It might have taken a while, but “Secret Invasion” is finally taking off with its fourth episode, titled “Beloved.”

Taking center stage is Nick Fury’s (Sam Jackson) relationship with his wife, Varra/Priscilla Fury (Charlayne Woodard). Varra is a Skrull who took on the identity of a dying woman, though under a set of conditions that include being a daughter to the girl’s parents and to not hurt Nick Fury. The episode uses poet Raymond Carver’s “Late Fragment” to communicate the state of their relationship both at the beginning of it and currently and it just works. Jackson and Woodard have great chemistry and I love how layered and complex their relationship seems, despite the fact that the show still has barely shown us the surface of what they’ve been through together.

The show also finally fully takes advantage of the misdirection the shapeshifting Skrulls offer and it’s also the first episode where it feels like a spy thriller. There’s a great scene where Varra is talking to Col. James Rhodes (Don Cheadle), who *spoilers* is also a Skrull, and Rhodey orders Varra to kill Nick Fury, who is listening in. Nick Fury and his wife have been a part for a long time and last episode it was revealed that she still communicates with Gravik (Kingsley Ben-Adir), the insane leader of the Skrulls who wants to kill all human life in order to take over Earth, so we don’t quiet know what she’s going to do or what her intentions are, which creates good tension when she later confronts her husband.

Sh** also hits the fan in the later half of the episode, with Gravik executing a surprise attack on the president of the United States while impersonating members of the Russian military. Talos (Ben Mendelsohn) appears to be mortally wounded, though his daughter, G’iah (Emilia Clarke) is revealed to be alive, despite also suffering fatal wounds last episode. So I’m not sure what to expect of this. I feel like the show has to make his death final, else it’ll lose the audience taking any further deaths seriously.

This is the strongest episode yet. Nick Fury and Varra’s scenes make the episode, while Gravik’s attack manages to be captivating despite the fact that the whole fight looks ugly and almost pathetic — the whole thing takes place between a few convoys of cars on the side of the road. It’s a budget fight for sure, but because the stakes are so high and the fact that Jackson, Mendelsohn and Ben-Adir really carry those scenes, I don’t mind.

“Secret Invasion” Season 1: Episode 4 “Beloved” gets a 9/10