First of the ‘Lost’ clones: ‘Invasion’ (2005-06)

“Invasion” (2005-06, ABC) was the first of the post-“Lost” Event Series. And darn if it doesn’t still rank as one of the best, even as 2021 brings us another Event Series called “Invasion.” Shaun Cassidy’s show sits at a transition between old and new TV approaches. It uses the “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” narrative but pancakes it out over 22 episodes with loyalty questions, foreboding atmosphere and alien weirdness.

This is the story of the hurricanes

The story – which was meant to lead into a Season 2 that never happened, but which is nonetheless satisfying – is set in Homestead, Fla., and bookended by hurricanes.

Conveniently and controversially, Hurricane Katrina had struck in August 2005, and with all the ’canes since then, “Invasion” remains timely. Both before and after I moved to the Southeast, I’ve been a sucker for scenes of people boarding up windows and grabbing supplies as a storm rolls in (but I don’t care for the real experience).

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Although not a wildly expensive series – the nice thing about swamps and forests is you can reuse the same areas and say they are different – “Invasion’s” L.A.-based crew whips up the wind and we buy into the tension.

It’s more sci-fi than horror, but it has its share of shocks and skin-crawling strangeness. Under the rules of this alien invasion, a person isn’t truly body-snatched; instead he gets copied over into an identical body. That means his original corpse is floating in the swamps somewhere.

Cast will blow you away

The cast is excellent, comprising two interlinked families after the divorce of Everglades park ranger Russell Varon (Eddie Cibrian) and doctor Mariel (Kari Matchett). Russell is now engaged to TV reporter Larkin (Lisa Sheridan, “Freakylinks”), while Mariel has married sheriff Tom Underlay (William Fichtner).

Also in the mix are Larkin’s brother Dave (Tyler Labine, who probably lost out to Jack Black for tons of roles but who is likewise great); Tom’s Lolita-esque daughter Kira (Alexis Dziena, “Broken Flowers”); and Russell and Mariel’s kids Jesse (Evan Peters, later Quicksilver in the “X-Men” films) and Rose (Ariel Gade).

The reliable Fichtner successfully plays out the Big Questions without us getting tired of Tom’s obfuscations. First it’s “Is he human or a hybrid?,” then “Is he good or evil?,” then “Are his goals smart or misguided?”

I remembered Matchett as an ice queen, but I see a nuanced performance now as Mariel deals with turning into a water-obsessed hybrid. Labine is our Fox Mulder stand-in, and an entertaining one, even though Dave says “E.B.E.” (extra-biological entity) enough times for a drinking game. (Also: Take a drink every time Tom and Russell have a macho posturing contest.)

Side trips not taken

Peters plays a teen so pummeled by outside and inside stimuli that he’s often stone-faced, but in a believably brooding way. “Invasion” flirts with that TV trope wherein stepbrother and stepsister (unrelated by blood) are attracted – seen on “Once and Again” slightly before this. Peters and Dziena have the chemistry for it, but the writers back off.

Later, it tries the “What’s in Tom’s locked room?” and “Who shot Tom?” questions before pulling away. It’s like “The X-Files” but with all mythology episodes. Cassidy tries small stories without total commitment; he’s only consistent with the macro story of hybrids gradually taking over Homestead.

I went with the flow. But I did miss bath-obsessed college girl Emily (Nicole Garza), who hits if off with a stunned Jesse at midseason. She’s gone after one episode, so Jesse instead gets gun-happy, leading to awkwardly blunt anti-gun commentary by the writers.

“Invasion” starts off great, dips a little, is great again at midseason, then dips at the end. As with many older shows, I remembered the early episodes more than the later ones. I think this is because when a show starts, our brains engage in questions of what it will become. Once it defines itself, it’s harder to remain interesting.

That happens with “Invasion.” It makes its biggest mistake in the final episodes. Even though we have classic (if clichéd) images like glowing orange aliens falling from the sky and our heroes huddled amid a crowd of people at a shelter, the widened scope frays our connection to the characters.

Moss grows into star

Before that, we get arcs for everyone (except Rose, but her purpose is only to be an adorable 5-year-old), but then it becomes Humans versus Hybrids. James Frain’s Szura is a charismatic bad-guy leader, but “Invasion” inexplicably dispenses of others along the way, leaving the invaders rather faceless by the end.

The most notable guest actor is Elisabeth Moss (“The Invisible Man”) as Christina. Every hybrid deals with their change differently, but the transformation mostly brings out their inner nature. Christina is a psychopath who pulls along her less gung-ho boyfriend Derek (Michael Mitchell), formerly Kira’s boyfriend.

I remembered Christina from my first viewing without realizing it was Moss. With her unconventional looks, I wouldn’t have guessed she would become an A-lister.

Also worth a nod is Nathan Baesel as Tom’s deputy, Lewis. For a while I thought “Invasion” was unusually progressive for 2005 in casting a one-armed actor … until an alien encounter restores Lewis’ arm. This is a decent story twist but an even better special-effects show-off: Baesel and the crew effectively hid the arm the whole time.

“Invasion’s” technical quality never wavers, I was into the characters from episode one, and the storytelling is solid, even if we can see the writers working out the kinks. Of course, this was the case with all TV prior to the streaming age.

If made today as a miniseries at half the episode count, people would love “Invasion.” Even as it stands, it’s worth checking out.