Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.‘s fourth episode of season 7, “Out of the Past,” continues the trend of the show going slightly outside its comfort zone this season. This time around, “Out of the Past” pays homage to noir movies of the 50’s.
However, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. breaks the rule that so many time-travel shows typically break: “Do Not Change The Past.” So what was changed and how will affect the present? For some of those answers , let’s highlight the positives and negatives of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. 7×04 “Out of the Past”
POSITIVES
- The team welcome a new temporary member in the form of one Daniel Sousa. Well not officially but by saving Sousa from his fate of getting killed on that July 1955, Sousa’s now riding with the team on it’s next adventure through time. What kind of chemistry will he have with the rest of the team? We’ve only really seen him with Coulson, Daisy and Simmons.
- Really liking Daisy and Daniel’s chemistry in the scenes they’re in. Not sure if I ship it….yet.
- How Sousa is saved from his fate was very clever. Doing a old switch-a-roo with Coulson taking the bullet from behind and plunge into the pool. So as far as the world knows, Sousa dying that night still happens. A nice runaround to the rules of time-travel. Helps when you have a LMD that can take a bullet or two too.
- Everything being in black and white because of what happened to Coulson in “Alien Commies from the Future” was very clever. Also if your Philinda heart didn’t skip for a second when everything turns to color the second Coulson sees May…
- May’s condition is finally revealed! (For the most part) Seems anyone she makes physical contact with, she feels the emotions they are feeling. A very clever superpower of empathy. Also, explains why she feels nothing whenever she’s around LMD Coulson. Never let it be said that Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. doesn’t still love to twist and torture your favorite ships even when one’s technically a robot.
- Deke and Yo-Yo as friends is something I want to see more of.
- What is Sousa delivering when he gets shot? Something that looks n nothing more than a block of metal. Love it.
- The team’s reaction to Sousa telling them about Hydra infitrating S.H.I.E.L.D: PRICELESS
NEGATIVES
- No Fitz again. Sigh.
- Poor Enoch. Stuck tending bar at some backwater Hawaiian place alone.
- Going to miss the team in that 50s attire. They all made it look so good.
- Seeing Freddy Malick again. Mainly his appearance in “Out of the Past” was to remind Deke of that old saying: “The past comes back to haunt you”. Credit to Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D though for casting someone older instead of just slapping a wig on the actor who played him before. That’s something a CW/DC show would do.
- That one Chronicom trying to get Coulson to turn on the team. How dare you????
So we’re close to the halfway point of the season and the team is still trying to figure out how to stop the Chronicoms. While the time-travel adventures are fun and next week’s jaunt into the 70s should be very enjoyable, it has to come to a end at some point.
But until we reach that point, let’s all enjoy the adventure and fun that each episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. continues to give us.
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. airs on Wednesdays at 10/9c on ABC.