Brokers of S.H.I.E.L.D. is the underdog of underdog reveals. Like the issue youngster of an elite upper-class household, earlier than epic flops the likes of Inhumans and The Defenders, S.H.I.E.L.D.’s less-than-stellar debut led to a fast disownment from its MCU mother and father. The intricately deliberate ties between the TV and movie universes the place rapidly lower (you bear in mind #Itsallconnected?) and S.H.I.E.L.D. was set adrift, floating alone within the huge sea of cult sci-fi custom.
And but, it rocked. As quickly as AoS shed its accountability of carrying a universe on its shoulders that it wasn’t allowed to truly be part of, it flourished creatively. If showrunners Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tancheroen needed to be continuously avoiding the MCU’s toes, we nearly actually by no means would’ve gotten The Framework arc in season 4, or the campy masterpiece that was season 7’s time journey theme, or whole episodes dedicated to elaborate thoughts palace reunions and alien drug journeys on shady on line casino planets. Its capability to continuously come up from behind undoubtedly made S.H.I.E.L.D. the present that it’s.
And because the underdog of the underdogs, there isn’t any episode that embodies AoS’ success-but-not-success as “Aftershocks”: it boasted one of many lowest similar day viewership counts for the present to that date, again when same-day nonetheless not less than form of mattered. It was bookended by the return of Woman Sif and a (fairly actually) earth-shattering midseason finale. It heralded an appropriate however unimpressive 8.5 on IMDb. It was by no means as common as 4,722 Hours or Spacetime, nor as critically lauded as As I Have All the time Been or Self Management. And but, that is the one episode that defines the present as it’s and appropriately, that depicts the characters and story and essence of this present at its purest.
Let me clarify.
This episode picks up the place the season 2 midseason finale left off, after Skye (again when she was nonetheless Skye) was trapped in a Kree temple, cocooned in stone, and buried in rubble after a strong earthquake was set off, and but seemingly made it out unhurt. This feat is made all of the extra spectacular seeing that Skye’s two companions within the temple both disappeared with out a hint (Raina) or didn’t make it out of the occasion alive (though…#TripLives).
What we and Skye know that nobody else on Crew S.H.I.E.L.D. does is that the earthquake within the temple was not simply attributable to some random alien tech or magic hidden within the temple, however by Skye herself, who had emerged from her cocoon together with her dormant Inhuman powers activated and uncontrolled. Subsequently, we enter the episode feeling the heaviness of Journey’s loss and the apprehension of stepping right into a world the place powered individuals are not simply “the unhealthy guys” anymore – they’re our heroes too.
You don’t usually see numerous actual aftermath episodes in sci-fi – extra possible, you’ll go straight from “reactions of all of the related characters to a tragic occasion” to “boots on the bottom and able to transfer on.” And there’s a little bit of that concept current in “Aftershocks,” to be truthful. Coulson’s storyline within the episode reveals him dragging a number of of his brokers round in an elaborate (and shockingly darkish) ploy to retaliate in opposition to HYDRA by tricking the remaining heads to chop one another off, because it have been. And but, past that, the vast majority of “Aftershocks” isn’t action-oriented. It’s quiet. Woeful. Painfully empty.
Possibly that is what stood out to me once I first watched it. I used to be lengthy into my first carnivorous consumption of the present (12 months: 2015, in the course of the present’s second season airing). I cherished the characters. I cherished the dialogue. I cherished the plot, and the best way it will often pause its act as an upbeat found-family present to take a chronic look down darkish avenues; like the best way season 1’s “T.R.A.C.Okay.S.” took a single gunshot to flip from a cutesy “so right here’s what occurred” bottle episode into an intense storyline that put our protagonist’s life in grave hazard and adjusted the trail of the whole remainder of the present. My surprise on the present’s composition and weekly spectacle was practically infinite; it was one among my first forays into sci-fi TV, so I used to be simple to impress, however even early on, S.H.I.E.L.D. nonetheless managed to ship fairly a little bit of high-caliber style content material. However nonetheless, “Aftershocks,” I might determine instantly, was particular another way than earlier AoS hits.
After a primary season that performed out like an upbeat, soapy procedural, S.H.I.E.L.D. was not precisely most individuals’s go-to for nuance. Positive, sure characters like Fitz and Simmons have been, from nearly the beginning, distinctive sufficient to be fascinating, however except for little breadcrumbs of backstory, the characters by season 2 have been largely loveable however un-fleshed-out units of character traits. It is sensible as to why this occurred; with solely 45 minutes per week to inform a narrative about so many various characters , most ensemble dramas lean all in on plot. However now, after the S.H.I.E.L.D. group’s first main tragedy – not the lack of an acquaintance or a personality simply launched an episode or so in the past however Journey, the impossible-to-hate, tenderhearted grandson of a Howling Commando – “Aftershocks” takes a step again, taking the time to completely map out every character’s souls by exploring how they deal with the loss.
