TV Review: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 7 Episode 10

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 7 Episode 10 “Stolen”

Director: Garry A. Brown

Starring: Clark Gregg, Ming-Na Wen, Chloe Bennet, Elizabeth Henstridge, Henry Simmons, Natalia Cordova-Buckley, Jeff Ward, Joel Stoffer

Rating: TV-14

Runtime: 45 minutes

A big part of the success of “As I Have Always Been” lay in how it narrowed its focus.  It was a bottle episode that featured only the main cast (and Sousa, though at this point he pretty much is the main cast) dealing with an intimate set of problems all within the Zephyr.  Following up such a special, moving episode is always hard, especially when the next installment returns to a more regular perspective, but Shield manages to do so gracefully.  “Stolen” is a solid installment that delivers strong character development and some devastating twists but it does highlight what is arguably the biggest problem with this season, that being that its villains kind of stink.

This is especially frustrating because on paper they should make for at least slightly more compelling threats.  Take the newest one, for example.  As a nice tribute to the late Bill Paxton Shield casts his son, James, as a younger version of his character, Season 1 villain John Garrett.  The younger Paxton does solid work replicating the humorous yet sinister energy his father brought to the part but the writing doesn’t allow the character to be the same kind of menace he was in his later years, because, even after being clued in on his fate in the original timeline and given superpowers, he’s still kind of in over his head in the whole Shield vs Chronicoms/Hydra time travel war he’s waded into.  Consequently, the winds up being little more than an admittedly amusing enforcer for the “real” antagonists, who are characterized in even more confounding and dull ways.  Kora is fully on board with Nathaniel’s “revolution” or whatever which really is just absurd given when she was introduced she was ready to kill herself to avoid harming others and that she met the guy like two days ago.  Having a secret sister of Daisy’s be one of the show’s final villains is a potentially interesting idea, as soapy as it is, but the character’s actions and motivations don’t follow any kind of believable emotional logic.  But Malick himself is by far the biggest problem.  Again, the concept of the character, a straightforward depiction of the entitled, toxic man that perpetuates a Nazi death cult while claiming that he’s making some kind of radical, populist change in the world, works but the way he’s utilized is unengaging and his place as the show’s seemingly final main antagonist is frankly ridiculous.  Some may commend the show for not going the more predictable route of having someone like a time-displaced Ward or another returning face as Shield’s last enemy but at least that would ensure greater emotional investment on the part of the viewers and characters because Malick provides none of that at the moment.  This is unusual because he has done the kind of horrible things you expect from an intimidating, despicable villain.  After what he did to Daisy alone, viewers should actively be rooting for the guy to get his punishment but instead, we’re mostly all just annoyed he’s still on the show.  The writers have failed to show how Malick’s actions have affected the heroes in any meaningful way and do so again to an extent here so it’s next to impossible to be invested in the fight against him.

Fortunately, the internal issues the agents are dealing with are much more interesting.  After Simmons notes the vibe between Daisy and Sousa Daisy asks her if she remembers anything from when her implant was removed, noting the obvious emotional anguish she was in.  This leads Simmons to suspect just what we’re all worried about, that Fitz is dead and she made herself forget because she wouldn’t be able to bear it well enough to function on the team.  Daisy’s not able to provide any help to her friend, however, because she’s confronted with her own extremely complicated family drama.

Just as May is finally getting around to telling Daisy that she has a sister who was probably fated to die but didn’t Gordon and Jiaying teleport into the Lighthouse.  Jiaying explains how as soon as Shield left Malick’s forces, who followed them, invaded the Afterlife.  She demands they save her daughter which naturally is a shock to Daisy’s system.  Coulson heads back to Afterlife with Gordon to recon for a possible rescue mission but is easily detained by Malick, who thanks to Sibyl and the time stream is able to predict Shield’s every move.  Gordon is forcibly attached to a machine Malick is using to transfer the Afterlife Inhumans’ powers to his people.  The young Garrett is given Gordon’s powers (despite his concern about losing his eyes in the process) and trades tense wisecracks with Coulson about their future rivalry.

The Afterlife stuff continues to build the stakes (at least theoretically) but Daisy’s scenes with her mother are the most important and effective in the episode.  After some encouragement from Sousa, who volunteers to serve as a chaperone of sorts, Daisy shares part of the truth, including that she meets and is taught to control her powers by Jiaying in the future.  Their subsequent talk sees Daisy gain some greater understanding of the mother she knew when she realizes she and this Jiaying have a lot in common given their experiences with loved ones they’re not able to steer off dark paths and when Jiaying admits that “sometimes trying to do the right thing comes out all wrong.”  Chloe Bennet is excellent throughout and seeing her not necessarily forgive but maybe start to understand her mother is some of the strongest character work the season has done.  The experience doesn’t necessarily push the character into any new territory but taking account of how far she has come since the show’s early years is still moving.

But as viewers should know by now, Daisy can’t have nice things for long.  Using Garrett’s new powers he and Nathaniel teleport into the Lighthouse to kidnap Simmons.  While there Malick is confronted by Daisy but before she has a chance to take revenge on her torturer he uses his copied powers to incapacitate her.  Shield is a very detail-oriented show but occasionally that can actually get in the way of its storytelling power.  The show makes the argument that given that he’s actually had his stolen powers for much longer than Daisy’s had hers (remember, although he knows the future, Malick himself isn’t time traveling and his torture of Daisy was back in the 70s) he would be more skilled with them.  That’s a clever point but it just doesn’t feel right.  As viewers we want to see Daisy school the little weasel, at least a little, even if she can’t necessarily outright beat him yet given there’s a couple of episodes left, but the show won’t give us that catharsis.  It’s an example of the show’s head winning out over its heart when it really should’ve been the other way around.  Especially given what happens next.

Before Nathaniel can do any more harm to Daisy, Jiaying intervenes, attempting to drain Nathaniel with her life-absorbing powers.  She definitely sucks a good amount of energy out of him but unfortunately he’s still strong enough to get off a quake that snaps her neck.  As a devastated Daisy holds her dead mother her rage causes the building to shake but the show won’t let Nathaniel take the brunt of that surely devastating attack either, as he slips away just in time, although not before May manages to get a shot in at him.

Malick and Garrett hijack the Zephyr, with Simmons captive.  When she asks why she’s there Nathaniel explains that through Sibyl’s study of the time stream they’ve determined that in the only timelines in which they lose, Fitz is involved, so he’s determined to find him (and presumably kill him).  On the plus side, that makes it seem likely that Fitz is still alive.  Good thing, as Shield will need him for what looks like a pretty dire final battle.  If only the people they were battling weren’t so damn boring.

Notes:

• Deke is onboard the Zephyr, working on the time drive, seemingly unbeknownst to Malick and Garrett.  I’d be more than OK with half of the next episode being the Deke version of Die Hard as he tries to save his Nana.  Or I guess it would be more Air Force One.
• The best thing involving any of this season’s villains so far is young Garrett telling Coulson he saw all his deaths, after which Coulson asks which was his favorite and Garrett names the one when Loki stabbed him in The Avengers.  Paxton and Gregg do a very good job of replicating the rapport that the latter had with the former’s father.
• While escaping Afterlife, Coulson ices Kora and takes her prisoner.