Synopsis of 3×08: Dangerous facts about the ATCU are discovered by the team; Ward’s plans to take down SHIELD do not go as expected.
Rating: ★★★☆☆
There are some episodes of SHIELD where everyone is exactly who you expect them to be. Coulson’s got a thousand trust issues; May’s quiet and angry; Daisy’s actually a hacker again; Fitz and Simmons don’t really interact with anyone but themselves; Rosalind’s a good guy and clueless to all bad things; Mack trusts absolutely no one and it’s great; Hydra is at the root of all evil; and Ward is the villain they always wanted you to think he is.
Yes, from hours of torture, to blowing open planes, to making deals with the devil, to turning Andrew back into Lash, if there was ever a doubt from you Ward fans about his loyalties on this episode: they’re painting him Hydra Red today. I say today since Grant Ward has consistently been the most inconsistent character on Agents of SHIELD. That doesn’t just mean his double-agent status either. His character has flip-flopped more than anyone else, so it’s important for us all to know he’s playing the big bad today (or at least medium bad if we count Malick).
But if any of you were hoping for Rosalind to be painted in that same Hydra Red — perhaps as a Madame Hydra-like character — sorry to disappoint. After an entire episode of mind games with Coulson, following sleeping with him and then talking to Malick on the phone the next morning, it was hard to tell where her loyalties lie. On one hand, Constance Zimmer plays a convincing role as a character kept in the dark by her superiors, on the other, Rosalind has professed to being in the spy game for quite some time.
What is more interesting about this interaction isn’t that Rosalind unfortunately isn’t that nefarious at all, it’s the fact that Coulson is so quick to throw her under the bus. When Mack asks him if he is sleeping with Rosalind for information, he responds “You really think I’m that guy?” but then follows the entire episode grilling her and infiltrating her organization in order to ‘spill all her secrets and gain her trust’. Phil, some people might say that makes you that guy.
While Coulson is grilling Ros and having serious discussions about his major trust issues and psychological inhumanity, the rest of the team is on the ground at ATCU, well everyone except FitzSimmons. They’re hard at work trying to figure out how to bring back Will. Now I’ll admit, as a long time lover of FitzSimmons, the recent development of their arc has turned me pretty sharply against it all. I could write a whole article about how I think the way Fitz has been written is more or less turning him into the proverbial ‘White Knight’ and that his actions feel like they are subconsciously trying to guilt Simmons for finding some solace on a deserted planet during her six months of isolation and trauma.
But I’m not going to do that (yet).
Thankfully, the team infiltrating the ATCU had much more success in bringing across their message this episode. To me, this plot line was the most well-timed. The Hydra reveal was a little obvious halfway through and the Coulson-Rosalind argument was riding on the results of this plot. This arc did exactly what this show needs to do, it’s pulling its plots together and braiding them into one cohesive story. Bobbi and Hunter going undercover is easily one of the most enjoyable thing to watch. Their continued banter while Hunter literally invades the ATCU like he’s a redcoat on the shores of revolutionary America is superbly entertaining. The same goes with Daisy coaching him behind the scenes, using her hacking skills and sass like she’s Skye from season one all over again.
But, as heavy handed as this is, it is gratifying to see everyone finally working towards a similar goal. Agent of SHIELD shines when everyone is working in the same story arc. For a while it was hard to tell what was actually happening. Was this a show about Inhumans or about SHIELD vs ATCU? I’ve said in previous recaps that it often felt like the third storyline involving Hydra and Ward was auxiliary. I’m glad that it’s all being thrown back on track. We’re all working towards the same end, which will lead to a more complete story.
Sure, we have Daisy. But she seems to be ready to go along with Coulson despite his troubling allegiances. No one has really embraced the idea, and if Malick is really the only one ready to wholeheartedly embrace the transformation? That sends a bad message for the species as a whole. Why is Lincoln, who was once a spokesperson for Afterlife and Skye’s transitioner, throwing in the towel and asking for a cure? It’s supposed to suggest how deep Jia Ying’s corruption and betrayal ran, but since we hardly even hear about that part of the Inhuman’s past anymore it’s kind of hard to remember that isn’t it? There’s still a lot of story left for this to turn around, but for now I’m cautious, as always.