Man, Fitz really sucks
(This review contains
spoilers!)
Last week started off the Agents of
HYDRA storyline well, introducing most of the cast in unique and different
situations in a wold where Inhumans are hunted and HYDRA is king. This week’s
episode more or less serves to finish the job the first episode started,
introducing the last few characters we didn’t see yet and moving the pieces
around for later use.
We finally got to see what Mack and
Mace were like inside the framework, and they’re basically what you’d expect.
Mace is the leader of the Resistance, an organization comprised of renegade
Inhumans and what’s left of S.H.I.E.L.D. In this version he really does feel
like an actual superhero, complete with a battle-damaged version of his Patriot
armor and apparently actual Inhuman powers. While we didn’t get to see much of
him, Jason O’Mara did a great job of making him a force to be reckoned with
whenever he was on screen.
As for Mack, he was…less impressive.
Honestly, despite his daughter still being alive in this reality it didn’t feel
like Mack had changed all that much, especially when compared to the other main
characters. His involvement in the overall plot also felt more coincidental
than anything, which I’ll get back to later.
Picking up where last week left off,
Coulson hasn’t exactly remembered life outside the Framework, but it turns out
that his uncaring HYDRA-loving teacher persona was just a façade to hide his
true self. In reality, this Coulson is just as delightfully dorky as the one in
the real world. Clark Gregg completely stole the show this week as a Coulson
completely amazed and thrilled by all the spy stuff going on around him. He had
several great lines throughout the entire episode, making me feel like he’ll be
just as fun here as he is in the rest of the show.
While Simmons and Coulson are
introduced to Mace and the Resistance, Daisy spent the episode tracking down
Radcliffe’s whereabouts. She’s able to get the information to Simmons, but
before she can rejoin them May enlists her in a HYDRA mission to kidnap Mack.
Why are they kidnapping Mack? Who knows, because it’s never explained! We find
out later that the entire raid is just a ploy to get Daisy to reveal her ties
to S.H.I.E.L.D, so making Mack be the unlucky one that gets captured just feels
like a giant coincidence that only exists to further his storyline along.
So Daisy is captured (after pulling a
Captain America and fighting a group of HYDRA goons in an elevator), and Madame
Hydra quickly learned of the mission to go get Radcliffe, taking Fitz and
following them.
Radcliffe is still alive in the
Framework, but the bad news is he doesn’t know a way out aside from the one
that isn’t working right now. Things get even worse when Madame Hydra and Fitz
arrive, taking Radcliffe prisoner.
What follows is what might be the most
heartbreaking thing S.H.I.E.L.D has
ever pulled off. Radcliffe tries to convince Fitz that none of this is real and
he’s actually a good person. Fitz replies by taking Agnes (Radcliffe’s wife
from a few episodes ago) and shooting her in cold blood.
Evil Fitz was definitely one of the highlights
of last time, and this week just cemented it as a great new addition to shake
things up even more. Iain De Caestecker has consistently proven himself as
something of a secret weapon for S.H.I.E.LD
since the early days of Season 1, and he’s pulled off this new turn for his
character fantastically, making him so entertainingly evil that you want to
look away but you can’t help but watch.
The episode ends with Mack somehow
finding his way to the S.H.I.E.LD base and declaring he wants to help in any
way he can. Again, Mack really seems like the weak link this time around. As
cool as it is that he’s rejoining the team his sudden reappearance at the end
really felt out of place. I really want the showrunners to give him more
material to work with, because it honestly feels like a waste right now.
This week’s episode was entertaining
to watch, but ultimately didn’t feel like it held much weight. It sort of felt
less like a new installment in the series and more of the continuation to what
last week started. Despite these qualms, I really like the direction this arc is
taking and seeing the characters with different personas is very entertaining.
Fitz and Coulson are especially fun to watch for entirely different reasons. But
with Mack being given very little development and a lot of this week spent
running in circles, I wish we’d had a bit more to do this week.
FINAL SCORE
7/10
Good
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