– Spoiler Review –
“Scars” sets up a season finale for Agents of SHIELD that could possibly make it more important for the Marvel Cinematic Universe than the latest Avengers film. A newly united SHIELD becomes aware of the Inhuman’s home and offers to sit down with the group to discuss terms and hopefully to avoid another war, but as one can guess, nothing can ever just go smoothly.
All season Chloe Bennet has really given her all as Skye, which has been a necessary and pivotal development, as Skye has increasingly become one of the best and most important characters on the show. In “Scars,” all the work Chloe has put in so far pays off in big dividends, as she has important confrontations with her surrogate parents and her real parents, helping to brokerage a meeting between SHIELD and the Inhumans. It’s out of her control on how that spirals into chaos, but nevertheless she might be the only one who can stop things from becoming a terribly prolonged war. And I feel like she might be able to do so too, something I thought I’d never say about Skye when this show first started.
I’ve not been completely sold on May’s new attitude and Gonzales flag-waving, but she sure gets it thrown back in her face by Skye. They get into a heated conversation. as May’s experience in Bahrain seems to be fueling her fear about the Inhumans and how they could be a threat no one will be able to deal with. But Skye points out the thing that everyone seems to be overlooking: the Inhumans might be more afraid of what SHIELD or the rest of the world can do to them, considering they have been responsible for the Inhumans’ pain and suffering before (although with Hydra hiding under SHIELD’s skin). Coulson on the other hand comes off as a father who has been lying to himself about what his daughter actually wants to do over what he wants/hopes for her to do. The season has spent a lot of time making them out to have a daughter/father relationship, but their time apart shows both us and Coulson that it wasn’t as strong a connection as either hoped. But it’s still important to both of them and that’ll become a big area of contention for Skye, among other things, in the season finale.
Cal had a really stand out episode this week, as he acts as a functioning madman, helping Jaiying understand Raina and by making the big move to allow himself to be taken by SHIELD as a sort of peace offering. His interactions with Jaiying are intriguing due to the unique nature of their relationship and how that connection allows her to find the sharp, tactful mind hidden underneath all the rage and anger. He’s a stronger character with her around, and when she isn’t, he needs to take his concoction to feel stronger. Or at least I’m assuming that’s what his vials contained before he takes them. Also, his talk with Skye helped pay off all of their time together this season.
Coulson finally merges with the other SHIELD, forming a SHIELD brain trust (as Hunter puts it) but for most of the episode it seems like a bad idea. Gonzales is using this new structure as an opportunity to seemingly undermine Coulson by getting himself inside the Inhuman’s compound instead of Couslon. But once he gets to talk to Jaiying, I was actually sold on him being the right person for the meeting, as he made a pretty succinct and simple peace offering….minus the indexing, but even Coulson was going to ask for that. There was also some trickery involved on the direction and writing from the show, as they led us to believe Gonzales would be the one to ruin the SHIELD and Inhuman meeting with his little ‘insurance policy,’ but it turned out to surprisingly be Jaiying.
Looking at her time with Cal again, their discussions sound more like Jaiying is manipulating him to give himself up, since a careful listen to her words reveals she might already be resigned to her choice long before she meets with Gonzales. There’s tons of talk about Skye, not getting into wars, and that no one would follow her into one, but she says it in a way as to make Cal tell her all of those things would be okay for her to do. Her actions also explain her desire to learn about and control Raina, because if Raina’s manipulative ways combined with her visions are allowed to get out of hand, the Inhumans could be following her instead of Jaiying. You really get to appreciate Jaiying and her moments in this episode more after seeing “Scars” surprising ending, but I can’t help but wonder if she could’ve done anything differently. Either way, things have been set into motion where there is no going back and we’ll never know how things could’ve played out if she hadn’t killed Gonzales and set it up as self-defense.
Here are a few other things:
- How cool was it that Sam (Patton Oswalt’s character) was sleeping under Star Wars sheets? Hilarious opening.
- So it seems Theta Protocol was the last surviving heli-carrier that Fury uses to help the Avengers in Age of Ultron. As I mentioned in last week’s review, I’m happy to see how AoS helped out the film this year instead of the film helping it.
- Just when I was hoping last week signaled an end to Ward….looks like he’s back and in full force. Wonder what Bobbi did to Kara?
- Well, it seems all we really know about the Kree weapon in the hold on Gonzales’ ship is that it was supposedly made by said aliens to end their Inhuman’s project, something we learned quite a lot about in the at first seemingly unimportant episode, “Who You Really Are,” from the Kree played by Eddie McClintock. But…..
- ….Executive Producer Jeffrey Bell talks with THR and not only teases, “Nothing is ever as it seems,” in regards to the Kree stone-thingy, but even gives his thoughts on Jaiying’s big move and how it’s just her trying to protect her people.
Which side will Skye choose? Will an all out war begin? Would SHIELD ever be able to win? And just how will that Kree stone come in handy for the final moments ahead? The second season finale of AoS is set to be ripe with giant consequences for both the show and the bigger MCU.
+ Skye standing up for her beliefs
+ Fake-out with Gonzales
+ Jaiying’s true plans and motivations
– Ward, Kara, and still no good reason to care about ’em
Ryan is Mynock Manor’s Head Butler. You can follow him on Twitter @BrushYourTeeth. You can follow the website @MynockManor.
MARVEL’S AGENTS OF SHIELD REVIEWS:
Season Two: 2.1 Shadows | 2.2 Heavy is the Head | 2.3 Making Friends and Influencing People | 2.4 Face My Enemy | 2.5 A Hen in the Wolf House | 2.6 A Fractured House | 2.7 The Writing on the Wall | 2.8 The Things We Bury | 2.9 …Ye Who Enter Here | 2.10 What They Become | 2.11 Aftershocks | 2.12 Who You Really Are | 2.13 One of Us | 2.14 Love in the Time of Hydra | 2.15 One Door Closes | 2.16 Afterlife | 2.17 Melinda | 2.18 The Frenemy of My Enemy | 2.19 The Dirty Half Dozen | 2.21,22: S.O.S.
MARVEL’S AGENT CARTER REVIEWS:
Season One: 1.1 This is Not the End/1.2 Bridge and Tunnel | 1.3 Time and Tide | 1.4 The Blitzkrieg Button | 1.5 The Iron Ceiling | 1.6 A Sin to Err | 1.7 SNAFU | 1.8 Valediction