With the current season of Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD, it’s understandable why Marvel have put their upcoming Inhumans movie on hold. What on earth is the movie going to do that the show already hasn’t? Explore the origins of Inhumans? Check. Introduce the Kree? Check. Form a team of Inhuman superheroes? Done and dusted. The latest episode from the TV show once again reiterates what Agents of SHIELD does best: juggling multiple sub plots, emotional themes and great character development to bring about a great episode that sets up the two hour long season premiere. “Failed Experiments” is directed by Wendey Stanzler, who’s also directed episodes of Arrow, Gotham, Flash and Agents of SHIELD. The episode is written by Brent Fletcher.
“Failed Experiments” see’s Brett Dalton’s Hive try to recreate the Kree experiment that brought about Inhumans in the first place. The episode opens with a flashback of the first experiment; around the times of cavemen and we see a young Alveus/Hive being experimented on by Kree “Reapers”. His calm, imposing nature seems to giveaway to annoyance and anger at times during this episode however. He and Skye (Chloe Bennet) have a conversation, one where we learn that Daisy still has some lingering affection for her teammates back in SHIELD, as she tries to defend their actions. Dr. Radcliffe (John Hannah) meanwhile has the Inhuman creation facility going like a well oiled machine, except it fails almost instantaneously, turning a trio of Hydra agents into goo, as he’s missing one key ingredient: Kree blood. Hive doesn’t take kindly to this setback and threatens to take over Radcliffe’s body before unveiling the Kree technology that he obtained the previous episode. John Hannah’s portrayal of Radcliffe turns him into a witty character, reminiscent of a certain character from a certain series of films about an undead Mummy.
Meanwhile back at the SHIELD base, Lincoln (Luke Mitchell) is doing his best to try and be useful going as far as to offer himself as a test subject for a potential cure Fitz (Iain De Caestecker) & Simmons (Elizabeth Henstridge) cooked up. Alas for lovesick Lincoln, Coulson turns his offer to help down citing that the cure may kill him instead. Again, the show’s writers are trying to give Lincoln’s and Daisy’s lifeless relationship some emotion by making it a plot point that fuels Lincoln’s willingness to put himself in danger for her.
Fitz & Simmons relationship on the other hand is absolutely adorable and actually has some weight behind it, from the 3 seasons worth of character development we’ve seen from both of them. Alas while they’re once again reiterating their efforts to keep work and personal life separate in a jovial manner, they come across Lincoln who injects himself with the cure, sending himself into shock, shutting down his immune system and prompting Simmons to take a tissue sample from his brain.
Meanwhile, Coulson (Clark Gregg) has a stern conversation with Mack (Henry Simmons) after a camera feed identifies Daisy in the town she, Hive and the rest of their posse are holed up in. Mack believes that for Daisy to show up on the camera feed (despite being a trained spy who excels at avoiding detection) means that at some level she’s unconsciously trying to fight Hive’s sway. Coulson rejects this claim seemingly having come to the conclusion that without a cure, Daisy is lost to them. He then goes on to send Mack and May along with a team of elite SHIELD soldiers to the town to try and take down Hive. As a result they’re outfitted with the best tech SHIELD has. The elite soldiers add to the episode in a minor way, injecting some humour now and then with one lines but it seems an odd addition to give them lines in a show that’s already filled with tons of characters.
Back in Hive’s town, Hive asks Daisy what she would do if SHIELD came to kill him, to which she promptly replies that she will rip their heart out, something that satisfies Hive. This segment is actually pretty interesting considering that Hive himself needs reassurance that his “sway” is holding, prompting me to come to the conclusion that Hive’s sway isn’t an all powerful thing but something that may have been resisted before. After he is reassured he states that he activated the Kree technology which turns out to be a beacon that calls Kree Reapers to it. As a result a small ship carrying two Reapers lands in the town and the Reapers begin hunting down Hive, killing anything in their path, including the multiple bodies of Alisha (Alicia Vela-Bailey).
Mack, May and the elite SHIELD soldiers on the other hand have somehow snuck into the town (an impressive feat considering it has a lot of private security contractors guarding it) and dawdle about for the most part as May uses her charms on James (Axle Whitehead) in a bid to find out exactly what Hive is doing in the quaint town and where he is. It’s a hilarious segment considering that the May we’re used to views emotions as a man would a rat carrying the plague, however James easily falls for her lure and gives up everything, only to be knocked out by a cue stick that May breaks on his back. Thus the SHIELD squad finds the Kree device and escapes the building just moments before the ship carrying the Kree Reapers crashes into it; they (minus Mack) then proceed to follow one of the Reapers to a church where we witness a fight between the Reaper and Hive. It seems pretty even for the most part; we have to remember that Kree are far more stronger than humans and that they did create Hive, but just when you think the Reaper has the upper hand we see that Hive wasn’t really fighting to his full potential. Hive easily defeats the Reaper using his parasite mist, prompting May and the elite SHIELD soldiers to unload all their weapons on him, to no avail.
Mack meanwhile has gone off mission and follows the other Reaper. This Reaper comes across Daisy and Dr. Radcliffe and, there’s no other way of saying this, gets absolutely owned by Daisy. It’s terrifying seeing Daisy harness her powers to this level, and in such control, breaking the joints of the Reaper with effortless ease before snapping his back. As Radcliffe drains the Kree of blood, Mack turns up and tries to talk Daisy out of Hive’s influence. It’s a touching scene and a powerful one, with both Daisy’s and Mack’s voices raw with emotion. Alas, Mack’s misguided attempt to bring back Daisy from the brink fails and as a last resort he destroys the Kree body, sending Daisy into rage as she attempts to kill him, nearly succeeding in doing so. She’s stopped by a well aimed shot by May and the entire SHIELD team gets evaced out as Daisy promises to kill them all as she’s chastised by Hive. Furthermore in an attempt to show her devotion she offers herself up as a test subject, reminding everyone that she has Kree blood in her, back from when she died in season one.
Back at the SHIELD base it’s revealed that the cure has failed, leaving Lincoln weak and despair high.Furthermore the clock is ticking on who will die in the two hour long season finale debuting next week.
