Russel Varon, played by Eddie Cibrian, is the park ranger, in the past he was married to Mariel, who now is married to Tom. Marial and Russel have two children: Jesse, played by Evan Peters, and Rose, played by Ariel Gade. They both have custody over their kids and this gives some friction, especially when Jesse finds out that his mum has become a hybrid too. Rose has figured out on the first day after the hurricane that her mum is different. Larkin, played by Lisa Sheridan, who passed away in 2019, is Russel’s wife. Larkin is pregnant of their first child together. She is a reporter and also investigates the strange things that have been happening in their town.

Dave, played by Tyler Labine, is Larkin’s brother, he lives with the Varon family, he is a real geek and immediately is convinced that the lights in the water, are aliens. At one point he also fell into the water, he was attacked by what is assumed to be an alien, it glowed. Russel pulls him out of the water fast. Still later Dave meets a disfigured person who looks like him. This person came to their home, because he more or less was Dave, so he felt at home there. Tom has a daughter, Kira, played by Alexis Dziena, she wants to be more connected to her dad, but he is always busy, but not with her. When she realizes that he and Mariel both are hybrids, she too wants to change, because she wants to feel connected. She even walks into the water at one time, but for some reason, the aliens don’t take her. Kira does get an intimate relationship with the one-armed deputy Lewis, played by Nathan Baesel. He also is changed, when he returns as a hybrid, he has both his arms again. When Tom learns of this he convinces Lewis to saw off his arm again, because Tom knows that the townspeople wouldn’t understand this.

The real villain in the first and only season ultimately becomes Eli Szura, played by James Frain, he also is a hybrid of course, he and Tom have an arrangement, Tom brings hybrids to an island where Szura shepherds these hybrids, he educates them, learns what they have become and such. What Tom doesn’t know is that Szura has his own agenda, he is a coldhearted son of a b*tch, who doesn’t care about the “normal” human beings, he only cares about the hybrids. Tom wants the humans and the hybrids to co-exist but Szura has another opinion, and he has no trouble killing people. Some notable guest spots: Cirroc Lofton (jake Sisko on DS9); Armin Shimerman (Quark on DS9).

General:

Invasion basically is similar to “The Invasion of the Body Snatchers”. After the hurricane, a lot of people, who were in the water, have changed, tension grows in the town as well as in the Veran / Underlay family. Russel is afraid for his children when he learns that their mother is changed also. Tom tries to keep it all a secret, is in communication with Szura all the time, doesn’t like that Russel is prying, questions him constantly. Russel at first does not want to believe these creatures are aliens. Dave, is convinced about it and tries to convince Russel also. When the military also gets involved, Larkin, Dave and Russel get even more suspicious. Larkin even gets onto the military base via a friend who is stationed there. The season is full of intrigue, secrecy, suspense, revolving around these two families. Towards the end it becomes clear another hurricane is coming. This means aliens will be coming back too and Szura wants to convert as many people as possible. He and his men bring all the towns people to one place near the water, with the intention to drive all the none hybrids into the water. As a viewer, this is really uncomfortable to watch, it does remind you of our nasty history, it really makes you angry what you see happening there, families pulled apart, use violence against the ‘normal’ people and believe me when Szura gets what is coming to him, I was almost cheering! Because of the cancellation, this last episode obviously became the series finale and in those final moments, something heartbreaking occurs which will again severely impact both families.

Final Word:

As you might notice, this is a different kind of blog, this is because if I start to write a blog per episode, it will be 6 or 7 word pages, way too much detail, it would not be a pleasant read. By writing it the way I now did, I hope you get the urge to try out this show for yourself, yes it ends on a cliff-hanger but it is a really strong show, and I am almost certain you will be baffled why this show wasn’t renewed for a second season.

Screencaps taken from IMdB