Mikes Film Talk

After last weeks tissue clutching episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.,  Watchdogs  brings back a former agent who hates “aliens” and the focus is on teamwork.  May and Simmons pair up to work to find Andrew, Fitz and Daisy join forces to battle the Watchdogs, Lincoln and Phil team up as part of the former’s evaluation and Mack (Henry Simmons) is thrown together with his brother Reuben (Gaius Charles) during an attack.

Hydra is still moving around in the background, creating a Watchdog diversion in order to get what looks like a big missile  at the end of the episode.  There is also a reference to the most recent Avengers “big screen” action (again) when a character moans about Ultron.

After Bobbi and Hunter’s exit  last week, there is a bit of unrest in the ranks of the remaining S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. Mack takes a break with his brother. The big guy was all teary-eyed last week about losing two of his colleagues  and the two do not see eye-to-eye on the inhuman condition at all.

Simmons decides to teach herself how to be a better agent by learning to be more proficient with a gun.  Melinda May offers a few tips but ultimately tries to tell Jemma that it is not her fault. Simmons feels responsible for Andrew and for the loss of Bobbi and Lance.

Lincoln, who has been sitting on the fence despite becoming an active  agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., is out with Coulson who still does not quite trust the newest inhuman on his team.  As Phil tells his reluctant teammate, Lincoln is the only person he did not vet personally.

The Watchdogs have been revved up by former agent Felix Blake (Titus Welliver) who is now connected with Malick and Hydra. Blake wants all “freaks” dead and has no idea that Hydra has just as many inhumans as his old agency of S.H.I.E.L.D. does. 

Daisy goes all type ‘A’ stormtrooper as she proactively moves against the Watchdogs after the group publicly implode a building using Blake’s technology.  She teams up with a clearly uncomfortable Fitz who does not agree with her “bullying” tactics.

Comic Moments:

The watchdogs implode an entire building. Mack, Daisy and Fitz go to the scene and find that the structure has been reduced to a big ball. Mack asks about taking the ball back to study.

Mack: “Do we take this debris back with us, study it?”

Fitz: “Uh, yeah, sure. If… if you’ve been working out. ‘Cause it weighs like 100,000 tons. It’s a building.”

Mack: “So… no, then.”

Daisy’s inability to pronounce, let alone understand, the neutralizing agent to the Watchdogs’ enhanced Stark weapon and her response when everyone else can explain and pronounce it. (“Sodium Hydrogen Acetate neutralizes Nitramene.”)

Daisy: “Okay. Thank you, Nerd Herd.”

Axe-Shotgun (Because despite the overall “coolness” of the Mack-made weapon it is funny.)

“Alfie” and Daisy’s reaction to the nickname.

Back to the Story:

The Watchdog episode is not about humor but about discord and the group remembering what teamwork really means. It is also about mismatched pairings like  Mack and his alien hating brother for instance.

May’s decision to hunt down Andrew results in Simmons helping  to track down Mays inhuman ex. Phil and Lincoln ultimately learn whether the new team member will work or not. Fitz nearly dies while working with Daisy.

A Watchdog is captured and after questioning, the man reveals that they had no idea that Daisy was the “big bad inhuman” on the S.HI.E.L.D. team.  The Blake driven vigilante group has gone after Mack, believing he was the alien.

Mack and Reuben fend off the attacking Watchdogs and bond as a result.  The rest of the team realize the Blake was creating a diversion and the head of the Watchdogs has yet to learn that his new ally is full of inhumans as well.

The underlying feeling with this week’s episode is a build up to a tie-in moment, or two, with the upcoming Captain America: Civil War film.  Phil’s agents are uneasy and disagreeing on how to handle things. In other words, a small screen version of what appears to be their own civil war.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. also references another small screen Marvel series, Daredevil.  Whether this is a tip off to a cross-over event or just a TV Easter egg, remains to be seen.  Another underlying theme was the focus on the women and their strengths.

(Mad props to Elizabeth Henstridge, Ming-Na Wen, Bennet and Simmons for knocking it out of the park and to Charles and Welliver for stepping up to the plate and delivering as well.)

Daisy forcing the captured Watchdog to talk, May forcing herself to find Andrew to kill him and Simmons forcing herself to become a better, more dangerous agent who can take care of herself.  Strong forceful women all.  Out of the three, it is Chloe Bennet’s “Daisy ‘Skye’ Johnson who appears to be skirting dangerously close to the dark side, (See what we did there?)

Mack and his Watchdog supporting brother work things out after the Watchdog attack.  With the arrival of the missile and Hydra controlling Blake, in essence, along with  the discord amongst Coulson’s team, things look ready to fall apart or implode, like Blake’s weapon.

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