Line #29 Series/Invasion


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4	''Invasion'' is a 2005 Creator/{{ABC}} ScienceFiction series set in the small town of Homestead after a devastating hurricane ravages large parts of Florida. However, this hurricane is different from others as it drops thousands of orange 'lights' into the ocean. This event is seen only by the few people brave (or naive) enough to go outside and stand at the coast during the storm.
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6	In the aftermath of the hurricane, people start disappearing, and people thought to be dead suddenly re-emerge.
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8	And there we have an awesome set up for an awesome series. Creator/{{ABC}}, however, apparently thought differently about that matter and decided to cancel it after just one season, leaving the viewer lost in a sea of loose ends (and it was even ended on a {{Cliffhanger}} involving the protagonist's wife). Creator/{{NBC}} and Creator/{{CBS}} had two similar programs airing that season, ''Surface'' and ''Series/{{Threshold}}'' respectively; they also wound up gone.
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10	[[AC: The principal characters:]]
11	* [[TheSheriff Sheriff]] Tom Underlay (Creator/WilliamFichtner): The town sheriff, and Kira's father. His first wife died in a plane crash in 1996, of which he was the only survivor.
12	* Dr. Mariel Underlay (Creator/KariMatchett): Russell's ex-wife, and the mother of Jesse and Rose. She is a doctor at the town hospital.
13	* Kira Underlay (Creator/AlexisDziena): Tom's daughter from his first marriage.
14	* Russell Varon (Creator/EddieCibrian): A Florida Everglades Park Ranger, Mariel's ex-husband, and father of Jesse and Rose.
15	* Larkin Groves (Creator/LisaSheridan): Russell's second wife. She is a [[IntrepidReporter reporter]] for the local news station.
16	* Dave Groves (Creator/TylerLabine): Larkin's eccentric, alien/conspiracy theory-obsessed brother.
17	* Jesse Varon (Creator/EvanPeters): Russell and Mariel's teenage son.
18	* Rose Varon (ArielGlade): Russell and Mariel's young daughter.
19	* Deputy Lewis Sirk (Creator/NathanBaesel): Tom's right-hand man. He lost his left arm prior to the beginning of the series.
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21	This is not the same as the [[Series/Invasion2021 2021 TV series]].
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24	!!This series provides examples of:
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26	* BadassBoast: Tom gives a fantastic one to [[spoiler: Father Scanlon]] after discovering that he was the one who [[spoiler: shot him]].
27	-->'''[[spoiler: Father Scanlon]]:''' How could you ''ever'' think you'd escape [God]'s justice?
28	-->'''Tom:''' How could you ever think you'd escape mine?
29	* BigDamnHeroes:
30	** [[spoiler:Tom and Russell]] in the finale, when they show up to interrupt [[spoiler:Szura's hybrid soldiers from throwing the townspeople into the water to be replicated]], and start gunning them down.
31	** In the same episode, [[spoiler:the Air Force]], who then shows up to rescue [[spoiler:Tom and Russell]] and completely shut [[spoiler:Szura]]'s operation down.
32	* BulletHolesAndRevelations: In the final episode, Tom is in a [[GunStruggle gun struggle]] with a teenager who broke into his house, and took some of his friends/family hostage. The gun fires, and he looks up to see a bullet hole in the door of the closet where [[spoiler: Lewis, Dave, and Larkin]] were locked up. [[spoiler:It turns out the bullet hit Larkin]].
33	* CliffHanger: The season ends with [[spoiler:Tom giving the mortally-wounded Larkin to the light-creatures]], only for [[spoiler:Russell and Mariel]] to come across him immediately afterwards. [[spoiler:Russell]] asks "[[spoiler:Tom]], what is it? What's happened? ... [[spoiler:Tom]], what happened? ... What. Happened?" Cue credits.
34	* DysfunctionalFamily: Well, dysfunctionally-interlaced families. A lot of inter-character tension comes from their complicated family situation (Russell and Mariel broke up and both have new spouses, with Mariel marrying the guy she cheated on Russell with).
35	* EmergencyTransformation:
36	** Heavily implied to be the real reason why [[spoiler:Tom]] gave [[spoiler:Mariel]] to the light-creatures (offscreen) in the first episode.
37	** At the end of the last episode of the series, [[spoiler:Tom]] does this again with [[spoiler:Larkin]] (who was shot through the lung).
38	* ExecutiveMeddling: Originally, it showed the alien invasion taking place in a hurricane. However, [[RealLifeWritesThePlot Hurricane Katrina]] had hit New Orleans around the time of the premiere, so the hurricane references, while still there, were significantly downplayed.
39	* ExpressDelivery: [[spoiler: Christina's alien babies make her look full-term at only 3 weeks.]]
40	* FacingTheBulletsOneLiner / FaceDeathWithDignity: [[spoiler: Kira]]'s reply to being forced by [[spoiler: Christina and Derek]] to go into the water to be replicated by the light-creatures, before she calmly walks into the ocean under her own power. [[spoiler: Although it turns out that the light-creatures reject her]].
41	-->'''[[spoiler: Kira]]:''' I don't have to be like you.
