Danny Hale reviews the third episode of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. season 5…
‘A Life Spent’ gave us a further peek into the different players operating on and around the remains of Earth and helped create a clearer picture of the time our team is stuck in. The previously introduced Kasius is not the only powerful figure in the vicinity and Inhumans still clearly have a role to play in this society as evidenced by the appearance of Abby.
Under orders from Kasius (but notably suggested by Sinara) Simmons is brought to Abby with the task of helping her to control her abilities. Apart from the obvious empathy inspired by the young girl’s plight (due largely to Ciara Bravo’s strong performance) this plot thread also increasingly expands the mythology and world our characters are stuck in. It’s great to see further reaches into the MCU and to meet new intriguing characters such as the Lady Basha. Kasius at least seems to want to curry her favour and doesn’t seem to hold the same integrity when in her presence. The exact nature of Kasius and Basha’s gladiatorial battles remains to be seen but my guess is Basha is recruiting warriors. This could range from protection to assassins or maybe she runs a fight pit elsewhere. Either way judging by Abby’s gruesome victory over her opponent the potential for her destruction is frightening.
It was nice for Coulson and May to get a moment this week too, with so much going on it would be easy to neglect these character beats but they are integral to keeping our cast real and consistent. Even better was May’s mention of the framework, reminding us that the events in space began almost immediately after they broke free with May being under its illusion for more time than the others. She truly has earned a night in her own bed.
I really enjoyed Yo-Yo this week, her quick temper was put to the test as she had to withstand Grill’s taunts and keep her abilities hidden. It all paid off with her awesome theft of the scroll from Griff’s cabinet and literally all done right under his nose. This initiative took a slightly darker turn as Yo-Yo successfully frames Zev in order to save Mack, Coulson, May and Tess from Grill’s wrath by planting a gun on him. We then learn that Zev is sent to the Earth’s surface to be fed to what is clearly a huge colony of Roaches. This raises a big moral question and from Mack’s expression it’s clear that he is disturbed by what Yo-Yo has done. Elena has sentenced this man to death and while he did nothing to inspire sympathy it is still a bold move on Elena’s part. If she will decide to justify her actions or be overcome by guilt remains to be seen but I think this will inevitably pose a problem for Mack and Yo-Yo’s relationship going forward in coming weeks.
I’m still not sold on the ”Quake destroyed the Earth” story; I just don’t buy it and while Daisy may turn out to be involved I can’t get on board with believing she willingly tore the Earth apart. This only poses an issue for me because I can’t get behind Deke’s warnings and protestations; I am far more invested in Daisy’s attitude of deflecting until I know more. Deke’s subsequent betrayal, while I do believe he is just playing the “long game” and is most likely trying to help Daisy, made him far more compelling to me and I’m wondering will we see the infamous Quake forced to fight in the gladiator ring or will Kasius have much bigger plans now that he has acquired “the destroyer of worlds”?
‘A Life Spent’ was a strong episode overall which moved all of our characters forward and opened up the world a bit more. Daisy’s elevator fight was great; the choreography was fun, the pacing was perfect and it was bookended by two great lines from Daisy, my preferred being “I really thought this would work,” before dropping onto the two Kree below. We got a glimpse into Kasius and Sinara’s dynamic too, implying that Sinara hosts some jealousy towards Simmons which will be great to watch going forward. Finally we have gotten our first look at the Earth’s surface after our team picked up a signal coming from a large piece of remaining land. I think it’s apparent that we will be visiting this location in the coming episodes so I’m excited to discover what characters we’ll meet and what information they can provide our heroes with in regards to their “destiny”.
Danny Hale
