"Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." Recap: "The Inside Man"

Written by John Edward Betancourt

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

I am often in awe of television writers for one particular reason, they have an incredibly difficult job ahead of them when they head into work every single day. Audiences are smart and in this day and age they demand top notch stories that feature the best elements of that show's particular genre and if they don't get what they want, they simply stop watching. 

One show that falls under that magnifying glass is Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and with good reason. It's part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, a franchise known for top tier storytelling and if you ask me, the show has delivered for all of us throughout its three seasons, but last week we discussed the fact that the show suddenly felt different after coming back from the winter hiatus and I was curious if this week's episode was going to continue to take us into new and darker territories that we've never seen on the series before. But as it turns out, "The Inside Man" was a pleasant surprise, giving us another twist in the show's mythos...by turning out to be a best of reel. 

I mean really, everything we have ever loved about the show popped up in this single hour of storytelling as our beloved agents finally teamed up with General Talbot for a conference regarding Inhumans and that's where all the cool stuff happened. I loved the banter between Talbot and Coulson and seeing these two actually work together was a total delight to say the least and I look forward to more team ups as the season progresses. But in addition to those lovely moments, I thoroughly enjoyed the slick spy sequences with cool technology that came about as the team worked to find an inside man working for Malick and Hydra and the surprises that came with that were equally as entertaining. This was simply a fun episode through and through and I ate up every single second of it since I was dying to know what other grand twist was waiting for us around the corner. 

But despite all the fun and joy, the gritty nature we have also come to embrace for this series arrived by way of Grant Ward/Hive and well, this new threat gets scarier by the day. I'm still not one hundred percent sure what he's doing to make a believer out of the Inhumans since they always cut away, but I'll be damned if that final shot, where it's clear he liquified the five people he asked for and used their skin sludge to heal his damaged body wasn't the stuff of nightmares. I like that they're keeping his plan and his intentions in the shadows, it will make the big reveal of what Hive's all about all the more terrifying when the time comes.  

I also have to give the show a little bit of credit for exploring the ramifications of an Inhuman vaccine as well. The debate between Lincoln and Daisy was thoughtful and fascinating because both sides have valid points. Some folks would love to avoid the possibility of ever becoming an Inhuman, and some will embrace it, good or bad. I say that I give the show a little bit of credit for this simply because this is the tip of the iceberg of such a debate and I'm hoping they take the time to properly flesh it out rather than throw it in quickly as they did last night. Either way though, I had tons of fun watching this particular episode. It was really great to see the series get back to its roots at least one more time before Hive comes forth to no doubt bring about more heartbreak for our heroes. Until next time.  

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