-
The good
Great character development and revelations for all the characters and mainly Coulson. The cellist is introduced. Super-powered villain
-
The bad
Somewhat concerned about backtracking regarding Ward's allegiance to Hydra
-
The ugly
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: The Only Light In The Darkness is the 19th episode in the season and has the team dealing with the fallout from Hydra acquiring the most dangerous weapons from the Fridge and setting the prisoners free. One such prisoner, Marcus Daniels, is walking along the docks at night and comes across a guy working while listening to the radio about S.H.I.E.L.D. being labeled a terrorist organization. Daniels tells him that he needs a ride to Portland and when the guy responds that he’s not driving him anywhere, Marcus turns off his car with the wave of his hand and then kills the man with just one touch. Meanwhile Ward is lying to the team about what happened at the Fridge while his wounds are being treated, and tells them that despite Hydra getting away with all the weapons, he was able to kill Garrett. Ward wants Skye to back up the data on the flashdrive so he could access it but Coulson instead has her do a threat assessment based on all the escaped prisoners. He’s extra concerned about Marcus Daniels for some reason and when he finds out that he is indeed free he wants to assemble a team to locate him immediately. However Agent Koenig won’t let them leave without passing an intense lie detector test first, and one that even the Black Widow couldn’t pass if she was lying. Even if Coulson’s team is able to leave and track down Daniels, do they have the capability to stop him? And while Coulson is focused on Daniels will Ward be able to accomplish his mission in getting Skye to decrypt the data on the flashdrive?
The events since the fall of S.H.I.E.L.D. has raised the potential of this show drastically with so many possible story lines where the stakes are high and very intriguing. And the start of this episode captures perfectly how this show is on another level compared to the beginning of the season. There’s the super-powered villain who unapologetically uses his powers to take what he wants, spy infiltration is on full display as Ward resumes his cover in order to retrieve information from Skye, and there’s still character development even in the minor form of the agents answering various questions for Agent Koenig on the lie detector machine. I mentioned in an earlier Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. review how at times it didn’t feel like they worked for an intelligence agency such as S.H.I.E.L.D. but this episode has that subterfuge and more. This aspect of the story line was intense from the beginning especially when Ward had to answer Agent Koenig’s questions to the point where Koenig was ready to kill Ward until he answered one of the questions truthfully. And the character development was strong, and a little bit more about Agent Triplett was revealed with his character growing on me. Unfortunately the same can’t be said between Coulson and May as their falling out only worsened with May questioning Coulson’s decision to leave the base and search for Daniels, and then she was irate when Coulson chose Triplett to fly the plan on this mission and leave her behind.
This set up an interesting dynamic at the base with it just being May, Ward, Skye, and Koenig while the others go on this mission. And almost mirroring Agent Koenig’s question to everyone as to why they’re still here considering S.H.I.E.L.D. was no longer an agency, Agent May questioned her reasons to remain there when her relationship with Coulson seemed broken beyond all repair. So her response to this new situation was perfectly understandable and I enjoyed how it opened up another potential story line. I did start to feel somewhat concerned about Ward and Skye’s relationship from the standpoint of it magically redeeming Ward considering how deep the planning and infiltration as a Hydra agent was and obviously it was something he was fully committed to. Unlike Coulson and May’s interactions, which made it perfectly clear and believable why they would both be hurt in different ways, or why I would feel a little for Fitz in his awkward attempt to tell Simmons he cared about her, I never got the sense that Ward and Skye had such a deep connection it could override everything about him as a Hydra agent. Fortunately, or at least I believe all he told Skye was mostly due to his cover, Ward doesn’t hesitate in his plan for Hydra reassuring me that the show won’t undo this exciting change. And it is exciting this episode and very intense as the events unfold almost resembling a good horror thriller.
But there are other subtleties in this episode, and one example of that is when Coulson quotes Daniels, since he was part of the team that apprehended Daniels before, when he tells Fitz and Simmons that Daniels called a woman his only light in the darkness and most likely would be pursuing her. Initially Coulson would leave out the fact that this woman was also the Cellist, the woman he would have a deep relationship with after that mission and who believed him to still be dead. So with the timing of it all she could be just as much as Coulson’s only light in the darkness/lies that has surrounded him of late.
And so I really enjoyed this episode and I’ve been saying that a lot about this show but that’s definitely the case for me with the storylines becoming more profound, and it was great to finally see the Cellist, well Audrey Nathan, since she was first mentioned in the Avengers. And not to give anything away but yeah I admit it was pretty touching and I’m really satisfied with Coulson’s character arc considering he was one of my favorite characters before the show even started. And the fact it hasn’t taken away from the team concept is due to great storytelling and that is truly highlighted here. Nor did it take away from the action sequences (including the reference to Banner) as the team works on a plan to stop Daniels with him being stronger than ever, and that’s why overall this is one of my favorite episodes to date.
SUMMARY
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: The Only Light In The Darkness is one of my favorite episodes this season as it combines action with incredible character development while keeping things tense with its Skye vs, I mean spy vs. spy dynamic. For a moment I thought the show was backtracking with Ward but I was ultimately impressed with how it handled the situation. And Coulson’s personal life coming to the forefront was a great touch and the timing was perfect because with the revelation that S.H.I.E.L.D./Hydra was experimenting on prisoners to make them stronger I don’t expect things to get easier for the team but it will be entertaining for the fans.
Like this:
Like Loading...
Related
-
Rating ( 9.4 )
-
Total score 9.4
Leave a Reply