So crazy it just might work
(This review contains
spoilers!)
I’ve been critical in the past of
S.H.I.E.L.D going down the overdone “rogue robot” storyline, especially since
everyone and their brother could see it was coming from a mile away. But, in
true S.H.I.E.L.D form, everything was not as it appeared to be, and they spend
the first episode of this new arc lampooning as many robot movies as possible,
all the while setting up the true villains to come.
We pick up directly where we left off
last time, with May having been replaced with a Life Model Decoy and Aida
having turned against everyone as a result of being exposed to the Darkhold.
Now she’s preparing to storm the base in order to get the book back and gain
even more power. Meanwhile, Simmons, Daisy and Director Mace are hot on the
trail of Senator Nadeer’s brother, the guy who Simmons helped free from his
Terrigenesis cocoon.
A lot of this episode is spend
building up to the second half, and while it does feel pretty long in the
tooth, once you arrive at the awesome stuff it all becomes worth it. This
episode seamlessly jumps back from the A plot involving Aida and Director Mace’s
B plot seamlessly, and while the Aida story is much more interesting, the other
plot was engaging enough that you were happy to see it as well.
Starting with the B plot, Mace
continues to be one of the best new parts of the show. I love that he’s continuing
to be extremely morally grey, but he still makes enough correct points that you
can’t help but be on his side. His discussion with Daisy about how she would
still be considered a dangerous criminal had it not be for him was brutally
honest for both the characters and the audience.
Afterwards, they take off after the
Inhuman Simmons broke out, who turns out to be Senator Nadeer’s brother. But
surprise! Nadeer has hired the Watchdogs to kill her brother because…they made
the equivalent of a zombie apocalypse promise to each other after the Battle of
New York. Basically they promised each other that if either one would become
infected with alien stuff the other would do what would be necessary, as their
mother was killed by a Chitauri. It’s a pretty weak way to explain Nadeer’s
hatred of Inhumans, honestly. It would’ve been far better if they’d gone with
the simple “You’re dangerous now, we have to kill you because of that” logic
they’ve used before. As S.H.I.E.L.D has proven time and time again, the humans
are afraid of anything that might replace them as the most powerful species on
the planet, and overcomplicating Nadeer’s reasoning for having such a vengeance
against the Inhumans feels kind of pointless.
After a few gunfights, it turned out
the brother has a bullet time-style power that allows him to fight at super
speed. Once the Watchdogs are dispatched, he chooses to not join S.H.I.E.L.D
and instead goes after his sister…who promptly shoots him and throws his body
out of a helicopter. I would go on about how that was a stupid decision for his
character to make, but I feel it was resolved in the last few moments of the
episode. We see the brother’s body sink to the bottom of the ocean, and his
Terrigenesis cocoon form around him once more. Surely he’ll be back sooner rather
than later, and he’ll be seeking revenge against Nadeer when he does. It’s a
good way to set up what’s coming next, even if it did seem a little dumb at
first.
But that’s just scratching the
surface, because the real meat of this week’s episode was at home base, as Aida
arrived with the intention of stealing the Darkhold. It seemed that the
showrunners realized how overdone the robot storyline was, because this entire
episode was dedicated to making fun of it at every corner with hilarious
results. Mack and Yo-Yo completely stole the show this week, with every scene
they were in having a quip about past robot movies. My personal favourite was “Someone
needs to make Radcliffe watch all the Terminator movies.” “Even Salvation?” “He
brought this on himself.” as well as Mack’s final line that I dare not spoil.
The comedy paired well with some neat
horror elements at play this week. I’ve always joked that when the power is cut
at the S.H.I.E.L.D base things are about to get real, and this was the same
case here. Everyone scrambled to find a way to either stop Aida or bring the
base back online, and when Coulson and robo-May ran into the bot herself it was
justifiably unnerving. Mallory Janson is doing a great job at playing Aida as a
villain, making her former sweetness seem extremely sinister.
But the big surprise came at the end.
After the team defeated Aida, it turns out that the Aida that stormed the base
wasn’t the real deal, but rather a Life-Model Decoy of a Life-Model Decoy. How
can this happen, do you ask? As it turns out, Radcliffe is in on the Darkhold
hunt! It looks like he’s going to be the true final boss of the LMD storyline,
as he plans to use the book for his own sinister machinations, including giving
himself eternal life. The showrunners really hid the twist well, and while it
caught me off guard it makes perfect sense for this to be the case. Whereas I
started the night hoping S.H.I.E.L.D would figure out a way to make the robot
storyline interesting, now I can’t wait to see where it goes.
Despite a few weak points in the B
plot, S.H.I.E.L.D returned strong from winter break, giving us everything that
was great about the show in one package. It was cool, it was funny, and it was
incredibly surprising. Once again, the writers of S.H.I.E.L.D have proven that
they still know how to take us for a wild ride.
FINAL SCORE
9/10
Amazing
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