Lockup – After learning that ghost Lucy has the Darkhold, Coulson and the team try to infiltrate the prison for more information from Eli only to find Lucy’s there too, triggering a riot. After a shaky lie detector performance, Simmons is called to earpiece assist Mason in a live political debate with the anti-Inhuman Senator Nadeer.
Who doesn’t like a good old fashioned prison riot? The main story may take a roundabout and slightly muddled way of getting to its prison infiltration and escape setupm but from an action and drama perspective, it's very rewarding that it does. There’s some great tension as the team wades through the Watchdog inmate-infested waters before all hell breaks loose. Then Daisy’s River Tam style one verses many sacrifice play is certainly the best fight so far this season, with some terrific lengthy shots and hard-hitting action as the expansive dining hall location provides plenty of movement and energy. Daisy’s Quake time out even works in her favour as she shows that she can still kick plenty of big burly ass without her powers (like we saw more of in season 2). The prison scenes also develop some good conflict between Mack and Robbie. It’s particularly effective because we understand where Mack is coming from yet there’s a clear and obvious point of resolution for the pair when needed. Mack is all about keeping control and protecting his own so it’s only natural for him to view Robbie as to volatile and unstable for some of their missions. It will probably come to blows soon but they both have common ground of being devoted to their younger brothers to reconcile over. Once they understand that part of each other, we’ll see them as quite the lethal tag team. Some parts of the prison story feel too scattered. Coulson and May’s attempted near-death heart-to-heart doesn’t feel anywhere near as meaningful as it should for being rushed. Fitz also feels rather wasted on “quarterback duty”. While it keeps him involved in the episode, the Zuckerman writing duo don’t allow much of his personality to come across, making it seem like a generic part that was later assigned to Fitz. Turbo deserves better than that.... but Coulson’s energy shield? It's an out-the-home park home run action figure in time for Christmas!
Director Mason’s arc is very interesting this week in that while it hints to character flaws, he still comes across with good intentions. The timing of his Inhuman outing is a surprise but that was always going to happen eventually and seeing him utilize the opportune political moment to come out of the terragenesis closet speaks well of his intelligence. However, this episode may also have exposed his key weakness in that he’s far more concerned with Shield's reputation rather than its results; he’s leaning more towards politician than director. Despite his mantras about trust, we see that he’s not against lying to the public when Simmons spots the deception over his Vienna heroics (connected to the Vienna UN bombing event of Civil War). It’s like he’s trying to become a hero by convincing people that he already is one. His final scene with Nadeer pushes that further as she effectively holds a gun to Shield's reputation, and he shows a willingness to negotiate with the enemy. It suggests that part of this season might develop into a Mason Vs Coulson conflict over the soul of Shield with both having opposing views over what the organization should be.
While we mention her, Parminder Nagra’s (ER) is shaping up into a nice shady villain with her zealot-like anti-Inhuman believes as she hammers Mason in the debate. We know from 2 episodes ago that she’s funding The Watchdogs and her brother has is in a terragenesis cocoon, but where she fits into the bigger picture is still unclear. A wild crazy guess.... she’s actually an Inhuman (or at least a supporter) herself and is trying turn people against Inhumans to trigger a fight back revolution against humanity. Elsewhere on the villain front, I think Eli is a villain in-waiting. He only agrees to come with Robbie and Mack when The Darkhold is mentioned, he seems a bit too calm when under arrest, and when he’s finally confronted with said supposedly sentient hardback, he seems somewhat happy about it. I think Eli has dark plans for the Darkhold that will definitely involve betraying Robbie. We even get a tease of conspiracy when Robbie learns that the gang drive by on, he and Gabe was a contracted hit; Eli could easily have been behind it. As for his plans, maybe he planned for Robbie to become Ghost Rider and now, he’ll use the Darkhold to transfer that power to himself?
There’s no denying that this is principally a filler episode, probably intended as a less attention-grabbing offering due to coinciding with a Marvel movie release. Nevertheless it does have many things to enjoy and a few good if expected story reveals. Not to mention that seeing a block full of hardened inmates scurrying back into their cells, Drederick Tatum style, when a certain hot head emerges makes the episode in itself. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. catches its breath this week but everything is still pushing forward well.