Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: 'Stupid White Privilege' and Other Top Moments From 'Alien Commies From the Future!'
“How does it make you feel… when I say the word… moist?”
In one of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.‘s most entertaining episodes ever, Coulson & Co. this week landed in the year 1955, where they needed to stop the Chromicom hunters from getting their mitts on Helius, an ion fusion weapon that in this era is a useless “hunk of junk” but in Deke’s future is utilized as a “ship-to-ship killer.” Along the way, a couple of team members bumped into one familiar face from Marvel’s Agent Carter, whilst evoking the name of Peggy herself.
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In the name of getting themselves onto SHIELD’s secret base at Area 51 in Nevada, the team staked out a local diner, where Daisy deftly drugged a seemingly docile DoD wonk named Gerald Sharpe. While Mack, Yo-Yo and May did their best to interrogate (the not-docile) Sharpe aboard the Zephyr, Coulson assumed the bigwig’s identity and, with Simmons giddily posing as the Agent Peggy Carter of SHIELD lore, headed onto the base. There, the duo interviewed a team of scientists, using a variety of Americana-laced questions to hopefully root out any Chronicom imposters. But what they did not anticipate was that Agent Daniel Sousa, a CWPF of Peggy Carter’s, would also show up and immediately spot Simmons as a fake.
Later, Sousa brought Daisy (posing as CIA) to see the locked-up Coulson and Simmons, but when actual trouble started brewing at the base, Coulson turned the tables and (respectfully) lobbed Sousa into the holding room. May and Yo-Yo stormed the lab, using tear gas (#awkward) to ID any non-humans, but once they spotted the Chronicom, Yo-Yo was unable to trigger her powers, while May suffered what I guess could be called a panic attack. Nonetheless, they persisted, chasing the Chronicom outside to where it planned to plug into and personally power up the otherwise useless ion weapon. May, Yo-Yo and the Chronicom engaged in a pretty brutal slugfest at the foot of the weapon, with the hunter eventually able to plug herself back into it. Luckily, Simmons had hot-wired a quaint EMP device that SHIELD was working on and switched it on just in time to power down the weapon and the Chronicom… and, in the hallways of the base, LMD Coulson, who quietly toppled over, mid-fight, like a zapped R2-D2.
Sousa, happening upon Coulson’s abruptly ended scuffle with a second Chronicom, found the curious mess left behind by the defeated latter, and a non-responsive Coulson — though a flicker of energy was glimpsed in one of his eyes, as the episode neared its end.
The bonus scene involved Mack and Deke depositing the real Gerald Sharpe in the Nevada desert, where they used Mack’s voice booming from the hovering Zephyr to convince the guy he had been abducted by aliens and better not say a word about what he saw — or else risk a good probing the next time around!
Among the oft-hilarious episodes highlights:
The 1950s-themed title card and outer spacey take on the opening theme
After almost free-falling into 1955 with a thud, Coulson observed “we should probably be flying when we jump” through time. Lesson learned!
Hey, it’s Bones Tamara Taylor as some sort of Chronicom queen.
Simmons with the concerning fact that they only have a limited amount of forward jumps through time left — though hopefully they will “jump until we end it, or end them.”
Coulson and Daisy agreeing it was “odd” that back-from-the-dead May was neither happy nor confused to see a Coulson alive-ish and well. Hmm….
“You’re enjoying this way too much, ‘Peggy'” — because Jemma was.
“John Wayne. A bit overrated, dontcha think?”
“I believe this base may have been infiltrated.”
“No, imagine that. An infiltrator, right under our noses.”
Eight years after the events of Agent Carter Season 2, we learn that Sousa is running the old SSR office in L.A.
“Agent Sousa! Wow, big fan.”
The looks between Yo-Yo and Mack as Sharpe targeted both of them with racist barbs (“mamacita caliente,” “boy”) and they each held back on wanting to pummel him. (May didn’t get away unscathed either, dismissed as “an Oriental.”)
Deke grumbling, “Stupid white privilege” upon being tasked to get intel out of Sharpe — though even he was summarily pigeonholed as a “Pinko.”
“Who I am is on a need-to-know basis….”
[Pointing to name on door] “Well, I need to know.”
“The lady pretending to be Agent Carter? Worst fake accent I’ve ever heard.”
“You should tell her that.”
May and Yo-Yo each asserting, “Does it look I want to talk about it?” after they both pulled up lame during the gas attack.
“Good guys, huh?”
What were your favorite moments from “Alien Commies From the Future”? And what questions do you have after seeing Daniel Sousa again?
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