What a great episode! Seriously. This was awesome. I'll start, as I always do, with a few complaints, but for the most part this makes me seriously happy.
Cons:
My cons for this episode aren't actually complaints about this episode in and of itself. They are complaints about the pacing of the season overall. For example: Malick dies in this episode. The way he dies doesn't bother me, and it furthers the story in a meaningful way. But in the scope of all we could have done with him, Malick died too quickly. We were just starting to play with the idea of his turning on Hive, but that will never go anywhere now. Coulson didn't get his revenge, Hive didn't suffer retribution for killing Malick's daughter... it all just went nowhere.
Similarly, this episode sees the Secret Warriors come together for their very first real mission, and then by the end of the episode they've been torn apart. On its own, this episode kicks ass in terms of character building and teamwork, but it would have packed an even bigger punch if the Secret Warriors had been given a chance to go on missions before this episode. It's sort of like the big twist of Ward being Hydra in Season One. It was phenomenal when it happened, but it makes the lack of nuanced development leading up to it really disappointing.
Pros:
But really, there's a lot of stuff to praise here. This episode fulfilled all of my hopes for what the Secret Warriors would be.
First of all, the plot remained pretty basic, and yet full of some creative twists. In short, Daisy and Lincoln collect Joey and Elena, the four of them get in to the Hydra base and rescue their friends with apparent ease, and make it back to the plane, with Malick in tow as their prisoner. A successful first outing, no? Well, no. Malick tells Coulson that Hive has the ability to exercise mind control over Inhumans. The rest of the team has to figure out who, if any, of the Inhumans have been taken under Hive's control. The rest of the episode is just trying to figure out who it could be, as tensions grow between the Inhumans and the others, as well as between the four Inhumans themselves. All four are quarantined until Fitz and Simmons can figure out which of them are infected. Coulson and the others believe that Lincoln is the one under Hive's control, but the truth comes out: it was Daisy. She offers to break Lincoln out so they can run off together, but Lincoln says no. Daisy walks away, using her Quake powers to level the base behind her, burying the rest of the team inside.
This plot was basic yet fast-paced and creative enough to keep my attention consistently through the whole hour. The great twists with Malick dying and Daisy being under Hive's control both came at just the right moments in the story, and I was kept guessing all the way through. When Daisy talked about leading the Inhumans out and escaping from S.H.I.E.L.D., I was sure she was the one under mind control. But then it turned out she was leading the others to Coulson because she's loyal to S.H.I.E.L.D., so then I believed that it was Lincoln, who had been exhibiting some strange behaviors. And then it wasn't until Daisy showed up outside of Lincoln's isolation chamber that I realized I'd been right the first time. That was some great writing!
The character work in this episode is what really makes it shine. In the opening sequence, we see how well the four Inhumans work together, and how the bonds of teamwork are starting to form between them in a real way. By the end, Joey wants to go home, Yo-Yo is furious at the injustice of S.H.I.E.L.D., and Lincoln, of all people, seems to be the only one of the four of them still totally loyal to the organization. These big changes don't feel contrived at all. They all come naturally out of the narrative.
Joey got some great character development in the form of having to kill somebody to save Lincoln. He's harboring a lot of guilt for that, but his own personal issues are swept up in the larger issues of the mind control thing, and by the end of the episode he just wants to go home, maybe to meet up with the cute guy he had been seeing before he got called in on his mission.
Elena, who Mack calls "Yo-Yo," also had great moments, particularly with Mack. Elena has been working on her English and Mack has been working on his Spanish, leading to a great scene where they talk to each other in one another's languages, each using their secondary language to speak. Their romance seems to be cut short when Mack is forced to try and bring Elena under quarantine, since there's no way of knowing for sure who is under mind control. Elena was already a hard sell on the idea of S.H.I.E.L.D., and this suspicion of her because of her differences is enough to ruin what little good will had been built up because of Mack.
