- Title: Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. – Uprising
- wiki: link
“Uprising” continues the season’s trend to split the team, and focus, of the episode in several directions. This means the storyline with the biggest stakes (the life and death of a core character) is shuffled off to a subplot. Let’s be serious, at no point since her ghostly infection did Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., even for a moment, make me believe they were willing to let May (Ming-Na Wen) die. And, because of the strong foreshadowing, the episode tips its hand far too much in just how Holden Radcliffe (John Hannah) will save her as the blackouts effecting the rest of the country finally find their way to his lab.
The main focus of the episode turns out to be a nefarious plot by the Watchdogs who set off EMP devices in several cities and plunging each into darkness while blaming Inhumans for the attacks and the chaos that follows. When Yo-Yo (Natalia Cordova-Buckley) is trapped in just such a situation, Coulson (Clark Gregg), Mack (Henry Simmons), and Fitz (Iain De Caestecker) are sent in. Marvel’s thinly-veiled attempt to make Inhumans the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s mutants has never been so obvious as it is here as both friends and strangers turn on Inhumans at every opportunity. I’m also disappointed in the late reveal of Senator Nadeer’s (Parminder Nagra) deeply-personal hatred of Inhumans when the show had the opportunity to do something far more complex with the politician’s true motives.
Daisy (Chloe Bennet) continues to hang out with Robbie (Gabriel Luna) and his brother as the reasons behind her personal mission and her physical health continue to deteriorate. Other than saving the wheelchair-bound Gabe from insanely-cliched characters Daisy is kept out of the action this week as she’ll eventually limp off with at least one of her arms severally broken by her powers. Although she leaves the pair at the end of the episode, the season’s Ghost Rider arc continues next week as members of Coulson’s team will finally come face-to-face with the Spirit of Vengeance.
