'Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.' Recap: 'I Have to Go Back'
Warning: Spoilers ahead for this week’s episode of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Four episodes into the season, and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has reached cruising altitude. It’s keeping multiple balls in the air with grace, but there’s no great jump-out-of-your-seat moment until the final line of the night when Simmons tells Bobbi, “I have to go back.”
The Plot
The A.T.C.U. (come on, it’s Marvel; couldn’t we have some sort of half-cheesy acronym? P.U.N.C.H.? Or F.I.G.H.T.? How about the Federal Alien Retrieval Team? No?) is hot on the trail of Lincoln, who hides out with his sponsor. (Apparently, Lincoln is a recovering addict of some kind.) Lincoln’s face is being broadcast on every news program in America, and in the Marvel world, the only shows on TV are news programs. He accidentally kills his friend, and Daisy convinces him to join S.H.I.E.L.D. (with smooches!). Meanwhile, May helps Hunter join Hydra through their Fight Club-themed application program.
Linksy? Daycon? Laisy?
After a half-season or so of teasing, Daisy and Lincoln finally kiss. It’s a good match, and hopefully things work out better for them than the Skyeward pairing. The show telegraphed that S.H.I.E.L.D. was going to have to hand him over to the A.T.C.U., so it was nice that they flipped it into having to turn over Daisy, then flipped it again so that the two organizations are now working together. It will be interesting to see how they get along: S.H.I.E.L.D. does not have a great record of collaboration (see Talbot and the Air Force, Gonzales and “Real” S.H.I.E.L.D., Garrett and Hydra).
The First Rule of Hydra Is You Do Not Talk About Hydra
So Ward is creating a terrorist organization full of men with excellent hand-to-hand combat skills, but what does he do when he needs accountants? Of course, what we all really wanted to see, in May’s words, was “a tiny little Asian woman” kick some ass, which she was happy to provide. But now that Hunter is in, how does she stay in this storyline?
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Fashion-Forward or Flop?
Daisy’s leather jacket? It seems like halfway between the current trend for leather superhero costumes and something that the Pink Ladies from Grease would wear. Hopefully, it’s bulletproof or has a built-in Taser or something; otherwise, she’d probably be better off trading it in for something from Urban Outfitters.
“I Love My Car, But It’s Just a Car. And It’s a Him.”
Clark Gregg is at his best when he’s going toe-to-toe with another steely-eyed bureaucrat; Constance Zimmer may be the best foil they’ve put him up against yet. Will this partnership work out, or are we headed for a quick blowout as Rosalind Price puts her need to succeed ahead of Coulson’s need for peace?
Line of the Night
“Right. Because you guys aren’t hard enough to understand as it is.” Exasperated May is the best. Though they missed an opportunity to do a full-on jive-speaking Airplane! gag.
Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. on ABC. Follow @YahooTV as we live-tweet the show on the West Coast.
