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Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. - Scars - Review

May 12, 2015

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Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., “Scars,” was written by the team of Rafe Judkins and Lauren LeFranc and was directed by Bobby Roth. In a show that loves to surprise us, this episode was full of unexpected twists and turns. What hasn’t been a surprise for anyone though is that the show has been renewed for a third season! If you haven’t heard all the news, Agent Carter will be back for season 2, but the S.H.I.E.L.D. spinoff with Adrianne Palicki (Bobbi) and Nick Blood (Hunter) is not going forward. While I feel bad for Palicki and Blood not getting their own show, I’m more than happy to keep them on S.H.I.E.L.D. – especially with the great bro-mance brewing between Coulson and Hunter!

There were a few more nice shout outs to Avengers: Age of Ultron. We find out that Theta Protocol was the helicarrier for Fury (Samuel L Jackson). And who doesn’t love any excuse to have Sam and Billy Koenig (Patton Oswalt) show up? And in Star Wars sheets no less!

I have to admit that I was a little surprised at Coulson (Clark Gregg) accepting oversight from the board, but knew he’d do whatever it took to reunite S.H.I.E.L.D. However, the episode title reverberates throughout the episode. Everyone has scars from what’s happened. May (Ming-Na Wen) and Coulson remain on the outs. Coulson rightly points out that the secrets that he had to keep from her as Director were nothing like those she kept from him last year. May finally tells Coulson what really happened in Bahrain. It’s painful to see them not on the same side! Or at least not totally having each other’s backs.

It’s also painful to see Skye (Chloe Bennet) torn between her two families. Tensions and distrust are building on both sides. Coulson is trying to keep a lid on S.H.I.E.L.D. and is trying to prevent a war. Skye returns to Afterlife to try to get Jiaying (Dichen Lachman) to meet with Coulson to come to a reasonable agreement. It’s clear that S.H.I.E.L.D. won’t settle for less than at least putting everyone at Afterlife on the Index, and it’s also clear that they are going to have a problem with it. Bennet is terrific in the episode as she must appeal to both sides but is particularly good in the scene with Jiaying.

May takes Gonzales’ (Edward James Olmos) side, benching Coulson. I was really surprised when Coulson pretty meekly agreed. May is also at odds with Skye and it was a powerful and shocking scene when Skye threw Bahrain in May’s face, having heard the story from the other side. The team really does seem to be splintering. Mack (Henry Simmons) does tell Bobbi that Hunter will likely forgive her, but then he turns his badge in to Coulson.

Simmons (Elizabeth Henstridge) and Fitz (Iain De Caestecker) both seem to still be in Skye’s corner. I loved that they saved Skye’s hula girl from the bus for her. I also loved Fitz explaining his skaking joke about it. Awkward Fitz is often the best! Simmons does confess to Fitz that she really did try to kill Ward (Brett Dalton), and she’s just mad she didn’t succeed.

Meanwhile, Agent 33 (Maya Stojan) has everyone fooled – including Simmons’ tests which give 33 an all clear. Of course, perhaps the tests can’t detect inherent evil that was always there or evil she’s recently acquired. Regardless, no one sees it coming when “May” turns out to be 33 and manages to get the quinjet from Bobbi, but not before another spectacular fight scene. Ward and 33 clearly have scars that are unable to heal, and continue to make mischief on their own. I wonder if a mission to save Bobbi might be enough to get Mack to pick up his shield again? Of course, it is a bit of a major plot hole that Bobbi couldn’t have thought May was with her because she should have known that May was on the mission with Gonzales.

The action at Afterlife is also heating up. Kyle MacLachlan continues to delight and entertain as Cal. I loved his saying he wouldn’t be happy with Raina (Ruth Negga) if anything happened to Skye. Raina appears to have her own agenda – a seemingly self-interested one as usual. She seems to be manipulating everyone. Cal accuses Raina of trying to create chaos. Raina, however, tries to convince Gordon (Jamie Harris) that she should be the one to sit down with S.H.I.E.L.D., not Jiaying. Jiaying maintains that she doesn’t trust Raina. Unfortunately, this appears to be the one time that Raina is acting sincerely.

Cal asks Jiaying to sacrifice him for the cause. She can uses him as a good faith gesture. I loved when Cal admitted that he could lose his temper, but that he’d only ever killed people who deserved it. The scene between MacLachlan and Bennet is once again excellent. The two play off each other wonderfully. They tell each other they’re glad they got to know each other. Of course, as Cal is lead onto the plane by S.H.I.E.L.D. agents they find empty vials in his pockets and a very mischievous grin on his face. Gordon reminds us earlier in the episode that Cal doesn’t have powers – he just cocktail he mixes up to enhance his anger. I can’t wait to see what happens on the jet when Cal hears what’s going on. Of course, we know that Cal is scarred from all the time he’s spent hunting for Skye and what its cost him.

