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Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: The Honeymoon

Talbot: "Do you guys live in some fifth-dimension freak show?"
Coulson: "I'd say that's a relatively accurate description of our day-to-day life."

This week on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., the titular characters don't do their homework.

I mean, they take Talbot out of Hale's prison but don't think about getting his family to safety? Coulson, Daisy and May learn that Yo-Yo, Fitz and Simmons went on a clandestine mission and they don't consider going after them? If Daisy and May had talked to Coulson about what went down during his absence, and if Coulson had talked about what he learned, they would have confirmed that Fitz was on the right track. But did they ever have that conversation? I don't know, but it seems like they didn't.

Daisy at least wanted to gather intel from Talbot, but even then she was not asking the right questions. I enjoyed the emotional aspects of that scene, though. I'm very surprised at – and, dare I say, proud of? – how Talbot is handling all of this. He easily accepted that it wasn't Daisy that shot him and holds no grudge against her or S.H.I.E.L.D. for the robot craziness. He is emotionally broken and far away from the mostly one dimensional comedic character he used to be, and the actor is rising to the challenge. I'm disappointed that the freaking agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. didn't secure his family, but I'm curious to see just how far a wrecked Talbot will go to keep his wife and son safe. I say betray them all, Talbot, these agents are pretty used to betraying themselves already.

Come to think of it, could Talbot take over as the main villain? I don't see how it would happen and it might be too tragic, but I'll take him over Hale and Ruby any day. Those two are simply not delivering as main antagonists. I can't put my finger on it, but there is something in the performance of Catherine Dent (who plays Hale) that isn't working for me, and while Dove Cameron is handling her role just fine, Ruby is not Big Bad material. Predictably, after a discussion with Hale and a chat with Von Strucker, Ruby decides to turn against her mother. Do I care? Not much. Season four did creature turns the table on its creator way better, and season two gave us a delicious evil family drama. Hale and Ruby pale in comparison.

The best scene of the episode was, hands down, May calling Coulson out on his behavior. I loved that she addressed that Daisy is not ready to be a leader, which is obvious and it's nice to know the writers are aware of it. Daisy has what it takes to lead, but she has yet to mature. In character, May's angle was never "You should have put me in charge instead," but if May had decided to go there, that would have been a completely valid point. May also threw in Coulson's face that he is practically opening his arms and saying "Come and embrace me, sweet death," doing so with complete disregard for the ones who love him. And, yeah, good ol' stoic May goes all the way and says "I love you" to Coulson. Stone-faced, of course. Much like their scene in the hundredth episode, this one echoes and respects their age and maturity, as well as the relationship that they have with one another.

Fitzsimmons and Yo-Yo's mission was pretty fun, in great part because Yo-Yo is so badass right now. Fitzsimmons as an action duo was pretty cool – the most I have enjoyed them in a while – and Elena taking on Ivanov was just right. The episode didn't make it crystal clear, but the Ivanov LMD that Elena killed was carrying Ivanov's brain, which means that Ivanov is finally dead, and that is one boring villain down. Thank you, Elena.

Yo-Yo finally broke the news that they have to let Coulson die, and it makes perfect sense that she chose Fitz and Simmons as her confidants: they are marketing themselves as those who will make the tough decisions if they have to, and the three of them are working under the idea that they are invincible. I wonder how this will play out. Future Elena said that the chain of events that crack the world starts with the team trying to save Coulson, but Robin said that Coulson can "bring all the pieces together." When the chain of events starts, I can see the already fractured team taking opposite sides on the quest to find Coulson's cure. Yo-Yo, Fitz and Simmons versus Daisy, Mack and May. Will this season end with Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Civil War?

Elsewhere, Deke got shot because, I presume, the writers had to give Mack a reason not to go after Yo-Yo. It results in this ridiculous situation where Mack, who is not a surgeon, operates on Deke with the guidance of Piper, who has incomplete field medical training. Totally believable, guys. Okay, I laughed out loud when Piper said she hadn't read the chapter on anesthesia and they should just skip that part and hope Deke wouldn't wake up. Mack and Piper reacting to a drugged Deke saying more than he should was also fun.

Deke has a crush on Daisy, and we so did not see that coming sixteen episodes ago, right? It's supposed to be cute, and it is kind of cute, but just last episode Deke told Fitz that he respected him for getting things done, you know, when he cut into Daisy and ripped the power inhibitor from her insides, so I could care less that he has a crush on her. In fact, I hope nothing comes to fruition between Daisy and Deke. Bring back Robbie and pair him with her. Daisy Johnson and Ghost Rider? YES! Daisy Johnson and Deke Fitzsimmons? Please, no.

