By: Tyler Miller
SPOILERS FOR SEASON 3, EPISODE 12 FOLLOW!
Last night’s episode of Agents of SHIELD was another good episode for the show. We’re getting more glimpses into the plans that are in motion, and we also got some good action scenes as well.
The episode started off with Hive flashing back to when Ward died and he took over his body. He then started remembering different aspects of Ward’s past, just like he did when he took over Will’s body on Maveth. Things took a dark turn though when Malick brought in Lucio (Medusa Eyes) and Hive doing the same weird thing that he did to Malick’s telekinetic Inhuman sidekick Giyera.
Cut to an airport and we see Talbot with his wife, who’s getting on a plane. They’re arguing about something that Talbot says he’ll make right, but at this point we don’t know what it is that’s the source of their problems. Coulson joins him and they start heading out, and Talbot makes it very clear that he’s not happy about being the head of the ATCU, much less having to work with Coulson.
We then get to see where the rest of the team is, and most of them are gearing up back at HQ for an upcoming mission to a diplomatic conference about what to do with Inhumans. Daisy and Bobbi get into a little mini argument about Inhumans, and Daisy takes the side of Inhumans. With her newfound pride about being one, she sees being an Inhuman as an awakening/gift instead of a disease, while Bobbi understands that the rest of the world is just afraid of what they don’t know.
The two missing pieces of our team are May and Lincoln, both of which are providing security for Coulson at the airport. Lincoln spots someone following Coulson and Talbot, and this someone turns out to be none other than Carl Creel (A.K.A. Absorbing Man). Lincoln and May fight him, but it turns out that he’s Talbot’s security. Looks like a lot has changed since we last saw him in season 2. Back at SHIELD HQ, no one is happy about the fact that Creel is coming on the mission, especially Hunter since Creel was responsible for the death of his friends at the start of season 2. He has to go though because that’s the only way Talbot will go. Daisy can’t go because she’s an Inhuman and they can’t bring weapons, much to her dismay (sorry Tremors!).
The team is briefed on their mission, and it should be pretty easy. Things are never as easy as they seem though in the world of SHIELD. The mission is to find out who Malick’s inside man is at the symposium and follow them back to Malick. May, Hunter, and Bobbi go into the attendees rooms to see what they can find while Coulson and Talbot attend the symposium and try to figure out who it is themselves. Seeing Coulson and Talbot work together is pretty funny, as Talbot suspects that everyone is the suspect. As the rest of the team is going through the different rooms, Hunter spots Creel leaving his post and goes after him since he doesn’t trust him.
Jumping back over to the bad guys, Malick suggests that Hive needs a new host which he denies. He just needs to feed on humans is all, since feeding on Inhumans is something he doesn’t do. Before he leaves, Malick tells his Inhuman guards Lucio and Giyera to stay and watch Hive, but Hive tells them to get him five humans so that he can feed. They bring him five yummy subjects and he begins to feed on them while Lucio and Giyera stand guard outside.
Meanwhile, Daisy and Lincoln are training back at SHIELD HQ and she totally kicks his ass. Their training is cut short though when Simmons comes and asks for Lincoln’s help going over some Inhuman biology. It turns out that Creel’s blood rejects the Terrigenesis process, meaning that it can be a possible cure to Terrigenesis. This upsets Daisy as she feels that the there doesn’t need to be a cure for it since the powers given are gifts (sounding like her mom here). She believes that the government would make the cure permanent and that people should be happy with their gifts, whereas Lincoln believes that people should be still be given the choice of whether or not they want to have powers.
Over at the symposium, Hunter finds a truck that has an Inhuman in a containment cube, but gets knocked out by Creel. It’s here when everything goes downhill. Talbot starts to sell out Coulson to the people at the symposium when Malick comes in. It turns out that Talbot was the inside man because he was being blackmailed by Malick, who has his son (the person in the containment cube). This is why he had the argument with his wife at the start of the episode. Malick takes them both to the basement and orders them to be executed when Creel comes in and saves them both. He only knocked out Hunter because his cover was almost blown, so he’s still good. He frees them and they rendezvous with Hunter and Bobbi, who Coulson tells to follow Malick, while May gets the truck that has Talbot’s son.
With the mission over, the team is back at SHIELD HQ and Talbot’s son is safe in an Inhuman containment chamber. Coulson talks with May about how he’s suspicious that Malick is supporting someone else more powerful, and after seeing how Hive feeds on people, he’s definitely right. All that Hive left of the people he fed from are their bones and blood, while his body has been regenerated. Buffed up Ward body is back, dead and crushed chest Ward body is out. The team certainly has a formidable foe to face in Hive.
The episode ended with Malick on a plane with one of the symposium attendees, talking about plans to have an Inhuman shelter of sorts in Russia. Stowed away on the plane are Bobbi and Hunter, following Malick all the way back to where he’s going. I get the feeling that things may not go all that way for them.
Other thoughts:
- It’s still unclear what it is that Hive did to Lucio and Giyera, but I suspect that maybe it allows him to make them more susceptible to his commands.
- Daisy and Lincoln’s argument about what to do with the thought of a possible cure certainly seems to be sowing the seeds of Civil War in the team and what the show will be touching on after the movie comes out.
- No Mack this episode was a bummer 😦
- I wonder when Hive is going to fully take charge and start putting his own plan into effect. It seems like he’s starting to take those first steps by regenerating his body.
This week was another good episode for Agents of SHIELD. We’re getting more glimpses into what Malick’s overall plan is for Inhumans, but we still don’t know what it is just yet. In the case of Hive, we still don’t know what his plan is, but I’m totally absorbed by him every time he’s on screen so I’ll give him a bit of a pass, but I hope we start to get some idea of what he’s doing soon. The action this week was good too, along with a welcome reappearance by Carl Creel. Next week looks like it’ll be just as good as this one.
TheComfySpot 