Like a phoenix from the ashes Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. took to the sky with tonight’s “Making Friends and Influencing People”. This episode shows how brilliant this series can be when its television elements and comic book elements blend seamlessly. In short, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is very much back.
We open on Doctor Whitehall (you remember the Highlander of Hydra, right?), and a metronome. There is something inherently creepy about a quiet office and a metronome, or if I didn’t think so before, I’m pretty sure it’s locked in at a creep factor of 8 out of 10 now. Whitehall is using said metronome to set the tone as he attempts to brainwash Agent 33. This scene is a great example of everything this episode does right. It’s full of awesome tension and imagery. Agent 33 is strapped upright with her eyes forced open in classic Clockwork Orange fashion, and the psychedelic seeing-eye puzzle she’s stuck staring at strikes just the right balance between 70s comic book imagery and realistic television world building. Whitehall is pretty set on using something he refers to as the “Faustus” method to bring Agent 33 over to the Hydra side, but she stands defiant. And before we can launch into Whitehall and his sidekick’s next attempt at brainwashing, Whitehall strikes fear into my very soul. “At the beginning. Like the song says, ‘A very good place to start.’” A Hydra agent quoting The Sound of Music is a very specific kind of torture that I’m not sure 33 could have tolerated. Still, instead of going with ironic musical torment, they begin another round of the tried and true “Faustus” method.
Cut to what is going down in my book as one of the most well-executed reveals in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. history. Our long lost Simmons returns to the show—in non-hallucination form—with an upbeat musical montage featuring a 60 s style British pop song (It’s “God Help the Girl” by Belle and Sebastian, in case you were wondering). She seems happy and ready to take on the world as she goes about her morning routine, and reports for work at her new research job. She has a pretty typical interaction with her borderline obnoxious supervisor, but the shot that follows is where we see some real brilliance. In a camera push following obnoxious boss’s exit, our generic research lab is revealed to be… wait for it… a Hydra research lab! The giant Hydra insignia painted on the lab wall tells us pretty much everything we need to know. We’ve lost Simmons to Hydra. She’s gone. Forever condemned to the darkness. Corrupted! Why? WHY?
Okay, so it’s pretty obvious from the first, that Simmons won’t have left her S.H.I.E.L.D. family for Hydra. But what is she up to? Patience everyone. Our patience will be rewarded.
We catch up with Skye and May doing a little target practice using targets that someone has taken the time to print Hydra insignias on. Not to criticize anyone’s fictional coping tactics, but someone in the S.H.I.E.L.D. armory is taking the whole “enemies among us” thing a little personally. I’m looking at you Koenig. Skye is proving to be a bit of a petulant student, but when concerns come up (mostly because Hunter is being, well, Hunter) about how she’ll deal with the first time she has to eliminate a target, May lets her know that experience doesn’t make it easier. Well, no one ever accused May of sugar coating the realities of covert ops. The moment is played just subtly enough that we aren’t instantly put on alert that it might come back later. Very nice.
Donnie Gill is back from last season, which shows a lovely sense of world building. It seems his previously hinted-at ice powers have grown more powerful, and his temper more volatile. Now Hydra is trying to recruit him, and not in the nice-lobster-dinner/football-scholarship way. No, more in the come-with-us-or-we’ll-murder-you-and-destroy-all-you-hold-dear way.
Now, I’m not sure how they want us to feel about Donnie. Obviously, we’re meant to admire his continued resistance to Hydra, but in less than three minutes of screen time, he murders two people—only one of whom is actually a Hydra agent. The other is, for all we know, a very nice innkeeper. No seriously—that’s all we know because he doesn’t quite get a chance to identify himself by a job…or a name. And to add insult to injury, Donnie knocks his body over, shattering it to pieces as he flees. So yeah, Donnie needs to put in a call to the Bruce Banner anger management hotline ASAP.
Simmons gets home to hear someone creeping around her apartment, and decides to take the investigation route instead of going for help. She gets an F in horror movie survival tactics, but an A+ in sneaking up on cat burglars, I mean… Coulson? Yep he’s here and he’s none to happy with Simmons. We have half-a-second of implication that it’s because she’s been hiding her Hydra work from him (I’m about 99% sure it was in there just for the promo). But in a really nice move, this episode doesn’t ask us to hold onto the idea of Simmons’ possible betrayal for long. Coulson turns out to be more worried about our lost scientist’s diet than her loyalties. This opens the story up for a really great character moment, as we see Coulson, good dad that he is, in action. It’s a nice reminder that the things we love about Coulson—the things that make him a good leader—are the exact opposite of the things we admire in Fury. In contrast to Fury’s suspicion and manipulation, Coulson is warm, trusting, perceptive, and whenever possible, honest. This is his Steve Rogers showing, the man you would choose to follow into battle instead of the man you are ordered to; the man you trust to keep you alive rather than the one you rely on to avenge your death.
Simmons lets Coulson know that Hydra is after Donnie Gill, and without revealing her as his source, Coulson let’s the rest of S.H.I.E.L.D. team six in on Hydra’s plans. In their continuing journey towards becoming my favorite Marvel duo since Barton and Bishop, Fitz and Mac have found a way to work around Fitz’s speech aphasia by having Mac rattle off a lineup of words, with Fitz picking out the one closest to the point he’s trying to make. We also get a glimpse at how Fitz’s perceived lack of trust from his teammates is making him suspicious, particularly regarding Coulson’s “source” and Skye’s “asset.”
Speaking of Ward, he’s back tonight for more quality time with Skye. He’s feeling chatty in a back-story kind of way. He was never loyal to Hydra, just Garrett. His family is secretly horrible and broke him down. Hey Skye, speaking of family, your family—Hold it right there buddy, I see what you’re trying to do there. And so does Skye. Usually I find her petulant routine off-putting, but here she’s using it to great effect to shut Ward down. Petulance with a purpose looks good on her. In the end, Ward breaks down the Hydra recruitment strategy, which can pretty much be summed up as join or die. He also gives us a nice look into the Hydra mentality. “And that’s why Hydra will win,” he explains, “Because while a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent is considering right and wrong, Hydra’s already taken the shot.” It’s a moment not to be dismissed, as it sums up, quite simply, the difference between our protagonists and antagonists. And isn’t it just terrifying to know that the line between the ultimate evil and the protectors of good is so thin that instinct could make someone cross it without even thinking?
Meanwhile, Donnie Gill freezes a Hydra ship.