Now that we’re caught up on where everyone is and what their mission is, the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. jump back into action. Their “Window of Opportunity” is small when it comes to finding out who the new bad guys are. Director Mackenzie’s (Henry Simmons) team is recovering from an attack by the new baddies. Agent May (Ming-Na Wen) told Mack that she saw a man who looked like Coulson (Clark Gregg), but to avoid any panic, they keep that information to themselves.
They have Dr. Benson (Barry Shabaka Henley) studying the strange man buried in a concrete wall. He speculates that the new Phil Coulson is a Life Model Decoy. He needs to talk to the designer to be sure. That’s not possible because Dr. Holden Radcliffe is dead.
Speaking of evil Coulson, the man named as Sarge (Gregg) and his team steal supplies from a convenience store. They get an idea of how to fit into society and ask about the currency. They are looking for P. E. G.s. Their fallen comrade had their supply on him when he died in the concrete wall. Pax (Matt O’Leary) gets upset that they have to find new ones, but really, he’s upset that they lost his friend. Sarge and Jaco (Winston James Francis) aren’t too concerned though. Jaco shows Pax an add for a jewelry store. They can find what they need there.
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FITZ IN SPACE
Last week we learned that Fitz (Iain De Caestecker) is alive and awake on an alien ship. He has to inject himself with something to make his eyes larger and greener. He is posing as an engineer, unclogging a pipe when one of the aliens gets suspicious of Fitz. It seems he didn’t know they were transporting Xandarian snails. A delicacy among the people he’s traveling with.
The jig is up when that same alien finds an iriscope on Fitz. The instrument he was using to enlarge his eyes. They also find Enoch (Jeff Stoffer) hiding in the walls. They are both taken away, by order of the ship’s captain, Vino (Paul Telfer). Fitz tries to reason with Vino by telling him everything that is wrong with the ship. He says he’s the only one who can fix it. And Enoch is the only one who knows anything about Xandarian snails. Vino assumes they are running from someone, so he orders them to die.
Fitz offers to work for free and Vino likes that idea. He tells Fitz to fix the heat shields and a leaky airlock. If Fitz can fix all of it, Vino might not kill him before they get to Naro-Atzia. Naro-Atzia is the planet where his cryo-chamber was made. The plan is to get there and find another cryo-chamber so Fitz can go back to sleep. In his mind, Jemma and the others are still in the future.
SIDETRACKED
It was Enoch’s plan to board passage on the cargo ship, teaching Fitz the language so he would fit in. Fitz’s reaction to the Xandarian snails gave him away as human. There is a bright side though. They were able to escape whoever shot down their ship. Fitz is a little anxious about their chances of survival, while Enoch remains positive that he can put Fitz back to sleep. Only because the seer, Robin said Fitz is needed to stop the end of the world.
Fitz finishes his work and is taken back to Vino. Vino thought about the benefits of having Fitz and Enoch around to work for free. He decides to get rid of his crew and let the ‘terrans’ do all of the work. Fitz tries to talk him out of killing his crew by offering to train the crew. Vino tells him to shut his mouth and be thankful he gets to live.
WINDOW OF OPPORTUNITY
Fitz and Enoch watch Vino put his crew into the airlock. Fitz tries to brainstorm a way to save everyone, but Enoch says if they go against Vino, they might as well step into the airlock too. Fitz steps up to stop Vino, trying to reason with him. Vino has made up his mind and the crew is put in the airlock. So Fitz does something drastic and gets in the airlock with the crew. he says he couldn’t look her in the eye if he didn’t try. Vino says Fitz showed him that everyone is replaceable. He closes the airlock and prepares to dump the crew into space.
Enoch sneaks up to the control panel and opens the opposite airlock. Vino and his guards are sucked out of the ship. enoch releases Fitz and the crew, but they will have to come up with an explanation once the get to Naro-Atzia.
BIZARRO COULSON
Sarge and Pax go over their plan in a shipping yard. It seems pretty simple, but Pax wonders if they should hang out on Earth before they destroy the planet. He asks Sarge if he ever took a vacation in his past life. Sarge hasn’t told them where he’s from and he doesn’t intend to ever talk about it.
They are spotted by a security guard. Pax tries to play it off like Conglomerated Ministry of Shipping hired them, but fumbles with the lingo. Sarge shoots at the guard to get away.
Jaco is setting up the inside of their truck when Sarge tells him to keep an eye on Pax. Butterfly (Brooke Williams) gets a gun ready for use. The gun uses PEGs, but their fallen associate is the one who knew for sure. Sarge sprays a wall with special spray paint.
