Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Making Friends and Influencing People (EPISODE REVIEW)

On this week’s episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. we’re gifted more than a passing glimpse into the life of Agent Simmons. We learn what she’s been up to, who’s side she’s truly on, and why she left Fitz. We also see Fitz slowly make progress, trudging as it may be, and his blooming friendship with newcomer Mac is heartwarming to say the least. We have a returning guest character Donnie Gill, portrayed by Dylan Minnette, an interesting mixture of brainwashing and hypnotism, and We find out more about Skye’s father. This is one of those episodes that you find very little wrong with, and if we had more like this I can totally see this series take off into its own booming fandom.

Simmons is Hydra now. Or at least she’s undercover as a member of Hydra’s staff, slowly working her way up. It doesn’t come easy for her, lying to move up the ladder, trying to get intel. She compares her situation with Agent Ward, who was Hydra but lied to the entire team as he was a Hydra operative. How much of a relief is it to note that she’s still very much on the right side? But her situation is precarious, as she tests the cellular configuration of an ex-S.H.I.E.L.D. trainee Donnie Gill, who, after an accident in the episode Seeds, has the uncanny ability to freeze objects on touch. As Hydra finds out that Simmons once saved his life, they send her in to try and detain the subject.

It turns out that the Absorbing Man in the past two episodes isn’t the only “gifted” human that Hydra has their paws on. Donnie too appears to have dealt with Hydra in the past, easily falling prey to Whitehall’s past hypnosis sessions. This is all very interesting because it seems this season will feature more super-powered individuals than last season, as Hydra sets out to locate more of them for whatever purposes they aspire to. They appear to be sticking with characters from the comics, lesser known as they are – characters that’ll likely never make their way to the big screen. Which is totally fine by me. Daniel Whitehall is also known as Kraken in the comicverse. Donnie Gill is known as Blizzard.

Interestingly enough, Hydra’s logo isn’t actually a hydra, but a Kraken – which is conveniently Whitehall’s comic book persona. One thing I find a little funny is the actual Hydra logo. It’s ridiculously sinister. Bad guys don’t necessarily think of themselves as the bad guys, so why would they use such an evil symbol. Shouldn’t that be the first deterrent for new recruits/employees that these guys are bad news? But in this episode the bad guys do seem a bit too one-sided and evil. We still don’t know anything about their undoubtedly sinister plans for the season. All we get is brainwashing and lab work.

So far this seasons off to a MUCH BETTER than start than last season, except we’re three episodes in and still no Samuel L. Jackson. What’s up with that? My favorite scene had to be Fitz breakdown in front of Ward. It was terribly emotional. If there’s one thing to love about this series it’s the character dynamic, and they keep building on that. More please.

4 thoughts on “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Making Friends and Influencing People (EPISODE REVIEW)

  1. Finally got to see the episode last night. Agreed that this season is getting off to a much better and more focused start than last season. But, having seen Reed Diamond play low-grade villains on US TV series for more than 20 years now, I’m not quite sure what he’s going to do with Whitehall (a seemingly immortal Nazi) that will be new and interesting compared to his previous body of work. Also, it’s kind of curious, given how the show likes to immerse itself in pop-culture jokes, that nobody made any “Frozen”/Queen Elsa allusions about Donnie’s newfound powers. But those are more observations than complaints, and everything else, as you said, was quite, quite good.

    Liked by 1 person

  2. I admit… it always bugged me a little that the Hydra logo wasn’t a two-headed thing… I suppose it could be a Hydra in flux, just after one head chopped off and before it grows the two more to replace it? 😉

    Liked by 1 person

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