Mikes Film Talk

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: The Inside Man revealed much about Hive/Ward. It also provides the viewer a little bit more information  about Lincoln. The reluctant inhuman has an “alien management” issue, he tells Chloe that having his abilities is like having a war in his head. It seems he may have trouble keeping on top of them. May has to intervene when Lincoln has Creel down and he starts to blast him.

A very tongue in cheek, or cheeky if you will, episode in some places. Sure a lot of things are covered, for example, Hive cannot absorb his own kind, aka inhumans and we know that General Talbot has gone all “Scottish” under his gown, but there are some references to a few popular films hidden in this installment.

Before doing a quick recap of the episode, in case you have forgotten what transpired already, a quick peek at the trio of homages is in order, at least the ones noticed by this reviewer.

The Mummy Returns (2001 Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, John Hannah, Arnold Vosloo, Oded Fehr) is the first one. When Hive/Ward finally tires of Malick’s whining about not recovering quickly enough, the creature calls for and devours five “innocents.” As seen in an earlier episode, Hive breaks apart into “sand particles” (presumably from Maveth). 

In The Mummy Returns  the mummy, played by Vosloo, devours the three treasure hunters on a train by breaking apart into sand particles, only these are from Earth. The scene, which starts out rather comically:

Jacques: This place… is cursed.

Red: What is it with you and curses?

Spivey: He ain’t happy without a good curse.

[mockingly]

Spivey: This is cursed. That is cursed.

Seconds later the lackeys are devoured by the mummy.

Granted, in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: The Inside Man Hive’s consumption is not preceded with a comic moment, but a poignant one. The latest inhuman recruited by Hive says, before leaving the room, “They are innocents.” His tone is sad and regretful. Still, the manner of their demise is remarkably like that in the 2001 film.

The Terminator/Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1984/1991 Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Robert Patrick, Michael Biehn) is the second. After Hive has absorbed the five people, he is crouched over, naked, mimicking the pose in both films of Arnold and Patrick. Added to this scene, amid all the gory blood colored slime that is covering Hive and most of the floor, is music that is so evocative of T2 it almost produces chills.

There is a third possible candidate which could make this a movie homage trilogy.

Death on the Nile (1978 Peter Ustinov, David Niven, Sean Connery, Bette Davis, et al) In the film as Hercule Poirot (Ustinov) questions the suspects in the murder case, David Niven’s character , Colonel Race Poirot’s sidekick, ends up

At the Tahiti (it’s a magical place) reception Coulson (Gregg) and Talbot (Pasdar) meet the delegates, the general believes each one they meet is the “inside man” after the last accusation (the Australian, aka,  “down-under”) Phil says, dryly,

“Congratulations. You’ve just narrowed it down to everyone.”

Talbot has aped the military man, Race, from the Agatha Christie film.

There is quite a lot of humor in the episode; from Lincoln making fun of Talbot’s haircut to Hunter’s “caught with our guns down,” there are a number of one-liners to offset the horror of Hive’s messy absorption  of people.  The storyline puts Hunter back in the role of “odd man out” yet again as he goes rogue by leaving his post in the middle of an operation.

The big surprise this week is that Creel (Brian Patrick Wade) is not only out and about, but the protector of new ATCU head Glenn Talbot.  The second biggest surprise is that, however briefly, the inside man is the new ATCU leader.  There may also be  third surprise in that Talbot now seemingly trusts Coulson and tells him to call him Glenn, but only occasionally.

Creel as bodyguard upsets Hunter and the rest of the team. Talbot explains the he trusts the inhuman with his life and will not travel without him.  After a struggle in a covered car park, Creel is captured by S.H.I.E.L.D.  and examining a blood sample from Talbot’s minder, reveals that his blood could provide a cure for the inhuman condition.

Daisy and Lincoln argue abut developing a vaccine but their attraction to one another allows them to work past their differences. Lincoln appears to have real issues with his powers as he tends to get carried away. It is in the car park that Lincoln reluctantly stops shocking Creel and Phil learns of Talbot’s connection to the inhuman.

Later, in Taiwan, the general  betrays Coulson for Malick (Powers Boothe) who interrupts the symposium to tell the delegates that it is Phil who heads up Hydra. Malick convinces the Russian delegate to team up with him and put all the inhumans in one place.

At the same time, Hunter discovers that Creel has left his post and Bobbi learns that the Australian delegate has a captured inhuman that is being experimented on.  Creel is in Taiwan to save Talbot’s son, who Malick kidnapped, and Lance almost blows the mission.

After a S.H.I.E.L.D. and Hydra “mashup” the agents save the boy and Creel shows up to save Talbot  and Coulson. There is one last “reference” made where Talbot does a Looney Tunes gag, aka “shoot him now,” when he asks the Hydra guards to shoot Phil first. After the escape and some impressive fighting by Bobbi, Creel goes on to save Hunter.

The new ATCU head turns out to be an asset after all. At the end of the show, May is a little less antagonistic towards Hunter and Hive now appears to be fully “leveled” up in his new Ward body. Malick is flying to Russia with the delegate as Bobbi and Hunter sit in “the belly of the beast.”

The final shot in the episode is of Grant Ward doing a “Terminator.” This was a brilliant moment and is brilliant, the pose, the music, the wow.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. airs Tuesdays on ABC.