SEARCH PARTY
Mack and May go over the evidence on Sarge and his team. May tells him to take a break and comfort Agent Keller (Lucas Bryant) after losing his friend. Mack says Keller will be turning to someone else for comfort. He obviously knows about Agent Rodriguez/Yo-Yo (Natalia Cordova-Buckley) and Keller’s relationship.
Speaking of, Yo-Yo checks on Keller. She wants to comfort him even after telling him they need to cool things down. But that was yesterday. They are interrupted with an alert. The alien invaders have been spotted at the shipping yard.
Yo-Yo meets May and Mack in the hallway. He says the suspects are in Cincinnati and he’s sending Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. to canvas the area. Dr. Benson yells for them from the lab. He’s not happy that they’ve didn’t tell him that Coulson died and came back to life before. The LMD theory is not panning out because LMD’s don’t have DNA. They assure him that Coulson is dead. May gets upset and tells Benson to go if he can’t find a way to kill the imposter, Coulson. Benson shows them a DNA sample from a Slurpee straw. It is an exact match to Phil Coulson.
CLONE WARS
Benson goes to Mack later and asks who Coulson was to May. Mack compares the doppelganger as a painful memory. May’s pain is walking around killing people. Benson says it’s his job to stop it.
Sarge enters a jewelry store and asks the clerk to show him something special. While she helps him, the rest of the team enters the store and positions themselves to take out the security guards. Sarge asks the clerk to show him the best stuff. He warns her about the robbery that’s about to take place. The security guards go down and the clerk presses the security button alerting the police. Sarge says he won’t kill her because only she can open the vault for them.
Meanwhile, May and Yo-Yo check out the shipping yard and talk about Keller. She informs Yo-Yo that Mack knows about them. He’s got other things to worry about though. May tells Yo-Yo to be careful with Keller. The day before she told her to go for it. But that was also before she started hunting someone with Coulson’s face. Mack calls in with a report of Coulson’s doppelganger spotted at the jewelry store.
THE HEIST
Sarge and his team get into the vault and Sarge opens a portal with the special spray paint. Jaco joins the team as they search for the P.E.G.s. all they find are a bunch of diamonds. Sarge asks specifically for Piezoelectric Gems, crystals that are naturally polarized so it can hold an electric charge. She shows them their quartz and topaz and it’s exactly what they are looking for.
They don’t know that Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. have just walked into the store. May saw the security footage of Sarge, Pax, Butterfly and the store clerk going into the vault. But when they get to the door, the spot five heat signatures. They also see the breach in the wall. Yo-Yo says they’re missing something and asks if anyone knows where they are going. May has an idea.
May goes back tot he shipping yard and throws dirt on an invisible vehicle. While she’s looking around, Sarge loads his gun and goes outside to test it. May knocks on the door and Paz answers. She asks for ‘him’ and Pax attacks her. They fight and Jaco joins in.
MAY AND GOLIATH
Meanwhile, the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. are using a saw to get into the vault. May subdues Pax and Jaco. She walks through the breach to save the store clerk. Butterfly is ready for her though. May knocks her out and saves the clerk. Jaco wakes up and the fight begins again.
Sarge is still outside and sees the clerk run by. He goes back to the truck to see what is going on. When he walks in the door, May stares at him. She calls him Coulson. butterfly grabs the breach and uses it to trip may back into the vault. Sarge closes the breach and they get away, just as Yo-Yo and Keller get in the vault.
COULSON?
Sarge and his team move their truck. Jaco asks what the word Coulson means. Sarge isn’t sure, but he recognizes the word.
Back at the lab, Benson gives Mack more bad news. He found a chip in the concrete guy that recorded his memories. Benson shows Mack the lastest memory of Sarge and his team watching a world fall apart. He says wherever they came from, they destroyed it.
Fitz and Enoch arrive at Naro-Atzia. Enoch says it might be dangerous for them to exit with the crew. Fitz doesn’t like that. Enoch suggests they take the crew to Kitson where they will be safe. That will delay Fitz’s plan to return to cryo-stasis to catch up with Jemma, but Fitz says he has time.
That happens about the same time that Simmons (Elizabeth Henstridge) set a course for Naro-Atzia. Daisy (Chloe Bennet) is in disbelief, but Jemma says she knows Fitz is there. She can feel it.
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Thoughts
The writers could have given the episode a bit more mystery. Again, we jump right into the action without any real development for our characters. They really haven’t given us anything new. I hope this changes soon as well as needing the team to be back together.
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