WARNING: The following contains major spoilers for the first five episodes of Invasion, now streaming on Apple TV+.

One of the intriguing things about Apple TV+'s Invasion is how it mixes secrecy of the encroaching alien threat on Earth with sheer violence. Due to communications blackouts, some places like Afghanistan have giant creatures attacking soldiers, while in the Americas and Asia, it's more cryptic as tech failures are pegging society back decades, leaving behind messages to decode. However, as the latest episode unfolds, a key development occurs that proves this series is better than War of the Worlds, not necessarily needing all-out war to take the planet.

It occurs in "Going Home" when Aneesha makes a supplies run after leaving her family with a couple they met in the woods. She thinks her kids will be safe, plus she needs time away from Ahmed, her cheating husband, only to meet an empty supermarket. However, she's found by a military unit, who luckily discover her medical skills. They whisk her away to an upstate New York encampment, where she's thrown into the chaos immediately.

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Invasion reveals parasites which makes the show better than War of the Worlds

She's shocked for a bit, but as it wears off, she has to help close up an operation on an ailing patient who suffered a dire abdominal injury. The head doctor urges her to seal the wound but Aneesha, as observant as ever, spots a parasite that looks like an anemone attached to his innards.

The doctor's super thankful as he missed this in the rush as they have so many folks to tend to, but what's concerning is they don't spend much more time dissecting the being after stitching the laceration up.

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It seems at this point it's just enough to pass as something they'd pick up in the sea or from eating bad food, but Aneesha slowly realizes it's extraterrestrial. It's why she heads to another location, as she's curious. And for viewers, after seeing Trevante in Kandahar fighting a starfish-like monster, it shows how adaptable these beings are. That's something War of the Worlds lacked as its aliens couldn't adapt to Earth's atmosphere, immediately dying.

Invasion reveals parasites which makes the show better than War of the Worlds

Thus, that invasion was doomed to fail from the start, whereas this one shows diversity in strategy. The aliens have crippled comms, they're seeding beasts out on the ground, and now they have passable parasites attaching to humans in what could be an infiltration job to mind-control and thin the population out. It's setting up as the quietest yet most brilliant strategy of all, as folks will eventually get misdirected to the bigger firefights with giant spaceships.

This cerebral, stealthy tactic may explain too why Sheriff Tyson got stung and has gone missing since the first episode, painting an ominous picture for a human race that's utterly beleaguered and broken at the moment.

Invasion's first five episodes are now streaming on Apple TV+. New episodes become available every Friday.

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