Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Principia

March 20, 2018 2:24 PM - Season 5, Episode 13

The clock is ticking, as the team goes in search of Gravitonium in order to help save the world.

General Hale is trying to found her own private Hydra, using Ruby to seduce Werner Von Strucker into the cause. Ruby, for her part, wants to found her own Hydra, Jr. and get out from under the previous generation's thumb. It turns out last episodes Gravitonium patch was not quite enough to close the Fear Dimension(TM) entirely, so the team goes hunting. Deke has a hallucination of his mother, which (a) gives him the idea that the Gravitonium cache they're seeking might be floating and (b) gives us a catchphrase his Grandmother used to say which we will certainly hear Jemma say by the end of the episode. Our heroes manage to find the old Gravitonium shipment, which has already been looted, except for the fragment the looters had to leave behind to avoid plummeting to their deaths. They manage to salvage that bit and escape with their lives and some old robot soldiers, unknowingly alerting proto-Hydra2.0 to their presence. Yo-yo is pulling herself together, ready to fight even if it is hopeless, and Deke hears the catchphrase, causing him to realize who one set of his grandparents were. Mack turns up with the robot and drops it like a cat bringing in a mouse, announcing that he has brought YoYo arms. Meanwhile, Hale is adding another long-lost villain to her team -- the Absorbing Man (Carl Creel).

EW Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. recap: 'Principia'
Den of Geek: Agents of SHIELD Season 5 Episode 13 Review: Principia

posted by Karmakaze (7 comments total)

Hm. Random thoughts:

* Deke asking to play catch was weird, even with him sussing out his relationship with Fitz & Simmons. (I thought that wasn't clear yet at that juncture in the episode.)

* Mac and Yoyo were pretty cute here. I liked the bit with him bringing arms. I also laughed at the 'those aren't the parts that count' gag.

* So, General Hale is officially slated to die by decapitation. That'll be a mess.

* I like the Fear Rift. As threats go, an erratic connection to a world that makes nightmares come true is pretty cool.
posted by mordax at 7:07 PM on March 20, 2018 [1 favorite]

Oh, and the floating ship was awesome. Meant to mention that: props for such a neat visual. Agents of SHIELD has come a long way in effectively realizing comic book moments, and that was pretty great.
posted by mordax at 7:16 PM on March 20, 2018 [3 favorites]

I loved that Mack brought up his two big fears and then I was all, "where's the robots?" AND THEN CAME THE ROBOTS. And then he brought one back for YoYo.

Also, YoYo being all, "I'm stumped!"

Deke's relative revelations was...interesting. So that's their kid in the hallucination?
posted by jenfullmoon at 8:14 PM on March 20, 2018 [1 favorite]

I thought Deke went a little over the top childlike once he realized who his lineage was. Still, reasonably cute.

I was mildly annoyed by prin-sip-ea vs prin-kip-ea, but I'm not enough of a linguist to know if that's some justified annoyance or not.
posted by Kyol at 11:30 AM on March 21, 2018

You're living in your own private Hydra, yo!
posted by under_petticoat_rule at 6:49 AM on March 22, 2018 [3 favorites]

I would bet dollars to donuts that the Principia was inspired by the Borealis of Half-Life 2 (and Portal 2) fame. A long-lost ship that disappeared thanks to weird science that holds the key to saving the world? It was sweet of the AoS writers to give us that since the Borealis will never return.
posted by ejs at 8:31 PM on March 22, 2018 [1 favorite]

Please post the next episode Karmakaze! I really want to comment on it!
posted by about_time at 6:03 PM on April 3, 2018