Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., “Bouncing Back” was written by Monica Owusu-Breen and was directed by Ron Underwood. The episode begins with what has to be a teaser for the upcoming Captain America: Civil War movie as the opening scene is set 3 months in the future – coincidentally when the movie is scheduled to premiere.
This episode was a nice mix of action and re-set. It was nice to see most of our core characters finally settling in to some kind of normalcy. Coulson (Clark Gregg) meets with President Ellis (William Sadler), and he deliberately meets in Rosalind’s apartment – the scene of the crime. Coulson doesn’t wat the President to be able to ignore what’s going on, and Ellis does step up, saying they have to do something. Coulson asks if that means reactivating S.H.I.E.L.D., but Ellis isn’t willing to go that far.
Publicly the ACTU will continue its work while S.H.I.E.L.D. will continue to work in secret. Ellis admits that he can’t even help with Malick (Powers Boothe), but that doesn’t mean that Coulson should back off of pursuing Malick. And he doesn’t.
Meanwhile, in Bogata, we’ve seen the police attacked and having their guns stolen by a woman wearing the same crucifix that we saw in the teaser floating with blood in a damaged spaceship. Joey (Juan Pablo Raba) is undercover in the field with Daisy (Chloe Bennet). I really love how slowly they’ve introduced Joey into the mix. It’s a good way to win viewers over. I also loved Daisy pointing out that they aren’t dealing with aliens, but even with inhumans, like anyone, there are good ones and bad ones. The trick is determining which is which – and of course, why they may seem bad but actually be good!
Hunter (Nick Blood), Bobbi (Adrianne Palicki), and Mack (Henry Simmons) are once again teamed up. They examine the crime scene. It’s hilarious to watch Hunter muse about what super power he would have liked – and how it would be worth it! Naturally, he would have wanted x-ray vision. Palicki and Blood have terrific chemistry and she plays straight man to him fantastically as she too admits that she wondered – as if Mockingbird needs to add super powers!
Mack notices the boots on a woman and suddenly finds himself knocked out, waking up duct-tied to sink! Mack almost gets free before the woman comes back, and he remarks, “I’m starting to hate you.” But he does realize that her power may be superspeed but she snaps back to where she started. He also tells her that he wouldn’t use his super power to commit crimes.
Daisy is not impressed that the two lost Mack! Of course not! He’s big and he’s her partner! They manage to catch the inhuman on the tape. Hunter, Bobbi, and Daisy rescue Mack and take the woman into custody. I loved the look of “disappointment” that Hunter shoots Mack for getting captured!
The woman turns out to be Elena Rodriguez (Natalia Cordova-Buckley). She and her cousin Francisco (Paul Alayo) are working together to stop the corrupt police. Joey gets put on her intake because he speaks Spanish. Mack enjoys how pissed off she is! He also names her Yo-Yo.
Lincoln (Luke Mitchell) has joined the Fitz (Iain De Caestecker) and Simmons (Elizabeth Henstridge) in the lab. There is clearly tension between Fitz and Simmons as Fitz seems to be avoiding Simmons, working on his own project – Coulson’s new hand. Lincoln points out that powers aren’t simply random – they all balance each other to create a kind of yin and yang of the universe. Simmons comments that it’s an intelligent design – as opposed to random.
Coulson pulls Fitz aside to get his take on Lincoln. Naturally, Fitz’s thoughts turn to Simmons, and he comments that Lincoln is good for her, so she has someone else to work with after what he did. Coulson tells him that sometimes the only choice is the hard choice – that’s the job. It certainly seems like Coulson is really trying to soothe his own conscience, after all Will was already long dead by the time Fitz arrived and he can hardly be blamed for his initial rescue of only Simmons when he didn’t even know that Will existed! But really, Coulson wants to know if Lincoln is going to be on board with essentially torturing Werner (Spencer Treat Clark).
When they put Werner in the machine, he simply gets caught in the trauma of his torture at Malick’s hands. Lincoln is appalled. Coulson asks him if he has a problem with putting Werner in the machine. Lincoln clearly does, and clearly thinks that Coulson is cold-bloodedly willing to do whatever it takes. But Coulson has never been cold-blooded and remembers his own encounter with the machine. He tells Lincoln that he has a problem with putting Werner in the machine. Would Coulson have done it two years ago? Maybe not, but then the stakes are even higher now – but isn’t that also a slippery slope?
Simmons determines that Werner is stuck in a moment of trauma, and they need Lincoln to literally zap him out of it. He doesn’t want to do it, but in the end, it’s kinder to do that. They learn about how to contact Malick. Coulson goes in using the password “We went to Princeton together.” While Coulson chats with Malick, May (Ming-Na Wen) traces the phone. Coulson is sure that they’ve mostly shut Malick down, but Malick taunts him with the fact that his reach is further than Coulson knows.