Intel and Assets

- I mean, really, can we have Robbie Reyes back?

- As usual, Daisy should have bested her opponent in two seconds, but because there's got to be a fight scene it took her much longer to take Ruby down.

- Daisy, honey, couldn't you have waited until Deke was better to have a heated discussion with him?

- How is Fitz' head these days? Is he still seeing the Doctor? Don't forget this storyline, show.

- When Yo-Yo used her super speed, her robotic arms went crazy and the pain was excruciating, except that that didn't happen last episode at all.

- What happened to Yo-Yo after she defeated Ivanov? She had enough time to get back to Fitz and Simmons, but Ruby got to them first.

Gorgeous place. And an exterior shot in season five? Who would have thought?

Simmons: "I was thinking we could come back to England for our honeymoon, if we ever got one."
Fitz: "Sounds perfect."
Yo-Yo: "Don't make me the third wheel, guys."

Fitz: "We may have to improvise that bit."
Yo-Yo: "We are improvising all the bits."

Mack: "What about anesthesia?"
Piper: "Well, he's already unconscious, and I haven't read that chapter yet, so we'll just figure it out as we go."

Coulson: "You realize this isn't easy for me, but I've accepted it."
May: "Which is the problem."

Yo-Yo: "No gizmo, no apocalypse."

Fitz: "I'm sorry you never got the honeymoon you dreamed of."
Simmons: "Nonsense. I'm protecting England from evil robots with the man I love."

Deke: "Should I shave my head?"
Piper: "Yeah... no, I see no flaws in that plan."

A good enough episode, and I liked it better when I watched it the second time. But the protagonists weren't acting smart and I find myself not caring about the villains. Two and a half out of four stars.
--
Lamounier

4 comments:

  1. I definitely agree that this season's villains have been pretty dang weak. They just don't hold a candle to some of the bigger ones in the previous years. I mean even Season 1 had some pretty solid villains by the end of it. Garrett was a much better wacky/nefarious bad guy than Kassius was (probably down to Bill Paxton) and Ward is just something else entirely. I will say though I think this was probably Dove Cameron's best performance in the season so far. She definitely played the psycho better than the sullen sultry bad ass teen we were getting in some of the past episodes.

    Interesting point about securing Talbot's family. I guess I assumed that SHIELD didn't have the resources to go and get them at the time but I'm still not really sure. Although it's not the only real lapse in logic this season has had.

    The whole thing with Ivanov/Superior being dead is kind of a confusing situation. We were told earlier in the season that Hale had his head in a jar but apparently he was walking around with it this whole time? I guess he wanted to take his head to the chamber to get that power boost he wanted but it still seems like a major risk. Kind of thought his defeat was pretty anti-climatic given how long he managed to survive.

    The Deke plot does feel pretty contrived when, as you mentioned in the last review, there was really no reason for him to be on that mission in the first place. Also while the drug scene was funny seems like they could have used that to maybe have him drop the grandson bomb on everybody else if you wanted to give this detour more justification in the season.

    At this point the Quake Ghost Rider ship is probably the best way to go. While I hadn't really considered it as a possibility when he was first introduced it's probably the best choice we have right now. They are both on pretty even footing and could make a cute power couple (wink). Plus while Daisy has had to worry about dudes being evil or ending up dead in the past, Robbie is kind of a bit of both already so she doesn't have to worry about any surprises. And if nothing else it will allow us to settle on something so we don't have to keep throwing potential love interests at her.

    Also funny enough it turns out Gabriel Luna was cast as a Terminator in one of the upcoming movies. The man is pretty much gonna play and LMD now and that irony is too delicious.

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  2. I always thought the Big Bad would be Cassius's father.

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  3. I guess the head was the living tissue that Hale wanted to experiment on, but Ivanov is just a loose thread afterthought from season 4 so glad he's gone for good along with the robot army.

    I wonder how will the show handle Avengers Infinity War, unlike Age of Ultron this one will be very hard to pretend it did not change anything.

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  4. I enjoyed the Yo-Yo plus Fitzsimmons mission. And especially loved May's deadpan "I love you" to Phil.

    Much agreement that Mack operating on Deke was ridiculous. Especially since he wore a surgical cap over his bald head and ignored his beard, which actually has hair.

    I groaned when Ivanov appeared. I hope he's actually gone for good now. (Quick check on IMDb -- Yay!) Not the actor's fault, but what a terrible villain he made.

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