Prior to its midseason break, Agents of SHIELD left us reeling; we saw the formation of the Secret Warriors, a team of Inhumans, composing of Daisy Johnson (Chloe Bennet), Joey (Juan Pablo Raba) and Lincoln (Luke Mitchell). We also saw the effects terrigenesis has taken on most of the world, all due to some laced fish oil pills. But perhaps, one of the greatest moments of the show was Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) killing Grant Ward (Brett Dalton) on an alien planet and while the action seems to have scarred Coulson to the core as can be seen during this episode, it ultimately may have meant nothing as the Inhuman on the planet took over his body and returned back to Earth.
As a result we can see nearly everyone in tatters this episode. Coulson is still reeling from his actions of killing Ward and also from the death of Rosalind, my favourite duo Fitz (Iain De Caestecker) & Simmons (Elizabeth Henstridge) are coming to grips with different yet related problems; Fitz feeling guilty for not saving Will and subsequently killing Inhuman-Will, with Simmons and him also coming to grips with the intimate moments they shared.
As a result Bouncing Back dives head first into action, leaving a few minutes on the sides to address our broken characters and packing the brunt of the episode with action scenes and SFX. The episode starts with an ominous “three months from now” scene that depicts the interior of a spaceship with globules of blood floating around, a cross on a chain and someone wearing a SHIELD uniform shortly before the whole contraption explodes, killing whoever’s inside. It’s an ominous scene that’ll keep my interest piqued for the rest of the season.
Time travelling back to the present, we’re in Bogota, Colombia where most of the episode is centred around, with this arc containing Daisy, Joey, Mack (Henry Simmons), Bobbi (Adrianne Palicki) & Hunter (Nick Blood). We see a convoy of policemen transporting guns get attacked by what is undoubtedly an Inhuman with the Inhuman being Elena “Yo-Yo” Rodriguez (Natalia Cordova-Buckley) but perhaps what’s more jolting is the fact that she wears a cross on a chain; could she be the person in the spaceship? It’s possible, while it is also likely that this is a huge red herring. Throughout the episode we see that Yo-Yo is in fact on the good side, believing her powers to be a gift from God as she uses them to fight corrupt elements within the Colombian Government and National Police. Natalia Buckley does a great job portraying Yo-Yo, whose powers are to slingshot (to use her name from the comics) between two places in the span of a heartbeat, giving her powers similar to a speedster. Her powers teamed up with Quake’s (Daisy Johnson) were great parts of the episode, she’d whip in an out in the blink of an eye, disarming the bad guys and more often than not tying them up, letting Quake make short work of them. The episode ends with Yo-Yo being inducted into the Secret Warriors albeit in a consultant sort of position as she wishes to remain in Bogota fighting elements of crime instead of relocating to SHIELD’s base of operations.
Bobbi, Hunter and Mack all take on their usual side rolls this epsiode, adding the comedic element to what would otherwise be a rather bland episode. Hunter and Bobbi to my amusement both admitted to popping laced fish oil pills in the hopes that they would undergo terrigenesis and become Inhumans; Hunter infact spends most of the episode lamenting the fact that he doesn’t have superpowers of any sort and wishing he had X-Ray vision. Palichki and Blood have perfect chemistry on set, their characters melding and easily propping each other up; in Mack’s own words “the two of them deserve each other.” Mack himself provides to be a key character linking Yo-Yo to the rest of the team (by way of Joey), having been kidnapped by her (to the disbelief of Hunter) and then talking about how he also believes that Inhuman abilities are a gift part of a greater plan. It’s the connection he and Yo-Yo makes that prompts her to help the team rescue Bobbi and Hunter (who were kidnapped by corrupt elements of the National Police).
Back to the main SHIELD base, our top agent Phil Coulson had a totally different agenda this episode. Clark Gregg gave us a very different Coulson this episode: slightly unhinged, unable to trust himself and solely dedicated to obliterating the remnants of Hydra, namely Gideon Mallick (Powers Boothe). We also see President Ellis (William Sadler, reprising his Iron Man 3 role) meet with Coulson, officially giving SHIELD an unofficial blackops status with the ATCU being the front for SHIELD while directly answering to Coulson. Amusingly enough, in the post credits scene, the new head of the ATCU is revealed to be General Talbot, a recurring character in the MCU who has always been at odds with Coulson. It’ll be hilarious to see him gritting his teeth while being forced to take orders from Coulson. During Bouncing Back we see Coulson’s darker elements come to light: he is willing to torture a comatose person — admittedly the sociopathic son of one of HYDRA’s leaders — in order to gain information on Gideon Mallick. The torturous interrogation which happens under the supervision and help of Fitz, Simmons & Lincoln does yield the location of a phone which connects to Mallicks personal cell. The lengths Coulson has to go shows how powerful Mallick is, even President Ellis is nervous about moving against him. May (Ming-Na Wen) takes a very laid back role this episode, assisting Coulson for the most part, whilst keeping an eye on him; the two share a drink at the end of the episode where they examine the new bionic hand Fitz made for Coulson and where May states that Coulson “joined the Cavalry.”
And what about our mysterious Inhuman-Ward? It has been confirmed that the Inhuman is infact Hive, a powerful figurehead of Hydra. We see It/Ward/Hive mostly cowering this episode, in the care of Mallick, weak after centuries on a deserted planet. Brett Dalton does a superb job showing us that this is a totally different being from Ward, the Inhuman is more methodical and calm, as opposed to Ward’s more brash demeanour. Hydra itself captures an Inhuman from Bogota either to rebuild an army for It/Ward/Hive or to feed it to him. At the end of the episode he demonstrates his powers by transforming his skin to sand and flying it towards Mallick and Giyera (Mark Dacansos), another Inhuman.
Bouncing Back was written by Monica Breen who has also written a host of other Agents of SHIELD episodes and produced 45 of them. Ron Underwood who has made circuits around TV shows is this episode’s director.
