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

"When the devil shows up, he'll be wearing the face of someone you love."

As Daisy, May and Sarge approach the temple to stop Izel, Sarge's demonic side grows stronger. Will he be able to control it and do the right thing? More importantly, do I care?

The answer to both of these questions is "no." It was pretty obvious from the moment Pachakutiq started to manifest itself that getting Sarge anywhere near the temple was a bad idea. It surprised me that May couldn't realize that in time. Or ever. Earlier this season I praised May's character development, but the writing for her in this episode was faulty. It's one thing to have her become more emotional, it's another to turn her into this person blinded by misguided love. She is a veteran agent and the signs were all there, screaming at her, and yet she didn't hear them. She even began to talk to Sarge as if he were Coulson, not realizing that all the love she was telling him about was exactly what he wanted to get rid of. May, oh May, what happened to you?

Mack was so right when he yelled at Daisy for trusting Sarge. It's not just that Sarge could deliberately deceive them, it's that even if he didn't want to, Pachakutiq could still take control. Sarge having something of Coulson inside him is not enough to make him trustworthy. Daisy didn't let her guard down like May did, but she still made the wrong call.

Once again, even though the emotional focus was on Sarge, May and Daisy, Deke's arc was more emotionally relevant one. It was a matter of time until Fitz lost his patience with him, but I didn't expect his response to be so effective. And by response I don't mean just his big speech about how he feels that no one likes him (although Simmons clearly does, he pushed it there). Feeling lonely and underappreciated does not excuse stealing other people's ideas. However, the sentiment behind his words was most sincere and it led to a true act of bravery. He really put himself on the line, guaranteeing that Mack, Yo-Yo and Flint would be safe, and staying behind to distract the Shrike-possessed people. That wasn't just him trying to impress people, he truly cared about the ones he was protecting. Mack calling him "Agent Shaw" was a moment Deke truly earned.

That Deke's arc had more impact than Sarge and May's situation is indicative that the main story of the season isn't working the way it was supposed to, but on that regard I have more to say in part two.

Intel and Assets

- I thought it was amusing that Deke had secretly moved some of his company to one of the empty floors in the Lighthouse.

- Why didn't Sarge build one of his teleportation gates as soon as they got to Yucatán? That would have solved most of the problems the agents faced in these two episodes.

- Flint came, Izel used him to build the Monoliths, and then he was written out of the story. Meh.

- Enoch was back, only to be betrayed by his Anthropologist friend in the end.

- Chronicoms indeed have Biblical names only: Enoch, Noah, Adriel, Boaz, Esau, Silas, Uriah and Isaiah. Atarah, their deceased leader, is named not after a Biblical name, but a Hebrew word that means "crown." Fitting.

Quotes

Daisy: "It can be worse than that one time on that one planet."
Piper: "The smelly one?"
Daisy: "The shiny one."
You know, now that Agents is ending, we should totally get a spin-off of the adventures of Daisy, Simmons, Piper and Davis in Space.

Deke: "Whatever Nana and Bobo want, obviously, run it by me first and then help them."

Sarge: "Never been to a planet so into guns."

Fitz: "You said our grandson was a delight."
Simmons: "He's a work in progress."

Deke: "You're just jealous that I came up with the big solve."
Fitz: "Jealous? Of what? Half of your ideas are mine."


I don't have much to say about this episode. It was a decent first hour of the finale, but nothing memorable. Two and a half out of four jumps.
--
Lamounier

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