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

Written by John Edward Betancourt

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

For the most part, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is a show that tends to keeps things on the lighter side when it comes to storytelling. Sure there are some darker episodes out there, but the fact that our heroes save the day on a regular basis negates some of the ugly and despite going a little grittier this season, it's still lighthearted and fun. Now this is by no means meant to be a knock on the show, because it is great entertainment, but at times, it does leave you longing for the stories to dig deeper and give us something a little more from the characters.

Oddly enough, last night, there was an opportunity for some in depth exploration of the characters, in darker fashion for that matter and this time around the series didn't shy away from it. Because 'Lockdown' ended up being an in depth analysis about revenge, and how it changes a person and how the fury that comes with it can become inescapable, all while delivering plenty of cool action packed moments, a surprise from Director Mace and of course, the hunt for the Darkhold...which started in the past. Because early on in this episode, we were privy to the moment when Lucy and her husband finally found the mysterious tome and we quickly learned that it knows how to attach itself to a human mind to reveal its secrets, and the key word there is human.

Because Lucy did get her wounded husband to tell her where he buried the book and upon opening it once again, the fact that she is some kind of hybrid corporeal entity/human...the book, denied her access to the words within its pages, meaning there was only one other man left on the planet that could help her in deciphering its secrets...Robbie's uncle. That meant it was a race against time for S.H.I.E.L.D. to arrive at the prison before Lucy did and well...that's when things got interesting. Because during the raid, we learned that the Watchdogs are doing their recruiting within the prison's walls, and that the head of the gang responsible for hurting Robbie's brother was behind bars as well and both Daisy and Robbie saw a grand opportunity to not only be heroes, but to settle the scores with their enemies once and for all.

Granted, they both had a chance to avoid confrontation and apply themselves to the mission. But revenge is a powerful thing, and the opportunity to put personal demons to rest, or feed them since vendetta never quite solves that problem, was too much for Robbie and Daisy to bear and they gave in to their darker sides. Daisy locked herself in with the Watchdog's recruits, beating them mercilessly before finding her life in danger because of it and thanks to Coulson and May she walked away with her life and a ton of bumps of bruises. But Robbie's desire to settle the score was perhaps the costliest decision of the night since after the team rescued his uncle, he sent him along on his own so Robbie could deal with the gang leader, unleashing the Rider, and unknowingly handing his uncle over to Lucy so that he can now help her reclaim her human form and as she so chillingly put it...'finish what we started.'

But to see two members of the team give in like that was astonishing to say the least. Daisy has clearly let the events of last season completely and utterly break her and Robbie is starving to see justice in a world that doesn't provide it in his eyes and the end result is that their anger, causes more harm than good since there's a fair chance Daisy will be out of commission for a bit and Robbie, well it's hard to say if Coulson can trust him after letting his Uncle fall into the wrong hands. Plus, there will be consequences for their actions as well, because the secret will soon be out that the team went after Robbie's uncle without sanction from Director Mace and despite the fact that Mister Mace revealed to the world that he is an Inhuman to stave off attacks from Senator Nadeer, a secret mission with a criminal Inhuman's involvement, won't go over well. Either way, this was a wonderful episode. I love the fact that we got some intriguing depth for Daisy and Robbie and I hope the show continues to pepper that in as the season progresses. Until next time.

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