Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., “Watchdog”, Review!
By Lil’ Yoda,
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. starts this week at Agent Mack’s house. We meet Mack’s brother, Ruben (Gaius Charles), in their family home as they work on a bike. Let me just start by saying I am so happy that we are finally getting some background on Mack. I was just talking the other day about how Hunter and Bobbi leaving would hopefully leave time to flesh out existing characters, and this was exactly what I was hoping to see. There is still so much we don’t know about much of the cast and I look forward to more character development down the road. Back to the episode. A radical groups called the ‘Watchdogs’ had attacked a government building with some implosion device demanding more information on the Inhumans. Mack, Fitz and Daisy go to investigate and find it to be some of the same material that Howard Stark used back in season two of Agent Carter, which has yet to be renewed for the third season. We find out from Coulson that Felix Blake (Titus Welliver), a former S.H.I.E.L.D. who first appears way back in an MCU one-shot called ‘Item 47’ and was last heard from after being severely injured by Deathlok. Mack and Daisy have some disagreement about how to handle finding the Watchdogs; Daisy ends up only taking Fitz along. It’s become more than clear the Daisy is very emotionally attached to fellow Inhumans, and this may cause her lapses in judgement in the future. It’s very understandable why Daisy would have this attachment considering her past having no family. Her mother was Inhuman and she feels connected to people who are like herself.
Meanwhile back at the base, Lincoln had just gotten back from his assessment for S.H.I.E.L.D., and doesn’t know the results. He gets brought along Coulson to look for Felix, along the way Lincoln is told by Coulson that he is being brought along so that he can see if he is truly loyal to S.H.I.E.L.D. and if he can be kept in check. I should mention that this scene was a particularly well done by Clark Gregg, making it clear just how serious Coulson was about testing Lincoln as an agent. Back with Jemma, we see her at target practice doing rather well, when Melinda walks in and we find out that Jemma feels guilty about having to be constantly rescued. So Melinda offers to have Jemma help her in the effort to find Andrew. Back with Daisy, Mack and Fitz, Diasy interrogates a suspected member of the Watchdogs to find the location of their base. They all go to the location and plan to do recon, but the plan goes bad when Mac’s brother arrives at the base alerting the members. Daisy uses her powers, but the Watchdogs think it’s Mac. Mac goes after his brother while Daisy and Fitz stay behind, Fitz eventually ending up getting shot with the imploding residue. Mack goes back after his brother. Ruben is not thrilled with Mac as Ruben sympathies with the Watchdogs. I feel this entire conversation is extremely relevant to today, how fear can turn the best, and often the most vulnerable, radical. Anyway, the Watchdogs follow Mac back home thinking that he is an Inhuman. Mac and Ruben barely make it out pass the Watchdogs, Mac getting shot. We get come reconciliation with the two after Ruben sees the Watchdogs in person and how dangerous they are. Though I do have to say the shotgun ax that Mac makes out of the shotgun and cleaver wins this season’s award for best impromptu weapon.
Coulson and Lincoln find Felix in one of his safehouses. After they find his motivation for running the Watchdogs, Coulson orders Lincoln to kill him. Lincoln hesitates, but complies. We find out that Felix is a hologram and that Linlcoln passes Coulson’s test after following orders. Back with Daisy and Fitz, they barely get the information out of a Watchdog in time in order to save Fitz’s life. Over with Melinda and Simmons, they begin to find better ways of tracking Andrew down. Jemma mention using the Inhuman vaccine as a possible way to take down Andrew to which we get the quote of the episode from Melinda, “Don’t give me hope, Jemma. I don’t want hope.” It’s clear that Melinda is afraid that if she is hopeful that she can save Andrew, she may not be able to do what is necessary and put him down. At the end of the episode we find out that Malick is funding the Watchdogs, and that they won’t be easily defeated. Overall I really loved this episode. We got some much needed character development, the story was interesting and I felt engaged throughout the entire thing. Five out of five.
