Agents of SHIELD: The Team review

This Agents of SHIELD review contains spoilers.

Agents of SHIELD Season 3 Episode 17

Before we begin, allow me to apologize in advance because this Agents of SHIELD review might seem a little incomplete and choppy. You see, my local ABC affiliate kept breaking in with results from the NY presidential primaries. Spoiler: Trump and Clinton won their respective events. So the next phase of HYDRA’s master plan takes a step closer to fruition. If I miss something, blame it on the election.

We’ve been waiting all season for the Secret Warriors to get together, and for a minute there, it looked like the first mission of this elite team of super powered Inhumans was a success. Until, one of them is revealed as a traitor, that is.

I have to admit, the Secret Warrior members Yo-Yo and Jose (Joey) Gutierrez have not really gotten much face time on previous episodes of Agents of SHIELD, but “The Team” still manages to make the viewer care about them both. Yo-Yo in particular seems like she has a nice flirtation going with Agent Mack. Yo-Yo also seems to have mastered her powers a bit more since we last saw her. I really dig what has been done with her so far and I love the Latino representation on the show. Honestly, I love the diversity of the whole cast, truth be told.

But let me back up. Last week, Daisy got the Secret Warriors together to save her teammates from a HYDRA infiltration. It is the Warriors’ first time in the field and, in truth, they kick copious amount of ass. Gutierrez even manages to kill the Inhuman HYDRA operative known as Gorgon. Now that gentle Gutierrez has red on his ledger, he does have a crisis of conscience, but that doesn’t stop him from standing by his teammates. Yo-Yo also uses her powers to the fullest while Lincoln unleashes a whole passel of new lightening tricks as the Warriors save Coulson, Mack, Fitz, Simmons, and May from the HYDRA infiltration. They even manage to take Gideon Malick captive, so it all looks like a big win for SHIELD.

That is until Ward plays his hand. As The Hive, Ward infests one of the Inhuman Secret Warriors and secretly controls his new patsy. So who is it? Is it Lincoln? Yo-Yo? Gutierrez ? It can’t be Daisy, can it?

Once the whole infested agent thing is revealed, the episode gets this cool John Carpenter’s The Thing vibe to it. The human agents must isolate the Inhuman operatives in order to suss out the traitor. Of course, this angers all the Inhumans and there are some heartbreaking moments where the Inhumans express their dismay over the lack of trust. There is a particularly harsh moment where Yo-Yo refuses to let Mack call her by her codename. It is like all the forward momentum the team was making as heroes is lost thanks to the machinations of Hive.

It makes one really dislike Ward which is good because, say it with me, Agents of SHIELD has suffered from a lack of an effective villain. Well, Hive Ward is working and he is as vile as they come and seems to be ten steps ahead of Coulson’s team. Heck, Ward is so evil that even Malick turns against him. After all, Ward murdered Malick’s daughter a few weeks back. This week, Malick is willing to tell Coulson anything he needs in order to take down the monster that killed his baby girl, but as I said, Ward is ahead of the game.

His operative strikes and Malick is killed. But who done it? You ready for this now? It is a possessed Daisy Johnson continuing the complex Ward/Skye relationship from season one. If you’ll notice Hive Ward even calls Daisy by her old moniker Skye. Could there be a remnant of the old Ward inside Hive? I also like how Hive is a manifestation of Coulson’s guilt over killing Ward. All this reminds the viewer that vengeance always comes with a price.

Whatever the case, Daisy takes out Malick, steals the Terrigen crystals and that Kree artifact from last week, and destroys the SHIELD base. It was kind of obvious this was coming; after all, Fitz and Simmons kiss this week. Something horrible always happens when Fitz and Simmons kiss.

So, despite the interruptions from Trump and Clinton, Agents of SHIELD was a non-stop thrill ride this week with a villain finally rising to true levels of contempt. And after Trump won, Ward was kind of a dick, too.

Thank you, see you next week.

Marvel Moments

So let’s talk Secret Warriors. The team was created by Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev, and were introduced in Mighty Avengers #13, after which, they joined up as a team for the first time in Secret Invasion #3 (both books hit the stands in 2008).

The initial roster of the team was made up of the original Nick Fury, Daisy Johnson, Yo-Yo, a character named Stonewall who is the son of the Absorbing Man (man, would he fit in perfectly on Agents of SHIELD), Eden Mesi- an Aboriginal teleporter who would eventually become the Avengers known as Manifold, Sebastian Druid-the son of Doctor Druid, and the son of the Greek god of War Ares- Alexander Aaron.  

Not a single one of the members was an Inhuman but they were an elite super powered SHIELD strike force. I encourage you to grab yourself a run of Secret Warriors because it truly was the thematic sequel to Jim Steranko’s work on the Silver Age Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD. It will also gave you a taste of Daisy Johnson’s comic book roots.

Hear more discussion of Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD on the April edition of Sci Fi Fidelity on the Den of Geek Podcast Network or simply listen below.