Rewind

I've been away for a few days doing various festive holiday things. Also, a few things completely unrelated to the holidays, such as catching up on the latest episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. This installment did what the title promised, rewinding us to the present to follow Fitz's thread in the current story line.

I knew I missed having Fitz around on the show, but this episode featuring him made me realize just how much. He and Simmons are arguably the two main characters who most wear their hearts on their sleeves, and Simmons has been involved in a plot where she's largely had to conceal her feelings. Fitz's return feels like the return of a much needed emotional core to the show.

His escape from custody after six long months involved the return of another character, Lance Hunter. Because Adrianne Palicki is working over on The Orville, Hunter had to fly solo and without Bobbi Morse. But perhaps because The Orville only makes a dozen episodes a year, the writers of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. specifically left Bobbi and Hunter together as a couple, leaving the door open for the two to both return at some point.

Together, Fitz and Hunter teamed up on an adventure that helped fill a few small blanks surrounding the team's abduction, gave Fitz a new alien ally, and called back to one of the better Inhuman-centric episodes of the series (featuring a doomed Inhuman with visions of the future). There was plenty of humor too, thanks largely to the presence of Hunter. (The Empire Strikes Back shout out at the end was especially fun.)

What didn't work so well is how the methodical Fitz threw away caution and crafted no plan whatsoever before hopping in the stasis pod on a one way trip to the future. He has no idea how he's going to help his friends, and no idea if it's possible to return any of them to the present. It's a rather ludicrous leap of faith for him, given that his friends in the future weren't actually going anywhere and weren't in any immediate danger. He had literally all the time he wanted to come up with a scheme before freezing himself. (Kind of a recurring problem in time travel stories, but I expect better of Fitz.)

Still, the flashback adventure was fun overall, and gave me a lot of what I'd felt was missing in this season so far. I'm looking forward to what the show does now with the whole main cast reunited, after it returns from its brief holiday break. I give "Rewind" a B+.