Agents of SHIELD, Season 3, Episode 14: Watchdogs
After shooing away Bobbi and Hunter, the series wastes no time in giving other members of the cast some much-needed focus. Again, these episodes are less about extending a gajillion plotlines and more about exploring the characters while advancing the plot from their POV. The excuse that Hive is still gathering his power and followers is a nice way to show that, hey, the villain isn't just sitting around doing nothing (eh, Zoom? Non?) without interfering too much with what our heroes are doing.
Anyway, last week Skye (never going to use the name Daisy in my reviews, I'm sorry) name-drops the Watchdogs, which are an anti-Inhuman hategroup. Apparently, the Watchdogs are the villains of the week, and they have the building-shrinking weapon from Agent Carter's first season! Mack and Fitz geek out over the Nitramene, like most devoted MCU fans probably are, while Skye is baffled. There are some political overtones with the Watchdogs' hategroup stance against the foreigners -- er, Inhumans -- and we get to see that, hey, you don't have to be a radical to agree with some of what the Watchdogs are preaching. Especially if, like Mack's little brother, you don't have an idea of the bigger picture.
With a not-too-preachy yet obvious allegory that puts Supergirl to shame, the Watchdogs provide an entertaining villain, while the focus of the episode is Mack trying to juggle being a SHIELD agent and being a brother. Mack's brother, Reuben, is a nice POV character. He's not the angry, disobedient kid like it would be so easy to paint him as. We see Reuben try to hard to connect to Mack several times throughout the episode, and while the audience appreciates Mack going around to investigate building-implosion terrorists, you can't help but see it from Reuben's perspective as Mack keeps standing his brother's obvious attempts at reconciliation up.
Mack's been one of the more bland and boring characters of the show, and having both him having to deal with losing his two closest friends, Bobbi and Hunter, as well as witnessing his partner Skye commit some things that he's afraid Inhumans would do in season two, definitely is a great footstep to make Mack a far more likable and major character. Good job, writers!
It's also probably way too easy to have Reuben just be one of the Watchdogs, and it's the obvious route to take with him, but no. He's just Mack's brother, who just happens to agree with some parts of the Watchdogs' dogma. There's a nice little sense of neatness near the end when Mack and Reuben are forced to battle an army of Watchdogs in their own home. Reuben doesn't immediately become hypercompetent and most of the heavy lifting is left to Mack, which is sensible too. Mack also makes use of the running gag of a shotgun-axe, which is hilarious as all hell!
Meanwhile, as this is going, Skye and Fitz have to deal with the Nitramene being stuck onto Fitz's neck, which is a nice, tense moment even if no one believes Fitz will die randomly from a mook's bomb. Earlier in the episode, Skye gets some really great scenes too as we see her becoming somewhat darker of a character. While she previously is one of those internet trolls spreading hate, here we see Skye use her Quake powers to intimidate a random Watchdog mook, much to Mack's disapproval. Skye does demonstratably have a blind spot when it comes to Inhumans and Inhuman rights, and it's a nice way to show her trampling over normal human rights. How far do you need to go to protect your own and to find the villains? It's a question with variable answers, and while no one really believes Skye will explode the trucker's head, it's the spirit of the action that's being called into question. I mean, we already had a SHIELD Civil War last season, but there might be a more subtle conflict brewing with regards in controlling the Inhuman powers being set up throughout these episodes.
And the leader of the Watchdogs is the welcome return of Agent Felix Blake, one of the more memorable actors in the Marvel One-Shots who disappeared after Deathlok broke his back halfway through Season One. It's a sudden twist, but sadly they didn't really do enough with Blake to justify his return. Yeah, he is jobless thanks to the whole Hydra thing, and it's a nice way to tie things up as Blake is unwittingly being used by Hive and Hydra, but overall the character doesn't really do much other than go 'I hate you Inhuman scum!' He's also apparently paralyzed despite the show seemingly portraying him as being able to stand up (it's a hologram) which isn't dramatic enough a reveal.
The Lincoln subplot is also relatively weaker. Coulson and Lincoln are the secondary focus of the episode. Lincoln has been one of the more controversial and less-liked characters of the show. I never really had a problem with him, other than the fact that the show doesn't really seem like they know what to do with the dude. Lincoln apparently flunked his aptitude test, no doubt thanks to his temper, and Coulson tries to goad him in a trial of fire, telling Lincoln to shoot to kill (what is allegedly) Blake in what is supposed to be a test at following orders. Lincoln passed, obeying Coulson's orders to take down Blake, but not using a lethal amount of force, thus obeying Coulson without breaking SHIELD's principles. It all played out relatively weak, though, just as Felix Blake himself is as a villain.
What else? Oh, there's Simmons, having to deal with letting Lash loose and causing the deaths of several Inhumans, and her interactions and bonding with May. These smaller plot threads don't need much screentime, but the fact that they are addressed without taking much from the main episodic Mack/Skye/Lincoln plot is nice. And there are some references not only to Age of Ultron, but to Daredevil's Hell's Kitchen war, which is fun!
Overall a slightly weaker entry compared to the previous two thanks to Lincoln and Blake not really being strong enough to carry their respective plotlines, but still a very solid episode. I can't believe Agents of SHIELD is really outshining every single one of the CW shows after being so inconsistent last year, but there you go.
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