Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 3 episode 1 review - Laws of Nature

Agents of SHIELD has returned for its third season. When we last left the gang May had taken time off, Coulson lost his hand, Ward was manipulated into killing his own girlfriend and is building a faction of his own in HYDRA and of course the terragen crystal that creates inhumans dissolved into the ecosystem and is slowly spreading across the world. What’s next for Marvel’s premier superhero show?

Laws of Nature

The time jump between series 2 and 3 may have been brief (as with the jump between series 1 and 2) but it’s enough that we see where the changes have started. We open with a bang with a new inhuman gaining powers from fish oil and being chased by shady people only be to rescued by SHIELD and their big glass Wonka-vater. (Come on, I can’t have been the only on thinking that!)

It’s tragic for the guy who would have to give up any semblance of a normal life as his powers had branded him a terrorist amongst the public, still terrified after events like those in Age of Ultron. SHIELD may have saved his life but the life he knew was gone.

Skye has fully embraced her true identity, now calling herself Daisy, which I will do also from here-on out.

Given that  SHIELD fell what must be about a year ago in Marvel time, it’s unsurprising that the government has set up a new organisation in the wake of the rise of the inhumans (I think the CIA and the FBI still exist in cannon, but neither were equipped the way SHIELD was. Turns out we have a new super-secret organisation. The ATCU tasked with eliminating threats to the world, whatever means necessary. Their leader, Rosalind (or that might be an alias) has a history of trading sides whenever it’s convenient, so she could be one to keep an eye on

Making matters worse for the inhumans we have the inhuman villain Lash hunting down and killing Inhumans he deems unworthy. This was our big action scene for the episode as Daisy and Lincoln (who they tried to recruit to help our new inhuman but seems to want to rebuild his life after discovering everything he knew was a lie)

Meanwhile we have Fitz in a state about Simmons being gone and willing to do literally anything to get her back, even if it involves with known crime syndicates as demonstrated in this episode. I love this and his breakdown at the end of the episode was excellent. Iain De Caestecker really shows his acting skills and is up there with the best of the actors in the show.

We find out at the end that Hunter is attempting to go and seek out Ward for what he did to Bobby. Yeah… He doesn’t stand a chance, sorry. Bobby is probably the character with the least to do in this episode, as she’s still recovering from the gunshot wound she got last season but her new stance as scientist and relationships with both Mack and Hunter (sort of flirtatious rather than romantic, I think) could provide some intrigue for the season.

Simmons meanwhile is trapped on an alien world

I have 2 issues with this opener. The first is an issue that has been kind of a problem since season 2, money. How can they afford this? SHIELD isn’t backed by the UN anymore, neither is it funded by any business (I doubt Tony Stark would’ve forked out for it seeing as he still doesn’t know Coulson is alive) or country

The second is the fact that none of the threats have much longevity to them. We have gathered way too much information about them too quickly for them to be able to sustain themselves for the full 10 episodes of this half of the season (that’s assuming they do what they did last season and have more or less separate ongoing plots for both halves) in fact the major questions that we do have regard to Simmons situation and the fates of Ward and May. These questions do not require detailed answers. In fact the promo for the next episode seems intent on answering most of those lingering questions.

Rating 8/10

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