Agents of SHIELD

The rewatch continues, and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. are back for their final season. All the regulars are back in fine form, only this time using the time-travel abilities of the new, souped-up Zephyr, the team find themselves landing in New York City, back in 1931. And, in what promises to be a time-hopping season filled with plenty of action, our erstwhile heroes will battle to keep the time line intact.

We’ve already seen the team battle it across space and time for six season, with the destruction of S.H.I.E.L.D., the emergence of In-humans, with the introduction of the Frame-work, LMDs, never mind the obligatory attacks by various monsters and aliens. So season seven should offer plenty of the same themes and dynamics we’ve all come to expect and love.

While Simmons stays aboard the Zephyr with Yo-Yo—who Simmons presents with a new pair of synth-arms, and tasking Enoch to tend to May, who’s in what looks like a cryogenic-chamber, unconscious—the rest of the crew (suited up in 30s style clothes Deke has managed to buy for them) head out onto the bustling streets only knowing the Chronicoms are there, but why, is the question.

It isn’t till they see cops guarding a store front and, Daisy and Deke, posing as Canadian Mounties, wrangle their way inside, that we get a clue: they find a trio of faceless corpses stripped of their clothes and a dead bootlegger. While Deke and Daisy are playing detective and figuring out why they were killed, Mac and Coulson head to a place Coulson remembers from hearing about his Academy days, a Speakeasy that was later used as a safe house.

What with the special effects, the upgrade to wardrobe, the attention to detail, and the well-choreographed fight scenes, we given plenty of snappy comebacks and dialogue, action, and background to what’s going on, and what the Chronicoms might be up to—possibly assassinating FDR who was, at this point in history, is Governor of NY State.

As it turns out, after a couple of really good fight scenes, Daisy in a back alley besting a Chronicom, and then, later with Mac and Coulson in a kitchen, besting a couple more, we find out that the Chronicoms aren’t actually interested in FDR, but a nobody bartender named Freddy. But again, it’s Coulson who figures it out, after we see this Freddy meeting with a woman in a bright red dress, asking Freddy to be a courier of four vials of green liquid.

Freddy, as it turns out, is the son of the infamous Gideon Malick, Wilfred Malick, and the future founder of Hydra!

The kicker though, is in order to preserve the time line and save S.H.I.E.L.D., the team will also have to save Freddy from the Chronicoms and therefore, Hydra.

As always with Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. there’s plenty of lighter moments, and wry humour to punctuate the darker side. Mac being stared at, on the street, by passers by, and Daisy dressing down an NYPD cop guarding the storefront doorway, playing the part of an RCMP Mountie. And tender moments when we see Yo-Yo, fitted with her new arms, experiencing touch for the first time since the loss of her real arms.

There are so many moments I’ve probably missed mentioning, like the fact Fitz is somewhere back in the future, presumably hiding from the Chronicoms. But I’m sure we’ll see him pop up in future episodes as the season progresses. Along with just why May is suspicious of Enoch.

Needless to say it was good to see Clark Gregg back as a more peppy, younger looking Coulson, who while still getting use to the fact he’s dead, and now an LMD. All the while realising that it’s not so bad given his new body cannot die, and is almost indestructible.

I can’t wait to see what else the team get up to as the season unfolds.