: This article contains major SPOILERS for Apple TV+’s Invasion.
Invasion season 2, episode 1 confirms that there is more to the fate of two primary characters than meets the eye. Unfolding a few months after the first alien invasion on Earth, Invasion season 2, episode 1, highlights how Anisha Malik and her kids struggle to survive in their post-apocalyptic world. In the meantime, Mitsuki Yamato fights back against the growing population of the spiky alien creatures in Japan when, suddenly, a few men abduct her and take her to the Amazon forest crash site of the alien ship.
With what follows, while Anisha and her kids run into a group of self-proclaimed activists, who call themselves “The Movement,” Mitsuki seemingly makes her first contact with the force that controls the alien species. Using Mitsuki’s first contact as a narrative device, Invasion season 2, episode 1 hints that two characters presumed dead towards the end of season 1 could still be alive. This could be a major revelation that sets up Invasion season 2’s future storylines since it hints at what the central alien species wishes to achieve by invading Earth.
What Happened To Hinata & Caspar In Invasion Season 1
In Invasion season 1, Hinata was one of the few astronauts chosen to spend a year on the International Space Station. Everything from her space shuttle’s lift-off to her team’s arrival at the Space Station was successful. However, things took a grim turn when an unknown force ruptured the space shuttle, sending her and her time out into the open space. Hinata was presumed to be dead by JASA, but deep down, Mitsuki believed she was still alive. Mitsuki’s faith turned into reality when Hinata made contact with her and the US military at Japan’s satellite station.
Unfortunately, the US military later learned that Hinata’s voice was synthesized using the files Mitsuki had previously transmitted. To avoid risking the lives of Earth’s humans, the US military ultimately nuked the space shuttle, confirming Hinata’s death. In the meantime, Caspar realized that his seizures somehow connected him to the alien life force toward Invasion season 1’s ending. Realizing he could stop the invasion, he found a neurologist to help him induce a seizure.
As anticipated, he established better control over the aliens through his seizure in Invasion season 1 and even stopped them for a while. However, it eventually left him brain-dead toward the season’s final arc. In its closing moments, Invasion season 1 confirmed that although Caspar was declared dead, his subconscious was alive in the alien hive mind, leaving room for him to return in Invasion season 2. Invasion season 2, episode 1 finally confirms what might have happened to Hinata and Caspar.
Invasion Season 2 Episode 1 Hints Hinata & Caspar Are Still Alive
In Invasion season 2, episode 1, Mitsuki gets to visit a room in the fallen alien ship that accommodates a major power source. Before she enters, she gets warned that the person who previously visited the room suffered neurological damage and could not survive for more than 15 minutes. Mitsuki dismisses the warning, enters the room, and for experimentation, transmits the frequency of David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” to the alien energy in the room. The energy responds to the song by morphing its shape, and as Mitsuki closes her eyes, she seems to feel Hinata’s presence.
While the episode does not confirm whether Hinata is still alive, it hints that her consciousness still exists inside the alien’s hive mind, which explains why the energy source reacts to a song Hinata and Mitsuki used to love. After Mitsuki transmits the music, not only do Luke and Anisha hear a humming sound, but even the bioelectrical activity in Caspar’s brain starts exhibiting patterns. This suggests that although his physical being is in a coma, he is still conscious inside the alien’s collective intelligence.
What Hinata & Caspar’s Survival Reveals About The Aliens & Their Motive
Invasion season 2, episode 1’s ending suggests that the spiky parasitic creatures wreaking havoc on Earth are probably not the actual aliens. They are weapons of mass destruction sent to the planet by a highly intelligent life form capable of storing vast information. The fact that Hinata, Caspar, and Ikuro are still alive in some capacity in the alien’s shared consciousness implies that the alien invasion in the Apple TV series is not a typical one, where a War of the Worlds-esque showdown will ensue between humans and aliens, leaving only one species alive towards the end.
It highlights that the invasion is something along the lines of the one depicted in Alex Garland’s Annihilation, where the alien force is not necessarily evil or destructive. Instead, it is fundamentally transformative in the sense that it becomes a reflection of whatever it comes in contact with. Its understanding of reality and existence is significantly different from humans. Instead of terraforming Earth and its life forms, it might actually be preserving it on a different plane of consciousness. Hopefully, Invasion season 2 will subsequently offer more answers.
