This week’s Agents of Shield episode continues the break from the main seasons arc of Inhumans/Hive and dismantling HYDRA to instead once again bring us a close look at another character. Much like how last episode focused on the emotional departure of two characters from the show, Watchdogs (written by Drew Z. Greenberg and directed by Jesse Bochco) focuses on Mack (Henry Simmons) whilst also giving us the big picture surrounding the Marvel Comic Universe.
The episode opens with Mack spending time with his younger brother Rueben (Gaius Charles) in the garage of their childhood home, with Mack informing his brother about a transfer two coworkers took at his “insurance firm”. While the brothers toil over repairing their motorbikes, duty soon calls upon Mack as a nearby ATCU facility gets imploded by a group we’ve heard a few times over the season, the “Watchdogs.” It’s one of the few episodes where Mack steps out from behind the shadows of the main characters to give life to an episode that will surely have fans wanting more of him. Sent to help assist with the investigation into the Watchdogs group is Daisy (Chloe Bennet) and Fitz (Iain De Caestecker). The Watchdogs declare that they are enemies of all Inhumans and as a result Daisy goes into this fight with a temper. Against Mack’s decision she intimidates a Watchdogs member as a disheartened Fitz looks on. Mack meanwhile has to cope with a brother who is struggling with unemployment and is understandably upset at the fact that Mack never spends time with him. In the ensuing altercation it is revealed that Rueben has sympathies for the Watchdogs. The two actors do a great job of playing siblings, tossing in inside jokes that make the relationship believable — making the viewer invested.
“You either rise up and protest or you fall down in chains”
One of the sub-arcs follows Lincoln (Luke Mitchell), who’s recently gone through his SHIELD agent evaluation, and Director Coulson (Clark Gregg) who takes Lincoln with him to discover the person behind Watchdogs and to make his own personal judgment of Lincoln. The two track down an old SHIELD agent who’s appeared before on the show, Felix Blake (guest star Titus Welliver) — who suffered a spinal injury at the hands of Deathlok in season 1. On the way to his safe house Coulson delivers a harsh speech to Lincoln, telling him that while he believes the latter can be a good agent he doesn’t believe he has the commitment to do so. The two infiltrate Blake’s safe house where they confront a hologram of Blake, though Lincoln doesn’t know it. As a result Coulson orders Lincoln to kill him, knowing no harm would be done. Instead, Lincoln argues and aims to wound, rather than kill, eliciting a chuckle from Coulson who gives approvance off Lincoln’s desistance. It was one of those tongue in cheek moments I’ve come to expect from Coulson who with a poker face that would have bankrupted Las Vegas, comes out on the other side laughing at his own inside joke or deduction. This sub-arc also propels The Secret Warriors, now that Lincoln is recognised as a member of SHIELD.
Meanwhile Mack and co. attack a Watchdogs compound with consequences: Reuben stumbles upon them in an eager attempt to show Mack that the motorbike they were labouring over and Fitz takes a Nitromine bomb to the neck. Mack quickly rushes off to explain everything to Reuben whilst Daisy helps Fitz by freezing off the bomb using liquid nitrogen (the science about this was dubious at best, I’m sure liquid nitrogen is far more dangerous to your skin). A Watchdogs member Daisy had captured reveals they thought that during the attack on the compound, they had thought Mack was an Inhuman and as a result had sent people after him. And here’s wher Mack steps in with the best line in the episode:
“I’m a mechanic, I hate this stuff”
Henry Simmons takes the lead in taking out the Watchdogs members in the house while Gaius Charles does a great job of acting like the younger, inexperienced brother who doesn’t know how to operate a gun and nearly botches their escape by running into two of the combatants. Alas, not all goes well as Mack takes a bullet to the shoulder but in true style he incapacitates the enemy with a Butcher’s knife that he then straps to a shotgun, taking down the two remaining Watchdogs members, with the help of his brother. Fainting he explains to his brother why he always kept him in the dark about his secret life as a super spy/mechanic.
Meanwhile another sub-arc that runs throughout the show features May (Ming-Na Wen) and Simmons (Elizabeth Henstridge), the former who feels guilty about the fact that so many people were sacrificed to keep her safe. May directs her guilt to instead help her find Lash/Andrew. Unfortunately while this is indeed an important sub-arc it felt disconnected from the main plot line even though it touched upon the Inhuman “cure” Simmons is developing.
The show ends with a tease that we may see more of Reuben as Daisy hints that they may call upon his mechanical services in the future. The end of credits scene reveals that the person funding the Watchdogs and Blake is infact Mallick, through Giyera, and that the ATCU building had been robbed of a bomb prior to its implosion.
This episode does what Agents of Shield does best: spy on spy warfare with the usual underlying emotion, while also seemingly laying down the groundwork for Captain America: Civil War, as it deals with the unrest caused in the recent MCU movies such as the fall of Sokovia. Also, Nitromine?
