Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Alien Commies from the Future!
June 10, 2020 8:18 PM - Season 7, Episode 3 - Subscribe

Coulson meets one of his heroes. Simmons sports a new lipstick colour. Mack just doesn't feel like explaining things. May and Yo-Yo just don't feel like talking about things. Deke puts his privilege to use.
posted by sardonyx (6 comments total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
First, that was a pretty fancy paint job on the teenagers' pick-up. A white bed liner wasn't exactly a common option. Wood on the bed floor? Sure. White interior sidewalls on a non-white truck? Not so much. Plus a mattress? (I think that was some kind of mattress or bedroll.) That would have just been advertising that there was going to be monkey business going on, which was a major no-no at the time.

Since I seem to be on an aesthetic kick, I have to say Simmons was a terrible facsimile of Director Carter. I don't know exactly what 1955 Peggy would wear to conduct a surprise site visit, but I'd put big money on that outfit and hairdo not being it by any stretch of the imagination.

Even if the stylistic elements were better, I don't think Simmons did a very good job of projecting Peggy's essence. Admittedly she didn't know Peggy, but I'm sure she had seen lots of video of her, plus she had Coulson the S.H.I.E.L.D. history buff coaching her. Honestly, (and I'll probably be pilloried for saying this) I would have rather seen Coulson and Simmons try to pull off a boss involved with his secretary cover. I think awkward Coulson trying to interact with awkward Simmons in a semi-romantic way would have been a much better (if more cringe-inducing) bit, even if the Agent Carter deception worked better with Agent Sousa's story line.

I was actually pretty disappointed with the way Sousa was used in this episode. It wasn't until the TV station rolled the promo for the next episode that I had any hope that Sousa would have a meatier role. Daisy and Sousa together were fun. It's a shame we didn't get more of that, I would have especially loved Daniel trying to conduct an interrogation on the prisoners, with Daisy having to play along and not crack up in the process.

When Mr. Male-Chauvinist-Racist said he wrote the book on interrogation, I was really hoping the next scene would have been May opening him up piece by piece and then telling him not only did she deconstruct his manual but wrote the replacement one. Of course since May is still off from her treatment (at least this confirmed that she is human, or at least non-synthetic and not an LMD) we didn't get that.

As much fun as as a robotic Coulson fight against a Chronicom might be, I do miss the super cool, suave and skillful Coulson from the Marvel one-shot days.
posted by sardonyx at 8:46 PM on June 10, 2020


Also, good on Deke for setting Daisy straight about the kind of person he wants to be now and in the future. Yay for personal growth and standing up for personal boundaries!
posted by sardonyx at 8:48 PM on June 10, 2020 [1 favorite]


When they zoomed in the EMP'd Coulson lying on the ground, I thought they might flash him back to Tahiti, which would have been cute. Maybe next episode.
posted by paper chromatographologist at 6:41 PM on June 11, 2020 [1 favorite]


It’s timely that this season is serving as a tour of racism in America through the decades (even if the A.V. Club finds it clumsy). There were some prescient parallels too, with the smoke grenade evoking the tear gassing of peaceful protestors, and May choking out “I can’t breathe.” I just hope against hope that when the team finally makes it to the present day, they’re presented with racism now too, rather than pretending it’s been solved.

Loved the Agent Carter crossover. I think when AOS ends, thus ending the reign of non-Disney+ Marvel TV, Agent Carter will merit a rewatch. (Dottie was Villainelle before Killing Eve was a sparkle in Luke Jennings’s eye.)

The breakneck pace of the season is fun but it makes me feel exhausted for the agents. Obviously when you’re skipping through time to prevent alien commies from the future from wiping out your very existence, you’re not going to take much time off. But everyone except Jemma came straight into this from the Shrike final fight! They could use a week to just chill!
posted by ejs at 8:55 PM on June 11, 2020 [2 favorites]


It was so telegraphed, the set-up was so obvious – but I'm still glad that Coulson did the Blade Runner bit.
posted by mephisjo at 9:55 PM on June 15, 2020 [5 favorites]


COULSON: Tell me, in single words, everything you remember about your mother.
ELDERLY WOMAN: You want to hear about my mother? I'll tell you about my mother...

(HOURS LATER)

ELDERLY WOMAN: ... warm, welcoming, whip-smart, wigs, willful, winsome, wise, wistful, witty, woman, wonderful, yiddish, youthful, zany...
posted by under_petticoat_rule at 2:00 PM on June 17, 2020 [1 favorite]


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