What They Become Delivers Big Time
OK, as always, spoilers ahead. This week SUPER MAJOR SPOILERS. So turn back now if you haven't watched yet.
Wow, what an episode. I was genuinely excited for the entirety of this episode. I really didn't want the show to end, and that's a first for me and Agents of SHIELD. This episode really delivered everything that both fans of the TV show and comic fans have wanted out of Agents of SHIELD. Tonight's episode was pretty much all about Skye, or as we finally learned, "Daisy." I have to give credit to the Internet theorist for nailing it on the mystery behind Skye's origin. I have read theories for a couple of month's now that Skye was actually Daisy Johnson and that her father was Dr. Hyde. While some of these characters' back-stories have been ret-conned for the TV show, the theories are otherwise spot-on. It was confirmed on tonight's episode that Skye is actually Daisy Johnson, aka Quake, an Agent of SHIELD from the comics who was trained by Nick Fury and also possesses "seismic powers." We also learned that "The Doctor" was in fact Dr. Cal Zabo aka Dr. Hyde. On top of that, the Obelisk was finally confirmed to be a part of the Inhumans lore when it opened to reveal a terrigen crystal which immediately blasted Skye, Raina, and Trip with terrigen mist. (Sad face, more on that later).
I'm going to stick with the same format for this review that I used last week and opt not to recap the whole episode.
The Good
The good stuff this week? How about everything! Truly, this was one of the best episodes to date because the show runners finally and truly capitalized on all the potential for this show. Lots of people love to hate this show, but I don't think people often put two and two together that Agents of SHIELD is based in the same universe as the MCU. To be honest, it's easy to forget. The scope of Marvel's TV landscape is not nearly as grand as the movies, but in the end, "it's all connected" as they love to remind us. For once, this week, this show really felt like an exciting part of the MCU. We are seeing the first inkling of the Inhuman lore sneaking into the MCU as a whole, and it didn't come from a teaser in an after credits scene on Age of Ultron. It happened on a Tuesday night in your living room. This kind of stuff is why Agents of SHIELD has so much potential. If they keep connecting the dots like this for the rest of season 2, it's going to be a hell of a season. On another note, tonight's episode really came through for the hardcore comic book fans. Seeing Quake and Dr. Hyde come to life in the show is what comic book fans live for and it's those same comic book fans who were able to puzzle out this season's mysteries before anyone else. I love this because it's like the show is written to literally reward dedicated comic book fans yet it doesn't isolate casual fans from the show. In other good news, we got to see some badass gun play from Coulson taking out Whitehill (less badass, more so just glad to see him dead) and Skye blasting Ward without a moment's hesitation (really badass). One other highlight was Kyle MacLachlan's performance as the emotionally ravaged father of Skye. The show has tried to teach us to hate him, but once he told the story of losing his wife and daughter, it was really heartbreaking. MacLachlan truly killed it with a disturbing blend of psychosis, misery, and despair coming through the character.
The Bad
Not much this week that I can really complain about as far as the execution of this episode goes. The cast felt a bit lop-sided tonight with most of the Agents left on the sideline to Skye's story. Also, the bit about the hazmat suits and the bombs in the temple felt pretty pointless once it was all said and done. In fact, this was all just confusing sometimes. Why did Mac get possessed in the temples but no one else did? What was the point of the hazmat suits when Fitz, Simmons, and Trip first went down to the tunnels? That can be forgiven considering that 95% of this episode was so good. The worst part of tonight's episode was the loss of Agent Triplett. They did a great job setting us up for a punch to the gut, first making us wonder if Mac was going to be alive. Then they let him go only to swipe Trip from us at the last second. It was super sad to see him crumble in the last scenes of the episode. At the same time, I don't see why it was necessary to kill him. It was truly a testament to the character of Triplett that after running toward four ticking time bombs and living, he stills dives in head first to save his friend Skye. One thing I feel completely justified in complaining about is the winter break before we get to see all this play out more. I can't wait to see more of super-powered Skye and all the Inhumans to come!
The Be All, End All
I can finally say unequivocally that I ams SOLD on Agents of SHIELD. It's sad to say it took a season and a half to reach that status, but they are truly there now. Taking a lesson from the Captain America: The Winter Solider crossover and keeping the bigger MCU within view more and more, Agents of SHIELD has finally become an essential piece of the puzzle. Before, you could simply have said that Agents was auxiliary to the overall story of the MCU, but now Agents is actually taking the lead on storytelling. With three years to go before the Inhumans come to the silver screen, Agents has a ton of time to play with and develop all the madness that comes with baby Inhumans running around the Earth. It's going to be a ton of fun and a welcome breath of fresh air for the often times stuffy show. Sure, there are just as many chances for Agents to mess up the Inhumans, but if Marvel has proven anything this year it's that when they take risks, they pay off big time.
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