Fury discovers what Gravik is after: Harvest, a DNA sample of every Avenger who fought at the Battle of Earth. With that, he can upgrade his Super Skrulls to the next level. Meanwhile, Gravik faces problems among his own men.
Tropes:
- Assassin Outclassin': G'iah and Varra handily defeat the heavily armed kill squad that Gravik forces his underlings to assemble and send after them.
- Back-to-Back Badasses: Varra and G'iah form this while they fight off the assassins sent to kill Varra.
- Bad Boss: Gravik, and how. First, he kills Pagon in front of the other soldiers, partly for failing him and partly for being a little too aggressive in defence of himself. Then, as part of his Xanatos Speed Chess, he gets Raava to reveal New Skrullos' existence and involvement in the attack on President Ritson, with the intention that unless Fury gives him the Harvest, Ritson will blow New Skrullos and everyone in it to kingdom come, thus triggering World War III (since the Russians will perceive it as an attack on their soil). The first action unnerves some of his underlings enough to mutiny and attempt to kill him — how would they react if they knew about the second?
- Berserk Button: G'iah presses Varra's when she questions about her not living her life in her Skrull skin. Varra, who had been nothing but kind and maternal to this point, quickly grows agitated and G'iah stumbles, realizing she crossed a line. Even when she apologizes, Varra coldly retorts that she knows she isn't really sorry and jabs at her for being young and overconfident. Varra moves the conversation on, but it's a noticeable loss of temper from her.
- Boom, Headshot!: Sonya calmly kills Skrull-Victor Dalton this way, leaving his "wife" horrified and covered in blood.
- Broken Masquerade: Twofold. Footage of Talos rescuing the President makes its way to the news revealing that Skrulls are hiding amongst humans. Gravik then goes the extra mile of having Raava reveal the location of New Skrullos to President Ritson as part of some risky Xanatos Speed Chess.
- Can't Kill You, Still Need You: Gravik refuses to kill Fury because Fury is the only one who knows where to find the stash of Avengers DNA.
- Continuity Nod:
- Rick Mason, the man who helped Natasha by providing her with a Quinjet, returns, this time providing Fury with a jet.
- Fury uses the same facial mask disguise used by Natasha Romanoff and Sharon Carter to disguise himself as a Finnish white man and get past a security checkpoint. Sonya Falsworth later makes note of the fact that the technology was built by the Red Room.
- The 'Harvest" is a collection of DNA from all those Avengers present at the Battle of Earth, including Carol Danvers.
- G'iah's words during Talos' funeral ("Travel well to your beyond, Father") echo something that Talos himself said in Captain Marvel when mourning the Skrull who impersonated Phil Coulson ("Safe journey to the beyond, my friend").
- Defiant to the End: Beto knows that Gravik is going to kill him, but uses his last breath to defiantly tell Gravik how much of a monster he really is.
- Due to the Dead: G'iah and Varra give Talos a Skrull funeral.
- Even Evil Has Standards: A few of Gravik's underlings are unnerved enough by him killing Pagon that they make an attempt on his life. It ends badly for them.
- Five-Second Foreshadowing: When Sonya and Dalton are watching the lab be torched, the barrel of Sonya's pistol can be seen under her left bicep a few seconds before she uses it to kill the Skrull holding Dalton.
- Frame-Up: The Skrulls frame Fury for the death of Maria Hill by using the footage of Gravik disguised as Fury.
- He's Back!: The episode ends with Fury putting on his signature eyepatch and black trench coat, signifying that the spymaster we all know and love is officially back in business.
- Hidden Supplies:
- Varra has backpacks full of guns and body armor hidden in her greenhouse, within easy reach when Gravik's hit squad comes calling.
- Fury has the Harvest hidden in his gravestone in Finland, and the nearby mausoleum has three separate safes for his Badass Longcoat, Eyepatch of Power, and a handgun.
