4 week hiatus, excruciating wait, it’s back, great episode, yadda yadda yadda. You know the drill for the intros to my SHIELD reviews, so let’s just get right into it.
One of my favourite episodes from the first season is “TRACKS,” because of the way it moved back and forth in time to show us events from different characters’ perspectives. So, I was happy to see that technique return with this episode, though on a smaller scale.
Coulson, Robbie and Fitz have been flung into a, to quote John Hurt in Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, a space between spaces…of sorts. (Mild spoiler alert) Think the mirror dimension from Doctor Strange but with no shard-looking shapes everywhere and a sepia tone filter. The three can’t be seen by or interact with those back in reality. Shifting from plane to plane after each commercial break, and seeing recent events from Coulson, Fitz and Robbie’s perspectives was immensely entertaining and intriguing, especially when they first learned about their current situation (“Do we look that stupid on comms?”).
But Robbie being stuck in another dimension causes the spirit of vengeance to ditch that popsicle stand and find a new host, aka MACK. Holy cow, that was something. Like, when he flamed out and everything. Hoo boy. As epic as that was, I also really like where that left Mack and Robbie at the end of the episode. It seems they see eye to eye now, which should be very exciting for next week’s winter finale. And I hope we get to find out who Hope is. Too soon?
As fun as the main story was this week, the developments in the season’s other storylines shouldn’t be overlooked. I really enjoyed seeing Radcliffe and Aida helping out with the search for Coulson and company, and the “This is such a good idea and will have no ramifications whatsoever” plot point with Aida reading the Darkhold and opening that portal (Side note: Nice Doctor Strange tie-in with the sling-ring effect). Then, obviously, she looks to be doing something mischievous with that brain blueprint in the final scene, but I can’t shake the feeling that that was a red herring of some kind. Maybe Aida will actually not turn out to be a villain?
Meanwhile, we learned where Simmons was swept off to last time, and I called it. Did I call it? Whatever. She’s helping out Senator Nadir’s cocooned brother. And we get to see his face! For,like, 30 seconds. Not a big deal, since I’m positive he’ll be revealed to be an Inhuman from the comics and end up joining the Secret Warriors. Also, Simmons really knows how how to shut jerks down, doesn’t she?
Other Thoughts
- “My axe is plenty sharp…and a shotgun.” You bet it is, Mack.
- I was genuinely hoping Fitz would get to sock Mace, but alas…
- Radcliffe was really channeling the Twelfth Doctor in that last scene. And I thought John Hannah and Peter Capaldi couldn’t seem more alike.
Rating: 9.0/10 self-healing cars
Next week, it’s the midseason finale, and Ghost Rider’s last episode? Maybe?
If it is…I’ll take one Ghost Rider spin-off series, plz.
Noah
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