Questioning yourself is a common everyday occurrence. For us, it’s whether we should have that last slice of pizza or if that shirt really does match with those pants. For the Agents of SHIELD, it’s more like “Can I change what is set in stone?” “Am I a good man or not?” ” How the heck is Tess alive???” * “Will I be able to kill all the humans?” Okay so that last one is Sinara’s question to herself but you get the point.
*This one is easier – Tess was revived by Kasius to send a message to Flint, Mack and Yo-Yo. More on that in a tick.
“Best Laid Plans” see these questions be answered with some very important decisions as the team on the Earth’s surface go to free the Zephyr with a vicious stowaway on board while Daisy is wondering what is next for her if they can get home. As for Mack and Yo-Yo, they take the fight to Kasius while trying to teach Flint how to be a hero. Both lead to some very satisfying moments in a very entertaining episode. So as we dig into “Best Laid Plans,” let’s look at the plan our agents have to reach for the stars and lift their feet off the ground.
PUSHING DAISY
When we last left our team on the barren wasteland that is Earth, I mean was Earth but who can tell the difference anymore, they were reeling from the death of Robin and trying to figure out what was next. Well thanks to some timey-wimey from assistance in the past from themselves, FitzSimmons comes up with something. Make Zephyr One fly the sky again to the Lighthouse. Thanks to some tricks from the past, they have been able to make the ship fly without a engine. Well, it takes a hell of a piloting job from May and some tense moments but in the end Zephyr is airborne again. One small step closer to the past! But one of the team isn’t too keen about maybe returning there.
Daisy is suffering through what we all suffer through: Some serious self-doubt. She really isn’t sure about going back with the rest of the team to the past. What with the whole “She destroyed the world by cracking it down the middle” situation she caused. This leads her to have a few intimate, personal moments with a couple different people that sets up the stage for her end fight with Sinara.
- First is with Coulson where Phil has a plan to get that inhibitor outta her so her powers can come back. Instead Daisy proclaims that she might be better off being normal “Daisy Johnson, Agent of SHIELD” instead of “Quake,Destroyer of Worlds”.
A Daisy by any other name will still kick your butt. @Marvel’s #AgentsofSHIELD pic.twitter.com/eiiy1wVyCe
— Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (@AgentsofSHIELD) January 27, 2018
However her own tone makes us and Coulson believe that she’s not believing that herself. She is both Daisy and Quake. To take either away from her makes her less whole. Right now she is just scared of what has happened or going to happen (Timey-Wimey) but if there is anything tv has taught me, is that time is not set in stone.
- Her next talk is with Deke, who is questioning his choice of letting his father and Robin’s murderer live. Voss even tries to convince him to kill Daisy but even the naivest person could see he wasn’t going to. Their talk is one of maturity and showcases how much Daisy has grown over the years. She tells Deke about the strength of being a hero and though they deny it, you can see a spark or two in their interactions. Deke and Daisy has grown a little on me and maybe by season’s end, I’ll be fully on board. Because whatever happens to the team, Deke is going with them, isn’t he?
However, Sinara shows up right as the gravity has gone in the Zephyr. So therefore, we get the classic super-hero/sci-fi trope: Anti-gravity battle!! Every sci-fi show has done this at one point or another but it still doesn’t make it any less cooler. Agents of SHIELD has some of the best action scenes on any show and this Daisy/Sinara fight is no exception. Deke tries to help but the most he can do is being a annoying fly Sinara has to swat.
Sinara looks to have it well in hand until Daisy pulls a trick up her sleeve. Okay it’s more like a giant metal pipe. Which she impales Sinara through the chest with. It’s a brutal, satisfying end to a brutal, satisfying fight. Farewell, Sinara. You deserved to do better than just dying as Kasius’s errand girl.
As for the Zephyr, it arrives at the Lighthouse just as Kasius’s seer has predicted. Wait, what? When did he have one? This better be explained as if he had one, couldn’t he have prevented all the bad shit that happened to him in these last few episodes? Who is his seer? Is it someone we know? Damn just when we have the answers, they change the questions. Now to answer another question, what have Yo-Yo, Mack and Flint been up in the meantime? Well….
YOU SAY YOU WANT A REVOLUTION
Mack and Yo-Yo are very busy as they are trying to lead the Lighthouse occupants while also trying raise Flint. Well, they basically are his mom and dad now if there was any doubt (and theories indicate he could be their grandson which looks more and more true each episode). Flint is wanting to take the fight to them, kill them all and leave nothing left of Kasius. In theory this isn’t the worst plan but Mack is wanting to calm the lad down. Yo-Yo , on the other hand, seems a fan of this. It would have been interesting to see where this had gone if not for the sudden arrival of Tess.
Tess’s death a few episodes ago was something I hated with a passion so to see her back was a nice shock. However, Tess had been wounded psychologically due to her death and resurrection by Kasius. If this wasn’t such a jam-packed episode, I’d have liked to seen them dig deeper into this but that can be something brought back up later I hope. She came bearing a message from old Blue Mime – Give him the children or he’ll blow them up. Not very original for a so-called superior creature.
Mack, Yo-Yo and Flint instead outsmart his master plan. First, they lure him into a confrontation where Kasius tries to show off his big brain but gets outsmarted. See, as he was all mister braggy, the Lighthousers were evacuated to a higher level. So therefore , when Kasius sets off the bombs, it destroys just empty places. The Emperor has no clothes as he has blown up the only things he needs to keep breeding inhumans. Oopsie, Kasius.
So while a ton of action happened in this episode, it was also weirdly enough a set-up episode as well. Because now we have the big battle royale between Kasius’s remaining forces and Team SHIELD. I think you all know who my money’s on.
(Hint: look at the title of the show)
OTHER THOUGHTS:
- “If I had a stomach, this is when the vomiting would begin now!!”
- Flint is getting a bit too blood-thirsty for my liking. Hopefully Tess’s return can calm that rage inside of him down.
- FitzSimmons finding the Gravitonium was a pretty cool moment though I think Fitz is already done with all this past/future/ timey-wimey BS.
- I wonder how many times a year, Coulson has to take his arm for a check-up?
Agents of SHIELD airs on Fridays at 9 pm on ABC Network.