We all know the drill with “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.,” instead of solving the mysteries at hand, they just pile new ones on and on. As usual the plot thickens. In this week’s episode, Lady Sif returns, having lost her memory after a battle with dangerous stranger, and what are Mack and Mockingbird hiding? All this and more, including Skye’s new secret powers as Quake, after the jump.
The Return of the Lady Sif
The last time Lady Sif, played by Jaimie Alexander, showed up with the agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., she was in pursuit of the dangerous Thor foe Lorelei. More importantly, the off-again on-again Asgardian girlfriend of the thunder god made the first major link between the Marvel Television and Cinematic Universes – as those involved are so fond of saying, it’s all connected, it’s all one big Marvel Universe.
On the small screen, when we last saw Sif she was headed back to Asgard, and this was just after Thor: The Dark World, so we all know that Loki is really disguised as Odin, but did she? Either way, there’s no indication she knows about it in this appearance either. Maybe it will come out in 2017’s Thor: Ragnarok, or perhaps maybe even sooner in Avengers: Age of Ultron. Time will tell.
How to Hold an Amnesiac Asgardian
Sif wanders out of the ocean in Portugal with a sword, no memory, and looking for someone named Kava. She’s also wearing leather as opposed to standard Asgardian armor, so she must be ‘undercover.’ It’s notable that Alexander, essentially playing a completely new character as Sif doesn’t know who she is, manages to convey all of what makes Sif Sif into this blank slate. The nobility, the fierceness, the presence, it is all still intact.
After breaking up a beach party, she pops up on S.H.I.E.L.D.’s radar and they intercept her. The folks who nab her in Portugal easily keep her in one place by telling her Kava is on his way to her, so she stays in one spot. I don’t know about you folks, but I not only would like to see more of whoever thought that brilliant move up, but I think they should become members of Coulson’s team. They handles an Asgardian like it was cake.
Business as Usual
When we peek in on our Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., it’s business as usual. Skye is up and around, and out of her quarantine cell from last episode, and she’s training and bonding with Agent May. She knows that Skye is holding back. So early after getting her Quake earth elemental powers it must be hard not to lose control, as we’ve seen. Obviously, when May tells her not to hold back and to let loose, Skye is scared to death – that she’ll hurt her friend, or bring the entire complex down on them.
Fitz is still keeping the secret of Skye’s new genetic makeup from Simmons. Her downright anti-mutant attitude seanced directly from an old X-Men comic is very disquieting. But of course, it has to be, there are no mutants in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but we’ll talk about that later. Hunter and Morse are pillow talking in bed, which we’ll get to later as well. Tsk tsk, these spies and their secrets, like I said, business as usual. In the meantime, Son of Coul and the Agents of SHIELD retrieve Sif, and try to help her get her memory back, while tracking her alien assailant.
Kree
Skye finds footage on Twitter(!) of Sif fighting a warrior. She doesn’t remember, but he defeats her soundly. Later he shows up with a hammer and shifting blue skin. Uh oh. He’s Kree. Could he be an Accuser like Ronan from Guardians of the Galaxy? The warrior in human form, Vin-Tak by name, is played by Eddie McClintock, formerly of “Warehouse 13,” and I’m so glad he didn’t just fall off the face of the earth after that show ended. He was the best part of it, and what held it all together. I hope this isn’t the last we see of him in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
When Bobbi and Skye find Vin-Tak, Mockingbird puts up the good fight for as long as she can, but he prevails. Skye loses it, shakes things up, and does more harm than good with her quake powers, allowing him to escape. As I said, this enemy is easily determined to be Kree, with the name Kava meaning ‘keys’ and his appearance maintained by nitrogen. With those clues in mind, they realize what he may be after – the place where the Diviner was originally found.
Not Hydra
The subplot that seems more distraction than moving things forward – that of whatever secret Bobbi Morse and Mack are keeping from the rest is getting a bit monotonous and it’s only been ongoing for a couple episodes. Morse is back with Hunter and she wants to bring him in, but Mack is adamant no, so much so that later he chokes him out for asking too many questions later.
They’re after Fury’s stuff, don’t trust Coulson, and on the surface seem to be up to no good. The subplot isn’t doing anything other than making a horny and curious Hunter look bad. At least they’re not Hydra, or so they say. And as a potential future Avenger, we knew Morse at least isn’t Hydra. And speaking of Hydra, might I add how refreshing it is not to have them as the big bads for the first time in a while? Mmmm… breath of fresh air.
Terrigenesis
Once captured, Vin-Tak, is very talkative. He was sent to Earth to collect the Diviners. He explains, as I have in the past, the process of terrigenesis, all sans using the I-word – Inhumans. But he adds details we were not aware of previously in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The Diviners are used by the Kree to create abominations, weapons for the Kree to wage war. Races like the human race, who were seeded by the Kree millennia ago carry DNA waiting to be activated by the Diviners.
When this explanation makes Skye nervous, she outs herself with a trademark Daisy Johnson quake. Now everybody knows she’s one of them there I-words. Vin-Tak wants to destroy her, and Lady Sif with her restored memory wants to take her away to Asgard. The chase is on, and the Agents move to protect their own. In Vin-Tak’s round two with Mockingbird, Bobbi ain’t playing around. This is a great fight, in the spirit of the type May used to get on a regular basis. Two points, Bobbi. Oops, Vin-Tak forgot.
The New Mutants
In the aftermath of the fight, and Skye’s reveal, there is much dissention among the ranks. Fitz and Simmons have lied to each other to the point of no trust left. Half the team wants to help and protect Skye, while the other half is afraid of her. While it’s brushed to the side, there is no denying many will have the same kind of prejudice for Skye and those like her that Simmons has have. As there can be no mutants in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, because Fox owns the film rights, Marvel has brought out the Inhumans as its mutant substitutes.
Our next episode may cement the idea that this kind of prejudice already exists, as Mister Hyde recruits those friends he mentioned last time to take on Coulson and the S.H.I.E.L.D. The rumor mill has suggested some form of the Masters of Evil, but I’m predicting just an assemblage of super-villains. Either way, it should be fun. Is that Angar the Screamer in there? And who, or what, is ‘backup’?
Next: Super-Villains vs. S.H.I.E.L.D. in “One of Us!”
Filed under: agents of shield, Glenn Walker, Marvel, television Tagged: Agents of SHIELD, angar the screamer, avengers age of ultron, eddie mcclintock, guardians of the galaxy, hydra, inhumans, jaimie alexander, Kree, lady sif, marvel cinematic universe, Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, Masters of Evil, mister hyde, mockingbird, mutants, ronan, skye, thor the dark world, warehouse 13, x-men
