REVIEW: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. "The Man Behind the Shield"
What a twist! And by that I mean, what was that twist? SHIELD has had a long history of twists even when it didn’t really need them, but none of them have ever been as…odd. I suppose it’s technically a twist if I didn’t see it coming, but is it really a twist if it doesn’t make sense? I hate those kinds of “twists,” but the episode manages to salvage the plot with some interesting developments.
All in all, the reason I mention the twist is because there really isn’t anything else going for this episode. The other parts include a long, drawn-out search for Mace that eventually works (?) and a flashback used to retcon Coulson and May’s relationship. Now, meaningless doesn’t mean that it’s bad and Coulson and May’s banter is fun, but when a plot can’t escape its own uselessness, that’s a bad start for rewatching.
Despite that, there is this satisfying element of Daisy finally beating the crap out of Ivanov after Coulson emphasizes that his plan was contriving at best and idiotic at worst since, really, no one cares about what Ivanov thinks. It’s hard to always tell whether the show is really being meta or not, but based on how boring Ivanov has been as a villain, I don’t care. They had to make him fight Daisy just to be remotely interesting before she easily took him down. I’m glad we’re moving on to something, anything, more interesting.
I mean, even the flashback, though retconned as it is, was more enjoyable. I can find something to care about in that scenario, even though there are a number of questions after that. Like, when was this (don’t say some time ago)? What was the 084 they were looking for? Why didn’t the Russian soldiers even know about SHIELD coming to find the object instead of having SHIELD coming to practically steal it away in the middle of the night? Try to keep up, because there are a number of worse questions that take place during the present day.
Now we can finally talk about the ending: Coulson, Mack, Daisy, and Mace have been replaced by LMD copies and have infiltrated the base. Fortunately, Fitz and Simmons discover the deception on a sensor and now have to contend with the android versions of their friends. It’s a rather enhanced version of the twist from last season, but two characters at least have the drop on the bad guys with the knowledge that their friends are likely okay.
Okay, major questions here. The only way the situation comes up is because Simmons mention there was a section of time unaccounted for and no contact with the rest of the team. Yeah, did anyone really get that scenario in the episode? In season three, it worked since they only needed to rely on the fact that each team member was separated from each other, and only one of them was affected. Here, we have to buy that every member besides Fitz and Simmons were caught and switched even though they all seem to reach each other within a few minutes at a time. It’s even less believable than the whole android thing in the first place.
Which leads to the next issue, when on earth did Radcliffe or AIDA get the time to build and replace four members of SHIELD in the middle of working with the Watchdogs and building a virtual world? The show was pushing it with the Radcliffe one, but seriously, the whole team? How did they know which ones would be replaced at the time? Did they just build models of them all and, if so, where are the Fitz and Simmons ones? How on earth did they overtake Mack with his shotgun axe or Daisy with her superpowers? Maybe they can answer these questions later, but they already don’t make sense here.
However, I’d like to take this time to consider the fact that the idea now is not a bad one. I’m excited about the prospect of Fitz and Simmons taking part in a pseudo-Invasion of the Body Snatchers scenario as they try to escape their own base with nothing but their own skills. It’s a plot point I would have been cool with in any season no matter the context, and it does beg the question of what to do with the rest of the team in a virtual world. I’m not sure how long the story can last or even if it will last more than one episode, but this may be a time where the ends justify the highly-contrived means.
This episode fortunately follows the pattern of the previous weeks in being more exciting and interesting, but its disappointing development undermines most of the impact the plot could have had. On the other hand, I am glad the characters aren’t in the dark about this story since as we’ve learned SECRETS ARE BAD. The only issue now is how the next episode has a lot of groundwork to cover if it wants to measure up even close.