I'm having a Mack and Yo-Yo shipping situation currently, and I do hope that Elena will get over the betrayal she feels and grow to trust Mack once more. Still, the dilemma of an Inhuman and a human working on the same team is being explored with great effectiveness here. I root for them as a couple, but I believe in the legitimacy of the obstacles in their way as well. Already I find Mack and Yo-Yo one of the more compelling things on the show. This is largely due to the great performances from both of these actors.
The team feels were strong with this one, too. Not only did we get lots of good material between Fitz and Simmons (eek! I'll get there in a second), we also got good moments with May, Coulson, and Mack reacting to the news that Daisy might be, however unwittingly, their enemy. And on top of that, the little group of Secret Warriors had a lot of great moments among the four of them. Daisy did her best to be a leader, and she succeeded very well on the mission itself. Then we've got Joey saving Lincoln's life, and Lincoln talking to him about the burden of killing, Daisy and Lincoln navigating the trick of being a couple while Daisy is also Lincoln's superior, and, best of all, Joey and Yo-Yo talking in Spanish throughout the majority of their exchanges together, to the confusion of Daisy and Lincoln, who don't know what they're saying. Yes! More of this! I loved the fact that they bonded over their shared language and reverted to it when in each other's company.
And I do want to ramble on a bit more about the opening sequence, too, especially in regards to how well all of the Inhumans' powers were utilized. As they teamed up in different combinations, it was a joint effort to use their powers to save their people and defeat the enemy. I really loved the moment when Coulson and the rest of the team were all holed up in the plane with the door barred to prevent Hydra from getting in, and then they hear this big ruckus outside and a polite little knock as Yo-Yo shows up to save them. That was priceless!
I think my favorite scene in the whole episode was when the four Inhumans lock themselves away from the rest of S.H.I.E.L.D. and try and figure out who's under mind control. They are all lobbying insults and arguments at each other. Daisy wonders where Lincoln was when the electrical failure went out, calling him "sparky" to remind everybody that he could have used his powers to short the electricity. Joey has been scarce all day, but was that because he felt weird about having killed someone, or is he the one under Hive's sway? Daisy was really ruthless in going after Malick. Was that because she wanted answers as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, or was all of this Hive, acting through a conduit? Even when we figure out the answer, we have no way of knowing for sure if the others are infected or not. That makes for great drama!
Finally, there's Fitzsimmons. Yay!!!!! These two crazy kids finally get together in this episode, and it was everything I've ever wanted from them. We already had the angst-ridden kiss of passion earlier in the season, and this time it was something quite different. Two friends who know each other better than anybody else in the world, coming together after a stressful day. They are filled with worry about their friends, and under pressure to find a way to test the Inhumans for Hive's mind control and find a way to help. As they sit together on the couch, weary, Simmons lays her head on Fitz's shoulder. Fitz looks down at her, and they slowly come together for a kiss. Fitz pulls away and apologizes for moving too fast, and Simmons points out that it's been ten years. It's time to stop wasting time. Fitz makes an adorable joke about how he has something really magnificent right in front of him, and then says it's his framed picture of space, and Simmons basically says "okay," and kisses him again to shut him up. Critical levels of cuteness. This relationship feels so fully earned. They've grown as individuals and they've grown as a couple. It feels real, and true, in a way that Daisy and Lincoln's relationship never really has for me. They are best friends. They love each other. I cannot wait to see more of this.
And then... Daisy brings the whole damn place down in shambles. Obviously they all survive this little earthquake, and given how Daisy still seemed to care for Lincoln while under Hive's mind control, she probably didn't intend to kill everybody anyway. Maybe she was just trying to slow them down. Or maybe there's an entirely different motive here. I don't know, and that's part of what makes it so exciting!
So there you have it. If it weren't for some larger pacing issues with the season, this might get a perfect score. As a stand-alone episode, I am damn impressed.
9.5/10
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