The Hype
There has long been speculation that all these strange things going on in Agents of Shield is actually set up for the Inhumans, A recently announced new franchise in the MCU, And that this "Ancient City" that everyone is fussing about is actually Attilan, home of the Inhumans. This is seemingly confirmed by the appearance of Coulson's alien wrtiting on the latest issue of The Inhuman's current comic book run. This is a fascinating idea, especially with ties to the obelisk which is widely believed to be yet another infinity stone. Although AoS has redeemed itself in my eyes and many would agree has become a pretty damn good show, a big time movie connection like this could boost the series into the main stream and to new levels of success.
We start off with a strange dream sequence intro displaying Skye's many deep and mysterious issues, mostly with her past and parents.We finally get a sort-of explanation and another appearance of the many Koenigs its nice to see Patton Oswalt as his appearance are few and far between. I love all the characters old and new but i feel the series is having trouble juggling them all. My reaction to most the characters showing up is "Oh yeah, that guy's in this show". I'm on the fence on weather that cloaking umbrella is incredibly cheesy or bad ass, so i'll just chalk it up to a draw.
As always I love Skye getting a chance to be a bad ass and show how much she has changed since the start of the series. Honestly there's not a whole lot to say about the majority of this episode, although it is engaging throughout it is mostly due to the hype surrounding the episode. Most of it feels like watching a sports team with the upper hand trying to burn time until the final buzzer. Raina returns this week and it's nice to see the show accept her as an official good guy although she is still motivated by her own interests.
The third act however is very intense. Mac's decent into the underground city is creepy and surreal, Henry Simmons performance makes it feel quite gruesome. The threat feels real and you really believe the team is in danger. Finally we get the big reveal scene, Skye and Raina's conversation tell us what we've all been thinking. The "Blue Angels" are the Kree featured in Guardians of the Galaxy. Raina says "We're human, with the potential to be more." The show does everything but come out and say "HEY, INHUMANS OMG ARENT YOU YOU HYPED?" Yes Shield i'm very hyped and you better deliver.
All this does worry me a little, as the Inhumans movie is quite far away, but it doesn't seem like things are getting dragged out. Finally to top it all off Ward shows up to take Skye for the reunion that's been teased since the premiere of the series. Shield is doing amazing overall as a series but continues to push the boundaries and thrive to do it bigger and better.
The Verdict
A solid episode with some of the biggest and most meaningful reveals of the entire series
8.3/10