The major twist in the episode is Jiaying’s deception. She didn’t want Raina in the meeting with S.H.I.E.L.D. because she never planned on making peace to begin with. Jiaying’s scars simply run too deeply for her to be able to forgive. I was once again very sad to lose another character. Gonzales does seem to make a real effort towards a peaceful solution, even bringing Jiaying a gift she’d thought lost forever. Jiaying says earlier in the episode that she can’t count on all her people following her if it comes to war. However, by killing Gonzales, and pretending he attacked her, Jiaying ensures that her people will follow her. I have to say that I was shocked when Gonzales died – but that explained why Coulson couldn’t go to that meeting.

It’s clear that sides are going to be drawn and blood will be spilled. I’d be remiss in not mentioning that the “thing” in the hold of the ship is actually a liquid stone…What did you think of the episode? Were you sad to lose Gonzales? What side do you think Skye will pick? Will Coulson be able to avert an all out war? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

About the Author - Lisa Macklem
I do interviews and write articles for the site in addition to reviewing a number of shows, including Supernatural, Arrow, Agents of Shield, The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, Forever, Defiance, Bitten, Glee, and a few others! Highlights of this past year include covering San Diego Comic Con as press and a set visit to Bitten. When I'm not writing about television shows, I'm often writing about entertainment and media law in my capacity as a legal scholar. I also work in theatre when the opportunity arises. I'm an avid runner and rider, currently training in dressage.

16 comments:

  1. Sarah van BinnebekeMay 12, 2015 at 12:23 PM

    Have not yet read your review but i'm sudenly stuck with a question...


    The earthquake that shattered Tripp, was that triggered by Skye coming into her powers or by her emotional reaction to seeing Tripp turned into stone?


    What say you fellow watchers?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Interesting question I assumed it was a bit of both, like her powers were awakening deep inside of her and then when she sees Tripp that is when she seriously quakes.

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  3. Like Lou, I think it was the fact that she has just received her gift and then used them when she saw Trip. As we've seen in the following episodes her emotional state effected her usage of her powers.

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  4. I was wondering until the last scenes how in what way she thought things would end badly if her vision of the events comes true. Turns out, Jiaying herself made the first shot.


    I thought for sure, she would use her newfound powers to circumvent Jiaying's authority and stage a coup, what happened afterward would seem to indicate that she may actually have a shot of redemption by being leader of the Inhumans.


    Now, let's just hope that my thoughts about her are true this time.


    Oh and YEAY! We're only a day away from the finale! :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. I still can't blame Jiaying for her distrust.


    As was said Shield was not going to settle for anything less than Indexing every Inhuman even if they had never used their powers against anyone. As she said, she's seen the result of that profiling before been on the receiving end of thinking like that and to her Shield has done nothing to prove they are really different from Hydra.


    Plus even though she 'fired' the first shot Gonzales in the end kind of justified her reasoning. He pulled a gun. He had brought one into a 'peace' talk. Can the inhumans really trust people who do that?

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  6. There is still the question if he did something with the charm, if so Skye is in grave danger now.

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  7. Yes it is just sad and I can see Gonzales and Real Shield putting at least a tracer on the charm. As for fandom, they go for the straight black and white as it is easy but this isn't like that. Basically audiences are crap at nuance.


    Way I see it Shield is seeing it as 'protecting people' from the unknown and the Jiaying is seeing it as going to war to prevent her people from being treated as criminals and enslaved and possibly exterminated for basically being who they are. Because to make indexing work it wouldn't be just the powered inhumans who would have to be indexed but all at afterlife and beyond who both have and haven't passed through the mist.


    When has cataloguing and scape goating one group ever done any good? When hasn't it ended up in extermination, slavery, discrimination. SO yes I can see Jiaying doing a lot in revenge but also best to strike first before SHIELD before it gets proper traction on the Inhumans.





    Would she have been different with Coulson? He may have been different that Gonzales, maybe, maybe not but if you are told you have to be catalogued to 'protect' others when you haven't committed a crime what do you do? You fight against it no matter who is saying it before the people who want to catalogue you

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  8. Definitely mistakes on both sides.

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  9. I'm having such a hard time trying to trust Raina! But we've seen glimpses of it - she was a little kind to Coulson even when she was torturing him. Maybe her tranformation has _really_ transformed her on the inside - that's definitely what I got from this episode.

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  10. How about you read the review and then I'll give you my opinion? ;)

    ReplyDelete
  11. Sarah van BinnebekeMay 13, 2015 at 9:12 AM

    So are you saying that if Tripp had not been there and had not died trying to save her she would not have destroyed the city?

    ReplyDelete
  12. Sarah van BinnebekeMay 13, 2015 at 9:17 AM

    So you think the tremors would have been less if it had been a normal transition?

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  13. I think so. Her powers are controlled now but as we saw early in the second half of S2 a lot of the destruction her powers causes comes from her inability to control her emotions, when she gets upset her powers get intense. It might have been different if she didn't have the surprise element of it happening (she was unprepared for the transition) and seeing the death of friend and colleague. Probably won't ever get confirmation though.

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  14. Sarah van BinnebekeMay 13, 2015 at 6:35 PM

    For me your answer is enough.

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  15. Well, she didn't destroy either San Juan or the kree city, remember shield had to flood it, all we know for what she did was destroy the temple.

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  16. Sarah van BinnebekeMay 13, 2015 at 11:01 PM

    Huh. Too be honest I somehow forgot that part.

    ReplyDelete

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