Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. | Full episode rundown! S05E09
‘Best Laid Plans’ saw Mack and Elena lead an uprising against the Kree while the rest of the S.H.I.E.L.D. team tried to make sense of the timey-wimey ball.
We’re now two episodes away from the big 100, and this week’s ‘Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’ set the stage for the team’s big return. The episode is split into two plot arcs this week as Mack, Yoyo and Flint fight for their survival aboard the Lighthouse; while Coulson, Daisy, May, Fitz, Simmons and Deke have to figure out how to fly a rusty Zephyr off the surface of the Earth. With the main spotlight deservedly on Mack, Elena and Flint this week, ‘Best Laid Plans’ was another necessary but strong entry of the spy-fi series.
SPOILER ALERT!
The episode opens with Mack, Elena and Flint leading an uprising on the Lighthouse. And with the help of the human population, they’ve successfully taken control of the space station by killing off the roaches and Kree one-by-one. Naturally, Kasius isn’t too happy and readies his secret weapon to remind the humans that he’s their God. Somehow, Kasius has resurrected Tess and sends her back to the humans with a message – surrender or he’ll “end the human race with the push of a button”. That doesn’t bode well, and our suspicions are confirmed when Mack realises that Kasius has rigged explosives to incinerate the human-inhabited levels of the Lighthouse.
Back on the Zephyr, the team are trying to get the decades-old-aircraft up in the air while making sense of the timey-wimey ball that’s confused characters and fans alike. Upon discovering the Gravitonium that’s powering the Zephyr (another neat tie-in into season one mythology!), Fitz realises that it’s one of his designs and that he designed it sometime in the past-future. Fitz concludes that the only reason he was able to invent it in the past was because he already saw it in the future. You with me? And for him, this is further proof that it’s impossible to change what’s fixed and that they can’t save the world from imploding, but Simmons takes it as proof that they somehow make it back to their own time.
Sinara manages to sneak aboard and of course there’s a throw down between the Kree femme fatale and the Destroyer of Worlds. With season five set in space and all, fans have been anxiously waiting for a zero-gravity fight since the season premiere and the show finally delivered…for like fifteen seconds. With her inhibitor still implanted, Daisy still doesn’t have her Quake powers but manages to take down the Kree warrior with Deke’s help. Sinara and her menacing theme will be missed. With Sinara no longer a problem and the Zephyr back to working order, the S.H.I.E.L.D. team make their way back to the Lighthouse.
Mack and Yoyo, meanwhile, retaliate against Kasius’ demands by holding his research lab hostage (bonus: Yoyo calling him a “space mime”). Banking on the fact that the Kree overseer has a flair for the dramatic and likes to talk, Flint rounds up all the humans to disconnect and move all of Kasius’ bombs to one sealed level of the station. So instead of incinerating the entire human population, Kasius ends up blowing up his precious research lab – and with it, all of the Inhuman blood and terrigen crystals he needs to breed Inhumans. Oops.
In the post-credits scene, however, it’s revealed that Kasius has a seer of his own locked away behind a door that (thanks to some Reddit users) reads ‘Empire of Death’…curiouser and curiouser!
An action-packed episode, 'Best Laid Plans' proved that this season of ‘Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’ is its most ambitious to date.
With the reveal of another seer in play, there have been a couple of theories floating around on the internet that Kasius’ mysterious seer could be a zombified figure from S.H.I.E.L.D.’s past (a la Tess), Dove Cameron’s mysterious character or a past-future Yoyo. The case for a past-future Yoyo was made after the promo for next week’s episode, 'Past Life', was released and featured Kasius holding a knife to her throat. That, combined with the fact that he recognised her in this week’s episode, has some fans theorising that the version of Yoyo we saw in the alternate timeline is currently being held hostage by Kasius.
Speaking of Yoyo, it’s about damn time that we see three people of colour shoulder most of the action and lead a rebellion against oppression. What a moment. One of the best things about ‘Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’ is its diverse cast and to see Henry Simmons, Natalia Cordova-Buckley and Coy Stewart’s characters step into their leadership roles on the Lighthouse was incredibly refreshing and powerful.
A few weeks ago, I noted that Tess’ death felt premature and lazy but it’s great to see her return this week. While her death felt unnecessary at the time, I like the fact that she was brought back to life by the very same Kree technology that brought Coulson and Daisy back in season one. That was a really smart way for the writers to bring back a character with untapped potential and to tie season one’s early mythology into the show’s ongoing narrative.
Lastly, kudos to the show’s incredible VFX team. Mark Kolpack and his team always go above and beyond for the show’s visual effects but the gravity storm in this week’s episode was insane. They don’t get enough recognition for producing movie quality effects on a television budget, especially since this season’s budget is lower than past seasons.
‘Past Life’ will see the S.H.I.E.L.D. team reunite once again on the Lighthouse and based on the promo, it’s going to be a drama-filled episode. Buckle in, True Believers!
New episodes of ‘Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’ are updated weekly on Amazon Prime Video.
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