Collision Course, Part II

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. wrapped up its recent two-part episode with an hour that came surprisingly close to a season finale, at least from the number of happy reunions it provided and dangling plot threads it clipped off. Still, it left just enough in play to propel a few more installments.

Sarge's truck is careening toward the Shrike tower with Daisy, May, Deke, Snowflake, and an alien atom bomb on board. The Quinjet has been hijacked by Sarge, who is determined to destroy his nemesis. Izel has figured out that both Sarge and FitzSimmons are onto her. And it's all coming to a head at once in an action-packed climax.

This episode was mostly entertaining, with good quipping under pressure, fun fisticuffs, and well-managed parallel jeopardies. But it also suffered from a selective use of characters' powerful abilities, depending on whether or not the writers wanted to prolong those jeopardizes. Of course, it's a tough problem they have, given just how powerful some of their characters really are.

On the one extreme, Daisy single-handedly saved the day twice this episode, once by Quaking the bomb into a sort of stasis so that it wouldn't detonate, and then again when she atomized all the threatening Shrikes at once. These displays made the resolution to the crises a bit easy and maybe even unsatisfying... and yet in each case, it's totally how you'd solve the problem if you had Daisy's powers. Ignoring that fact would hardly have been better writing.

On the other hand, Yo-Yo's abilities should have made quick work of the problems on the Quinjet. When she gets her moment of opportunity to run by the temporarily-lowered force field, what does she do? Hands Mack a key and lets him solve his own problems. She couldn't have let him out of the cuffs? Or knocked out Sarge? Or given Mack a weapon? Or maybe a dozen other things that would have been just as easy and far more helpful? Resolving the problem as easily as it should have been wouldn't have been particularly satisfying... yet it's totally how you'd resolve the problem if you had Yo-Yo's powers. The writers tried to have it both ways in this episode, with a powerful Daisy and a defanged Yo-Yo.

But if that inconsistency was a bit jarring, other moments in the episode scored well enough. FitzSimmons' grace under pressure was fun. Their reunion with the rest of the team was also everything you could have hoped for. Sarge losing all his team -- as a result of his own actions -- was a nice comeuppance for the villain-ish character. And while the show hasn't invested as much in the Yo-Yo/Mack relationship as it has FitzSimmons, it was nice to see them work past whatever not-totally-clear issues they were having and reconcile.

Sarge is captured, Izel's ship is destroyed... end of crisis, right? Except that Izel went missing shortly before her ship was blown up, and surely isn't actually dead. And then May stormed into Sarge's cell and shot him multiple times. Some twist has to be coming there, right? Not to mention that the question of Sarge's identity (and now, we've learned, his missing memories) must still be resolved.

So, despite many points of closure, there's still a bit more story to cover this season. I'd say this episode warrants a B. I'd like to see the series step up a bit coming down the home stretch, but I suppose if they at least hold at this level, I'll be entertained enough.