S.H.I.E.L.D. Exposed: “Making Friends and Influencing People”
Who’d have thought Simmons would be up for bad girl shenanigans? I mean, we all kinda hoped…
Making Friends and Influencing People sees the return of Jemma Simmons and shows what she’s been up to since last we saw her. WORKING FOR HYDRA. While Immortal Nazi, Daniel Whitehall is upstairs brain-washing people likes it’s Clockwork Orange, Jemma is in the belly of the beast performing science-y stuff. Hydra, meanwhile, is hunting Donnie Gill (AKA Blizzard) and SHIELD is a couple steps behind.
I’ll take this opportunity to mention Melinda May, because even though she’s not doing much, she is being a driving force for the team. Whether supporting Coulson, training Skye or busting Hunter’s balls, Ming-Na Wen is doing a fantastic job. I wanted to mention her really because it’s rare to see her smile and she’s bloody adorable. Roll on next week when she’ll be in a dress and kicking ass!
Simmons is serving as a double agent for Hydra which is actually a little disappointing. I can understand WHY she wouldn’t join Hydra but imagine IF. If she was just as broken as Fitz and her declaration that she’s solely loyal to science ringing true? That could present a fairly interesting angle but now that we’ve established brain-washing, it’s inevitable for her heel-turn. It’s like Skye Chekov’s Gun-ing herself by saying she’s never killed anyone but does it by the end of the episode.
Fitz is slowly improving, especially thanks to Mack. I said it last week and I’ll say it again, this BROTP has a great dynamic and I look forward to seeing more of it. Fitz becomes paranoid, believing the team is hiding things from him and he’s right. He’s so convinced that he even dismisses HeadSimmons when she tries to convince him otherwise. He tells her that she’s not there and, in a moment of clarity, she disappears and he goes to confront what he suspects; that Ward is Skye’s “asset”. The following scene is easily the strongest performance Iain De Caestecker and Brett Dalton have delivered together. Fitz immediately begins panicking and Ward tries to calm him and even justify his actions and Fitz… well, he goes DARK. He can’t explain what Ward did to him, so he’ll show him. By removing the oxygen from Ward’s cell. DAMN! Ward earns a reprieve by giving up info on Blizzard. Fitz rushes to Mack for help and the team is warned.
Blizzard shows a significant power boost since last we saw him, going full Sub-Zero all the time. He has also been brainwashed and is keen not to go back to that. Skye shoots him and he falls overboard, cocooning himself in ice as he sinks into the water, setting up an inevitable return but it’s great that we’re seeing more named, powered villains rather than just business men and other agents.
Another strong episode but next week looks like a departure into a light-hearted spy-romp with ‘Face My Enemy‘.