Elena convinces the team that she’s using her powers to stop injustice. They don’t use the guns they take, they destroy them. Hunter and Bobbi go to bring in Francisco, but end up getting him killed and themselves taken when Ramon (Yancey Arias) shows up with an inhuman – Lucio (Gabriel Salvador) who has the power to paralyze them with a look.
Bobbi is the first to come out of it, and Hunter complains about how much it hurts. Lucio comes in and zaps Hunter again, while Ramon interrogates Bobbi. He tells her that Hunter’s fate rests on her answers.
Meanwhile, we see a huge shift in Mack’s perspective. Simmons is terrific in this episode. He tells Elena that he too relies on his faith – referencing that cross around her neck and that’s a nice way to tie the entire episode together. He speculates that maybe the powers aren’t evil but part of a plan. He tells her that they need to help each other. After all, they both believe that the powers should be used for good.
They’ve determined that the limit to Elena’s power is that she can only go so far as one heart beat will allow. Daisy has a plan, however. Elena easily gets the id they need and instantly becomes Daisy’s new best friend! I loved watching these two work together. It says something when a cast can so easily welcome new members!
The attack on the police station is terrific. Bobbi tells them it’s an alien invasion – and the whole subject of aliens has also been a theme in this episode. Joey melts the guns while Mack gets Bobbi.
Lucio manages to knock Elena out, but I loved Joey melting the cool glasses Lucio uses. Daisy blows him back and they seem to be almost about to win when HYDRA sends in a helicopter to collect Lucio!
Afterwards, Elena insists that she has to take her cousin home to his family. Furthermore, while she agrees to help how she can, she refuses to leave Colombia. Mack remarks that it’s going to be pretty difficult to build a team if they are spread all over. Daisy counters that they are actually safer if they aren’t all in one spot.
It’s another theme that has played out throughout the episode – how much Joey misses his own family even while he’s embraced S.H.I.E.L.D. as his new family. Daisy is able to make him very happy by letting him return to his life.
Daisy also makes the same offer to Lincoln. After all, he enjoyed having a life outside his commitment to Daisy’s mother. But of course, Lincoln has found another reason to stick around – Daisy. He tells her he likes it at S.H.I.E.L.D. – and then shows her how much!
Meanwhile, back at the lab, Simmons comes to Fitz and tells him that she misses him. He tells her that he’s right there, but she doesn’t let him get away with it – there’s a chasm between them. There’s a difference between being there “professionally” and really being there. Simmons tells him what we’ve all been thinking. Will died to save her and what Fitz killed (or thinks he killed) was a monster. Simmons asks if they can just go back to the beginning and start again as they did when they very first met. It’s adorable as the two shake hands. Now we just have to hope it doesn’t take them another 3 years to get back to that kiss!
Fitz has finished Coulson’s new hand, and he shows it off to May. Luckily, Fitz is so skilled that you’d never realize it’s a fake hand! Lucky for Gregg who no longer has to sport the Michael Jackson look and the effects team who don’t have to worry about it either – except that it does still have “special features” – which I can’t wait to see!
May and Coulson debrief at the end of the episode. She remarks that he’s starting to trust the team more and is learning to delegate. May remarks that the new hand looks real, but Coulson says it doesn’t feel real. It’s clear that Coulson is bothered with what happened after Rosalind died, and especially with what happened on the planet – and how he killed Ward. It was a hard choice, but not the Coulson we’ve known.
May tells him that some things you don’t get over – like her having to kill that little girl and Coulson killing Ward. He tells her that she doesn’t know what happened on the planet and she perfectly sums up how the situations were the same. She tells him she does know – he joined the cavalry. She doesn’t say it, but what makes them both still heroes despite what they did is that they both still feel badly about it – even though it had to be done. Coulson also remarks that the inhuman powers create a balance in the species. I’m looking forward to them exploring this balance in more detail. Does there exist someone who is the opposite for someone else’s powers for instance?
Meanwhile, we see that Malick is taking care of “Ward” (Brett Dalton). Dalton is doing a great job creating yet another character for the show. Malick is a bit out to sea on how to help “Ward.” He tells him that he’s hungry and recovering from being barely alive. It’s unclear exactly what he’s hungry for. It will be interesting to see exactly what physical changes will manifest. The episode ends with “Ward” promising to make a believer out of Malick.
What did you think of the episode? Are you excited to see what “Ward’s” new powers are? Should the inhumans be kept on a shorter leash? Did you like the Fitz/Simmons reboot? Should Coulson feel badly about what happened on the planet? Do you think Coulson will be able to work with Talbot? Will Talbot accept that he answers to Coulson? 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, Agent Carter, The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, The X-Files, Defiance, Bitten, Killjoys, and a few others! I'm active on the Con scene when I have the time. 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.
