Season 7 – Episode 2 of Marvel’s ‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’ Ties to the MCU in a Big Way – Recap
Before I start my review, I wanted to take a moment to say if you haven’t helped contribute to the Black Lives Matter Movement, it’s not too late. Here is a link on all the various ways that you can help. Now is not the time to for silence.
Please note: this recap has spoilers. If you haven’t watched the episode yet, go check it out and come back! Check out our review of the season 7 premiere here.
The second episode “Know Your Onions” picks up with Mack, Deke and Freddy right where we left them – on the run from the chronicoms. We see Freddy holding a green vile followed by him saying, “The future is going to be mine.” Which is of course foreshadowing the future of Hydra. We also see Agent May fully waking up and Patton Oswalt’s OG Koenig returning again which was cool to see because I originally thought it would be a cameo. So seeing him be more essential to the storyline is always welcomed.
Since the whole team is divided and scattered at this point, Enoch was left alone to watch over May, which I thought made for an interesting pairing. Up to this point, Enoch shared most of his scenes with Fitz who was pretty much the opposite of him. So pairing him with May who is also very direct and to the point was funny to see.
Agent May and Enoch’s interaction throughout this episode was definitely one of the biggest highlights because of how different they are from each other. Enoch gives May the update that she is in the year 1931 and she didn’t have a reaction which was pretty weird. I mean, if I found out I had been teleported to the 30’s I’d be shocked…but I guess when you look at everything else they’ve done, this is just another Tuesday for them.
One of the best things about Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is how they are able to write the villain characters. We get to learn more about Freddy and his back story, and why he’s determined to fulfill this mission. A line that stuck out for me was, “Whatever it is. It’s not like it’s going to change the word.” This is ironic because it does in fact change the world.
Yoyo has a heart-to-heart with Daisy about her freezing and not being able to get to the bottle. We learn that Freddy is delivering a serum that is the key ingredient to the Super Soldier one we saw in Captain America: The First Avenger. When that reveal occurred, I literally said, “WOAHHHH!” at my TV screen. This was definitely one of the biggest tie-ins to the MCU thus far, and I cannot tell you how happy it made me.
Next we find Agent May in a badass all black suit (definitely not 1930’s fashion) ready to go out into the field and she isn’t taking ‘no’ for an answer. As May continued to talk, you could tell that this wasn’t the normal May, and that we were seeing the ramifications of her dying and being brought back to life.
Daisy continues to advocate for getting rid of Freddy now. Although it was never mentioned directly, part of me feels like she wants to make this change so her family would be together. In the old days, if Daisy and Coulson got into an argument or disagreement, usually Coulson won the battle simply because he outranked/had more experience over Daisy. Now they are pretty much on equal playing fields, especially with Mack being the director. I thought this added another great dynamic to their relationship.
Another great moment in the episode was Enoch versus May. Throughout the whole episode the tension between the two kept building and building, so this moment was definitely well-earned. Usually a lot of Enoch’s fight scenes happen off-camera, so seeing him get to fight against May was pretty cool. Although Enoch upgraded himself to hunter level combat mode, he was no match for May’s skills and she almost kills him, but she stops when LMD Coulson calls her name.
“Aren’t you surprised. I was dead?” – LMD Coulson
“You still are.” – May
That line hit different. May lost a piece of herself when the real Coulson died at the end of season 5, then went from that to seeing another version of Coulson with Sarge, only to get stabbed by him at the end of season 6. Now, she’s being introduced to another version Coulson. She has been through a lot (to say the least).
The team unexpectedly finds out that they only have 17 mins left in their current timeline (regardless of if they are on the ship or not). Daisy tells Deke to take the shot and kill Freddy Malik. As the episode was going on, I was wondering if they would be in this timeline for a few more shows. I definitely didn’t expect to only have 17 mins in that timeline. I’m not sure if they did it on purpose or if it was just a coincidence, but when the 17-minute warning popped up, that’s about how much time was left in the episode.
Daisy, Coulson, Enoch and Koenig team up and go into the field, and Daisy suggests that Yoyo stays behind and she agrees. You can tell she is shaken up from the events. Deke ultimately does the right thing and helps Freddy get away, thus allowing the events to play out as they normally would have without any interference. Koenig says “marvelous” twice at the end of the episode which I thought was funny.
The episode ends with Enoch getting left behind in the 1930’s because he wasn’t fast enough to get on the ship. Part of me was thinking that would be the moment Yoyo’s powers started working again, but they decided to leave the chronicom homie in the past. He ends up working with Koenig at the Speakeasy and the rest is history.
I said in my last review that this final season feels like the last season of Parks and Rec in a lot of ways, and if we were to compare Enoch to a character from that show, it would be Craig (Billy Eichner’s character) – a late addition that took a little while to get used to, but now thats he’s with the team you couldn’t imagine it any other way. Enoch has literally traveled through so many timelines with the team and sacrificed himself on multiple occasions, so here’s to you bud! I hope this isn’t the last time the team sees Enoch.
This was another fantastic episode, and the season if off to a great start. Not only did it wrap-up the 1930’s timeline nicely, but it also gave some cool nods to the MCU and easter eggs to the previous seasons – specifically with Koenig’s character. From the previews of next week’s episodes, it looks like we will be in the late 40’s/early 50’s since we are getting a cameo from Enver Gjokaj (who played Daniel Sousa in the Agent Carter series).
The questions I have now are: Where is Fitz and when will he return? Will we find out what’s going on with May? And will Yoyo find her groove again? I guess we will have to wait and see in next week’s episode.
What did you think of episode 2? Let us know in the comments below!
One thing I will miss about this show is reading what other people have to say about it. That is how I got here, and I do read the other things you write about.
I made the classic west coast mistake of reading Twitter (spoilers) before I watched AoS, and had the whole episode to think about Enoch staying in the 30s with the Original Koenig. We don’t want to make waves? WHOA. I do like the possibilities that opens up, starting with the grandchildren’s origins. Does Enoch age anyway? And speaking of families, you’ve made an interesting point about the Johnson Family. If there’s no Hydra, Jai Ling doesn’t end up in bits, and would she meet Johnson?
I will miss this show very much, but this is a great way to end it. I am really glad that they seem to be packing the eps with solid content rather than easter eggs.It’s been a pleasure to see the Agent Family again, cast against type with fleshed out backstories that became main stories. At this point, we know their differences, their beliefs and their struggles to work together, and that interaction is as much a part of the story as fighting HYDRA and bad aliens. I know the ‘dysfunctional super hero family’ is a popular story telling trope now, but we’ve had six years to set the table and it’s all paying off. I have a pretty good idea of the end point of the show, but i don’t know how we will get there or who will make which choices. And I look forward to finding out.
I wouldn’t even mind seeing Ward again.