This week, I make a lot of guesses and assumptions as we pick up right where we left off: The Shrouded Temple. Replete with goo-filled robot panthers and extinction-level space station collisions, “The Lost Temple” makes with the goods and gets this train rolling while resetting the board for what seems like the upcoming mid-season finale.
1 Puzzlin’ Panthers
My favorite thing about this show is when it just drops everything to do some wacky shit that moves the plot along. T’Challa’s grandpa T’Chanda was no fool, he knew that if this damn artifact had to be contained it was sure as heck going to be hidden away at the end of a convoluted quest chain.
In order to access the artifact, the paw puzzle must be completed and taken to the Shrouded Temple. Only after defeating obsolete panther robots can a member of your puzzle party accidentally fall through an ages-weakened floor, requiring a stand-off with a larger, more unstoppable robot panther. Of course, if you don’t die and happen jam the assembled paw puzzle into the back of the robot panther’s throat, it will chill out and barf a laser at the temple walls, opening a hidden door to a techno orrery. Inside, you’ll have to solve the riddle of the room by walking to the center of it, activating a translucent purple cube that envelops your group floating you to a space station hidden in geo-synchronous orbit with the dark side of the moon. At this point, if your bio-metrics are not that of the king of Wakanda (?), you’re just shit out of luck and should enjoy the view with the hologram of a cool-looking T’Chanda before the security system vaporizes you.
2. Looming Shadows
Having probably being tipped off by a mole (see: my mole theory later on), the Shadow Council rolls up on the super secret space base in another wooden watercraft and begins to tear it up. This is the largest assembly of Council members we’ve seen so far: Tiger Shark, Madame Masque and Killmonger. We’re missing M’Baku, last seen in the secret Wakandan political prison, and Princess Zanda who is definitely probably posing as someone we’ve seen a lot of for the past few episodes.
I’m still unclear on just what it is the Shadow Council is up to and, considering that Tiger Shark is still around and they’re still recruiting random people like Madame Masque into the fold, I don’t think they know either. Once we actually find out what the Crown can do besides gussy up a royal melon we’ll probably see just what Killmonger plans to do with it…I’m guessing he’ll put it on and model it with Snapchat filters, but after that I mean.
3. Zemole
Zemo is of particular interest in this episode. Of former allegiance with at least one of the rascals in the Shadow Council, Zemo has had this constant reinforcement as a truly reformed good guy and his interactions with Klaue and in general continue this. The interesting bit is when the gang gets split up during the group throw down and Zemo confronts Killmonger as he approaches the Crown. Putting up a noticeably half-assed fight Zemo states that the “power of the Crown is not meant for petty tyrants,” which walks back on his previous position of knowing nothing about the artifact. This might be looking at nothing with a microscope, but there’s literally no reason for Helmut to turn hero, I’m putting my money on his membership in the Shadow Council or at the very least the victim of a doppelganger mole via the shape-changing Princess Zanda, mysteriously absent from the past five episodes. Why else would you give morphing abilities to a previously non-powered human character if not to majorly fake us out?
4. Crown Down
Panther and the gang emerge unscathed from the wreckage of his grandpa’s cool clubhouse while the Shadow Council is either dead and spilled out all over Randalls Island or, more likely, they passed a motion to get out of Dodge and skedaddled. Left with the parting image of the Crown (which turns out to be an actual, literal crown), we’re to wonder just who will recover it when the dust clears. At this point, T’Challa and the gang are probably closer to finding out what horrors the hoary headpiece is capable of than they are sealing it away. A running theme of this season has been that of control and agency (and how T’Challa is able to balance the two), so I wouldn’t be too shocked if the Crown ends up some sort of master control for ancient vibranium nukes or widespread brainwashing and in the possession of season big bad Killmonger.
5. Ya Blew It
The secret is out, all two of the Secret Avengers have been working outside of the law and it’s gotten a little too rowdy. There’s bound to be some fallout with at least the Avengers, if not the US Federal Government, considering a giant secret Wakandan space ship just narrowly averted human extinction by plummeting into the East River with the cooperation of known super-criminals and that piece of crap Klaue. Since we’re finally back in New York City with a still unclaimed super-relic within nabbing distance of war criminals, I expect we’re in for a traditional Marvel Way slobberknocker with a probably very angry Tony Stark and an already fussy Hawkeye. As all eyes turn to Wakanda and their possession of super weapons and the reckless endangerment of pretty much everywhere, Panther has been this season there’s not much room anymore for the low-key spy antics we’ve been getting into, more than likely transitioning us into the next phase of Black Panther’s Quest.
