'Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.' Recap: 'All Roads Lead...'

Written by John Edward Betancourt

THIS IS THE EMERGENCY SPOILER ALERT SYSTEM...YOU ARE ADVISED TO READ AT YOUR OWN RISK...

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has accomplished a great many things over the course of its five-year run. Not only has it done a phenomenal job of growing into its own unique entity of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but the series has proven time and time again that it can be bold on a moment’s notice and take us to some ugly places by way of dark and dreary storytelling and it just so happens that the series hammered that point home again last night since ‘All Roads Lead…’ ended up being quite the powerhouse affair, one that definitely went to some incredibly bleak places when all is said and done.
 
However, before we dig too deeply into all of that, we do need to take a moment and discuss how this tale managed to balance out the bleak with some fine comedy by way of Deke’s interaction with Coulson and Mack in this tale, wherein he finally figured out that he’s in love with Daisy and offered every romantic out there a brand-new idea on how to woo the person that has caught their fancy. And as an added bonus on the positive side of things, Daisy finally seems to be falling into her own as a leader, since she was able to command the team with poise and grace and confidence and it’s wonderful to see her grow into this role so quickly.
 
But, I made mention of the fact that this episode was dark, and really, two key plot points helped to make that happen, the first being Glenn Talbot’s Hydra programming kicking into high gear. Because apparently, he was ordered by Hale to target Robin and her mother, and I won’t lie, this part of the story, wherein Glenn attacked Polly and tried to escape with the little girl was tough to watch. Especially when the General struggled with this mental programming and turned the gun upon himself. You just so rarely see a character break like that in stories such as this and man, it was heartbreaking to see Glenn believe there was no way out and thankfully Mack and Coulson acted quickly to save him from doing something terrible.
 
Yet, while that was tough to watch in its own right, the darkest plot line of the night involved dear Ruby, who pushed Fitz and Simmons to finally complete the device and unfortunately for Ruby, becoming infused with Gravitonium led to complete and utter disaster. Because not only was she clueless as to how to handle her powers, something that cost Von Strucker his life, the voices within the substance were driving her mad and despite the fact that Daisy and her mother were able to talk her down from outright unleashing her fury, Ruby lost her life when Yo-Yo saw an opportunity to end this whole mess and potentially save the world and holy cow, I did not expect to see Ruby die this early on and well, this changes the rest of the season for certain.
 
Because for weeks now, we’ve all thought some kind of massive showdown between Ruby and the Agents was brewing, so to see her go down in such quick and vicious fashion can only mean that something far more sinister is waiting in the wings, and that perhaps the Destroyer of Worlds was not responsible for the end of the world, and considering the fact that Hale called out to her alien friends, one has to wonder if they are the ones who must be stopped in order to save mankind. Either way, this one was intense, and I was not expecting the story to go this dark, but it sure did, and it made for some compelling television and I cannot wait to see what twists and turns await us down the line, now that Ruby is out of the picture. Until next time.

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