Ghost Rider and Quake have finally teamed up! But enough about that for now, they’ll be busy fighting rioters (and setting up some plot points the show will surely touch on again soon). In the meantime, let’s continue making use of Inhumans as much as possible, since it’s unlikely they’ll ever be used in the movies at this point.
1. Inhuman Panic
A common criticism against Marvel these days is their attempts to take all the themes and ideas used in X-Men comics and give them to Inhumans, while the comics continue to kick any and all mutants to the side. Given that the Marvel cinematic universe can’t use any mutant characters, it only makes sense that any Inhuman story arcs could feature mutants instead with no discernible difference.
Widespread fear over normal-looking people with superpowers? Check. Friends turning on friends once one of them is revealed to be Inhuman? Check. Thinly-veiled metaphors for oppressed minorities (give or take fictional superpowers)? Check-checkity-check.
That said, seeing people begin to grow paranoid and start selling out one another made for a pretty effective scene; pity for the party magician whose sleight of hand was mistaken for Inhuman powers. And as much as we’ve seen similar scenes in other comics and movies before, seeing Yo-Yo’s friends abandon her when she tries to explain that she’s still the friend they know, albeit with powers, was powerful.
2. Watchdogs on the Rise
Last season devoted a little bit of time to showing the Watchdogs begin to build power and support, which is starting to pay off now. When a series of massive power outages are blamed on Inhuman terror groups (demanding an end to the Sokovia Accords, so it’s nice to see some of the effects of Civil War continuing to affect the show), it’s obvious to the viewers that the Watchdogs are behind it, but the characters still have to prove it.
Along the way, we learn that they’ve got a lot more in the way of tech, military equipment, and an inside source leaking them information on registered Inhumans.
Well, just like the X-Men have to deal with Senator Kelly, the Inhumans have a Senator Nadeer out to get them. (Although in her case it’s due to the loss of a loved one to terrigenesis, so that may make for an interesting story.) So when SHIELD proves that the Watchdogs were trying to pin the blame on Inhumans, she immediately starts proclaiming “Nuh-uh, I know it was the Inhumans, because a secret source told me so.”
And let’s face it, if the political world in the Marvel cinematic universe is anything like ours, confirmation bias will instantly kick in for those with anti-Inhuman sentiments, and nothing will change.
I truly pity anyone in the Marvel universe who has to deal with online arguments over Inhuman rights.
3. Upping the Combat Cinematography
Now this is, bar none, the best part of the episode. Agents of SHIELD completely upped its game for the fight scenes, starting with Coulson, Mack, and Fitz taking on a group of Watchdogs in a fantastically shot and choreographed scene. The show may be trying to take a cue from Daredevil, given how the camera tracked the action and moved between one part of the fight to the next without cutting away. I only counted three cuts in the entire fight scene, and it was all the better for it.
The other fight of note was the SHIELD crew attacking the Watchdogs’ EMP generator. The scene was only illuminated by the rhythmic flashing of the generator’s lights, slowly illuminating the action and then fading away. Even at the start, there was a great trick where the light of Yo-Yo’s glowstick tracked across the screen as she moved at her usual super speed, signaling the start of another impressive action sequence.
If all the fight scenes this season can meet the quality of these two, we’re in for quite a ride.
4. Saving May
When we last saw Melinda May, she was being sent off on a plane to parts unknown. Well, it turns out the parts are known after all: she was sent to Doctor Radcliffe. So what appeared to be an act of subterfuge and betrayal by Director Jeffrey Mace wasn’t quite as ominous as it originally seemed.
Continued belowWe do finally learn how the ghosts drive people insane (and even the most scientific of characters are beginning to accept the idea of ghosts at this point) – it was described as a series of waking nightmares, causing a “fight or flight” overdrive, and as the last episode proved, it’s always fight with Agent May.
So how do you deal with a brain going haywire? Well, the most scientific approach is… turn it off and on again. Yes, they gave May’s brain a reboot via a temporary death, and a revival that was almost prevented by another blackout.
Once more, Doctor Radcliffe had a solution, thanks to a glowing green power source I’m going to call a “Knockoff Arc Reactor,” considering it does pretty much the exact same thing. The only difference is it powers LMD’s (and defibrillators, in this case) rather than flying metal suits. Still, showing the glowing power core in ADA’s body as she goes into sleep mode was a nice little setup for its later use.
And I suppose that’s one way to work around Tony Stark’s patents.
5. SHIELD is back
It’s official, the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division is back. After Coulson’s team saves the day, Director Mace uses their victory as a springboard to announce the return of SHIELD, and points the finger at the Watchdogs for the blackouts.
Naturally, there’s still some distrust, considering it wasn’t that long ago that Hydra was in control. Senator Nadeer now insists that Inhumans are controlling SHIELD… and technically she’s not wrong, considering the new Director’s own powers.
So the question remains: is this return a good thing? Can they regain the public’s trust? Is the time right to return to government agency status, or did the writers just run out of stories that involved SHIELD being an underground organization?
But one thing is for certain: this will absolutely not affect the movies in any way whatsoever.
