Tag: season three

In “Agents of SHIELD: The Team” the actual calvary charge of Daisy and her limited crew ended rather badly for the good guys.  Before the whole Hive, aka Alveus infects  inhumans news,  the team’s rescue and Fitz’ MacGyver solution while in the Hydra headquarters was exciting and edge of the seat stuff. But by the end, the “I” in team stands for infection.

Malick being captured was a bonus, right up until his vision came true and he died. (Amazingly, as he foresaw, his death was caused by Hive, albeit indirectly.) Still Gideon (Powers Boothe) manages to pass on some information to Coulson before he buys it. The most important, that we know of, is that Hive can infect inhumans. 

Alveus has, it turns out, infected at least one inhuman; Daisy.  In terms of Chloe Bennett’s character this is deja vu all over again, as Yogi Berra used to say. Under the power of Hive, Skye/Daisy is once again playing double agent, just as she was way back in season one.

(And somewhat fittingly, she is once again under the tutelage of Grant Ward/Alveus (Brett Dalton). It seems that even when Ward is not really himself, he is drawn to Daisy.)

Malick’s defection from Hydra to SHIELD is no surprise, Hive’s lack of understanding about people may be his downfall. Gideon already felt he had sacrificed his brother, Hive’s murder of Malick’s daughter Stephanie in front of him was not a wise move.

Daisy reveals to Lincoln, at the end,  that she was the one infected.

In a flashback sequence, Daisy looks as though she was sexually aroused by the whole experience of being penetrated by that sandy extension of Hive or, at the very least,  in love. Not to mention that she seems to be excited at the prospect of getting those things from SHIELD.  Considering Hive’s expression borders on bland disinterest obviously the parasite affects different inhumans differently.

It was interesting to note that the team immediately started finger pointing at one another when an alarmed Coulson explained his concerns.

(Brilliant scene with Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg)  after he leaves Vault D and Gideon Malick. The former head of Hydra has told Coulson about the hive infection and as he walks away from Gideon, all the inhumans look threatening and suspicious.)

Daisy works both sides against the middle perfectly. Playing her team members until Coulson can trap them in a containment area and she has already framed Lincoln by planting the artifact in his locker.

Near the very  end, where Daisy grabs the sphere and the terrigen crystals and then starts the SHIELD base shaking itself to pieces, looks bad for Phil and his little group of agents.  On the plus side, at least “Fitzsimmons” appear to have partially broken that curse.

Interesting note: Hive/Ward refers to Daisy as Skye. Does this signify a weakness? Are Grant Ward’s memories disjointed or fragmented? Stay tuned to find out.

Favorite Moments:

Fitzsimmons.

Phil Coulson owning his sin; the one that allowed Hive to come into the world.

Malick’s rodeo line.

Joey’s total feeling of betrayal.

Conclusion:

Things are getting darker for the Agents of SHIELD. Daisy being a puppet of Hive and taking all that stuff to her new master is disturbing. Almost as upsetting as her flashback sequences when she is taking to Lincoln.

With the final moments of the episode showing Hive deciding to go on the world’s biggest shopping spree, things may well turn even darker.

“Agents of SHIELD” airs Tuesdays on ABC.

 

 

 

Before looking at the Malick family tradition of cheating death, perhaps a moment should be taken to address the bad idea of taking Giyera prisoner.  “Agents of SHIELD: Paradise Lost” has a couple of  bad ideas in it.  Giyera is one, but that is made by Coulson’s team.  The other one is Gideon Malick’s lifelong cheating of the Hydra lottery.  At least Gideon has an excuse, cheating  runs in the family.

However, the Giyera move has to be the worst idea since the inception of SHIELD.  Allowing the righthand man, who is a veritable powerhouse of inhuman power and tricky to boot, inside a plane with most of the agents easily accessible, takes the prize as a catastrophically poor move.

As Coulson says, the inhuman is dangerous without his powers, Special Ops background,  and Giyera proves it by nearly kicking Melinda May’s butt inside that special room. Keeping the Hydra operative in the little room is akin to keeping a cobra in a very small basket. We know this is going to end badly.

The three pronged storyline in “Paradise Lost” sees two of the agents, Daisy and Lincoln approaching James (Axle Whitehead); an inhuman candidate who never got his powers. The bitter, and very anti-social, man offers up a Kree artifact in exchange for a dose of power which Lincoln withholds. 

Storyline two is the capture of Giyera, and the guilt/frustration of Phil Coulson over  killing Grant Ward and allowing the parasite Hive to exist on Earth.  On the plus side, it also looks like the lab that the prisoner was attempting to destroy may give Phil’s agents a “chink” in Hive’s armor.

The third prong of the tale is “Paradise Lost”  itself, the book that hid the marked lottery stone which allowed Gideon and Nathan Malick’s father to cheat death which Gideon then used to the same end.  Gideon (Powers Boothe) learns that there are worst things than your own death, which he saw in the vision last week, there is witnessing your only child first turn on you and then die in your stead.

Hive, who earlier revealed its true form to the circle, then showed that it contains all the memories of those it has absorbed; even Gideon’s betrayed, and dead, brother Nathan. It  then kills Stephanie Malick (Bethany Joy Lenz) after exposing her father as a life long coward and who has repeatedly cheated death.

Lincoln and Daisy share secrets, his is a backstory of too much vodka and almost killing his girlfriend, and her’s is that disturbing vision of death that she believes means one of the team will die.  Giyera gets lose.

In a matter of seconds the Hydra agent takes control of the plane and everyone on it. Daisy gets a call from May and Lincoln talks her into activating the Secret Warriors Initiative.

Hive/Grant Ward tells Gideon that they need to head to the plane that Giyera captured and that now Malick understands the meaning of sacrifice. “Now, you have nothing left to fear,” says Hive. The vision that Gideon had reveals this to be a lie and the man’s face shows it.

The use of “Paradise Lost” as the title of this week’s episode of “Agents of SHIELD” is appropriate, with Milton’s theme of man’s disobedience. Malick’s father and then Gideon both disobeyed the rules of the Hydra lottery.  In the latter’s case, this has cost him dearly, living the lie caused his daughter to be sacrificed in front of him.

Malick may have seen his own death but now that he has seen his daughter drained of life,  this horror he felt, the overwhelming fear of his own painful demise, may just pall enough that Gideon may turn on his “leader.” Time will tell, if the man really is a coward or not.

The plot thread of Coulson (Clark Gregg)  with his mixed emotions about killing Grant Ward (Brett Dalton) only to have him return as a parasite, was interesting in that it shows Fitz (Iain De Caestecker) to be the more cold-blooded of the two.  Phil has had a hard time of it since his “rejuvenation” and it looks like things will not get better in the foreseeable future. 

Daisy activating the Secret Warriors guarantees that things will get very interesting in a hurry and it also shows Lincoln and her as more equal partners.  The moths must be the key to Hive’s vulnerability (it must have to do with cocoons and transformations) and it would seem that once the majority of Coulson’s agents are released they will have to race to learn the secret of the destroyed lab.

This is going to get exciting.

“Agents of SHIELD” airs Tuesdays on ABC.