Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Alien Commies from the Future! (7x03)

My boy Daniel Sousa!!

Cons:

This whimsical trek through time has a lot going in its favor, and I do appreciate that we're not totally ignoring the impact of racism and sexism on the ability of several of the agents to do their jobs. I guess I'm kind of hoping/kind of dreading the furtherance of this plot element. It's one thing to hear from May after the fact that someone called her an "oriental," or to see segregated bathrooms in a diner. Are we going to go further with the racial injustice? I hope not, and yet at the same time this mostly sanitized version of history is also not quite sitting right with me. I feel like the show is kind of trying to have it both ways, which is a little troubling.

So, it's been a while since I watched Agent Carter, but I thought Peggy and Daniel more or less ended up together? Here's the thing... I can't tell if this is part of the Endgame time-line where Steve went back in time and behaved like a selfish ass, or if this is another timeline, where Peggy had a life without Steve. In either case, what's the situation with Daniel being all weirded out at the thought of Peggy being at the station? And people calling him "Peggy's old partner"? Did they drift apart? Have some sort of falling out? I am not about that. I wanted them to have happiness together, at least for a time.

Pros:

I didn't realize how much I truly loved Daniel until he showed up. Everything about him was just so wonderful. I love how he was able to see through and capture people who had every advantage on him, and even with Daisy pretending to be CIA, he wasn't willing to just trust her 100%. He's a smart cookie. I'm thrilled that he'll be in next week's episode as well, because I definitely want more time with him.

This episode had so much great comedy, particularly with Simmons and Coulson impersonating other S.H.I.E.L.D. members and "inspecting" the scientists. They're trying to root out the Chronicom hiding in plain sight, and the way they go about that is by trying to get emotional responses out of them. Coulson is having so much fun pulling out all these historical fun facts, and Simmons has grown so much from Season One, back when she couldn't lie to save her life. Her Agent Carter impersonation doesn't need to be perfect, it just needs to be convincing enough that she can get in the door. Even face to face with Daniel, as she realizes the situation, she maintains her calm.

Deke's moment of interrogation also made me laugh. He has to go in and question the guy because this white privileged man isn't going to take Mack, Yo-Yo, or May seriously. He really doesn't want to do it, though, so he leaves the room with the words "stupid white privilege." I thought that was really funny, and one of my favorite moments of addressing the issues faced by the people of color in this time travel scenario. Deke isn't really equipped to get good information out of the guy, but he does learn something valuable by accident, which is kind of perfect.

May continues to be a mystery, but I love where we're going with this. She continues to be a total robot about everything, but then during the mission, she inhales some gas and can't breathe, and seems to have a true panic attack, revealing a more feeling May underneath all that hard armor. Together, she and Yo-Yo have a truly awesome fight with a Chronicom, and May is as bad-ass as ever, but also seems to be somewhat more like her old self. We haven't seen a lot of interaction between May and LMD Coulson, but hopefully we'll get that soon enough.

The fight choreography was great - that's always true in this show. I also just love the whole scenario here, where our main character good guys are forced to infiltrate and wreak havoc, all in the name of preserving history as they know it. From Daniel's perspective, or any of the other agents and scientists working at Area 51, they are bad people doing bad things. The bigger picture must be maintained.

I think that's basically all I've got for now. There are lots of threads to pull as we move forward. The ethics involved in time travel, Yo-Yo's abilities failing her, May's emotional condition, and... hey... when the heck are we going to get to see Fitz???

8.5/10