REVIEW: Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. S6E4

This was an excellent episode, with a mixture of hilarious and extremely tense and/or creepy moments. But I gotta say: I really missed Jemma’s competence and experience in the lab. Like, the whole time. Dr. Benson’s going to have to learn fast … if he lives long enough, that is.

I can’t exactly blame Sequoia for falling for Agent Khan in the end. He’s dreamy.

So, first things first: Deke. Turns out, our favorite rascally survivor and FitzSimmons grandson has put his post-apocalyptic experience to use by creating a tech start-up. He used the Framework to “invent” a VR game, and also used all his insider SHIELD knowledge to “invent” various gadgets. I mean, you can’t help admiring his cleverness at that. Or maybe you can – at least if you’re a SHIELD agent, that is. His girlfriend Sequoia – the talented Maurissa Tancharoen – is certainly impressed by his “genius”, and she posts about it all the time. With plenty of hashtags, of course. Not at all surprised at how perfectly Tancharoen played that part, since she’s an excellent actress. (As her husband made sure to tell us after the ep aired.) Also, I adore that the entire headquarters for the start-up is decorated with lemons. Hee!

But meanwhile, it seems that part of Sarge and co.’s reason for coming to Earth is to track down and destroy anyone who’s “not supposed to be here”. That includes both some guy infected with a terrifying alien parasite, and Deke. Okay, Sarge, we’ll grant that Deke can be annoying, but he’s not even close to the equivalent of a parasite that acts on humans like the Cordyceps fungus acts on ants. Anyway, the dead infected guy ends up at SHIELD for examination, while Mack, May and a team arrive to extract Deke just as Sarge, Snowflake, and the rest arrive to kill him.

My favorite parts from that plotline: number one is Sarge’s initial scene with Deke, as Deke slowly figures out that this isn’t really Coulson. Deke may be irritating at times, but he’s smart. Really, he deserved May’s congratulations for not getting himself killed. (I love her.) My other favorite part is Deke and Mack’s interactions. All of them. Mack is fantastic, and Deke’s reactions to his skills? Also fantastic.

I’m disappointed that Not!Coulson (maybe “Fauxlson”, as someone on Twitter suggested?) managed to get the drop on May after her awesome fight with Snowflake. On the other hand, now she’s in an excellent position to learn more about him. Also, it’s interesting and perhaps quite significant that Fauxlson didn’t want May dead. Is any of his original self left in there? Just what does he think he’s going to learn from May? Unlike Deke, she cannot be called a talker.

I don’t think you need to worry about Mack keeping this to himself, Deke. I think he’d much rather forget he ever saw it.

Lastly, the parasite plotline. *deep breath* WHY didn’t anyone think to put either the first body or Keller into Isolation right away?? Or at least as soon as it became obvious that there was a parasite involved? Dr. Benson, I know you’re a newbie at all this alien craziness, but you are a scientist, right? So what are you doing, letting a creepy bat thing (everyone kept calling it a bird, but it was clearly way more batlike) escape its original host, fly into the ventilation shaft, and then almost infect everyone in the base??! If it weren’t for Elena, her bravery, and her willingness to do whatever’s necessary, SHIELD would have been wiped out again, and then maybe the rest of the planet. Great job, Dr. Benson. Having seen scifi/horror movies, Mack would have never let that happen if he had been there. Neither would Jemma. Also, goodbye, Keller. You lasted just long enough for us to really start liking you before you died. Poor Yo-Yo. She really didn’t need more trauma.

Apparently we won’t be getting a new episode next week. So, see you in two weeks on June 14 for episode five!