Agents of SHIELD: Devils You Know review

This Agents of SHIELD review contains spoilers.

Agents of SHIELD Season 3 Episode 4

Well, “Devils You Know” started out as what seemed like another wheel spinner. It seemed like a stirring of plot without any real resolution and a few hints and ominous clues to give fans a sense of mystery and forward motion. Boy, it seemed like that until a moment that has to be considered as one of Agents of SHIELD’s most shocking, most daring twists. You see tonight, Grant Ward solidified himself as one of the greatest villains in the Marvel Cinematic Universe while Agent May might have had her Uncle Ben moment. 

Lets start with the bits of this week’s episode that lulled me into my first ennui of season three before it was all shattered. We had the Inhuman stuff with a return of the monstrous Lash. Don’t get me wrong, I really dig Lash. I love the practical effects that bring this Inhuman monster to life and I love his more human than human presence. Agents of SHIELD could have very easily gone with an animated Lash which would probably made the killer of metahumans look like a rejected Grimm design, but there is just something about this monster stomping around in a practical way that just makes the whole thing very cool.

This week, we got to see Lash murder some innocent Inhumans and we even got to see the return of the Inhuman Alisha. Remember her? She was the redhead with same powers as popular X-Factor character Jamie Madrox. This time she was on the side of the angels. Sadly, this led to one of her duplicates being murdered by Lash so all of a sudden with Alisha; we have an unexpected and fascinating new addition to the cast. I’ll be honest, I’m interested to see if Alisha will try and avenge her dupe if there is a place for her into the tapestry of Marvel TV.

Lash was trying to murder an Inhuman that was protected by Coulson and Rosalind Price’s ATCU. Daisy managed to hold Lash off and even witnessed the monster transform into a human being. Now, the episode really wanted to make viewers believe that Lash is Rosalind Price but, you know, that’s just too obvious. So who is the creature, really? Hopefully that reveal will be handled a bit better than some of the show’s mysteries of the past.

So the Inhuman stuff churns ever onward as does Simmons’ acclimation back on Earth. We didn’t get any new hints to why Simmons wants to go back to the alien world she was rescued from but we did see the still injured Bobbi Morse lending Simmons a strong shoulder to support her as the mystery surrounding Simmons deepened. Bobbi also had a precognitive feeling that Hunter was in deep trouble, and she was right.

Which brings us to the true shock of this week’s episode. Remember Hunter successfully infiltrated SHIELD and was obsessed with taking down Grant Ward as payback for injuring his beloved Bobbi. Last week, Hunter had to endure an epic asskicking and was granted a meeting with the HYDRA honchos. Concerned, May left to go get help for Hunter who she knew was probably going to be burned as soon as she met Ward.

Now, a few weeks ago, the recently introduced Werner Von Strucker was given the mission to watch May’s ex Andrew Garner. This seemed like a long game plot thread but it all came to tragic fruition this week. Hunter was indeed made by Ward. May came to the rescue (as she does), except that was when Ward played the Strucker card. If May didn’t back off, Ward would order Garner killed.

Tragically, May never got to choose because Hunter, so obsessed with bringing down Ward, continued pursuit and Garner was killed. Now, I’m sorry for so much recap but I really wanted to stress the impact of this twist. Ward did the unthinkable. Hunter is now to blame for making the wrong call and costing May’s husband his life, and the evil of a man named Strucker was finally felt in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

This changes the whole dynamic within the core SHIELD team and also provided May with a character changing moment. This could be the event that forever sets her down a heroic path. Or it could be the moment that breaks her, that takes Coulson’s good right hand the same way Mack’s axe blade took his left. It really was earth shattering and not in a Daisy Johnson way, but in a things are now very different for our heroes way.

And poor Garner. He was needed to help ease the burden on all these new Inhumans. Garner was never needed more by SHIELD and he was taken because of Hunter’s rash decision. Wow.

Marvel Moments

Nothing stands out this week except for the arrival of Werner Von Strucker as a force of pure evil. Wolfgang Von Strucker was always a Red Skull level threat in the comics and I was sorry to see such a legacy of evil dispatched so easily in Age of Ultron. But Werner is here now to pick up the complete and utter bastard slack from his dead daddy.

Now, someone get that kid a monocle.