REVIEW: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. "Among Us Hide..."
Welcome to the 50th episode of Agents of SHIELD. Who knew we’d make it this far especially on a show that feels like it’s had more reboots than Spider-Man? Anyway, fifty episode, characters, and storylines later, we’re now seeing the fallout of Ward Hyrdra thing, the Lash thing, and the return of Bobbi and May on field duty. I feel that at least one of those things should make a decent milestone episode.
Andrew is alive to the surprise of almost no one. Thanks to a tailing nameless SHIELD agent, Andrew apparently got away with only a massive blast nearly killing him like all drama shows. The situation puts Agent May back on the field and, after a much-needed follow-up fight, she invites Bobbi for some much-needed action this season. In the meanwhile, Ward’s group tries to find the escaped Strucker, and Daisy, after probably reading fanblogs, believes that Lash is in the ATCU. All that in five minutes. I love it when SHIELD does that.
May and Bobbi track Strucker who’s met up with…I don’t know. He has a deep voice and knew Baron Von Strucker. The only plot twist would be is if he worked for SHIELD, but there’s no time for that now. Hunter’s getting some cabin fever being so desperate as to talk to Fitz. The good news is the whole Jemma’s space boyfriend thing isn’t that under wraps since Hunter advises against it, so it looks like SHIELD’s been learning something. Then again, Daisy and Mack turn around and suspect Banks of being Lash, so they’re basically on regular, but not obsessive, fan-level of understanding things. Not that much to say for fifty episodes.
Bobbi and May’s mission unfortunately gets off to a bad start, but that bad start leads to beating up security guys including poor bank manager Jerome who separated from his wife. Oh well. Daisy, Mack, and Hunter track down Banks in everyday activity (so these people do have lives) while Coulson meets up with Rosalind at her place. Both of those sound bad because they are bad, but they manage to acquire an unconscious Banks courtesy of Hunter to send his DNA to the lab and Simmons. At least that’s getting somewhere to ending that theory.
The deep voice guy apparently is totally buying Ward, so I can’t despise him just yet. Simmons finally comes up with a negative reading for Banks’s blood in the midst of both of them failing to recreate the alien portal. I guess this episode’s already a waste in reminding me things I already know. However, when the team follows an address to a secret ATCU base, they discover a human packaging system storing unconscious Inhuman bodies…while Coulson is watching. This is definitely a one step forward, two steps back kind of situation.
Rosalind finally opens up about the situation and her backstory involving a plan to keep the Inhumans in stasis until a cure has been found and a dead cancer husband. I don’t care what her backstory is, there’s no real power on earth that’s going to get me to care about her over any of the main characters. Alright maybe more than Ward and Lincoln, but they have some history. I can’t think of any good defense for storing people. It just sounds weird, even for this show.
May and Bobbi fortunately get to play hero as they rescue Strucker from being pounded to death by Hydra goons. We’ve only spent ten minutes on Bobbi’s shaky return to the field, but it’s still many times better than most of the new plots. Just try to feel anything but good when she fries Kebo with her batons Mockingbird-style. All we need is a namedrop, and we can wrap up all her stories right here right now.
Now onto the real reason we’re watching the episode. While rescuing Strucker, May hears his side of the explosion. After the SHIELD agent was taken down, Andrew…turned into Lash and killed the Hydra agents. This is one of the few times I get to say it so HOLY CRAP A FAN THEORY WAS RIGHT ON AGENTS OF SHIELD. Granted, even I thought Andrew made more sense than any new character we met on this show, and making him Mr. Deep Voice wouldn’t mean anything. I don’t think SHIELD will ever top its plot twists last season, but this is still some kind of development.
Oh yeah, and Lincoln shows up for a cameo with a little scruff. After almost three episodes being a no-show, this is a little disappointing being a regular. Then again, it’s Lincoln, so at least it didn’t take away from the big reveal. Rest assured, Lash is still after him, though apparently not Daisy, for some reason, and he will return as the voice before the commercial says.
Well, as a 50th episode, this one was a bit of a bust. However, the reveal may be worth it if they play this story right. At least the show seems to be moving past the “keeping secrets” route, definitely opening the whole team to finding out the Lash situation. Now if they could somehow divulge into that whole keeping people shoved in stasis warehouses, this whole show can feel a bit more comfortable.
