A Life Spent

Much of last weekend's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. focused on Simmons and her new duties as the new attendant/toy of the Kree villain Kasius. Not the newest toy, however. That was the newly minted Inhuman that Simmons was tasked with whipping into shape. On the one hand, this was a story line with no surprises: Simmons befriended her, helped her, and then was somehow shocked when the evil baddie did what evil baddies do in the end -- exploiting the Inhuman (in this case, by selling her into slavery). On the other hand, though the story was predictable, it still hit effective emotional beats along the way. Elizabeth Henstridge is always able to make you feel for Simmons.

Meanwhile, Coulson, Yo-Yo, Mack, and May worked together with their reluctant ally in ore processing to track down the mysterious radio signal out in the debris. I liked seeing that Coulson's boundless optimism has its limits, as he and May had a masks-lowered talk about how there may not be a way back to "normal" from this situation. It was also great seeing how Yo-Yo, separated from the others, cleverly used her powers to steal from her captors.

That story line had a lot to do with morality, trying to demonstrate virtue by example. The idea there was good, but I'm not sure I buy exactly where the line was drawn. Killing the henchman so he doesn't rat you out = immoral. Got it. Planting a gun on the henchman so that the villain kills him for you = okay? Not sure I see the distinction. Then again, Yo-Yo was separated from everyone when Mack staked out the moral high ground. Maybe this might even be a point of friction between the two later on?

Daisy had been the last character with full mobility, running free on her own and running scared from the idea that she could have caused the destruction of the Earth. She was, in fact, so focused on ignoring everything Deke said that she also ignored the clear signs that he could only take so much and would double-cross her. Now Daisy is a prisoner too, putting all the future heroes in their own specific peril within the larger jeopardy. It's a "problem nesting doll" now.

Not the most mind-blowing episode of the series, but it kept an interesting story line moving along. I give it a B.