The Team
Not much of
a team if they break up within a single episode, is it?
So, most of
the episode is solid but there’s one thing in the back of my mind that really
really doesn’t add up to me, the stupidity of the Secret Warriors when the
truth is revealed. ‘I should’ve known they don’t trust us’ and all that cr*p,
although they could’ve explained that HIVE can only mind-control inhumans, that
might’ve been helpful. It does kind of make Yo-yo come off as kind of an idiot.
I know her character’s anti-establishment given her experience with corruption
in her own town but…
The other
issue is, I really wanted to see the secret warriors in action for more than 5
minutes, I honestly wanted an episode dedicated to them, this really was just a
5-minute action scene that really is just there to set up the rest of the
episode.
The rest of
the episode is relatively decent, actually as Mallick is captured and reveals
all the gory details about HIVE and his powers. Upon learning what is
happening, Coulson begins to suspect one of them was infected and locks down
the base, paranoia and mistrust follow and things begin to close in on an
us-vs-them type situation as they have no clue who could be infected.
The problem
is it becomes relatively obvious relatively quickly who’s infected if you know
this story type like I do. The one who’s calm and collected in the face of
everything turns out to be the one who’s infected – colour me unsurprised. So
yeah, Daisy is infected and this will have a huge impact on the episodes to
come. The problem is they’ve already been building up Daisy being unbalanced
before now, her turning against S.H.I.E.L.D. was inevitable, although in this case
it’s not under how own volition.
This is also
the episode we say goodbye to Mallick which is a pity really, I love to see
villains working against one another and HYDRA likes to be 5 steps of everyone
but it seems Mallick really wasn’t when it came to HIVE.
We see Fitz
and Simmons talking about their relation and actually having one give or take
and… there is going to be some more heartbreak soon isn’t there, I DON’T THINK
I CAN TAKE ANY MORE! Seriously, it’s good character stuff.
The episode
has plenty of good character moments but shoots itself in the foot with its
less than stellar plotting.
Rating
6.5/10
The Singularity
Well… It’s
another okay episode with some very good moments but kinda lacking in others…
The second half of this season in a nutshell
Looking
back, the problem with the back half of the season it’s that the pacing has
been very very slow. Unlike in season 1 where there were seemingly redundant
episodes being used to set up minor plot points the story has always been there
it’s just progressing very slowly.
I think the
big issue is there’s not a lot to this half of the season. The entire back half
of the season has revolved around the inhumans and particularly what Hive’s
return as meant. In season 2 and the first half of season 3 we had multiple
villain factions to keep the plot moving at a steady (in some cases a little
fast) pace, in this we really don’t. Sure Hive did not share Mallick’s agenda
but the war ended with a very one-sided victory and until that point he was not
doing an awful lot to enact his plans.
Not helping
matters is the strange thing that I find Hive neither interesting nor scary.
Sure I can see why he’s threatening as a villain, but his calculative demeanour
has prevented him from making any big moves and demonstrating his presence.
Likewise his plan doesn’t yet have the stakes some of the others have had.
But enough
rambling, let’s talk about the plot. In this episode Hive and Daisy recruit
that guy who gave them a mcguffin a few weeks back, gives him the inhuman powers
he craved and ultimately discovers the second piece of the mcguffin, the only
thing that can kill him.
Fitz and
Simmons search for a scientist who may have a cure for Daisy but unfortunately
he’s swiped up by Hive and Simmons gets an awesome moment where despite hearing
words from Will, she shoots Hive.
Fitz barely
makes it out alive but when they return they finally do it. Well done…. Calling
it now, one of them is going be the one dead by season’s end – possibly even
the 21st episode given that ‘Fallen Agent’ supposedly encases all
remaining episodes except the finale.
Coulson
makes Lincoln wear a suicide vest in the field in case Hive takes him over and
gives May control of the detonator. I think this might be a tad far for Coulson,
but Kudos to May for pointing out his hypocrisy. Anyway, after that Lincoln is
scrubbed but I can’t see that lasting very long at all given his own hot
tempered, impulsive nature.
So this
episode does help pick up the momentum but it’s still very measured and it
really use building on that momentum as we progress towards the finale
Rating 7/10
Failed Experiments
So those
were the Kree, well they were pathetic?
In this
week’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D… May leads a strike team in a doomed mission to bring
Hive down once and for all but Mack decides to confront Daisy. Meanwhile
Simmons has a potential but with nasty side effects, Lincoln decides to
volunteer against their wishes.
Yeah, this
was a very nothing episode. It wasn’t terrible, there weren’t hideous gaps in
logic nor did I feel character motivations changed on a dime but when you put
everything together, what happened in this episode? Lincoln’s inactive (yeah,
that’ll last…) and Daisy’s blood is the key to Hive’s plan. That’s not a lot
when you’re progressing towards the season finale.
It really
doesn’t help that the Mcguffin’s use was contacting some Kree hunters that
ultimately did nothing and got dispatched with relative ease. For this plot to
be compelling it needed more to it and honestly it was surface level and
boring.
In the time
where my appreciation of the Flash is so low I’m considering dropping it for
next year, it’s not good to see the same is happening with my favourite. It’s
doing something worse than getting me to react, it’s getting me to not react at
all.
The back of
this season has been dull, there haven’t been enough meaty subplots to justify
the run time and the standalone plots have also been uninteresting (just see my
review of Watchdogs) the villains are barely making a presence because of the
Hive subplot, and looking like Ward is the only thing Hive has in his favour at
the moment.
So let’s get
down to character work. Lincoln is a hothead, we’ve known this for weeks, he
wants to do something and ends up taking a potential cure that shuts down his
immune system, leading him to be inactive, and the cure doesn’t even work.
Fitz and
Simmons end up disagreeing over something and have a discussion on this affects
their relationship because that’s the kind of awkward couple they are. Mack
feels responsible for Daisy’s turn despite the fact he’s been out of action so
long. May tries to be cool headed despite heading on what’s a mission doomed to
fail. Daisy loses any hope to have S.H.I.E.L.D. join them and Coulson is out of action
because of last week. Nothing here is that compelling guys, try harder.
This episode
was probably my least favourite episode of the season just for how little it
gave me
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