Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. S03 E17: The Team

We got a bit of an old-fashioned movie serial cliffhanger in the last episode of “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.,” as Giyera took down most of team by taking control of the Zephyr with his telekinetic powers. Now with her comrades prisoners of Hydra, Daisy reassembles the Secret Warriors to rescue them, but what dark secret is about to be revealed about “The Team”? Meet me after the jump to find out.

The Real Enemy

Once again, before the show even begins, the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. face their greatest enemy – the news division of the ABC network. The New York Primary was last night during the show and ABC felt the need to open with George Stephanopoulos telling us what we already knew – that there was a primary and who was running. Really?

I can’t stress enough the importance of this election, and how when it’s our turn for primary and caucus, and especially in November, that we vote, but let’s face facts here. If we were interested in the immediate election we’d be tuned to a news channel (there are several to choose from), not “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” The fact that we’re tuned to “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” indicates we want to watch that and not the election. Get a clue, ABC.

Secret Warriors Assemble

I use the Avengers battle cry but these folks are more like a Fantastic Four. Daisy Johnson, AKA Skye, who in the comics as Quake can generate concussive blasts from her hands, has been with us since the beginning of the series. Lincoln Campbell, occasionally known as Sparkplug, was an Inhuman medical student who played doctor and helped other Inhumans adjust to their new existence in Afterlife. He can manipulate and generate electricity. Recently these two became romantically linked.

Joining them as the Secret Warriors are Elena Rodriguez and Joey Gutierrez. Elena is actually a character from the comics, something I was unaware of when I first wrote about her. Also known as Slingshot and Yo-Yo, she has super speed and the ability to bounce back to where she started. She’s the daughter of the super-villain known as the Griffin in the comics, and Puerto Rican. Her television counterpart is Colombian, and learning English (conveniently) when picked up this episode.

When Joey first appeared in “Laws of Nature,” he had uncontrolled powers that were very similar to old school Iron Man villain the Melter, making surmise that was who he was supposed to be in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Once trained by S.H.I.E.L.D. however, his control over his abilities evolved into outright metal manipulation. He’s pulled away from a date when he gets the Secret Warriors signal on his cool spy watch.

The Zephyr

While Daisy preps the Secret Warriors and makes an inspirational speech (she’s a good leader, will she run S.H.I.E.L.D. if Coulson goes the super-villain route?), the situation doesn’t look good for the rest of the agents. Giyera has set the Zephyr down in a Hydra installation while Lucio, who Hive called Medusa Eyes, sweeps the ship with a strike force.

Our heroes, with May badly wounded, holed up in a room, trying desperately to figure a way to repel the invaders. FitzSimmons manage to jury-rig a chlorine gas blast at their attackers on the other side of the door, but that will only buy them time. This kinda makes me wonder why Giyera didn’t stay on board until the prisoners were secured.

The Rescue

With remarkably little training, the Secret Warriors are quite efficient, and it’s always great to see superhero action on this show even if there aren’t costumes. Joey and Elena especially have good chemistry, which is pretty amazing considering it’s all facial expressions and subtitles. I like these two together.

As the other Secret Warriors make their way to rescue the others, Lincoln runs into Malick. It appears that he takes him into custody but appearances are deceiving. After the Zephyr leaves, Hive comments to Giyera that now they have one on the inside… is he talking about Malick… or Lincoln? The death of Lucio at Joey’s hands also bothers me, a waste of a character with great potential.

Secrets

A rather forced dramatic moment last episode where it was revealed Lincoln was an alcoholic and might have abused his girlfriend seemed like it was just thrown in to add tension to his relationship with Daisy, but now in hindsight, it might have been the beginning of something darker. We have to remember that Lincoln used to work for Jiaying, and she was just batshit crazy.

Here Daisy confronts Lincoln about ‘borrowing’ the terrigen crystal, which in hindsight just adds fuel to the fire that he’s hiding something beyond just being secretive about his past. Did we actually see him apprehend Malick? Are we sure he didn’t have contact with Hive?

Gods and Monsters

When Coulson interrogates Malick we get a bit of insight on the kind of actor Clark Gregg is. He at first seems sincere and pedestrian, firm in conviction, but Gregg’s real strength is in support, bringing out the best in those he works with. Witness the amazing chemistry with the great Powers Boothe, whom he elevates.

Coulson’s faith is shaken just as Malick’s has by the beast called Hive. The Hydra leader tries to convey to his enemy that they might possibly face, as fellow humans, a common foe in Hive. He is an Inhuman god and will infect all Inhumans. Can Coulson trust the Secret Warriors, even Daisy, and especially Lincoln? Or is Malick just playing the villain deception card?

Lockdown

Coulson isn’t convinced, but he is careful, and puts the base on lockdown. Meeting with everyone who’s not Inhuman, he’s determined to find out if what Makick is saying is true. The Inhumans aren’t stupid, they know there’s something very pescado going on, and don’t like it. Everyone is antsy and on edge.

As the tension builds between humans and Inhumans, FitzSimmons perform an autopsy on Lucio, whose body even in death remains at ninety-eight degrees. They discover that his brain is infected with parasites, with Hive. That’s when the lights go out. If there is a traitor, they’ve struck – killed Malick and blown up his cell.

Infection

The lights going out indicate electrical powers so is it Lincoln? But we saw Mack show Yo-Yo where the bombs were. And Joey, where the hell has he been? Who could the infected Inhuman be? Or is it all of them? It could even be Daisy. She must be proud of her team either way, they covered each other well and came together against their captors. What next though?

What next? It’s that obvious Hydra agent George Stephanopoulos with an election update, again telling us what should be obvious to anyone who had been even vaguely following the election. This couldn’t have been reported in a crawl at the bottom of the screen? Come on, ABC, seriously. If I hadn’t had the forethought to DVR “Beyond the Tank,” I wouldn’t have seen the end of this episode.

Quarantine

It’s been said that too many coincidences equal guilt, and Lincoln is apparently revealed to be the one who’s infected. So the trust of the team’s is broken and the Secret Warriors go into quarantine. After the triumph earlier in the episode is shattered by this defeat, and the damage may be irreversible.

However, when Daisy appears outside Lincoln’s cell insisting they leave, that S.H.I.E.L.D. can’t hold them, all becomes clear. We don’t even need the flashback to know that it’s really Daisy that Hive infected. I actually suspected it when FitzSimmons discovered that parasites don’t do permanent damage to the infected’s brain, wouldn’t want to kill off one of our stars.

Paradise Lost

One could say we got a brief happy ending with FitzSimmons finally getting it together, but it would be all too brief. As Daisy leaves S.H.I.E.L.D.’s underground base with the Kree ball and all the terrigen crystals, she uses her quake powers to bury it and her former comrades alive. Another brilliant movie serial cliffhanger ending.

We close on Hive, now in sole control of Hydra, and on the lookout for Daisy, whom he interestingly calls Skye, one question remains. What will Hydra buy with Malick’s $960 million? That’s a lot of Voldemort outfits…

Next: Fallen Agent!