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

​Written by John Edward Betancourt

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

Something that I have come to truly enjoy about Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. as a whole is the fact that the show is more than willing to take some serious risks with its storytelling and its characters and shake things up in stunning fashion from time to time. We saw it on display in the first season with the whole Hydra twist and last year with the fascinating Inhuman storyline. But this season, well the show has decided to go for broke by delivering one surprise after another our way.

We saw May's true love turn into a vengeful Inhuman. We learned about the Hydra God and saw it become one with Ward after Coulson took his revenge upon the former agent for murdering Rosalind Price, Phil's first love in a long time. We even saw Bobbi and Hunter say their goodbyes. It truly has been a season filled to the brim with twists and turns, but none of them have been quite as stunning as last night's revelation, when "The Team" gave us our first real look at the Secret Warriors plot line we have all been waiting for...and we were witness to the unthinkable as we watched one agent betray the entire team.

But before we get into that shocking moment, let's talk about the wonder of the Secret Warriors because that actually was quite an awesome little treat. It was simply incredible to watch this group work together in seamless fashion, using their powers in unison to slap Hydra around and I have to say of all the powers on display last night, Lincoln's turned out to be the coolest since I had no freaking idea that he would be able to convert electricity into physical form and use it like a lasso on the bad guys, but I digress. Because despite all the fan-boying I did during this episode, things became incredibly interesting shortly after that blast of an opening when the team returned home with Malick and learned that Hive infected one of the Inhumans to do his evil bidding. 

That little fact made this episode truly intriguing as we worked to figure out who Hive turned to the Worm Side and I appreciate how the episode slowly built the tension up this go round. Minute by minute the distrust between Inhuman and human grew and I have to admit, it left me on the edge of my seat and left me guessing as to who it could be and well, I know Lincoln seemed like the obvious choice, but truth be told I thought it was Joey. Erratic behavior or not from having to cope with killing a man, disappearing the way that he did raised my suspicions, which meant I was left stunned when the show revealed that the traitor turned out to be Daisy after all. Sure I completely understand that she is doing this without her own free will, but man...seriously...Daisy? 

This truly changes everything for the show because while the group has faced some insurmountable odds before, they've never truly faced off against someone they all love and adore like this. Yes, Ward was part of the team but his love of Hydra and willingness to torture his teammates ended all goodwill toward him. This time around the gang knows she's not in the right state of mind and that will make the fight against her a difficult one, especially since they can't use any of the Secret Warriors to help rescue her without running the risk of further infection. Which makes me wonder if Lash will indeed be saving the day after all. Either way, what a fantastic episode of this show and one that fully redeems some of the inconsistency of the past few weeks because I am completely engaged right now and have to know...how the hell will they save Daisy from Hive? Until next time.

---