42	-->'''[[spoiler: Christina]]:''' What?
43	-->'''[[spoiler: Kira]]:''' Even if I'm changed, I don't have to be like you. I won't be.
44	* FetusTerrible: [[spoiler: Christina is impregnated with alien young, which often cause her pain. When she is killed, they tear their way out of her.]]
45	* FlorenceNightingaleEffect: Tom and Mariel met and fell in love while he was in the hospital recovering from the plane crash that killed his wife.
46	* GoingForTheBigScoop: As the series' [[IntrepidReporter intrepid reporter]], Larkin does this a fair amount.
47	* HalfHumanHybrid: The result of someone being taken by the light-creatures. They look exactly like the originals and have the same memories and (usually) personality, but with changes that aren't readily apparent, such as blood with far more hemoglobin than a human's which enables them to hold their breath for half an hour or more. InUniverse, Dave even nicknames them "hybrids".
48	* HereWeGoAgain / BookEnds: The last scene of the series features [[spoiler:Tom]] giving the fatally-wounded [[spoiler:Larkin]] to the light-creatures, as he did with [[spoiler:Mariel]] in the first episode. The haunting music that plays during this scene is even called "Full Circle" on the soundtrack.
49	* InsistentTerminology: Dave refers to the light-creatures as [=EBEs=] ("Extra-terrestrial Biological Entities"), and gets annoyed whenever another character calls them [=UFOs=].
50	* Film/InvasionOfTheBodySnatchers: This classic movie was clearly what inspired the series.
51	* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: [[spoiler:Tom]]'s expression, along with his [[DumbStruck inability to reply]] to [[spoiler:Russell]]'s asking what happened, after he [[spoiler:gives Larkin to the light-creatures]] in the series' final scene just screams this.
52	* MistakenForAliens: The light creatures are never positively identified as being extraterrestrial, and may simply be exotic earthly sea creatures that are brought from the bottom of the ocean by the hurricanes as theorized by Russell. Then again, Dave Groves insists that they are EBEs ("Extra-terrestrial Biological Entities"). The series is canceled before we learn anything about them to confirm either theory.
53	* MySignificanceSenseIsTingling: The hybrids appear to be able to sense a wide variety of things, on at least a subconscious level. This includes instantly being able to identify if someone else is also a hybrid, and being able to sense things about the weather, such as the direction of ocean currents and, in the final episodes, [[spoiler:the fact that another hurricane is going to hit the town]].
54	* PreMortemOneLiner:
55	-->'''[[spoiler: Deputy Munger]]:''' I look forward to rotting with your daughter in the grave.
56	-->'''Tom:''' You're not gonna make it that far. Rams half of the car under the back end of a truck at high speed, crushing [[spoiler: Deputy Munger]]
57	* SocialDarwinist:
58	** Szura is a combination of types 2 and 3.
59	** It's later revealed that [[spoiler: the light-creatures are sort of a type 2, they won't replicate anyone who has innate health issues, such as Healy's diabetes or Kira's heart defect. Although, this is likely simply because they wish the replicants to have the best possible chances of survival.]]
60	* SpeciesLoyalty: The "hybrids" instinctively stick with each other rather than normal humans, in some cases so much so that they go to full [[TranshumanTreachery transhuman treachery]].
61	* SuperBreedingProgram: [[spoiler:Szura's ultimate plan, as revealed in the final two episodes. He uses his hybrid followers to round up all the remaining human residents of the town, with the intention of throwing them into the water during a hurricane, resulting in the creation of thousands of new hybrids]].
62	* TheyWouldCutYouUp: Tom's justification for keeping [[spoiler: Mariel]]'s change secret, and for why [[spoiler: Lewis]] must [[spoiler: cut off his "miraculously" re-grown arm]]. It later turns out that [[spoiler: the military has, in fact, been performing invasive experiments/tests on some captured "hybrids", some of whom were military personnel before being replicated]].
63	* TomatoInTheMirror: The replicants that replaced the real individuals truly believe they are the actual person they're copying. They even have the memories. [[spoiler: Tom Underlay]], in fact, had been replicated and was UNAWARE of what had happened to him for years.
64	* TheUnreveal: In one of the last few episodes, Russell asks [[spoiler: his partner, Mona]] if [[spoiler:she]]'s a hybrid. [[spoiler:Her]] response is simply "Does it matter?"
65	* WhamEpisode: The series' last two episodes, which combined have far too many wham-moments to list.
66	* WhamLine: From the second-to-last episode: [[spoiler:"I'm afraid they may have changed into uniforms."]]
67	* WhamShot: In one of the early episodes, the shot of the writing on the back of [[spoiler:Tom]]'s wedding photo, which matches the date and inscription on the ring Dave found on the skeleton in the water, heavily implying that [[spoiler:Tom]] is a hybrid.
68	* WholeEpisodeFlashback: "Redemption." The episode contains numerous flashbacks of Tom's past, showing the plane crash and how he met Mariel.
69	* WorkingWithTheEx: Happens occasionally with Russell and Mariel, leading to much awkwardness and tension.
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Context Series / Invasion