REVIEW: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. "Principia"
Who forgot that there was a ongoing plot within this season that had nothing to do with this dimension of fear? Of course everyone did. It’s a bit hard to manage when you go for the most whacked-out plot and then move back to what should be a regular episode. But that’s behind us now. Let’s get back to the standard plot of the evil general and her obsessive teenage assassin daughter haunting down SHIELD. You, know, the usual.
What’s surprising here is the return of actual consequences and not all of them from last week. The Gravitonium easter egg has now become a reasonable plot point, and Cybertek (remember them) has been name-dropped. And we cannot go without mentioning the general’s growing team of bad guys with past characters. For what is likely the last season, they are really hammering home the universe here. Even if the world doesn’t end, because of course it won’t, they’re making sure something here matters, even if we don’t care all the way.
Speaking of not caring, the episode sadly repeats the regular act of the thirteenth episode by not mattering too much in the least and being generally meh. Any time that prevents the heroes from taking on the bad guys is just filler anyway, and we can only go so far with waiting until we get there. Getting the Gravitonium back is only one step onto one path of maybe getting to the end. There’s not much fun can do to pump that.
Not to mention in hindsight, the crazy general who may or may not be related to Hydra is not nearly as interesting or intimidating as it should be. She’s far from the worse, but unfortunately without interacting with the good guys, she’s more of an idea than a person. Maybe that can lead to something. Until then, I’m not impressed. Also, I am not impressed by forcing Deke to be useful and him quickly discovering the truth about FitzSimmons’ connection to him. I am not looking forward to more angst about him, though I will take it if this means less time building a relationship with Daisy. That’s worse than pretending he’s useful.
Unsurprisingly, the most interesting concept about the bad guys is still Hale’s daughter Ruby who is proven to be hella crazy and creepy. She’s outright seducing guys as a teen and dreams of murdering superheroes in the meantime. Plus, the image of slicing off Elena’s arms is still fresh in the story, so she still remains the clearest threat to the team. Sadly, she’s weakened by having no clear goal and supposedly following her mother’s orders. That’s something I hope can change soon.
In true SHIELD fashion, the plot is not without some pick-me-ups. The reintroduction of Mack with an old friend is entertaining, especially since Mack has always has the most peaceful backstory up until season two. He had friends, a family, and not a shotgun-ax. And I admit I laughed at the Mack Hammer joke. Marvel has had its criticism regarding its out-of-place humor, but that was just spot on humor we only get about once a season. It was used wisely.
I’m always surprised that the show manages to pull some whacky scenario even this far in the series. A ship that’s in danger of falling out of the sky with half our team on it. It’s plausible enough to work but weird enough for a science-fiction series. If all of their filler episodes had something like this, we may not be having this problem. Actually, we probably would. There isn’t that much you can do with that.
As it stands now, I’m still unsure as to where the story is going. They’re going to cross paths with Hale in order to shut the fear dimension with the Gravitonium, so I guess that’s a buildup. That may sound simple, but we still need a good one or two plot twists to bring us to the end. And we need to go back to the end of the world again. Maybe with the fear dimension we can get some fun things until then. Hopefully, Daisy will have something more fun than Kree soldiers. Deke gets his mom, but our main character is left out with no superpowers. Change that now.
Still, the season has proven surprisingly compelling, even outside of space and time. I guess it’s back to focusing on our main characters that makes the show more compelling. And it’s cheaper, so we’re hopefully building up to a good climax. Fillers are fillers, but kudos guys, I still care.
