"Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." Recap: "Aftershocks"

Written by John Edward Betancourt

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

So, I knew when Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. came back from its hiatus to expect some pretty epic things. The Inhumans were introduced to the world, Hydra would be dealing with a power struggle and S.H.I.E.L.D. would be mourning one of its own.  What I didn't expect, was that the show was going to go to some pretty heavy and dark places, and that's what we will be talking about today as we recap "Aftershocks". 

All the story elements I just mentioned were of course front and center last night, Skye is quickly realizing she has some pretty extraordinary powers, Raina has become what appears to be a hybrid of human, cat and porcupine, a "Porcucat" as Shae put it during text message and our first surprisingly dark theme of the night came forth, the xenophobia on the matter. Hell even Agent Simmons suggested that perhaps a little genocide and dismantling of anything alien wouldn't be bad. I call it surprising because well...in the MCU it's not like extraterrestrial life is a shock any more to mankind after the Battle of New York so, I really wasn't expecting that one.  

But I guess it makes sense, Agent Tripp was an unexpected loss and the show got a little darker in dealing with his untimely departure. Sure the team had the obligatory, let's hang out and remember our fallen friend, but anger over the fact that he died was everywhere. Heck it was so bad we even saw Mack go off on Coulson regarding his ability to lead the team without getting everyone killed and our fearless leader had the tough duty of having to deliver the bad news to Agent Tripp's mother in an absolutely heartbreaking scene. I've never quite seen the show go to such places, and it was impressive to say the least.

Perhaps the craziest moments from last night, if that's possible, came from the Hydra power struggle, something I'm glad they addressed. After all, we know that if you cut one head off, two more will appear, but the ancient and powerful organization seems to be in trouble now leadership wise after Coulson used their own tactics against this evil group. After all, Hydra feared a S.H.I.E.L.D. counteroffensive and the many different folks vying to be the new boss agreed that the one who brought down S.H.I.E.L.D. would be in charge. So Coulson used Bakshi as bait, and faked his own death and made it look like Hunter betrayed them all to put an end to the power struggle and cripple Hydra all at once. The man who took Bakshi in for shelter after his "escape" put his fellow Hydra Leadership competitors to death before S.H.I.E.L.D. put him down and took Bakshi back into custody to deliver to General Talbot. 

It was by far Coulson's boldest move on the show, because now Hydra will undoubtedly be in complete disarray for some time, something I'm not exactly upset about since they've been a pain in the ass in the MCU since Winter Solider, I just never thought I'd see Coulson lay down the hammer in such a fashion. Impressive to say the least. Either way, holy cow this show keeps getting better and better. The growth of the story and the characters continues to impress, however I'm hoping we start moving away from some of these incredibly darker episodes and give our favorite agents a break.  Heck they, and the audience need it, but bravo to last night's episode, it was bold and amazing. 

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