Lives were changed forever, and that was frankly one of the less exciting things that went down in the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. season 3 premiere, “Laws of Nature.”
Welcome to forever
Daisy, Mack, and Hunter use the extremely fancy new Bus (called the Zephyr One, which looks an awful lot like a Helicarrier but apparently does not enjoy that distinction) to rescue a newborn Inhuman named Joey. The poor, confused, metal-transformgifier is under pursuit by both S.H.I.E.L.D. and an extremely intimidating black ops group led by an unidentifiable woman.
Consider Coulson intrigued.
Daisy and Mack put Joey through Inhuman Orientation: S.H.I.E.L.D. Protocol, and are about comforting as your neighbor’s 6:00 a.m. construction project. Part One is the Marvel equivalent of a “Yer a wizard, Harry!” speech, which Joey accepts with an admirably minor attack of hysteria.
Unfortunately, Part Two is where Joey learns that everyone thinks he’s a criminal, he can never return to his old life, and nobody really liked his band anyway. Perhaps because they have both chosen a life with S.H.I.E.L.D. multiple times, Mack and Daisy are remarkably bad at handling Joey’s meltdown.
Boom, squish, oops
Rather sheepish at their tactless failure, Daisy and Mack try to re-recruit Lincoln as S.H.I.E.L.D.’s Inhuman Welcome Counselor. But Lincoln is trying to lead an aggressively normal life as a handsome young doctor, and no longer wants anything to do with alien ancestors or angst-ridden acronymed organizations.
To be honest, this seems like the best way forward for Lincoln; too bad it goes to hell.
Because a crazy, massive, bristling, power-beam-shooting Inhuman shows up at the hospital – looking for Inhumans. Daisy and Lincoln use their powers to trap the gentleman, who seems irritated but unharmed by their strength. The creature/man escapes, leaving Lincoln with his carefully constructed life in tatters – and a certain agency on his tail.
Inhumans: 3
Mack and Daisy: 0
Getting to know you
Meanwhile, Coulson pursues the Mystery Woman. The database dredges up multiple aliases and various secretive organizations, but Bobbi’s science-detective work leads them to a likely meeting spot.
Coulson and Hunter pay the woman a visit on the DC Metro, but it turns out that the setup was for S.H.I.E.L.D.’s benefit. The woman, who offers the obvious alias of “Rosalind” (ain’t no Forest of Arden here, lady!) believes that S.H.I.E.L.D. are the ones responsible for killing the “aliens” with an energy blasting weapon.
Of note is the fact that, while at least Rosalind hasn’t been indiscriminately slaughtering Inhumans, she also isn’t much bothered by their deaths, which means we must bonk her in boring old “Lawful Neutral” land until further instructions are received.
But even when the tense meeting turns into a game of “Hang on, you’re not evil?” Rosalind very clearly has the advantage of power over Coulson and Hunter. She offers only one clue about her allegiance, that being that she answers to no one – instead, she is the one answered to.
Coulson and Hunter manage to escape with more science toys when news of the hospital attack breaks. But it seems like a petty victory when Coulson hears the American President announcing the Advanced Threat Containment Unit- where he echoes Rosalind’s words about Inhumans.
“The laws of nature have changed,” the President repeats. “And until the laws of man change to reflect that, we must do what we feel is right.”
And we must also keep a careful eye on who is pulling our strings.
I do
Meanwhile, Bobbi rattles uncomfortably – but impeccably – around the lab. She is still in rehab from her torture session with Ward, and makes due by looking fabulous and covering for Fitz. Bobbi also shrugs off Hunter’s giving her the silent treatment, for reasons that become clear when Hunter presents her with her wedding band.
Because – psych! The good ship Huntingbird still sails. (…flies?) In any case, Bobbi and Hunter are still very much in love, and Hunter very much wants to marry Bobbi again – before he leaves. Hunter is heading off on a revenge quest to take out Grant Ward – and not yet healed, Bobbi can’t come with him.
We’re definitely with Hunter in spirit here, but frankly, this has the fixings of a disaster.
Trials and errors
Finally, while the rest of the team deals with aliens, powerful women, and heartache, Fitz has been off trying to wrangle all three. His last-last-last attempt to find Simmons has led him to Morocco, where he inadvisably rendezvouses with a violent man called Yusef in search of a scroll that contains the secret of the Monolith that swallowed Simmons.
It is ridiculously romantic.
…and it’s also ridiculously dangerous. Fitz trades the men a briefcase full of splinter-bombs for the scroll, which means he might have just put very deadly weapons into the hands of very bad people. But when Yusef attempts to use one of the bombs on Fitz, it turns out to be more of a flash-bang thing – so hopefully Fitz hasn’t sold his soul to get Simmons back.
Yet.
When Fitz returns to the Playground, Coulson tackles the task that half the team has been avoiding: Trying to get Fitz to move on. But Fitz has a new theory – that the Monolith is a Black Hole made solid – and insists that the scroll will tell him exactly what it is.
The scroll contains a single word: Mavet, death, written in Hebrew.
Fitz cracks, and Coulson tries to empathize – nothing has been right since he lost his hand, and Simmons, and May to her apparently-permanent vacation. But now, the Director says, it’s time to say goodbye.
So Fitz heads for the Monolith like a man marching to war. He shoots open the case and climbs inside.
“Do something,” he demands of the rock. Bring her back, he means. Give me a clue, he means. Take me too, he means. “Do something!” he screams.
His answer is solid, painful silence.
Do not go gentle
But somewhere else, someone else is not quite as silent.
Jemma Simmons races across a dark, rocky landscape, her breath and the wind the only sound. She treats a cut on her head with muddy soil, and peers around a rock for – perhaps – an invisible pursuer.
There is only the rocks, a foreign moon, and a fat, distant planet. Simmons begins to run.
Perhaps she is unaware that she is still remembered. Perhaps she has forgotten that she is still loved. But alone and terrified on an unknown earth, Simmons’ presence proves this – and one more thing.
Fitz’s theory, it seems, is right.