The walls built by S.H.I.E.L.D. came crumbling down in tonight’s shattering episode, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. 3×17, “The Team.”
That was so crazy that I need to rewind for just a second. Before we talk about “The Team,” I want to look back at another crucial episode in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.‘s history — exactly this point, episode 17, in season one.
That episode was titled “Turn, Turn, Turn.” It saw the fall of S.H.I.E.L.D., our bastion of power and permanence. It saw the collapse of the myth that was the all-powerful Clairvoyant, and most importantly, the revelation that Grant Ward, friend and ally, was in fact an enemy and a traitor.
“Turn, Turn, Turn” not only forced a reinvention of the series as we knew it; it was a wrecking ball through the series’ carefully constructed walls of faith. For Coulson and his team, their faith in S.H.I.E.L.D., in each other, and even faith in themselves was brutalized. As the pernicious influence of Hydra was so painfully exposed, the familiar became foreign, and Team Coulson found themselves strangers in a strange land. Ironically, this radical, isolating shift came just as the team stepped into territory unbounded by their organization. The need for faith and trust in each other had never been higher.
And so it is exactly now, two years later, as the walls of S.H.I.E.L.D. once again quite literally crumble to dust.
Springboarding off of the religious imagery in last week’s episode, the concept of faith is quite near to hand in “The Team.” Malick, of course, remains obsessed with faith of the religious kind (and puts a beautiful flourish on my interpretation of Hive as the Devil.) But Coulson contrasts Malick’s belief with his own brand, more secular, but no less fervent.
“I have faith in my team,” he tells Malick.
And Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. 3×17 wastes almost no time in laying out the rewards of Coulson’s faith. The team’s rescue by Daisy and her Inhuman team proceeds perfectly (or at least it looks that way) and last week’s high point of tension is eased off into cheers, congratulations, and a warm welcome home.
The erosion of this faith seems to begin with Malick’s warning about the Inhumans, but in fact, the rot has already set in. Malick, for all of his evil, now turns out to have only been the messenger; the message itself is already within Daisy.
Two years ago, betrayal was built into the episode’s title — “Turn, Turn, Turn.” Now, that same language is seeded into the dialogue of suspicion. One of the Inhumans has been “turned” to Hive’s side, there is no way to know which one, and no amount of established faith can hold the walls together. The breaking of faith spreads like cracks as distrust grows among S.H.I.E.L.D.’s human element, and then — as the darkness falls, violence explodes, and trust shatters — the Secret Warriors themselves are broken apart. Once again, the familiar is foreign; once again, they are strangers.
And in fact, Hive’s influence is such that Daisy leverages Lincoln’s own weaknesses against him to achieve the ends of her great collective mind. Whether your thoughts are enthusiastic or tepid toward Lincoln and Daisy’s relationship, there can be no question that this is a horrifically intimate betrayal of the faith between them.
Of course, even as their bonds break down, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. 3×17 offers up one point of contrast. Fitz, moved by Simmons’ continued loyalty toward their friends, begins to kiss her; the fact that he tries to stop is something of a lack of faith in Simmons (chill out bro, she wouldn’t kiss you if she didn’t want to!) Still, it seems that for now, the Science Kids have come together in their own long-awaited “beautiful bond.” It doesn’t escape my attention that they continue to bicker about articles of faith — curses, changing destiny, and the like. But for now… well. For now, they each believe in the same thing.
And here as well is Daisy. Daisy, who has been forced into a faith that is itself contradictory — both gift and shackle, both abominable violation and the answer to her unspoken prayers. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has reminded us several times that Daisy’s Inhumanity allows her to harmonize with the Universe. Now she is tuned only to Hive’s frequency, blurry and drunk on the “beautiful bond” — the heinous, blind faith — that Hive has crafted.
Daisy, in short, has been remade — a false true believer.
It is also worth mentioning that Daisy’s imprisonment in Hive’s web closes one of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.‘s lingering loops with a method more bizarre than I could have imagined. Skye, no longer Skye, and Ward, no longer Ward, have become united in faith once again — re-establishing a perverse mirror image of the faith that that was permanently shattered back in “Turn, Turn, Turn.” This is, of course, not a true faith for Daisy; that comes only with agency and intention. But much like Hive, his Kree toy, and other Things That Should Not Be, Daisy’s belief exists all the same.
In “Turn, Turn, Turn,” the ultimate shattering of faith was framed by Victoria Hand, falling — unarmed and defenseless — to Grant Ward’s gun. In “The Team,” it is Daisy — of a mind not her own — breaking apart the very walls she worked so hard to help build. Believer turned heretic, S.H.I.E.L.D.’S acolyte turns her citadel to dust.
Nothing was ever the same after “Turn, Turn, Turn.” And nothing, I suspect, will ever be the same after “The Team.”