'Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.' Recap: 'Principia'

Written by John Edward Betancourt

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

​While the 100th episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. served as a wonderful way to honor the past of this storied saga, I think we all knew that the joy and wonder that came with that particular tale, simply could not last. After all, there was still a planet Earth that needed to be saved and a rift that needed to be closed permanently, and last night’s episode, ‘Principia’, put us back on track when it comes to that plotline by providing us with a story that was packed to the brim with all kinds of goodies and surprises. 
 
But before we get too deep into those little twists and turns, let’s take a moment and discuss the central plot of this episode, which featured Coulson and the team’s search for Gravitonium. Because they simply needed more of the stuff to close that pesky rift, which meant it was time to dig into S.H.I.E.L.D.’s past case files and look at the former staff of Cybertek, since plenty of their scientists were familiar with Gravitonium. And after noticing that much of the staff mysteriously ‘died’ and had their death warrants signed by the same man, the team found the ‘doctor’ who signed that paperwork, a man named Tony Caine who was also an old friend of Mack’s and once he realized the team only wanted to help, he led the squad to one of the ‘deceased’ scientists so they could finally snag some info on where they could find what they need.
 
As it turns out, the doc actually had some quality information to offer up, in that the last remaining Gravitonium was loaded up onto a ship known as the Principia, which sunk while transporting the goods, and oddly enough, the ship was nowhere to be found at the bottom of the sea. But, thanks to some quick thinking on Deke’s part, a search skyward revealed a massive tanker floating in the sky and despite a few hiccups, the team was able to rescue their prize and escape before the ship dropped out of the clouds and while it seems as though this episode ends on a magnificently happy note, there is still some serious trouble brewing behind the scenes, which brings us to the surprises in question.
 
Because this episode did still manage to pay homage of the show’s past by reuniting us with Werner von Strucker, who after his encounter with Coulson and the gang, has perfect recall memory wise, and that’s no joke or exaggeration, there’s nothing the man cannot remember, which has its pros and cons and sadly, he’s working for General Hale now. Because the General had him transferred to her facility and used her daughter to woo him, with the truth, to recruit him, and considering the fact that Carl Creel is in her little facility as well, she’s clearly assembling a league of villains to do her bidding and it was nice to see the show finally reveal some of Hale’s machinations and I cannot wait to learn more about her master plan.
 
Yet while all of this was entertaining to watch, there was an added bonus in this tale as well, in that, this story followed up on the revelation that Deke is the grandson of Fitz and Simmons by having Deke figure that out and that was just a magnificent twist to the story and I won’t ever look at Fitz the same, now that Deke calls him grandpa. In the end however, this ended up being another solid episode. It wasn’t revolutionary by any means, but honestly, I didn’t expect anything epic after that amazing 100th episode, but this one held its own, and brought the fun, especially when it comes to Mack’s love of MC Hammer, and I hope that ‘Mack Hammer’ is his new permanent nickname from here on out. Until next time. 

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