'Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.' Recap: 'Rise and Shine'

Written by John Edward Betancourt

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​I have to admit that I was watching the clock yesterday and counting down the minutes to Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. simply due to the fact that last week’s brutal episode left so many questions swirling around in my head. After all, what was going to happen between Fitz and the team now that he crossed the line and hurt Daisy? Plus, was Phil going to be safe in slightest now that he was in Hale’s evil clutches, and for that matter, what exactly is her end game? Thankfully, all of those questions were actually answered over the course of last night’s episode, ‘Rise and Shine’ and well, this particular tale dropped all kinds of storytelling surprises in our lap.   
 
Case in point, the fact that this episode hammered home that sometimes, villains aren’t always born with a desire to do evil and harm mankind. Sometimes they have the best intentions in mind and do rotten things thanks to a few formative and critical moments in their lives and that’s really the best way to describe Hale. Who, as a teenager, had a promising career ahead of her in Hydra, until a fist fight with Von Strucker derailed her options and decided her fate as nothing more than a breeding vessel for a perfect warrior. Something that she clearly had no desire to do, but when one considers the horrible things Hydra will do to people when orders are disobeyed, she fell in line, and had Ruby and saw her world turn upside down the day that Hydra fell a couple of years ago, allowing for her to make contact with the Confederacy and learn that Earth is in grave danger of becoming a battle ground.
 
This led to her believing it was high time to shed the old ways of Hydra and work with others to save humanity. But despite her best efforts to negotiate a partnership with General Glenn Talbot, her Hydra ties torpedoed any chances of that, which brings us to Phil Coulson, who oddly enough…sees eye to eye with the General. Because they both believe that the strange Confederacy is not to be trusted and that mankind needs to fight back against whatever is coming, but exactly how…became the point of contention. For it was revealed in this tale that Whitehall’s device for creating the perfect warrior would give birth to a being known as ‘The Destroyer of Worlds’, which means it is this device that brings about the end of the world and sadly, Hale won’t listen to reason on that, and for good reason. Because once again, someone is telling her she’s in the wrong, and well, her fury at Hydra and that organization’s ability to oppress and look down upon her, came back into play, forcing her to dig in when it came to her plans.
 
Yet while Coulson was dealing with this mess, the team was trying to figure out Hale’s angle on their own and well…since May is fully aware of the fact that their resources are thin and that Fitz’s disturbing actions were not indicative of who he really is, she turned to him to help figure out Hydra’s end game and while Leopold was indeed able to gather that Hale was on the hunt for more Gravitonium to build some kind of super weapon, when he requested lab time and file access to learn more, Daisy stepped in to say no and really it’s obvious now the team is split at this point, and in need of a unifier like Phil Coulson and until the boss man is back in the saddle, conflict will reign supreme and really, I have to give to it to this episode, it was downright brilliant. In part because of the fact that it split the team over the Fitz mess rather than have everyone turn their backs upon him, but more so because of the depth it provided General Hale with in this episode.
 
Her journey was downright powerful as we watched her live a life filled with fury over the fact that she wasn’t allowed to let her mind shine, and that she was only good enough in Hydra’s eyes to serve as a breeding vessel and I appreciate the fact that she really does have the best intentions in mind for humanity since she genuinely wants to save the world and that she’s not just some megalomaniacal monster wanting to rule the planet. It gives her character depth and it makes her relatable in a way and well, bravo to the Writer’s Room for giving us a villain for a change that has something more to them. But the bigger question hovering over this story now, is whether or not Coulson or anyone can change her mind or reach her when it comes to her plan since it will in fact, signal the end of everything and honestly, at this point, I’m not sure what will change her perspective on this matter. But what I do know, is that this was a great episode, and now that Daisy is on the hunt for Robin, I’ll be counting down the minutes until next week’s episode, once again. Until next time. 

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