REVIEW: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. "All The Comforts of Home"

Welcome back to Earth everyone. Can this new plot manage to be more exciting or interesting than a post-apocalyptic fight in space? Who knows, but it must be a lot easier to follow than the end of the world paradox plot we have now. Until we sadly have to return to it, that is. Let’s just hope there are some good parts in the middle.

I’ll probably need to have a slight recap since the events from season four quite literally happened years ago. At the end of last season, AIDA and the Russian bad guy helped construct an LMD of Daisy who went on a killing spree to turn SHIELD into a terrorist organization (again). Before the team disappeared, the U.S. government stood up to hunt them down led by a surprisingly kill-happy General Hale who’s also a little ticked that Fitz escaped. Now back to our stories.

Of course, the whole team returns to a present-day Lighthouse which saves a lot on the budget for a new location. Once back, they immediately go back to working covertly to investigate and prevent signs that lead to the end of the world. Previous storylines including Coulson possibly dying and whether or not (or not) Daisy destroys the world are reintroduced to be brought up later. With Elena losing her arms, everything seems to be working on schedule.

And then, for the love or- WHY IS DEKE HERE. And no smart answers, I despise the fact that out of all the new people we had to get to know in the previous ten episodes, Deke is the only one staying around long-term. Not only am I just bothered by the fact that I don’t like Deke, this scenario completely undermines any decent character development we received from his sacrifice. Spending almost five minutes straight watching him at a bar is hardly a dignified return from dying for the greater good.

And don’t think the show can get away with it by just showing him innocently enjoying himself or just being grateful to be alive. Freaking Agent Piper experienced more and better development than he did in the same amount of time. I’m willing to accept that it’s just me, but I am just not going to accept Deke any time soon especially with his inevitable relationship with Daisy. They never seem to be successful on those anyway.

Now, I am about 70% sure that this season will probably be the last, so I have to give a shout-out to the extra number of meta references placed in this episode alone. The SHIELD chapter is about to come to a close. May mentions how SHIELD has a “small but active fan base.” The team reminisce on pretty much every horrible situation they’ve experienced since season one. It’s a nice reminder at how far they’ve come along with a subtle promotion that the 100th episode is coming out next week. It’s a win-win marketing scenario.

Another surprising win is the introduction of Hale’s teenaged daughter as one of Hale’s assassins. It was one of the most shocking twists since revealing the team was on Earth the whole time, and you didn’t even need CGI to do it. I will happily admit I’m more interested in the platinum blonde government hire than the a-hole guy from the future any day. Put her in scenes with Daisy Johnson.

This episode seems to be kicking off a somewhat more grounded plot for this half of the season, which is working out splendidly. The stakes become more personal which allow us to care about every decision the characters make. Plus without the added wait of time-travel and overthrowing a dystopian world, things are easier to understand without shouting “why?” every five minutes. They’ll have to come back to all of those plots eventually, but this ride is good enough for me.

As a side-note, next week is apparently the much sought-after 100th episode, something I honestly did not expect would ever happen. That alone will be an accomplishment, but they are now unfortunately giving me higher expectations. From something I consider “acceptable” to be a compliment, I am both excited and worried.

#reviews #marvel #LindsayKornick #agentsofshield