Just when you think you know what’s happening in an **Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.**episode, you’re going to get gifted breadcrumbs of things to come, and clever little nuggets of information that fill in holes, but also, you get plenty of character building arcs that are just as satisfying, as far as I’m concerned, as the action sequences. And while there was maybe a little less explosive action, there was nonetheless a fab fight scene between Agent May and the upgraded Hunter Enoch in this episode.

Their scenes together were some of the best, giving actress Ming Na a chance to get down and dirty, and totally badass with Enoch—playing the straight-faced foil to her cold, calculated drive to reenter the team and get back on active duty, and protect a missing Mac and Deke.

But I’m getting ahead of myself here.

As usual, the team has broken down into groups, with Mac and Deke still none the wiser about who they are really protecting, in Freddy, who has them riding shotgun on bootleg moonshine, aboard a train. While Enoch is left doing comms. in the Zypher and baby sitting Agent May whose in a fighting mood, Coulson and Daisy—who are quickly joined by Yo-Yo and Simmons dressed for the era, turn up in the speakeasy.

We have a lot of talk about Hydra and filler from the main team, as they interrogate Freddy’s go-between, the mystery woman who has been shot. In treating the woman in the red dress, it’s Simmons who notices a tiny fleck of green liquid on the woman’s shoes and has an ‘Ah Ha’! moment. The liquid that’s in the vials she’s given Freddy are revealed to be the key ingredient in the serum Dr. Erskine will create to produce not only the Red Skull, but also Captain America.

Letting us know how imperative it is they all succeed in letting Freddy meet his destiny, otherwise the changes to the timeline and future could be catastrophic for everyone. Letting us realise it would mean, no S.H.I.E.L.D, no Hydra, no Red Skull and therefore, no Captain America.

The least exciting part of all the storylines come from Mac and Deke babysitting Freddy, until, that is, near the end of their arc we get a shocking reveal with Daisy ordering Deke, gun in hand, to kill Freddy. Letting us see another side to Daisy we’re not use to, one in which she’s willing to sacrifice them all, including the future, to take out Freddy and everything that might come.

But, as usual, Deke doesn’t have too much time to debate the idea further as the Chronicoms turn up hell bent on killing everyone who gets in the way of them, intent on pulling the thread, and killing Freddy themselves.

But neither side get satisfaction, as Freddy shoots Koenig in the shoulder, and escapes to meet his destiny, and we’re left with the crew scrambling to get back aboard the Zypher, which is unbeknown to them all, including a surprised Simmons, to jump to the next timeline.

Yes, a little bit of a contrivance, but a worthwhile one on two counts. We’re not stuck in 1931 for the entire season, but are going to get to jump here and there, at random, allowing for a lot more wriggle room—as with the new mantra of the team, ripples, not waves.

The other event that added just another little twist to the episode, never mind, the season, is the stranding of Enoch, with Koenig, at the end of the episode, and us getting insight into Koenig’s history, and just how the speakeasy itself, ends up as a S.H.I.E.L.D. safe house.

So many little moments that aren’t fully explain like Yo-Yo’s inability to catch the falling bottle when the Chronicoms turn up at the speakeasy, to why May has gone off the deep end, to the stranding of Enoch in 1931. All, as they say, I’m sure, will be revealed over coming episodes. Like, where’s Fitz and what’s his role going to be, this season, if any?

One thing I’d love to see in coming episodes, is a sidebar to what happens with Enoch and Koenig, but I guess we’ll all just have to wait and see if they skip ahead to them turning up later, in a future episode, or not.

Best line goes to Koenig, “I can’t believe I took a bullet for you people.”

All-in-all, a thoroughly enjoyable, if somewhat slower episode than the opener.