Danny Hale reviews the seventh episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 3…
This week our team finally took on Lash while Coulson and Rosalind grew closer. Opening the episode with May and Andrew 6 months previously in Maui at a sweeter time was a great way to begin this story. A lot has gone down this season and it’s important to strip all that away at times to remind us that at the end of the day Melinda and Andrew are just two people in love, trying to make it work. Of course beginning with such a sentimental scene put me on the defensive right away; things were not going to go well. Case and point being the following scene where we witness Andrew, recently back from Maui, open Jiaying’s ledger which has clearly been tripped to release terrigen mist onto to whoever tries to read it. It’s a good plan as only an Inhuman can survive the mist and as we now know Andrew more than survives it.
I feel like Fitz and Simmons are on their own little show right now and that’s totally fine. This week Simmons gave her phone that we should all recognise from her excursion to the desert planet to Fitz in the faint hope that he could recover the data and then use said data to help in their quest to rescue Will. I knew as soon as Jemma handed it over that we would see Fitz watching all her videos and listening to her recordings. I shed a tear with Fitz as he witnessed Simmons’ deterioration but also as he saw quite plainly how much he meant to her in her darkest moments. Thus prompted a great instant between the two friends where Simmons adamantly assures Fitz that she was as clear-headed as she’s ever been when she said those things. It gave me hope again not that I believe Simmons and Fitz won’t get their moment further down the line but Will does definitely complicate things regardless of what Fitz and Simmons feel for each other. Simmons feels indebted to Will and until she can rescue him she’ll never be able to move on, if indeed she wants to. Apart from a touching scene Simmons’ recovered data also gives us a minor discovery when Fitz shows Bobbi and Hunter an engraving they found in the castle chamber a few weeks back that he reckons closely resembles the space logo on Will’s jacket. It is very early days but something to be thinking about. I also loved how Fitz actually saw all the videos and recordings that Simmons made while lost; they were great moments in that episode but validated even more now that they were used again.
We finally got another look at Joey this week! I liked what I saw of him in the pilot but figure having such an extreme power makes it easier to have him disappear for a while and come back with a better grasp on his abilities. He had a relatively short scene with Andrew, during which I temporarily freaked out thinking Lash had murdered him. Not only has Joey started to control his powers but he’s also grown to love them. He’s ready and willing to sign up to Daisy’s team as of the end of his scenes so hopefully we’ll see more of him next week.
Elsewhere Bobbi and Hunter had an awesome little exchange where Bobbi speaks to Hunter about his revenge quest. She made a lot of sense; we were already losing them to their revenge story, not that I wasn’t enjoying it. It was just nice to see them back as they were last season. We’ve spent so much time this season seeing Hunter fight for Bobbi’s honour but we haven’t seen what they’ve been fighting for. Likewise with May and Andrew in the opening scene, these moments empower the bad things that inevitably seem to happen to our team. I will just say that I‘m sure we haven’t seen or heard the end of Hunter’s vendetta but it definitely seems it’ll be taking a back seat for now.
Coulson requests that Daisy head Rosalind’s tour of the S.H.I.E.L.D. HQ in the hopes that they can come to some mutual understanding. The tour results in a small argument between the pair but I have to say I really liked how Rosalind handled herself. Both women made a strong point but the fact that I wasn’t automatically siding with Daisy shows both how far Rosalind has developed as a character and how complicated the whole Inhuman issue is.
May, alone knowing Lash’s identity confronts her husband before bringing her info to anybody else, even Coulson. As things get increasingly heated Andrew suddenly ices May knocking her out. Lincoln meanwhile makes a return this week too when he encounters Mack. They have a short scene together where it is revealed that Lash has been hitting Inhumans specifically from Afterlife. Lincoln thus assumes that Lash is locating Inhumans from Jiaying’s ledger. It isn’t long before Coulson and company figure out that Andrew must be the monster they have been hunting and further information from Lincoln tells them that Andrew is losing himself to the beast within. This revelation means that Coulson orders their plane to turn back. He was accompanying Rosalind to speak with the President and other elected officials about the Inhumans and their place in the world but with May and Andrew missing and this newly obtained information, ‘the president will have to wait.’
May awakens handcuffed in what appears to be an unused office. Andrew begins to explain his feelings and actions to her which lets us in on what has been going on in his head since he came into contact with the terrigen mist. I found this a particularly distressing scene to watch; seeing a character you care about slowly lose themself makes it very hard to separate the good from the bad. It isn’t a case of Angel vs. Angelus where there is a clear distinction between the two. With Dr. Garner the line between the man we know and the beast he is becoming is blurred. He professes his sanity but I think we can trust May when she calls him out on his odd behaviour because nobody knows him like she does. Coulson then arrives on the scene and tries to defuse the situation, aiming for a violence-free solution but unfortunately Lincoln decides to attack in an attempt to seek vengeance for his fallen friends. Andrew transforms and sparks a great action sequence where nearly everyone gets a punch in at Lash. In the ensuing fight Rosalind gets dropped from a height and falls to her apparent death but Daisy intervenes, saving her life. Ah bless, they can be friends now. There was also a nice little shot of Rosalind ordering her men to await Coulson’s command before making any move but most importantly there were no S.H.I.E.L.D. agents around for her to pander to. Rosalind was so agreeable in this episode.
In the end May manages to talk Andrew down and he slowly reverts back to human form. The touching moment lasted about a second before May opened fire on her husband. It was an incredible moment; I knew Andrew’s days were numbered and that it would affect May badly but I really didn’t see that coming. Always the one to make the hard decision our May. As her shots didn’t kill Dr. Garner they now have Lash put in stasis at the ATCU. I’m sure it was difficult for Daisy to admit that Rosalind’s methods were their best option but Rosalind handled it very well and was devoid of any smugness.
So it looks like Lash has been temporarily shackled but hopefully he won’t be gone too long. Our post credits scene also offered a theory that Rosalind is in cahoots with Gideon Malick. We see them exchange a brief phone call all before Coulson appears and plants a kiss on Rosalind’s lips. They finally did it! Minus the sinister music there was nothing to suggest that Rosalind was in fact up to anything suspicious. I fully believe that she has little clue to Malick’s true motives and that she is indeed genuine. Or maybe that’s what I’m supposed to think? Only time will tell.
Danny Hale
https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL18yMRIfoszEaHYNDTy5C-cH9Oa2gN5ng&v=1KO8-kbSyfQ