- It's Personal: Part of Fury's stated reason for not involving the Avengers is that Gravik and the Skrulls are a personal matter he feels he needs to solve on his own.
- Jump Scare: Gravik's men break into Fury's house and start shooting right in the middle of Varra and G'iah's conversation.
- Locked Out of the Loop: Sonya is horrified to learn that Rhodey has been replaced by a Skrull after she'd already given him the intel on New Skrullos that he'd requested.
- Make an Example of Them: After Beto orchestrates a failed attempt on Gravik's life, Gravik hurls the injured Beto into the courtyard, publicly dares anyone else to try and attack him, then slits Beto's throat in front of dozens of horrified Skrulls.
- The Mutiny: A group of Gravik's operatives attempt to kill him after his execution of Pagan. Though an admirable effort, his enhanced physiology makes him too powerful to kill.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Fury admits that he had some Skrulls, including Gravik, collect blood samples of all the Avengers following the Battle of Earth to make The Harvest, and that this likely inspired Gravik to build his machine and make Super Skrulls. Sonya even lampshades this, saying this entire mess is a result of his mistake. Fury is well aware of this himself.Fury: Why do you think I came back?
- No MacGuffin, No Winner: The Skrull accompanying Dalton threatens to kill her, reasoning that Sonya wants her alive and will let him leave with her rather than kill them both. She just kills him.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Sonya approaches everything Skrull-related with a calm and snarky attitude. When Fury reveals that the "Rhodey" she had given classified intel to was actually a Skrull, she's genuinely horrified.
- Pistol-Whipping: Fury strikes Rhodey with his pistol as a bit of petty revenge since killing him is presently out of the question.
- The Reveal: Gravik is looking for the DNA samples of each of The Avengers, including Carol Danvers, that fought in the Battle of Earth. Fury collected their DNA with the help from some Skrulls including Gravik, then hid it from everyone.
- Rule of Cool: There'd be no other reason to install three separate biometric safes in the Finnish mausoleum to separately hold a Badass Longcoat, eye patch, and handgun.
- Sadistic Choice: Gravik threatens to have New Skrullos bombed by the Americans, thereby starting World War III, unless Fury gives him the Harvest, which Gravik would surely use to make the Skrulls invincible and destroy humanity anyway.
- Shoot the Hostage Taker: Dalton's Skrull escort threatens to kill her unless Sonya lets both of them leave. Sonya calmly pulls out her pistol and shoots him in the head.
- Shout-Out: Sonya jokes that she's good at being besties or not besties... "Cake or Death?"
- Slashed Throat: Gravik slits Beto's throat right in front of the others, thereby showing them what would happen if they started to fight back against him, too.
- Superman Stays Out of Gotham: Discussed; again, Fury is asked (by Sonya this time) why he does not call in the Avengers to handle the Skrull threat, to which he replies that they can't always expect superheroes to come and save them, and that this is a personal fight for him.
- Thanatos Gambit: If Gravik (via Raava) gets President Ritson to order an attack on New Skrullos, that will of course kill Gravik and everyone else in the compound, but it will also provoke Russia into triggering World War III, thus fulfilling Gravik's primary aim.
- Theme Music Power-Up: The series' main theme plays as Fury strides out in full spymaster gear, ready to finally bring Gravik down once and for all.
- Xanatos Speed Chess: Rather than having Raava finish President Ritson off, Gravik tells her to reveal the existence of New Skrullos to Ritson, framing it as the Skrulls allying with the Russians, to goad Ritson into destroying the settlement. His intention is to blackmail Fury into giving him the Harvest: if he doesn't, Ritson will order a strike on New Skrullos, which (being on Russian soil) would immediately trigger World War III.
- You Have Failed Me: This is how Gravik justifies killing Pagon — he failed to find the Harvest — though to the other Skrulls, it comes across as though he kills him simply for talking back, driving them to mutiny against their apparently unstable leader.
- You Monster!: Beto uses his Last Words to call Gravik "nothing but a monster".
