LATEST EP | MARVEL'S Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. S05E07
With the team finally back together, ‘Together or Not at All’ sees them on a mission to rescue May and escape the Lighthouse.
The “Previously on Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” voiceover at the beginning of each episode always brings me so much joy, more so nowadays because with every new episode, we’re one week closer to the show’s 100th episode - set to grace our screens on March 9th.
To celebrate the big 100 and leading into this week’s episode, the ‘Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’ cast and crew have begun posting photos and videos from earlier seasons. And with only five more episodes to go, it’s been a nostalgic and welcome ride to see how far the show has come on its road to one-hundred.
Last week’s episode, ‘Fun & Games’ saw May sent to the surface of the now demolished Earth (“that’s where they send people to die”), Flint go through Terrigenesis, and Daisy, Fitz and Simmons escape Kasius’ underground fight ring. With Fitz (and Enoch) finally aboard the Lighthouse with the rest of the team, are things finally looking up for our agents?
SPOILER ALERT!
The episode opens right where ‘Fun & Games’ ended, with Fitz, Simmons and Daisy on the run. Simmons’ ear implant starts ringing and Fitz is forced to remove it while a still-powerless Daisy, in another impressive display of her combat skills, chokes out a Kree guard. The three manage to escape (somewhat) unscathed but Fitz’s escape plan for the team comes to a screeching halt when their escape ship blows up right in front of them.
Audiences thought they had seen the last of Kasius after Simmons slit his throat last week during her escape but surprise! The Kree overseer is still alive and, with his holier-than-thou brother Faulnak (Samuel Roukin) aboard the Lighthouse, is out for blood in an attempt to assert his authority. The two brothers, who are complete opposites, both send out their top soldiers to track down the three and capture the Destroyer of Worlds.
Enoch has managed to track down May on the surface and saves her from being roach-meat. He explains that her banishment was part of Fitz’s plan, and just as things are starting to look up, a gravity storm hits and Enoch and May are captured by hooded strangers.
Flint finds out that Tess was murdered and walks off with Mack following him. Flint feels responsible for Tess’ death and argues that if he couldn’t protect her with his powers, then what use are they? Mack gives one of his famous pep talks and Henry Simmons’ delivery is as sincere and heart-warming as ever. It’s a sweet bonding moment between the two and it’s further proof that ‘Mackelena’ (the ship name for Yoyo and Mack) have informally adopted the young inhuman.
Now back to Daisy, Fitz and Simmons. After a close encounter with Faulnak’s hunter Maston-Dar (Remington Hoffman), the three find refuge in an electrical room and discover that the Kree have been powering the Lighthouse’s artificial gravity with… the Gravitonium! If you need a reminder, the Gravitonium made its first appearance in the Season 1 episode ‘The Asset’ along with Doctor Franklin Hall. Dangerous in the wrong hands, the rare element was caught in a tug of war between S.H.I.E.L.D. and HYDRA. The episode, however, ended with Dr. Hall being enveloped and trapped in the Gravitonium sample.
Due to the Marvel comics, many fans assumed that we would be seeing the super-villain Graviton on the show, but the plot thread was never revisited again. Like I’ve said before, the ‘Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’ team have often been criticised for leaving certain plot lines (and characters) unresolved but they’re doing what they do best and learning from their mistakes. Bringing back such a big cliff-hanger from season one is an impressive reminder that for five seasons, the show has been cultivating its own universe and folklore. It’s also a nice Easter egg for die-hard fans who have been following the show from the very beginning. But back to the episode at hand!
Maston-Dar manages to catch up to the three and Fitz is shot. The three run into Deke (I was starting to miss him) and despite his rocky track record, he says he wants to help them. With no choice, they reluctantly follow him and he leads them to Grill’s workshop where the rest of the team are hiding out. Cue the grand reunion! But the happy moment soon passes because Flint, donning a Jedi-esque hooded cloak, decides to turn himself in to the Kree. He manages to kill the main Kree guard in charge (“that was for Tess”) before being knocked out by Sinara and used as S.H.I.E.L.D. bait. Daisy’s no fool though and, with the help of Coulson and Mack, successfully rescues Flint.
With everyone accounted for, the team’s next move is to make their way to the surface with a trawler ship (bonus: Daisy calling Sinara and Maston-Dar “Mr. and Mrs. Boba Fett”). Taking it in turns, they use Deke’s belt buckle to make a gravity well in one of the Lighthouse’s elevators and get away just in time before Sinara busts through the door. Wait! Where’s Maston-Dar I hear you ask? Sinara killed him a mere second before walking through the door. Ouch.
As the team are about to board their getaway-trawler (which no-one can fly by the way), Flint announces that he’s staying behind. Inspired by Mack’s pep talk, he decides that his purpose is to protect those aboard the Lighthouse from the Kree and refuses to abandon them. Despite his “no splitting up” rule, Mack and Yoyo decide to stay behind to help the new Inhuman.
In the post-credits scene, May finally wakes up in the Zephyr with Enoch and he tells her that “they grabbed us just in time”. Who are “they”? Several hooded figures then enter the room before one takes off her hood. Viewers might not be able to recognise her face but they’d recognise that wooden bird anywhere – it’s Robin Hinton.
‘Together or Not at All’ was another strong and necessary entry into the mythos of ‘Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’. I will say though that the writers are really embracing the new setting of the show and are ramping up the ‘Star Wars’ references, a change that is no doubt welcomed by the cast and fans alike.
As short-lived as it was, this episode reunited most of the cast and it was so nice to have (most of) the team back together on our screens. While it’s been an interesting dynamic to have the team split up and carry their own respective storylines aboard the Lighthouse, there’s just something about having the S.H.I.E.L.D. family back together.
Another thing that ‘Together or Not at All’ did was fix the show’s villain problem. From his very first appearance, the character of Kasius has been an unconvincing big bad when juxtaposed with last season’s Aida/Madame Hydra/Ophelia (played brilliantly by Australian Mallory Jansen). Based on what we’ve seen for far of the Kree overseer, fans would be more inclined to describe him as bizarre and immoral rather than sinister and imposing. But with his brother making an appearance, we finally got to find out a bit more about Kasius and his backstory. By the end of the episode, we finally have a more multidimensional view of both Kasius and Sinara and Kasius finally rises to the villain title he’s been given. With Kasius’ character development, this is the first time I’m genuinely excited to see what kind of trouble the Kree pair will stir up next episode.
Next week’s episode, ‘The Last Day’, will see most of the S.H.I.E.L.D. team reunite with May, the Earth and a much-older Robin Hinton (Willow Hale). With the all-knowing seer on their side, will Coulson and Co. finally be able to fulfil the prophecy and save the Earth from destruction? Only time will tell…
New episodes of ‘Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’ are updated weekly on Amazon Prime Video.
