Last night’s Agents of SHIELD began by showing you every appearance of TAHITI that has ever been on the show in order to prepare you for another hour dedicated to the TAHITI project and its fallout. Subtlety was never the name of the game here.
Either way, “the Writing on the Wall” stands revealed. Lets talk about it, and some spoilers as well.
1. C.L.O.S.U.R.E.
Last year we learned about TAHITI and how it was “a magical place” somehow related to the return of Coulson to life. We learned that there was a weird machine involved, some alien blood with restorative powers got injected into people and that it was designed to revive a fallen Avenger — specifically Coulson’s man crush, Captain America pre- de-icing. And, in the “big twist” moment, we learned that Coulson was in charge of it all, making the irony of his revival all the more painful. However, despite all that, we never learned what the alien was (though it was pretty obviously a Kree, especially after Guardians of the Galaxy), we never learned what TAHITI stood for and we never learned what went down in the Guest House before the program was shut down — until last night.
And last night cleared up a lot. We know now that there were six former SHIELD agents brought back from the dead as test subjects, and that the process drove them all mad. This clarifies what happened to Garrett last season, for starters, but also brought up a lot of points about what has been going on with Coulson and the weird symbols he carves and what they all mean. We’re only seven episodes in and a couple episodes out from the show going on its Winter break, but that this episode essentially took so many of the disparate threads from last season and found a way to tie them together shows the true growth of this show now that it has some semblance of a focal point, and I can’t praise that enough. Direction is key, and this show appears to have that in spades.
2. We Built This City
Of course, the big reveal of last night’s episode was that all these symbols being carved weren’t just weird blueprints or schematics, but a three-dimensional design for a city. I’ll ignore the nonsense logic behind that for now (because it is nonsense), but instead use this opportunity to talk about the obvious elephant in the room: what is the lost city?
The obvious choice for that is Attilan. In fact, I’m not sure any other option reasonably exists thanks to license issues. But with Marvel setting up an Inhumans film, and with the “Inhumans” comic dealing with lost tribes of Inhumans that have lived in secret cities for thousands of years, then the city here being Attilan or something like it makes sense. If we’re going with the theory that the GH from Season 1 was a Kree alien, then it would make even more sense! The GH blood that effected Coulson, Derek, Klein and the other members of TAHITI created a form of unity within them, something that drew them all together and evolved their conscious minds — and if this isn’t just pure Inhumans set-up because #ItsAllConnected then I don’t know what else it could be.
This season’s goal appears to be a race for answers between Hydra and SHIELD, and it’ll all come down to this city in the end. Whatever it ends up being, I just hope they’ve built a decent set.
3. So What’s Skye’s Deal?
Of course, all Attilan and TAHITI business aside, there is the bigger question: why isn’t Skye in any way effected? Obviously we’re meant to ask this ourselves as the episode isn’t exactly subtle about her having the GH blood in her veins as well, but it is a big curiosity, and one I want to see explored sooner rather than later. Clearly her father Kyle Maclachlan is involved, and so is the Diviner, but it does stand as particularly noteworthy that Skye hasn’t been effected at all, to the point that no one seemed worried that she would be except Coulson.
I mean, I suppose she could just be Inhuman. After all, there’s the story of her as a child, of her father being a monster and invading/murdering an entire city to get at her. There’s certainly connections to be made.
Continued below4. My Brother, the Psychopath
In addition to all of that, last night’s episode of SHIELD decided it needed more chaos by making Ward an even bigger psychopath than he already was. From his shenanigans with Mockingbird on the bus, the Dead Man’s Switch with Triplett and his takedown of one of the current American soil leaders of Hydra (apparently “von Strucker is in Europe” — good to know), Ward is all over the place and I have no idea why. We know Ward is going after his brother now, a senator, but why? I don’t mean that in a rhetorical sense; I mean, what’s the point of having him straddle the line of hero and villain? What is the point of Ward’s character other than to taunt Skye but also do SHIELD’s dirty work? I honestly don’t get it, and the character is beginning to creep me out.
I prefer him with the beard though.
5. Close, But Also Not So Close
Last night gave us closure on so many things, but one thing that still slightly bugs me on the show is how they don’t lean more towards the Marvel toybox available to them. I “get it” and I don’t; I understand that for a character like Sebastian Derek, it’s better not to make that someone from the established Marvel U. He’s basically a throwaway villain of the week character, someone used more as a tool than an actual person, so why make him something that he’s not? At the same time, though, the episode introduces Hank Thompson, who we learn is actually Cameron Klein — and Klein is actually a character in Marvel comics, albeit not a notable one. Clearly that’s a seed planted.
Agents of SHIELD has done a lot this season to really connect itself with the overall cinematic universe Marvel created, and I like that a lot. I wish they would just stop taking their foot out of the water, though; plant yourself firmly in it and get weird!
Special Bonus: 6. The Punisher
If you were listening carefully last night, you will have noticed that Skye’s source is a “crime scene junkie” named Micro. It’s a throwaway line for most, sure, but it’s also the codename of David Linus Lieberman, who fans know as a former Punisher ally (later turned villain) who supplies the Punisher with tools and weapons. And after Joe Russo teased that he was lurking in the background in Winter Soldier, this would appear to be confirmation: Frank Castle, aka the Punisher, is somewhere in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
BRING HIM OUT. LETS GET NUTS!
