It’s a manhunt on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.. Lincoln on the run is a pretty pathetic situation, until he finds an electrical tower and really puts his inhuman abilities to work. All is forgiven, though, as the resulting electrical shower might be the most visually satisfying image in this show.
There’s a lot to love in this episode, but the high point is watching Simmons readjust to life back on good ‘ole planet Earth. Her body is quite predictably out of sync with our world, and as promised there are some heavy recovery episodes ahead. Still, the most interesting thing is how the show is portraying her new inability to cope with what was once routine. She talks several times about there being too many distractions; too much information for her to process now that she’s not alone and focusing on survival. The production shows this problem in one of the smartest ways I’ve ever seen. They pull us into Simmons’ stimuli overload with her. How many times have any of us been in a quiet room and a cell phone vibrates? Having such an innocuous thing interrupt our day unexpectedly can be jarring, and—if you’re like me and have a tendency to misplace your phone—a bit panic-inducing. So it’s not a far leap for us to understand how Simmons may feel overwhelmed when such interruptions break into the bubble of calm she is desperately trying to cling to. It’s a really impressive device for letting us feel her tension just a little bit more. It’s a tension that’s not going to leave her anytime soon as even though there was no animal life on planet X, she still felt she was being hunted. Sorry, felt? No I’m pretty sure she feels that even now.
Speaking of hunted, let’s talk about Hunter and his unfortunate fashion choices. No seriously, where did that jacket come from? I know you’re undercover, but dude… It balances out in the end because May and her Blondie tank top are pretty much the definition of perfection. And why are they dressed so out of character? They’re undercover, infiltrating the ranks of Hydra via Hunter’s old contact, Spud. Spud played by Dan Feuerriegel. If you spent his scenes wondering where you’ve seen that guy before, you probably remember him as Agron on Showtime’s Spartacus series. Either that, or the Australian soap opera McLeod’s Daughters because, you know, two kinds of people…
And Spud’s kind of people are apparently super violent Hydra agents. Hydra officers? Hydra-philes? Hydrants? Whatever they’re going by these days, the only way in is through Hydra’s very own fight club. It’s pointed out that May probably would have faired better at this than Hunter, but after getting over the surprise of having to fight Spud (and taking off their undershirts because that’s how we know this just got serious), Bobbi’s snarky Brit holds his own. And May’s reasons for not fighting make a lot of sense. A petite Asian woman beating up a giant brick wall of a man would certainly get back to Ward much more quickly than she and Hunter could ever hope to rise up the Hydra ranks. It’s a sentiment echoed later when May is forced to defend herself from what is pretty clearly about to become sexual assault. While usually I’m not a fan of just throwing this kind of situation into an episode for the heightened tension (because, while it absolutely makes us nervous for May’s safety, it’s statistically guaranteed to bring up anxiety of a much more personal nature for some viewers) the show handles it pretty well. May takes her three attackers out without breaking a sweat and to make sure it stays quiet, points out how embarrassing it would be for others to know a petite Asian woman had taken them down. Way to use their pride against them, May. That would be some down and dirty spy craft right there.