AGENTS OF SHIELD: Best Laid Plans {Roundtable}

The life of our SHIELD agents in space is more and more complicated, but not before the team finds out some interesting turns to their lives.

Back from the dead!Tess now Kasius. How creepy was that moment and everything she was supposed to represent by Kasius?

Rueben: Well, we did comment last episode that it’s a Whedon show – dead is never really dead. As soon as Kasius said “have the doctor awaken our recent acquisition,” I knew it wasn’t going to be good. I’m glad the process of bringing her back from the dead didn’t make her look overly creepy – but being brought from the dead – yuck, right? The bigger question is going to be how different is she given she’s being brought back from the dead. I think I’ll be a little wary of her from here on out.

Karen: She looked pretty worse for wear, but I loved that she used her position well. undead!Tess seems a little different from past Tess, but her loyalties are the same. She delivered the message to Kasius, and then after his monologue, scurried back to Flint to be with her friends. I don’t foresee any defection from her. Great way to use an unexpected resurrection.

Roz: I’m all for not being truly dead, but this might be a stretch too far for me, when it comes to watching a dead character do someone’s bidding. I mean, she didn’t do what she needed to do and that’ll come back to haunt her (haha!) again later.

Mack and Yo-yo are having a tough time on Kasius’ ship. What has this separation done for their work as a smaller team?

Rueben: It seems to me that they always had little moments where they didn’t agree on things, but this recent kerfuffle seemed a bit more intense than usual. I think what I’m more worried about is what was shown in next week’s clip. I think they have yet to be REALLY tested in this new future realm.

Karen: I love sandpapery relationships. However, during tough situations? Not so much. Yo-Yo is such an instigator, and she enjoys pressing Mack’s buttons. They’re going to be tested for sure next episode, and it looks super hairy. We know that Coulson & Co. are on their way though, so we’ll see.

Roz:

The title seems to suggest some time-jumps and some timey-wimey stuff. Which one made you the most concerned?

MARVEL’S AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D. – “Best Laid Plans” – Mack, Yo-Yo and Flint fight to keep everyone alive by starting a revolution against the Kree, on “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.,” FRIDAY, JAN. 26 (9:00-10:01 p.m. EST), on the ABC Television Network. (ABC/Eric McCandless)
IAIN DE CAESTECKER

Rueben: Mack and Yo-yo sure seemed to have a good plan laid out for keeping Kasius busy while the humans pulled all of his bombs into one place and got themselves to safety. That was clever; but it was the timey-wimey issue of what Fitz and Simmons had to say about the gravity matter in those tubes that made me concerned. They are stuck in a Groundhog-like time loop. Can they figure out a way to not repeat what they’ve obviously already done. It’s almost like Harry and Hermoine using her necklace to go back in time to fix things, but it not working. I hope that’s not the case for them. I want them to be able to go back and stop all the catastrophes from happening.

Karen: Seems to be a Bootstrap Paradox, where you do something in the past because you see it in the future, thus it happening in the future. They’ve already used the gravitonium (or whatever they called it), so I don’t know that they can take it back. However, controlling it differently might be an option. They go to the future in the next arc from what I see, and I can’t wait to see the ramifications from that.

Roz: I’m concerned about it all. There are too many issues with what they need to do versus what they can do and that can’t be good.

Let’s talk this showdown between Daisy and Sinara.

Rueben: OMG! That was quite a showdown, but we knew it was coming, right? I mean the showdown that is not the end result although I was so pleased with the end result. I really hated Sinara and feel she got exactly what she deserved. I was just surprised that Deke stepped up and chose a side. Let’s see if that continues.

Karen: AMAZING fight. Choreographed on wires is always tricky, but they did a great job. I was really worried about Daisy (not really, I mean I knew she’d win), because Sinara is super strong or something. She had Daisy on the ropes. I think it was our chance to see that Deke is picking the good guys. He distracted Sinara just enough to let Daisy get the upper hand. There’s a part of me that will miss her, because she was a delicious villain.

Roz: Isn’t this what we’ve been building to all season? I feel like this is just what the show needs for some high-stakes situations.

MVP?

Rueben: Wow, I’m not sure if I have an MVP because they all worked as a team. Daisy stood out for taking Sinara down, but Tess also stood out for standing alone before Kasius – basically disappointing him – and May did quite the job of flying the Zephyr. Not real stand-out but rather a shout-out to all of them for a job well done.

Karen: I don’t know either. There was a lot of teamwork going on in this episode. Mack/Yo-Yo/Tess for the Kasius setback, Daisy/Deke for taking down Sinara, May/Fitz/Simmons for getting the Zephyr off planet… so yeah, I can’t really pick anyone to solo out.

Roz: TEAM SHIELD!

MARVEL’S AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D. – “Best Laid Plans” – Mack, Yo-Yo and Flint fight to keep everyone alive by starting a revolution against the Kree, on “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.,” FRIDAY, JAN. 26 (9:00-10:01 p.m. EST), on the ABC Television Network. (ABC/Eric McCandless)
CLARK GREGG, CHLOE BENNET

Agents of SHIELD airs Fridays at 9PM on ABC.