In this episode we get to revisit the pilot episode of “Agents”
on several levels. First, it is the obvious parallels between Skye & Hooded
Hero in the pilot and Reina & Scorch in “Girl”...to a point. Skye, whatever
associations she had with Rising Tide, was nowhere as deep as Reina is, who is high
enough in the command chain to actually command other people, except (or not)
the doctor but more on that below.
Secondly, the episode once again refocuses on Skye and her
associations with Rising Tide. In this episode her loyalties become divided
when her ex-boyfriend, Milton, gets involved. Skye chooses initially Milton over
her teammates, and karma (well, the script, if you will) punishes her – she loses
all of her initial privileges with the S.H.I.E.L.D. crew and may actually be
arrested. Or not, but she certainly loses their trust and it hurts.
Let us speak honestly. In this episode Skye not only has to
make a choice and live with its consequences (as does Milton, I suppose), but
she also gets to show the audience (well, Chloe Bennet does, anyways) how much
she has changed since the pilot episode as compared to Milton, who has not.
Skye has grown more responsible and less greedy...but truth to tell, she
probably was like that initially, Coulson and crew just brought it out...except
for the secret.
What is the secret? Coulson now knows that Skye got involved
against S.H.I.E.L.D. in search of her natural parents who are gone and
S.H.I.E.L.D. got something to do with it. What exactly will be revealed in the
next episodes, but what he does not know is that Skye got involved on Rising
Tide’s orders with S.H.I.E.L.D. in the first place. Not that it matters – Skye now
knows the stakes she is playing at and knows her choice as well.
Agent Coulson...no offense, but he had certainly turned onto
Skye very quickly. Sure, that is what this episode’s script demanded, but
still... What, he expected her to change her philosophy as soon as she joined?
Well, maybe if his gut told him so...but his gut is wrong – see above.
The same can be said for Fitz – Skye has betrayed them after
all they had been through? Perhaps, (she certainly did), but they have not been
through that much...maybe he is talking about quality rather than quantity of
their adventures, but still...
Speaking of Fitz and other agents – sadly, they did not get
much character development beyond the usual, though agent May did let her hair
down, or up, in the beginning of the episode when she offered Coulson to spar
with him, and she was not dressed in her usual training leathers; also, the way
she took Scourge out in the end – epic!
Speaking of Scourge – if he only waited for 5 to 9 days until
the platelets taken out from his blood stream by the doctor, he would have been
back to normal: his body would have recovered the drained blood platelets by
then, so no fiery explosive death. Of course, if S.H.I.E.L.D. had not gotten
overconfident and passed this particular mutant over to Professor X. and his
school none of the above would’ve happened to begin with, but what’s done is
done.
Finally, what it is with the “Agents” and Putin? President Putin
isn’t a likeable fellow or even a decent one or anything, but why mention him
at least for the second time in the season? As far as he will be concerned, that
is just free PR, nothing more, but that is real life. As this episode with its
combustible villain and the mysterious Clairvoyant (hopefully, this is not a
synonym for the Trousers Titan, cough) shows, “Agents” are at the
strongest when they are not involved with real life.
So: “Agents” are no longer redundant or realistic and a very
important plot development has taken place. Let us see what will come out of
this instead.
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