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So I really was not expecting either of the
big, shocking reveals tonight. I just
want to put that out there. There were
a few things in this episode that I did expect, but those two twists were quite
unexpected. Nice job by Marvel TV there!
Also, was I the only one who
noticed a very blatant semi-political statement partway through the episode?
The episode opens with a
flashback of Hive taking control of Ward’s dead body shortly after Coulson
murdered Ward. Hive/Ward is still in
very bad shape—so bad that Malick asks if he would prefer a new host (not him
though, as Hive can only use a dead host).
However, Hive considers Ward to be a “perfect host.” I find it interesting that Hive can’t inhabit
an Inhuman because he “cannot feed on his own kind.” What exactly this means doesn’t become clear
until near the end of the episode.
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In the meantime, we explore some
of what Hive can do. He has Malick bring
Lucio (“Medusa Eyes”) into his room and allows him to freeze everyone there,
including himself. However, he is not
really frozen but instead leaves part of himself (spores?) behind. He sends this into Lucio’s face, infecting
him. It’s not entirely clear yet what
his control does, but it seems to leave the subject with a small degree of free
will: Giyera shows fear on a few
occasions, and even regret at having procured 5 live humans for Hive. And what does Hive do to the humans? It seems that he drains the life from them,
leaving behind nothing but charred bones.
And by feeding on them he is able to repair Ward’s dead body, leaving
him whole and (if possible) even stronger than before. I do like the slow reveal of the extent of
Hive’s powers, though at some point I do really hope that we will see him go
absolutely crazy.
The next plot revolves around
Coulson and Talbot and their “buddy comedy” (which really wasn’t all that
comedic, unfortunately). At the
beginning of the episode Talbot’s wife Carla is extremely angry at him, though
it’s unclear why. Coulson meets Talbot at
the airport and the two of them leave together to begin preparing for the
upcoming “Symposium on the Alien Contagion” in Taiwan. They are being watched by May and Lincoln,
who discover Carl Creel also following Talbot and Coulson. Lincoln engages with Creel, who turns himself
to rubber, which is generally unaffected by electricity. However, May hits him with a tire iron, which
he absorbs, giving Lincoln the chance to fry him. Of course, it isn’t until Creel is down that
Coulson gives Talbot a chance to explain that Creel now works for him. To be honest, I really wasn’t expecting that,
considering that Creel seemed like prime Hydra material from everything Coulson
said about him in season 2. According to
Talbot, however, Creel is reformed and he never travels anywhere without him,
now that he has his own enhanced.
S.H.I.E.L.D. having Creel in
custody gives us a chance to learn slightly more about him. Of course, by that I mean that we now know
that he got his abilities from an “experiment gone right.” I do like that Creel is a man of very few
words; that really seems to fit the character.
Of course Hunter and the rest of S.H.I.E.L.D. is uncomfortable with the
idea of working with Creel after everything they went through the last time he
was around. This provides some of the
conflict in the episode.
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However, the main conflict of the
episode revolves around the Symposium. Coulson
and Talbot attend the Symposium to find out what the rest of the world knows
about the Inhumans, to set the record straight about them, and to identify and
trail Malick’s “inside man.” They don’t
know for certain that he has one, but it does seem like a safe bet. Coulson has Bobbi, May, and Hunter break into
the rooms of the other delegates to the Symposium to look for evidence. Bobbi does find some evidence in the
Australian delegate’s room, but only evidence that she has an Inhuman in her
custody on whom their military is running tests. At the end of the episode Coulson reveals
that this Inhuman has been rescued, so I’m wondering if he will join the Secret
Warriors. I don’t have too many
suggestions for who it could be, but the obvious candidate seems to be Eden
Fesi, a.k.a. Manifold, a mutant Australian Aborigine with the ability to
teleport. I actually remember commenting
that he could work on AoS fairly well as a completely different
character who happens to be an Inhuman teleporter.
During the Symposium, the Russian
delegate (Anton Petrov) suggests that the Symposium consider establishing a safe
home for the Inhumans, something which Coulson and Talbot fear, as it will put
all the Inhumans in the same location, making them easier for Hydra to capture. Coulson very strongly objects to the plan, as
he also strongly encourages the word’s leaders to look at the Inhumans not as
alien threats but rather as humans with a little something extra. I find it really cool to find a show where it
isn’t always an easy answer. A lot of
times it seems like fighting is the only option on shows like this; in this
case fighting is not the answer but diplomacy is.
The Symposium also gives us an
interesting and appropriate social commentary on the concept of the “Gun-Free
Zone.” Coulson explains to the team that
the Symposium has 2 rules: no aliens and
no weapons. However, that second rule is
not followed at all, and Hunter makes multiple comments about the problem with “Gun-Free
Zones”: simply put, it doesn’t work if
it’s not enforced. Hydra does not follow
the rule (meaning that Hunter is held at gunpoint at a supposedly “Gun-Free
Zone”) and S.H.I.E.L.D. has to break the rule to save the day, too. This is the second dtime I’ve really noticed
Marvel making this kind of social commentary; the first being Captain
America: The Winter Soldier’s exploration of the concept of freedom vs.
security. I really like when they do
this (though it may just be because they agree with me!).
