One of the most well-received changes the Invincible series has ever made from the comics, acknowledged even by the hardest of purests, has been the foundational retooling of Mark Grayson's mother, Debbie. No longer a passive housewife defined by her husband, she became the bedrock for Mark's morals and even Nolan's change on Earth.
Ever since he abandoned his quest to take over the planet, from Season 2 onward, Nolan has been on a road to redemption. However, his reunion with Debbie in the latest episode, "Give Us a Moment," goes very differently from how it did in the comics, reflecting Debbie's newfound self-respect and bottled-up anger toward Nolan in the series.
His failed apology to Debbie in this episode could send Invincible and their relationship into completely uncharted territory. It's only a question of whether they'll still end up in the same place they do in the comics.
Debbie Was a Pushover In the Comics
It's honestly downright cruel to compare the apology scene Robert Kirkman wrote in the Invincible comics to the one from "Give Us a Moment," since they just aren't comparable in any measure.
When Nolan arrived on Earth in the comics to recruit Mark into the impending Viltrumite War in issue #71, he approached Debbie and apologized for what he had said and done on that horrid day when he nearly killed their son. Sadly, the long-awaited reunion was incredibly underwhelming.
It doesn't even take up a full page, with Nolan doing most of the talking, while Debbie got three measly sentences, essentially telling him that she'll always hate him and never believe he's changed. On top of all that, despite this being the same man who killed tens of thousands of people, nearly beat their son to death, and called her a pet, Debbie seemed more heartbroken over the ordeal than anything.
Even when he planned to take away Mark to potentially die in a war light-years away, which it nearly does in the show's most brutal scene, Debbie doesn't even question it in the comics before they're whisked away into space by Nolan six pages later—it's insane.
Fans felt like it only further weakened Debbie's agency as a character, and that Nolan didn't suffer nearly enough pushback or consequences for his actions. In devastating contrast, Debbie verbally disembowled him in the latest episode of Invincible.
In "Give Us a Moment," Sandra Oh gave an Emmy-worthy performance as Debbie in a five-minute-long scene as she heard out Nolan's robotic apology before ruthlessly dismantling it, finally letting out all of her pent-up anger to the point she broke her hand punching him.
Debbie doesn't mince words, telling Nolan that what he did "can't be fixed" and calling him "barely a bad photocopy" of humanity before telling him to leave and never come back. The way their reunion ended in the Invincible series had far more finality to their relationship than the comics ever did.
Is There Still Hope for Nolan & Debbie?
In the comics, shortly after Nolan returned with Mark from the short-lived war, he and Debbie reconciled by issue #80. After just one talk, they tell Mark they're getting back together and moving to Talescria, the planet that serves as the headquarters of the Coalition of Planets, to avoid any scrutiny against Nolan's presence on Earth.
Fans found Debbie's forgiveness of Nolan entirely unrealistic and cheap, especially given her abrupt break-up with Paul off-panel during the six-month time-skip following Mark's prolonged recovery after fighting and killing Conquest. It's not helped that Debbie practically became a background character in the comics afterward, aside from the occasional gag of her and Nolan unable to keep their hands off each other.
Considering how angry and devastating Debbie's final words to Nolan were before he left for the war, it would be the definition of character assassination for series-Debbie to get back with Nolan so quickly. However, the series has already set up the two getting back together.
When Nolan took Mark's words to heart, about this apology being more for himself than anyone else, it was Debbie who silently made the first move by opening the door and letting him into the house. Another small moment was when she asked him if she was still his "pet," and when he responded sincerely, "You never were," her expression briefly shifted to surprise before snapping back to anger.
The clincher that might as well have been a neon sign to audiences that the two would make up was Nolan's flashback at the food dispenser, in which Debbie told him, "You give up too easily." Words that could easily apply to Nolan's pursuit of Debbie and her forgiveness.
The two will more than likely get back together, but the difference from the comics will be that it won't happen nearly as fast. Nolan will actually have to fight for it, while Debbie will struggle to accept that he's truly changed, even if she can't fully forgive him for everything he did.
