Last week’s episode made a very enjoyable prequel chapter to the box office conquering Age of Ultron, but according to Kevin Feige, that was merely the beginning of film/TV crossover. Spoiler safety is on, but a few questions have been asked regarding a few plot holes in the film. In a recent interview, Feige subtly confirmed that at least some of these would be addressed in the final 3 Shield episodes this season. Very quickly this week, we see exactly what he meant. So let’s strap in as we follow Coulson and the team into the age after Ultron.
Scars – In the aftermath of Sokovia, Coulson and Gonzales agree to move forward as one Shield, and their first matter of business is the new Inhumans threat. Skye arranges diplomatic talk between Jaiying and Shield leadership, but can either party put aside their fear of the other?
An early linking reveal aside this episode impresses with how it allows its characters to be affected by the events of its big screen cousin. The film events provide the early catalyst. Coulson and Gonzales outing aside, their differences and moving forward together but even more impressive is the reflections the film’s consequences. In one brilliant moment, Gonzales even preaches learning from it, “Ultron was created because people were too close to Tony Stark...The Avengers, they let one man do whatever he wanted and the world was almost destroyed because of it. We’re Shield, we’re better than that. Or at least we should be”. As cool as character cameos can be. this is the real shared Universe connectivity, when the events of one area mean something to another, and in this case, it's done so with no shortage of finesse. This isn’t an inch out of character for Gonzales, and plays right into his Real Shield ideals of democratic leadership and anti-secrecy.
The episode itself delivers good results if only revolving too heavily on the climactic meeting. From barely minutes, it becomes quite a slow march to the set destination. This does have its benefits as it gives good time to explore many characters different feelings and reactions to the events. There’s a great comparison between both Shield and Inhumans camps. Neither seems to want any form of conflict but fearing what the other is capable of pushes aside rational thinking to considering more drastic measures. Whether human or alien blood pumps through your veins, fear can still be the worst form of council. The outcome feels inevitable. There will be conflict between Shield and The Inhumans, but the episode does a good job teasing us over why and more prominently over who will shoot first. The twists and red herrings employed are rewarding, particularly concerning Gonzales and his “insurance policy”. In many ways, Skye becomes the audience as Lincoln, Agent May, and many around her ask her to question what she really knows and believes about either side just as we are. She almost becomes the unwilling child pulled in both directions by a divorce, forced to make the biggest decision of her life without any idea who to chose. It would just be nice if either was a little more going elsewhere in the episode. The Bobbi/Agent 33 subplot gives the episode's only (but impressive) action as they join the mile-high fight club, but still feels too minor. Mack’s hittin’ the road yields a very moving scene with Coulson as they respectfully part ways but a bit more follow up would have been nice. None of the episodes events are bad by themselves, they just feel too much like killing time before the game changing final act rather than being important to the overall story.
The episode does pack some great comedy moments. The whole Koeing brothers opening sequence is genius. Any time Patton Oswalt gets to do his twin thing on the show is a blessing, and this flashback intro has so much to love. From the Star Wars bed sheets (something tells me Oswald brought those from home) to Call of Duty banter, and of course the lanyard display box; it’s pure fun and indulgence into such brilliant recurring characters. Calvin also gets a few great moments this week from his table rage mishap to his brilliant causal tones over the people he’s killed when being handed over. Throw in Hunter updating Reina’s profile picture and Coulson realising he’s been spending too much time with him, and you have some nice balancing elements to episode’s more serious tone.
Scars is a self-explaining episode: that the pain of the past is difficult to forgive when it’s still visually a part of you. Some people able to forgive and move on, but others regrettably can’t. Although Shield forces have united, there’s still some good Civil War comparables. Going into the season finale, we have protagonists on both sides of the coming conflict and neither clearly feeling like the villain. This also works a little against it as the finale now needs to someone to step out of the shadows for a good “It was me! <maniacal laugh>” and how meaningful that reveal is will be deciding factor in the finale’s reception. The Inhumans doomsday rock of ages will undoubtedly become a crucial factor (despite the cool transformation effects I couldn’t get the Spike classic “It’s a big rock... can’t wait to tell all my friends they don’t have a rock this big” out of my head). HYDRA plays an interesting absent role in that the equivalents of their technology are used by both sides, and Daniel Whitehall even gets quoted in a key moment. Agents of Shield is wrapping up on good form with a season that can already be christened a vast improvement on its first but still has plenty of work to do if it wants to stand toe to toe against the now superior Netflix shows.