Fortunately, during the Symposium
Coulson does succeed in uncovering who the eponymous “Inside Man” is. Unfortunately, it turns out to be Talbot,
whose son was abducted by Malick and is being held hostage against his
cooperation—not something I expected. This
is what Carla was angry about at the beginning of the episode. Coulson and Talbot are taken prisoner by
Hydra (Malick “outs” Coulson as the Director of Hydra and accuses him of
wanting to exterminate the Inhumans), which is about the kill them. And who shows up to save the two of
them? None other than Creel himself. When Talbot revealed the blackmail, I was expecting
to find out that Creel was working for Hydra to keep Talbot in line; instead,
he really is loyal to Talbot and saves their lives. I actually like what they did with Absorbing
Man in this episode as far as testing his loyalties. From this it is quite clear that he is loyal
to Talbot and not to Hydra. And I can’t
believe I’m saying this, but it seems possible that he could even join the
Secret Warriors.
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Bobbi and Hunter take out the
Hydra agents in the Symposium building (Creel does come along and save Hunter’s
life) while May rescues Talbot’s son.
Coulson then sends Bobbi and Hunter to follow Malick and find out where
he’s going, which leads to them stowing away in his plane headed for
Russia. This serves as a direct lead-in
to next week’s episode, which looks to possibly serve as a “backdoor pilot” for
Marvel’s Most Wanted. I’m really
curious what is going to happen to cause Bobbi and Hunter to leave the team and
leave S.H.I.E.L.D. Whatever it is, it’s
going to be big!
The final plot deals with Daisy
and Lincoln, whose relationship is continuing to progress. Their first scene alone together is as they
are sparring (without powers) to help Lincoln prepare for his exam at the “Cocoon.” Obviously the “Cocoon” is a reference to the
comic book Secret Warriors, who were part of the “Caterpillar Project” (caterpillars
go through a cocoon to reach their final stage of development). Their sparring is a lot of fun, though it
takes quite the turn when they start making out only to have Simmons interrupt
them. Evidently Simmons and Fitz have been
running tests on Creel’s blood and determined that it can actually prevent
Terrigenesis (using samples of Daisy’s pre-Terrigenesis blood for
experimentation). It cannot reverse the
transformation, but it can be turned into an inoculation to prevent
Terrigenesis from happening. This leads
to a major philosophical argument between Lincoln and Daisy. Lincoln for his part thinks that this is a
great opportunity to put the “Terrigen genie” back in the bottle and give
people a choice of whether or not they will transform. However, Daisy does not think that Inhumans
should be denied their “birthright” and disagrees with him that Terrigenesis is
a disease.
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Honestly, I’m not sure which of
them is really in the right here, and I think that’s the point. On the one hand, Lincoln is correct that
people should be given the choice of whether or not they undergo
Terrigenesis. On the other hand, Daisy’s
fear of this falling into government control is also correct: if the government has the means to take away
Inhumans’ ability to undergo Terrigenesis, then they lose that freedom of
choice; the government will use the cure and Terrigen to exert their own
control and ensure their own will is carried out. Personally, I would prefer to see them not
use Creel’s blood to synthesize a Terrigenesis inoculation, but I suppose
seeing them wrestle with the moral ramifications of using it could also be an
interesting direction to go in this show.
This plot concludes with Daisy
going to see Lincoln and the two of them making up. Lincoln reveals that even though he had
control of his abilities at Afterlife, he hasn’t been able to control it as
well now that he’s working for S.H.I.E.L.D.; he’s jealous of the control Daisy
displays. This didn’t resolve their
disagreement over the cure, but it did pave the way for them to have a sex
scene. Even though their relationship
seemed a little out of left field in the first half of the season, the
exploration of it since then has been pretty good.
I definitely enjoyed this
episode, and particularly the double twist with both Talbot and Creel. First Talbot is a traitor and then he’s not a
traitor and instead is on good terms with Coulson. First Creel is working with Talbot, then he’s
knocking Hunter unconscious (possibly Hydra), and then he’s actually working
for Talbot.
The politics in the last couple
episodes didn’t go in quite the direction I hoped, but it was still an
interesting exploration of the political conditions faced by S.H.I.E.L.D. and
the Inhumans. I’m really hoping that
they will lean into the politics more moving forward, and especially as we get
closer to Captain America: Civil War.
What did you think of this
episode? Do you think Russia will set up
an Inhuman sanctuary in their borders?
Do you want to see Creel join the Secret Warriors? Let me know in the comments!
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