Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. 5×03 Recap: The Plot Thickens – Too Much
This episode was definitely less exciting than the season opener, but I still believe that the direction this season is going in is a good move. This episode was clearly setting up later plots, which has to happen on occasion, but tends to result in viewers feeling unfulfilled. The new characters are holding up well; Deke showed where he falls when he has to make hard choices. Tess continued to insist that the team place their own survival above their moral code, while at the same time she was willing to die for them. Kasius and Sinara are still being uncomfortably awful.
However, by pushing the episode so fast, Daisy’s storyline throughout this episode was visibly rushed. She goes on a desperate, one-woman mission to break Jemma out, putting too much faith in her abilities. While Daisy has always been a headstrong, jump-first kind of character, she has slowly grown past that, making her decision here seemed short sighted and a little stupid. Still, while the audience knows what became of Jemma, Daisy doesn’t, so maybe we can excuse her rashness. In a few scenes, Daisy is told by Deke not to try and break Jemma out, gets Yo-yo to steal the scroll that allows her to access the upper levels, eventually breaks the scroll in a fight with some Kree, and winds up getting captured by Kasius, who knew she was coming thanks to Deke. Deke was right that Daisy shouldn’t have put the value of her friend’s life over those of everyone on the station, but I still would’ve liked to see Daisy quake Kasius into a wall. What stumps me is how Kasius still doesn’t seem that interested in where Jemma and Daisy came from, but maybe he’s playing a long game.
Speaking of Jemma, she spent the episode trying to teach a young inhuman girl named Abby how to control her power (which is to change the density of her body). This was the best part of the episode. It showcased Jemma’s “compassion,” as Sinara said with disgust. It was extremely hard to watch the fight between Abby and the champion, both when she was losing and when she, in the end, cut a hole through the champion’s body using her arm. Abby was later sold to someone else, but at least her family is safe and she gets to live. Hopefully we’ll see her triumphant return later in the season.
The rest of the team is still under the control of Grill, who they owe for putting the metrics in their arms. While Yo-yo stays behind and helps Daisy steal the scroll from Grill, the rest of the team, plus Tess, go on a mission to track down the mysterious “616” object that Virgil mentioned in his notes. Grill sends his head enforcer to watch them, and of course the enforcer discovers their plan. Mack knocks him out, causing Tess to freak out. No time to worry about that, because the team hears a signal with a voice bouncing off of 616. Fun side note: 616 is the name of the prime universe in the Marvel comics world; the Avengers exist in the 7th and 8th iterations of Earth 616.
The team unravels that the voice is asking Virgil about the “delegation” – meaning someone else might know why they’re here; a mystery that will be solved later. Yo-yo saves the team from suffering the consequences of knocking out the enforcer, pinning the blame of prior thefts on him. He’s sent to the surface of the Earth where “no one” survives.
So in sum, Jemma is still being held by Kasius. Now Daisy is too. The rest of the team is enslaved to Grill. And still no Fitz. Next time, it looks like we’ll witness an inhuman fight club, and probably more plot twists.
Best Quotes:
May: So less than 24 hours, and you’ve already been taken prisoner. Is that a record?
Coulson: Not even close.
*While cruising in space*
Coulson: Say what you will about our future dystopian horror show, it has a nice view.
May (sarcastically): Dazzling.
*After the enforcer uses their metrics to pin them to a wall*
Coulson: Thank you
Mack: Had to. You all pinned to the wall flailing around like a bunch of hungry, hungry hippos.
Coulson: Huh. In my mind it was cooler than that.
Jemma (to Abby): Your body is like a field of stars, but you’re special, you can control the space between the stars.
Grill: I knew someone was stealing.
Enforcer: Squirreling things away.
Mack: Like you know what a squirrel is.