S.H.I.E.L.D. Exposed – “Nothing Personal”
You keep digging, you’ll eventually find answers.
Nothing Personal starts out strong as we get Cobie Smulders return as Maria Hill, seemingly attending similar hearings as Black Widow at the end of The Winter Soldier. Cobie is a welcome sight, as her performance is spot on. Throughout the episode, Cobie brings her A-Game, effortlessly being the most Whedon-esque character in any given scene. A casual name-drop of Man-Thing later and Maria comes face-to-face with May and, again, two very strong performances.
Tension is thick in the A Plot as Skye and Ward are heading towards the location Skye needs to decrypt the data drive. Skye, fully aware of Ward’s deception, acts FAR too cagey not to tip off a supposed specialist like Ward watching her but they do point it out a little later on, so at least they address it. The over-hanging dread in these scenes are like watching an abusive relationship play out.
And that’s kind of the point. Ward is a psychopath. All of his actions to date have been all about lying and killing. He kills and injures several Police officers in this episode alone and then has the gall to tell Skye that his love for her is real. She rejects him in disgust and rightly so. I know I bang on about it but Ward doesn’t deserve redemption, he’s too far gone and I know someone is going to point at the scene where Skye finally gives up the information after Deathlok stops Ward’s heart. I don’t think that was her love for him, that was basic human decency. Just like Mike said: “Yes, he’s a murderer. Are you?” She’s been betrayed, kidnapped, hurt, and almost killed but she still values a human life, any human life, more than vengeance.
Meanwhile, in the B Plot, the rest of the team discover Ward’s betrayal and are ready to head after them when General Talbot shows up at Providence, led there by Maria Hill. She led him there to hopefully get Coulson to join the private sector but Coulson manages to talk her round and soon her and the team are heading off. Talbot (played by Adrian Pasdar) is the perfect gung-ho military blowhard, fitting for someone who worked with Thunderbolt Ross.
Coulson manages to John McClane himself onto the Bus after a distraction from Hill. He rescues Skye, barely escaping Deathlok by driving Lola out of the back of the plane. It’s great to see the old girl in action. The team bunker down in a Motel 6 and May returns, having literally dig up the secret behind project TAHITI.
I don’t want to spoil it because it is such an amazing reveal but it’s bloody chilling and, in perfect Whedon fashion, topped off with a laugh.
Two episodes to go and things don’t show any sign of getting brighter or easier for our team. I’ll see you all next week for Rag Tag.