Thragg wiped those fraud allegations immediately
With just one episode left in this season, “DON’T DO ANYTHING RASH” delivers on adding to the complexity of the Viltrum Empire and delivers on the action once more. Each scene leading up to the big fight of the episode provides more nuance that the comic series doesn’t quite touch on. For multiple shows this week, the theme of the week was mercy. In Daredevil: Born Again, the merciful character is Foggy, and in Invincible, it’s Thragg.
Opening with a flashback on Viltrum, Thaedus tries to sway the Viltrumites away from committing genocide against a planet rebelling against the empire, but fails. After the meeting, Thragg tells Argall that Thaedus has changed since his time in another sector, which is an interesting piece of dialogue because it shows that, like Nolan, his time away from Viltrum changed how he viewed his people. Argall replies with, “If you feel his weakness harms the empire, take action.” However, Thragg backtracks and says he is mistaken, showing mercy to Thaedus because he is one of his own. For Thaedus, this meeting may have been the last straw, pushing him to kill Argall and become the betrayer. Thragg’s mercy on Thaedus led to the death of Argall and the empire’s downfall. With Argall dead, Thragg takes his place as Grand Regent. And as his first order of business, he calls for a purging of potential traitors, triggering a massive fight among the Viltrumites. The juxtaposition of the beautiful strings that play over the scenes of the “necessary” Viltrumite violence shows just how twisted Thragg and the rest of Viltrum’s way of thinking is. These scenes were a great addition to the episode. Season four has been great with adding complexity to Viltrum, the remaining living Viltrumites, and Nolan’s connection to it/them.
When the group arrives to Viltrum, there are far more people waiting than they expected. But it doesn’t get interesting until Thragg beats Nolan down to the planet so they can have a private conversation. Once again, Thragg tries to show mercy. He tells Nolan that all will be forgiven if he joins the side of the empire once again. Could he have been lying? Yes, but I don’t think he was because a lot of Thragg’s scenes of him alone have shown how much he cares about restoring Viltrum to its glory days, and he knows Nolan could absolutely aid in that goal. He gets genuinely upset when Nolan calls the planet a tomb, and his devotion to talking to Argall’s skull shows his twisted dedication to leading his people. Thragg reaches his breaking point, seeing Viltrum be destroyed by Nolan, Mark, and Thaedus, triggering his brutal killing of Thaedus and the almost killing of Nolan. He shows mercy one more time by not killing Mark for two reasons. One, because as he said, the death of any Viltrumite leaves a void in him, and he had already taken out two at that point. And two, Thragg believes he can persuade Mark to join the empire, because he thinks he can convince Mark to have the same love for Viltrum he has. And Mark has proved his strength by killing Conquest and destroying Viltrum.
Thragg is genuinely evil, but his love for his people and his home may be the only genuine thing about him. It is why he doesn’t kill Mark and decides to head to Earth. Only time will tell if Thragg’s mercy will be his downfall for a second time. “DON’T DO ANYTHING RASH” is a worthwhile penultimate episode that definitely raises the tension leading into the season finale.
Rating: ★★★★ ½
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