You should’ve seen their faces.
(screencap courtesy of CTV.ca)
It’s a great time to be a Marvel fan. With Avengers: Age of Ultron set to bow out in the next two weeks (and already out overseas as of this writing) and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. continuing its build towards the Season 2 finale in a few weeks, the excitement just keeps growing. This week’s S.H.I.E.L.D. keeps the momentum going, as expected.
Previously on Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
While May reminisced about the tragedy in Bahrain (wherein she was forced to kill a powerful young superpowered girl to save lives), Skye continued to get to know her powers better under the careful supervision of Jiaying, her mother. The two would later find time for a dinner with Dr. Cal, something that was apparently predicted by a dream that Raina had. This appears to be her latent Inhuman ability coming into play.
Meanwhile, Fitz found himself in a bathroom somewhere, contacting Coulson and Hunter to get him out with the use of the Toolbox.
Recap (Full Spoilers)
Coming off a very strong flashback-heavy character focus last week, we dive right into the first of three episodes that apparently will closely link to Avengers: Age of Ultron in the usual Marvel Cinematic Universe cross-media synergy we’re all used to.
Faced with no alternatives in trying to find Skye, Coulson has sought the help of ex-S.H.I.E.L.D./ex-Hydra operative Grant Ward so that they could hunt Hydra’s new heads in Dr. List and Baron Strucker (more on the former and his importance later). Of course, this hardly endears the aforementioned Ward with Fitz, but desperate times do call for desperate measures. Coulson’s offer to mindwipe Ward so that he could start anew doesn’t seem like something that’ll truly happen, instead being more of a bargaining chip Phil used at his disposal to gain the traitorous former agent’s trust. And speaking of trust, May’s trust in Coulson continues to deteriorate as she learned of Simmons’ duplicity with the Toolbox and further exacerbated when an out-of-context image of her fellow Agent working with the enemy was glimpsed towards the end of the episode.
On the front with Skye and her true family, she opts to spend some time with Cal – whose full name is revealed to be Dr. Calvin L. Johnson – in his hometown of Milwaukee. The good (if a bit mad) doctor is alight with nostalgia recounting his old haunts to his daughter, perhaps hoping to bring Skye back to him to start a family happily again. Unfortunately, much like how Milwaukee’s cityscape has moved on, Skye/Daisy herself has moved on too, something that she hopes Cal will realize. In any case, S.H.I.E.L.D.’s version of Mr. Hyde has already proven himself to be a far more sympathetic and compelling figure than the crazed villain who usually serves as cannon fodder for the likes of Daredevil and Captain America in the comics. Yes, he’s got major anger problems, but therein lies a heart of gold embedded in there somewhere, one that’s open to the idea of starting the family he never truly got a chance to have due to unforeseen circumstances. I’ve gushed about just how great Kyle MacLachlan is in the role of Dr. Cal, and here, he shines once again as a big highlight of the episode. As a multi-faceted man with an intense love for his family and a burgeoning anger waiting to erupt a the right moment, MacLachlan is a real blast to watch in just about every scene he’s in.
The Age of Ultron ties are far from superficial in this show, driving the basis of the plot for the episode (and by all indications, the next two as well). Dr. List, Baron Strucker’s right-hand man seen in the mid-credit scene of Captain America: Winter Soldier, serves as the main threat that Coulson and his shorthanded team has to stop so that it could lead them potentially to the former Daisy Johnson. Strucker himself is namechecked a few times to further the tie-in, as well. While it’s unfeasible for the Avengers themselves to appear on the show, having a villain that has links to at least portions of the Age of Ultron plot is a neat way for it to create a bridge to the film, while allowing for it to help further the show’s own storylines.
That all comes to a head in the episode’s climax, where nearly every single plotline converges in a chaotic scene that turns Cal’s old medical office into an impromptu battleground for a S.H.I.E.L.D. vs. Hydra battle. By the time the dust settles, Hydra makes off with Lincoln and Deathlok, while Skye and her father are forcibly removed and taken back to Afterlife by Gordon. Meanwhile, damning evidence showing Coulson cooperating with Ward makes its way to the Treehouse, no doubt instilling more trust issues into May and Simmons. With things far past FUBAR, it’s probably no surprise that Phil decides to apparently surrender himself to Mockingbird and S.H.I.E.L.D. Beta when they come into the scene.
If anything, Coulson’s decision to come along peacefully with S.H.I.E.L.D. Beta isn’t a sign of surrendering or acquiescing to Gonzales (who again is absent for this episode, but he’ll be back), but rather part of a larger effort to get the S.H.I.E.L.D. Beta head to drop the B.S. and help him stop Hydra. If there’s one way to best convince someone who won’t listen to reason, it’s the method of getting all parties to cooperate to catch a bigger fish in the water. There’ll be trust issues to work out, for sure, but the time for the two S.H.I.E.L.D. factions to stop the infighting and unleash hell on Hydra has come.
With only four episodes left in the season (two of which will be linked to Age of Ultron in some manner), the pieces are starting to come together, promising a very frenetic finish to proceedings in Season Two of S.H.I.E.L.D. While the Inhuman storyline is quite a fascinating one, the show is at its best element when it delves into the espionage-heavy angles.
Grade: 8.5/10
Notes from the Field
- It was reported this week that the H.I.E.L.D. spinoff would feature Mockingbird and Lance Hunter as the leads. While the two will be missed on the main series, I’m holding out that this spinoff will provide an interesting premise.
- That being said, we’ll be starting something new here, where we ask you on Twitter to interact about the show. This week, tweet me suggestions for potential titles of the Mockingbird/Hunter spinoff show at my Twitter account @MarcQuill. Best responses get RT’d and will be posted here next week.
- We learned here that Cal is from Milwaukee, and it was only a few episodes ago (in an episode that heavily featured the Doctor, oddly enough) that audiences found out that Coulson was from Manitowoc. They’re an hour and twenty-one minutes away from one another, as it turns out.
- I thought it odd that they’d show a brief bit of an Inhuman by the name of Ethan leaving Afterlife in the Previously On before the episode, but it became all the more clear when it’s revealed that he died while Hydra experimented on him.
- There was finally a practical use for Lincoln’s electrokinetic abilities beyond making people levitate, as he utilized it to temporarily disable Deathlok during the melee in Milwaukee.
- “He’s not a cyborg. He’s a S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent… with rockets in his arm.” (A S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent is a S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent, even if he’s been upgraded with superweaponry.)
- “We’re outmanned, outgunned. And our only backup is Fitz.” (Yeah, you’re probably screwed. Unless you can assemble some backup.)
- “Come on, I’ve got ice cream on the brain.” (Looks like the Doctor has a fever that can only be cured by more ice cream.)
- “I changed it to something more sinister when I went on the run…” (Dr. Cal Zabo…. or Mr. Hyde?)
- “Daisy Johnson. Huh.” (And dozens of comic fans watching the show smiled as she said this.)
- You’re probably a true hardcore Marvel fan if you can successfully name every S.H.I.E.L.D. story written by the comics creators listed under the “Special Thanks” section of the credits.
Next Week
In the final S.H.I.E.L.D. episode before Avengers: Age of Ultron hits North American cinemas, it seems that Coulson’s S.H.I.E.L.D. and Gonzales’ faction decide to drop whatever issue they have with one another right now so that they can focus on stopping Hydra. Plus, will Maria Hill (or any Avenger for that matter) drop by to say hello? Find out next week.
Marc Quill just happens to cover shows aired on Tuesdays at 9/8 on ABC that are also based on Marvel Comics. He’s also very Canadian. You can reach him on Twitter @MarcQuill.