Last week, ABC took a break from ‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.‘ to spotlight Marvel Comics’ 75th anniversary with a special titled ‘Marvel: 75 Years From Pulp To Pop’, which featured new footage from ‘The Avengers: Age of Ultron’, ‘Ant-Man’, and ‘Agent Carter’. But this week, Director Coulson and his team returned with some exciting new developments and teases that could change the face of the Marvel Cinematic Universe as we know it.
When we last left the remnants of the once mighty espionage organization, the group had welcomed Agents Bobbi Morse AKA Mockingbird AKA Hunter’s ex-wife and welcomed back Agent Jemma Simmons from her undercover HYDRA mission. However, the group isn’t out of the fire yet as the hunt for the Obelisk has intensified, Ward has escaped their custody, and everyone is closing in on the answers behind the mysterious carvings that have followed Coulson since last season.
One of the best things about this episode was Grant Ward. He is a very dangerous man and the audience might have forgotten about that since we’ve only seen him in a cell this season. Look at how fast he called out Agents Morse and Trip and took out HYDRA like it was nothing. But what makes him most dangerous is that you don’t know what his angle is. He may be doing some nice things for S.H.I.E.L.D. right now, but he’s capable of turning in a big way. At this point, neither side want him, so what’s next for Grant Ward? I’m looking forward to finding out, but I secretly hope that he doesn’t take a typical redemption storyline.
Another interesting part of this season that emerged in this episode again is that there are plenty of teases for what’s coming in the future. Earlier this season, we heard mentions of holding S.H.I.E.L.D. accountable and that could be pushed even further in ‘Captain America: Civil War.’.Then this week, we hear mentions of a prominent HYDRA member named Strucker. As previously reported, we know that Baron Von Strucker will play a part in ‘The Avengers: The Age of Ultron,’ so to see the seeds being planted this far out is pretty interesting. But by far the most fascinating piece of foreshadowing was when Mack mentioned the backups of Fitz’s brain. This could lead to something incredibly awesome like a reemergence of Extremis where it’s used to heal Fitz’s brain similar to how Bruce Banner recently made it so in the comics that his intelligence remains even when he transforms into the Hulk.
Finally, the biggest revelation of the episode is that we have answers from T.A.H.I.T.I. at last! For me, the storyline has somewhat run its course and more interesting story arcs have emerged, so to bring it back and finally tie it up is a little bit overdue. At least Coulson and Skye haven’t turned into Garrett or any of the other GH-325 recipients, but I’m wondering if that happening would have made it a little better. Either way, now we’re in a place that feels like where the Doctor was after the 50th anniversary episode of ‘Doctor Who’ that put him on the course to find Gallifrey. As they alluded to in the episode, the city is like a home to the alien that they extracted the solution from, but what and where is the city? I have a theory that it’s Hala, the home planet of the Kree. If that’s the case, then maybe this could all tie in with ‘Captain Marvel’ since Carol Danvers’ powers are Kree-based. Or it could be Attilan, the home of the Inhumans, who also have a movie coming up in Phase Three. Regardless of what it is, I hope that the reveal isn’t dragged out for so long that I start to lose interest in it.
Overall, this was a good episode. Although, something about this week’s offering just didn’t grab me. I feel like I should be more excited by the things that happened because we got some pretty huge answers. But in the last few episodes, I was really getting into the secrets behind Skye’s father, the Obelisk, Morse and Hunter, and Fitz’s struggle. Since there was very little of that this week, I didn’t feel as invested in what was going on. I have no doubt that things will pick up and they will make more sense when the big picture is revealed just as it did last season when we got to the mid-season finale and everything started to click. Sure, this episode presented us with a lot of great potential for the future, but I guess that I just wasn’t feeling it this week.
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‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’ starring Brett Dalton, Ming-Na Wen, Iain De Caestecker, Elizabeth Henstridge, Chloe Bennet, and Clark Gregg airs on Tuesdays at 9:00pm on ABC.
