The boys are back
(This review contains
spoilers!)
Fitz is one of S.H.I.E.L.D’s best characters. While he often has to share
screentime with Simmons, the writers have gone out of their way in recent
seasons to ensure that he stands out on his own as well. This episode feels
like the culmination of Fitz’s entire story until now, as he truly is allowed
to take center stage.
Fitz awakens at the diner from the end
of Season 4 only to discover his whole team is missing. Before he can figure
out what’s happening the military bursts in and arrests him for the LMD
situation, locking him away in a secret facility. Fitz spends the next six
months working out a way to rescue the team, but comes up with nothing. Then,
Hunter arrives to rescue him, and the two set off to figure out what was going
on.
Easily the big winner in this episode
is Iain de Caestecker as Fitz. While it’s hard to say whether or not this is
his best episode ever (he’s had so many good ones over the years!), it
definitely ranks up there among the best. This feels like Fitz’s own personal 4,722 Hours, except instead of Simmons
being stranded in space without the team, he’s stranded on Earth throughout the
team.
It was great to see him still dealing
with what happened in the Framework. Just like how we saw Mack’s fallout after
he discovered the guy hiding a baby, Fitz is still coming to terms with the
things that happened in the Framework was great, especially as they seem to be setting up him using what he learned from his time as the Doctor to help save his friends.
I also really enjoyed the fun return
to the S.H.I.E.L.D norm this week.
While I’m liking the adventures on the space station, there’s always something
charming about the show’s classic style with no twists or turns. The
Fitz/Hunter pairing is also a lot of fun. I loved how they managed to contact
each other through arguing about soccer teams, and Hunter using a bunch of
weird and silly gadgets to help Fitz along the way was awesome. Ferrets are now
a legitimate weapon in the MCU.
We also got some answers as to what’s
going on. Fitz and Hunter managed to track down the weird alien man from the beginning
of the first episode. His name is Enoch, and he’s an alien that’s been
observing Earth for centuries. He sent the rest of the team into the future to
fulfill a prophecy said by the daughter of that guy who could predict people
dying in the future back in Season 3. It’s actually kinda nice to have the new
character teased at the end of a season be a legitimately cool guy instead of
turning out to be the main villain like it usually does. Enoch definitely has a
sort of “Isaac from The Orville”
vibe, being a weird but kinda charming guy who doesn’t really fit in with
humans. I liked him a lot from what we saw here, and I’m looking forward to
seeing more.
This episode was pure classic S.H.I.E.L.D at its best. Fitz and Hunter’s
wacky adventures were tons of fun to watch, especially with the crazy gadgets
and techniques they used to get around. Ending with an Empire Strikes Back reference was amazing. It was also great how
they tied in with both the current season as well as some past ones, using
stuff from Season 3 to figure out what’s happening. All in all, this was one of
S.H.I.E.L.D’s best, and proves that
even when new and different is great, there’s nothing wrong with the good ol’
days.
FINAL SCORE
10/10
Legendary
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