I’m going to go all out and say it: +Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is now becoming the show everyone was hoping for in season 1 with full-on super powers and characters we really care for.
This is my review of the season 3 premiere, episode 3×01 Laws of Nature
Inhumans
Skye is now Daisy, we knew that from the previews we’ve seen so far but it seems Coulson has trouble adjusting still, though it looks like he’s the only one.
Lincoln seems well adjusted to his life as a doctor until Daisy comes asking for help and something big arrives to create disruption. Given the aftermath of the incident, I expect him to knock on S.H.I.E.L.D’s door sooner rather than later.
I wasn’t expecting Lash until the very end, I thought he’d just be in a teaser or something. I’m glad they went full-on combat mode though he looks like a tough beast to defeat. What we don’t know yet is who he’s working for. Part of me is hoping we’ll finally start hearing about the Royal Family but the fact of the matter is, Marvel likely hasn’t authorised their use as they’re due to be in their own movie, though not for another 4 years or so.
Joey has interesting powers. I’m not sure what’s gonna happen to him, I fear he may not have a long future but if he does end up as part of the Secret Warriors team I say “Meltdown” is a pretty good code name for him.
Status of S.H.I.E.L.D.
I like the new bird. I’ve still no idea how they pay for all that tech but maybe that will be addressed at some point because it’s still bothering me a bit.
Coulson has a few different hands, none of which seem to do anything special so far but it’s early days, this may yet surprise us.
No sign of Agent May yet but it seems she will return next week. Note how his “I lost my one good hand” when he refers to her departure mirrors Fury’s “I lost my one good eye” when he was referring to Coulson in The Avengers. Unless I’m mistaken this is the first episode where Ming-Na Wen doesn’t make an appearance. With a cast as large as theirs, this isn’t surprising.
Bobbi and Hunter are making noises about re-marrying but it seems Hunter has to go find Ward first. He wasn’t explicitly named but there’s no one else Hunter would want to track down quite so badly. This could end badly for either or both of them once they find each other.
Advanced Threat Containment Unit
This is an organisation that seemingly answers directly to the US president. In case you didn’t notice President Ellis was played by William Sadler who already played the role in Iron Man 3. That it’s such a high-profile task force is a big deal. Where the interaction with S.H.I.E.L.D. will lead to few can tell at this point but I’m hoping it won’t be just a rehash of the S.H.I.E.L.D. vs “real S.H.I.E.L.D.” we had in season 2 where both were trying to do the right thing but ended up being at odds with each other. There will be some definite conflict but hopefully it will be a little more complex than that.
Certainly the level of intel that Rosalind has on Coulson suggests she might have been a high-ranking S.H.I.E.L.D. agent herself. That or she has contacts with Ward. There aren’t many people who know about T.A.H.I.T.I. Of course she could also just be inhuman too with the ability to read minds, that would be the easy explanation.
Fitz + Simmons
You can tell Fitz is completely cured from his brain injury given the level of confidence he shows facing what looks like a terrorist cell just to retrieve an ancient parchment. I will assume none of these devices were actually splinter bombs and that ray of light just disabled them all from doing any kind of harm. fitz would be clever enough to come up with this failsafe.
But let’s close up with Simmons.
I did call it from the time Elizabeth Hentsridge said “I didn’t think we’d go there” (or words to that effect) and my first thought was that she had traveled to another world.
Now let’s review the clues here: She’s on what appears to be a desert planet, or at least the part of the planet with arrid terrain. The hue of the film in that sequence was very … blue, which strongly suggests a Kree world. At this point I’m reluctant to say she’s on Hala. If the monolith is dangerous to inhumans, it’s likely the destination is a sort of prison planet, which would not be the Kree home world.
The Hebrew word for death is “Maveth” (מָ֫וֶת). As far as I can tell, this does not correspond to any existing place in the known Marvel universe but it’s possible this is the name they gave to a planet they created specifically for the show.
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. going cosmic opens up tons of possibilities including a guest appearance from one or more Guardian of the Galaxy. I know Chris Pratt has expressed interest in guest starring so don’t lose hope this might just happen.
Overall I am really excited about the direction the show is taking, I’m sure you also noticed references to recent Marvel movies (The avengers, Thor the Dark World, Avengers, Age of Ultron and Ant-Man) and how the presidential intervention is placing a seed for the lead-up to Civil War.