Draft:Harvest (Secret Invasion)

"Harvest" is the fifth episode of the American television miniseries Secret Invasion, based on Marvel Comics comic book crossover Secret Invasion. It features a faction of shapeshifting aliens, the Skrulls, have infiltrated all aspects of life on Earth. The episode is set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), sharing continuity with the films of the franchise. It was written by Michael Bhim and Brian Tucker, and directed by Ali Selim, who joined the series by May 2021.

Samuel L. Jackson reprises his role as Fury from previous MCU media, along with Ben Mendelsohn as Talos, with Kingsley Ben-Adir, Emilia Clarke, Olivia Colman, and Don Cheadle also starring. Selim joined the series by May 2021 to direct all episodes.

"Harvest" was released on Disney+ on July 19, 2023.

Plot
After the failed attack on Ritson, Pagon criticises Gravik for not killing Nick Fury and accuses him of deceiving the other Skrulls. Gravik kills him in retaliation. Fury confronts James "Rhodey" Rhodes at the hospital, but the latter reveals that he has released the footage of Gravik killing Maria Hill to the public, placing Fury on a global watchlist. A group of Skrulls stage a mutiny against Gravik and attempt to kill him, but it fails and Gravik kills them all, including Beto. Fury meets up with G'iah, who reveals that Gravik is looking for something he called "The Harvest". Sonya Falsworth tracks down Dr. Rosa Dalton, a Skrull in disguise, and questions her about the DNA machine in New Skrullos. Rhodes shows Ritson pictures of New Skrullos, implicating Russia as supportive of the Skrull invasion, and advises a strike on the compound. Gravik calls Fury and offers to call off the strike if he brings him the Harvest in person. G'iah and Priscilla hold a funeral for Talos and are later ambushed by a group of Skrulls sent by Gravik. The pair successfully take down the group. In Finland, Fury leads Falsworth to a grave marked with his name, which contains the Harvest, and prepares to confront Gravik.

Development
In September 2020, Kyle Bradstreet was revealed to be developing a television series for the streaming service Disney+ centered on Nick Fury, which was revealed that December to be Secret Invasion. Samuel L. Jackson was reprising his role as Fury, co-starring with Ben Mendelsohn in his MCU role of Talos. Ali Selim joined the series in May 2021 to direct, originally to split the episodes with Thomas Bezucha; Bezucha left the series before production began, and Selim ultimately directed all six episodes. Marvel Studios' Feige, Louis D'Esposito, Victoria Alonso, Brad Winderbaum, and Jonathan Schwartz served as executive producers on the series alongside Jackson, Selim, Bradstreet, and Brian Tucker. The fifth episode, titled "Harvest", was written by Michael Bhim and Tucker, and was released on Disney+ on July 19, 2023.

Casting
The episode stars Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, Ben Mendelsohn as Talos, Kingsley Ben-Adir as Gravik, Emilia Clarke as G'iah, Olivia Colman as Sonya Falsworth, and Don Cheadle as James "Rhodey" Rhodes.

Filming and visual effects
Filming took place at Pinewood Studios, as well as Hallmark House, from September 2021 to April 2022, with Selim directing, and Remi Adefarasin serving as cinematographer. Eben Bolter served as the cinematographer during additional photography which lasted for four months.

Visual effects were provided by.

Audience viewership
According to Nielsen Media Research who measure the number of minutes watched by United States audiences on television sets, Secret Invasion was the seventh-most watched original series across streaming services for the week of July 17–23, 2023, with 411 million minutes watched, which was an 18.4% increase from the previous week.

Critical response
The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reports a 50% approval rating with an average rating of XXX/10, based on 10 reviews.