Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD transports us to 1955 New Mexico in SHIELD facility in the middle of the desert. Can they stop the Chronicoms from ending SHIELD?
Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD jumped forward in time and space again–this time we’re in New Mexico in 1955. And yes, they’re believed to be aliens when they land. Good thing they’re close to Roswell!
The Chronicoms meet back up with Cam—I mean, their Predictor, who gives them guidance on where to go and their targets, as she can read the time streams better than others.
Elena confides in Mack that she froze up. He advocates that she’s probably just healing from the shrike. Meanwhile, Coulson is freaking out that May didn’t react at all to anything. But there’s no time to spare, as their mark appears, a member of the Department of Defense. They steal his identity for Coulson to use to gain access to the base.
And they give Simmons the identity of Peggy Carter. I have a visceral reaction to this (mostly a how dare they even though it makes sense in context), but it’s okay, because we know it’s only going to last for a few minutes before her cover is blown.
Helius is an ion fusion reactor and there’s a test this afternoon. Coulson and Simmons interrogate the members of the science division who come in every day to make sure none of them are infiltrating Chronicoms. They search out emotional reactions and receive some comedy gold. Including the best one-liner of the episode (see below).
The VIP for the test is Agent Sousa, who overhears that Peggy is there, straightens his hair in a glass reflection, and knows in an instant that Simmons is no Hayley Atwell. He plays it all so well and I didn’t realize how much I missed Sousa since Agent Carter ended.
Helius won’t actually work until you factor in a Chronicom willing to die and supercharge it. And then that means no more SHIELD brain trust!
And… then Daisy, Simmons, and Coulson lock Sousa in a cell and leave in an attempt to find the Chronicoms. Sorry, Sousa, I was hoping you’d stick around for more than half an episode.
Our team chases after the self-sacrificing Chronicom who booted up Project Helius. Elena and May go after the Chronicom plugged into Helius itself while Daisy, Simmons, and Coulson try to rewire an EMP to cancel out Helius.
Sousa shows up to interfere with the Coulson vs. Chronicom fight, but the EMP short-circuits both of them. That seems to be a problem for LMD Coulson…
Post-Credits Stinger
Deke and Mack toss our DOD agent out into the desert and pretend to be aliens. “You have to believe me—I saw their spaceship!” he screams in the diner.
Badass Moment of the Week
Watching Coulson go full LMD on a Chronicom was fun.
“He’s surprisingly strong,” Daisy comments.
Best One-Liner
Clark Gregg having to say the word “moist” over and over with different inflections. Also “stupid white privilege” by Deke is a solid runner-up.
I’m going to pretend the Perry Como the DJ was playing at the start of the episode was my favorite Perry Como song, “Dig You Later.” Which definitely has a few lines that are no longer culturally appropriate, but dang if it isn’t catchy.
I liked the “conspiracy theorist me was right” from Daisy as a fun call-back to when she was much less fun Skye in season 1. Also, does it feel like Roswell episodes of TV shows are just inherently more fun?
Oh man, Sousa knows Hydra is infiltrating SHIELD. That makes everything so much worse. And next week’s Agents of SHIELD looks like we’re going to struggle with the age-old question of whether we save someone or let them die because it’s what happened already.
Wait, is that an age-old question?
Anyway, next week’s Agents of SHIELD will fill in some of the blanks of SHIELD’s history. Like what happens to Sousa, who apparently dies attempting to expose Hydra within SHIELD’s ranks. That’s a fun twist!