SHIELD’s 50th episode was a busy one, capped off by a big reveal.
By Eric Goldman
Warning: Full spoilers for the episode below.
The 50th episode of Agents of SHIELD was a bit messy, trying to juggle a lot of storylines at once, but among other highlights, it ended with a notably well done reveal.
I again have to commend the SHIELD writers on moving quickly with a storyline. It was only two episodes ago (and the last “regular” episode, given how uncharacteristic last week’s was; not to mention almost entirely a flashback) that we learned Lash even had a human alter ego. They could have let this mystery play out for a few more episodes, and I completely expected that would be the case. But nope, by the end of the hour we learned Lash was actually Andrew.
We want to hear it.
It was a strong “Hey!!!” moment and a smart one, suddenly putting Andrew’s presence (and having Blair Underwood on the show) in a much different light. Plus, let’s face it, it was smart to not wait because more of us would have begun to guess it was Andrew as other suspects were eliminated – once they said Lash even had another identity, there was now the pressure to make it someone of significance.
The Lash reveal was made by Werner Von Strucker, and I have to say, it was a bit of a let down to have that character be a complete non-starter. I thought maybe they would use him in a big way to almost make up for how his dad was killed off-camera in Age of Ultron, but I guess the MCU was just determined to take out all the Von Strucker’s like chumps! (watch out, Andrea and Andreas, if you’re out there!).
More promising though is the person who set him up to die – Gideon Malick, played by the ever-menacing Powers Boothe. While the press release announcing Boothe’s role on SHIELD didn’t make it explicit he was playing the same character he did in the first Avengers movie, I think it’s safe to say he is – it obviously tracks with what we know now to think one of the World Security Council members ordering Fury around was actually Hydra. (maybe an upcoming episode will explain where he was during the events of The Winter Soldier?) And Boothe quickly made an impression, giving Ward info on where to find Von Strucker, while making it clear Ward would owe him one.
Meanwhile, it was great to see Bobbi back in the field, even as her wariness to initially engage in combat seemed out of the blue – we’d seen her be told over and over again she wasn’t cleared, and May’s “You should have just disobeyed” approach was a bit odd as far as advice goes. Still, I’m glad she got her groove back by the end of the hour, and put those batons to good use, frying that one bad guy, in a very satisfying manner. Plus, even if it was just a test, getting a brief Bobbi / May fight was pretty damn fun.
Oh, and nice little homage with the episode title this week, which was a reference to Fantastic Four #45, which introduced the Inhumans and was titled, “Among Us Hide… The Inhumans.”
I once again felt there was a bit too much going on in this week’s SHIELD – I haven’t even touched upon Coulson learning how Rosalind deals with Inhumans and Daisy’s fear of Coulson’s reaction – even while there were several fun moments along the way too. However, I ended up raising my score a bit thanks to what occurred in the last few minutes, thanks to an effective reveal about Lash, and immediate questions about what that means as far as Andrew’s true identity and what will come next.
