May and Ward made splashy returns, while Team Coulson left our hearts on the floor as they tried to save Simmons in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. 3×02, “Purpose in the Machine.”
The guardian
Fans may have been thrilled to see Melinda May return in tonight’s episode, but it turns out that the unflappable agent isn’t not exactly flush with success. Whether or not she spent much of the summer luxuriating with Andrew Garner in Hawaii, May certainly isn’t on any kind of honeymoon now; in fact, May seems determined to distance herself from the (oh, so fine) Dr. Garner.
But why? May’s insistence that she “just wants to live a normal life” falls flat for everyone from Mr. May, to Hunter, to the audience. It might be true – but it’s definitely an excuse to protect her father (and herself) from the target painted on her back.
So May’s decision to join Hunter and eliminate Ward is both proactive and reactive. Removing Ward from the equation might allow her to live the “normal” life she experiments with in “Purpose in the Machine.” But it might also be her pathway back into SHIELD, with old demons at rest.
Unfortunately, May’s multifaceted concern has made her clumsy — as the episode demonstrates several times. Her concentrated effort to keep her father safe was reasonable, but off the mark. Keeping Andrew at arm’s length is pointless — because May has been protecting the wrong person.
Sins of the father
That’s because Ward, a man who has always been exceptionally good at orchestrating violent goals, has only become more powerful since we last saw him. Ward is not only acting as a Moses of malcontents; now he is a patient, calculating, active recruiter for his “New Hydra.” Now Hydra is a standing guerrilla army, made of the young, aimless, powerful, and angry — for whom Ward can serve as a much more handsome John Garret.
Which brings us to Werner von Strucker. The playboy scion of the Hydra head who experimented on the Maximoff twins and then unimpressively expired in Avengers: Age of Ultron turns out to have a bloodthirsty streak of his own. Werner is more than happy to “take his place” in Hydra… and be shot like bullet right into the path of the unsuspecting Dr. Garner.
It’s also worth noting that, while Hydra’s continuing ties to Nazism are difficult to pin to down (and the subject of much internet debate) the introduction of von Strucker Jr. doesn’t exactly widen the gap. Ice-blonde, blue-eyed, and arrogant as he is handsome, Werner fits the part of a modern Nazi perfectly — though whether Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. will pursue this connection remains to be seen.
Stranger than sympathy
Meanwhile, Daisy Johnson is equally keen on adopting new responsibilities — albeit for very different reasons. With her new team of SHIELD-sponsored Inhumans is stalling at one, Daisy isn’t shy about hiding her frustrations from Dr. Garner.
Daisy’s impatience here is actually rather knotty. On the one hand, her empathy is well placed, and many new Inhumans surely need to learn that “being different can mean making a difference.”
But on the other hand, Daisy’s own devotion to SHIELD is partially blinkering her. SHIELD provides her with the perfect pro-active outlet for her powers, but she hasn’t come to terms with the fact that this might not be the case for everyone. (Seriously Daisy, there’s no way Joey Gutierrez is ready to work with a combat team.)
Dr. Garner observes — or perhaps predicts — that Daisy is turning into a leader. But a true leader knows what kind of passion to look for her in her recruits, a skill Daisy is not even concerned with yet. As embattled as Coulson has become, Daisy could learn more than few lessons from the Director about the art of team-building.
Leap of faith
Speaking of teams…
The past two seasons of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. have followed a pattern of creating distance between its central characters as circumstances grow more dire. Communication breaks down, nobody likes each other, and all the feels are painful.
Which is why the instigating scene of “Purpose in the Machine”‘s main plotline is so ridiculously heartening. All distance and division evaporates when the team finds Fitz pounding fruitlessly on the Monolith. Finally, (almost) everyone is together again, gathered by necessity, yes — but also concern and love.
Beautifully, it is this very concern and love that lead Fitz to his crucial discovery. When the Monolith is proven to be a galaxy-spanning portal, Team Coulson bonds together like it hasn’t done since the hyperbolic forever – come hell or Inhumans, they’re going to find Simmons.
And the team puts their money where their mouths are. Coulson has to deal with the irritatingly suave Asgardian Elliot Randolph, while the do-or-die stakes bring back the remnants of Fitz’s stammer and anxiety. Daisy – mysteriously the only member of the team who reacts to the sub-sonic vibrations – risks her life to thrum the portal open with her powers, and the entire group sticks around the dangerously shuddering room to see the rescue through.
From dust you were born
Oh, and of course, Fitz isn’t going to let some puny probe rescue the love of his life. He dives through the portal himself — and then Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. does what Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. does best.
In one of the series’ most intense, heart-in-your-throat scenes to date, Fitz and Simmons fight the elements, their own strength, and the merciless clock as they struggle to stay together. Ultimately, they are both yanked through the portal to safety together — though one gets the overwhelming sense that Fitz would rather have been irrevocably stranded on that planet with Simmons than pulled back to Earth without her.
As for Simmons, well, there’s a reason that this is only episode 2. The unbreakable biochemist is clearly fending off an avalanche of trauma — something we hope the show plumbs in depth — but at least Simmons can finally find some real comfort with Fitz.
(And we can find comfort in that.)
Finally, questions still abound about the Monolith-portal, which was apparently destroyed in the rescue. Where exactly did it take Simmons? Is it really gone? Why did it inspire such fear in the Inhumans – and Fury? Was its “random” liquefaction really triggered by an alien presence?
This looks like a job for episode 3!