As a child tv journalist, I didn’t instantly discover all that “Aftershocks” needed to supply (and why). It’s exhausting to determine how, however the episode’s humorous, jaunty “let’s get the unhealthy man!” storyline appears like a B-Plot in comparison with the interwoven scenes of Skye, locked in an isolation pod (forward of her time) and witnessing the numerous reactions of the group to Journey’s tragic dying – all of the whereas coping with the key guilt that it could be her fault. Once more, most reveals would make the retaliation in opposition to HYDRA its major focus on this occasion, however this episode says no, the essential factor here’s what everyone seems to be doing in-between these moments of vengeance. It is about the best way Bobbi reacts in comparison with the best way Hunter does. How Fitz buries himself in fruitless work and frustration whereas Simmons tries as exhausting as she will be able to to maintain an expert face. How Coulson can’t conceal his rage, how Could provides it onto her lengthy listing of tragedies to mine for focus. How Mack can not stand again and let another person make the choices. We’re watching the brokers at their absolute realest. The quarantine facet performs up Skye’s immense helplessness within the second, true, but it surely additionally makes Skye an apparent viewers surrogate – she is faraway from the motion, watching the brokers by way of glass as they meet, combat, work out their issues, plot, fume, despair – do something to come back to phrases with the truth that they failed and Journey paid for it.
One other notable, associated thread that runs by way of the episode is the varied visits Skye receives. Many of the brokers, at one level or one other, meet with Skye in wildly totally different psychological states that echo the levels of grief, with Skye herself starting the episode within the denial stage and dealing ahead from there. There’s Coulson – who vows wrath upon HYDRA and all its members (anger). Bobbi – who, performing as a double agent, is secretly bartering with Skye for info, however who additionally convinces her that she isn’t a “leper” however a “rockstar” (bargaining). There’s additionally Simmons, whose aggressively anti-superpowers stance and guilt-ridden response to Journey’s dying makes Skye consider she actually could possibly be a monster (despair). And with every new customer, Skye (once more, performing as surrogate for the viewers) is led by way of that exact stage, till lastly she reaches Fitz, who has been coping with grief and loss on this season for for much longer than anybody else, and who teaches her acceptance of herself and her new powers. All these communicate simply as a lot to the traits of the present’s ensemble – who they’re and who they’re now, as soon as the chips are down.
Within the season 1 episode “Seeds,” Coulson expresses an concept that rapidly turns into a cornerstone of the present’s construction: “The world is filled with evil, and lies, and ache and dying, and you’ll’t conceal from it, you possibly can solely face it. The query is, once you do, how do you reply? What do you turn into?”
This concept of turning into one thing new within the face of issue – one thing presumably good, presumably evil – is written throughout “Aftershocks.” From the totally different depictions of Gordon and Raina’s Inhuman transformations to the disparate reactions of Fitz and Simmons (as soon as a unit) towards the incident within the temple, to the secrets and techniques Bobbi hides from Hunter as they as soon as once more develop shut, this episode is unafraid to blur some strains and tell us our favourite characters aren’t the identical as they as soon as have been.
The gorgeous a part of this concept is that not all of this transformation is sudden or surprising like Skye’s transformation was. Many of the characters get to outline themselves, and the choices and phrases, nonetheless drastic, that trigger the group to crack and sever all through the episode nonetheless really feel pure to every particular person character’s experiences. As an illustration: Simmons, who obtained heapings of destructive reception after her very anti-Inhuman stance within the episode, was very clearly working not from a spot of “the writers needing an anti-hero,” however from a remorse for what she’s already misplaced (Journey, Fitz, S.H.I.E.L.D.) and a concern of the issues that she perceived prompted that loss (the powered and the power-hungry).
The identities and loyalties of each character are in query throughout the hour, and the best way every individual processes and expresses their emotions after the incident within the temple tells us precisely who every character is now and has chosen to be. The episode would not say it out loud, but it surely actually makes it clear: Daisy and Raina weren’t the one characters that metamorphosed after the earlier episode. Each character was, in their very own means, killed and reborn.
And in the identical means that it marked a definite redefinition of every of its characters, “Aftershocks” was, in each means, the mark of a brand new AoS. From its uncharacteristically graphic depiction of bloodsplatter and gore (the present would ultimately bump its common episode ranking from TV-PG to TV-14) to the sudden and aggressive elimination of HYDRA – what had been the one villain within the present as much as that time – there isn’t any conception about S.H.I.E.L.D. as we knew it that “Aftershocks” doesn’t destroy. And this idea of fixed reinvention is what makes S.H.I.E.L.D. the distinctive sci-fi treasure it’s.
When confronted with evil, lies, ache and dying, “Aftershocks” confirmed us precisely what the S.H.I.E.L.D. characters – in addition to the present itself – might turn into. Even this jumble of ideas edited into evaluation kind doesn’t seem to be it touches on practically all the pieces this episode is to me. I might go on and on for hours about this episode and nonetheless not be capable to contact on precisely why it feels so excellent.
What’s that Jane Austen quote? From Emma? “If I cherished you much less, I would be capable to speak about it extra?”