Agents of SHIELD S05E13 Review: Air Ship

Agents of SHIELD, Season 5, Episode 13: Principia

This episode feels a lot more like a breather episode for both the good guys and the bad guys. In fact, if the past couple of episodes hasn't been rushing at a breakneck pace, I'd even call this a filler episode. But it's actually a neat stopgap in between all the madness and conspiracies that really needed time to breathe and build up. So the main plotline is a pretty simple, if visually fun, one. We've got yet another episode focusing on Gravitonium (wow, they're really milking this season one plot device for all it's worth, huh?) as SHIELD has to go around a bunch of hoops including having to hunt down ex-Cybertek scientists, meeting up with Mack's old friend who now makes new identities, and a mission on a ship that's floating in the stratosphere thanks to the unstable Gravitonium it's carrying. The floating ship is fun, and we get a bunch of Hale's robot minions on board just for a final-episode action scene. 

But the writers actually do make ample usage of the breathing room we're given. The bad guys' side of the table is the other big storyline of this episode, with the unexpected return of minor season three antagonist Werner von Strucker (or Alex, as he wants to be called) waking up in the same weird facility that Ruby is being held in. Werner and his newfound super memory, as well as being the son of one of Hydra's leadership Wolfgang von Strucker, is basically being recruited by General Hale into the Hydra fold. Werner, having been brutalized by multiple Hydra leaders, wants nothing to do with it and Hale basically wants to play "good cop/honest cop", sending Ruby to try and seduce him -- not in the sexual way (although there's definitely some sparks intended between the two) but with promises of truth and honesty and eventually taking over Hydra for themselves. It's a very neat little storyline, and Werner, who was an accessory at best in the past, finally feels like a proper character. Werner's first appearance in this episode is pretty strong, where all he wants to do is to be left alone and be doped up on drugs and, failing that, showing that he's not so harmless after all by threatening the psychiatrist's child... and then his consistent "I don't give a fuck, and you can't make me" attitude towards Hale and what he views as the embers of Hydra desperately trying to light a forest on fire is just grand. Of course, with everyone else from Malick to Ward to Hale to SHIELD having abandoned him and making him nothing but a tool to be passed around, it's not hard to believe that Werner will latch on to the first person that acts nice and honest to him. 

The other storylines going on feel more like our heroes settling into the status quo. Elena's still frustrated about her lack of arms, but is starting to cope, and gets a brand-new hope when Mack brings back one of Hale's robots that they can reverse-engineer the arms from. Fitz and Simmons are adjusting to some happy married life awkwardness. Deke, faced with the revelation that he's the future grandson of Fitz and Simmons, ends up trying to sort of impress his grandfather -- who is nothing if not exasperated and irritated at Deke's constant attempts to interrupt all the secret agent world-saving stuff for bonding. We also get Daisy and May argue a bit more about alternatives to try and save COulson's life, which Coulson refuses... but his family refuses to let him go without a fight. 

Overall, these smaller scenes do need some room to breathe before the next episode inevitably throws our cast into a huge crisis again, but I do appreciate having a lower-stakes episode that helps to break up the non-stop tension we've been having since the start of this season. I'm still not super-buying Hale's new attempts to recreate Hydra as this super-villain team because, honestly, Hydra is sort of stretched to the limit with all the Hive/inner circle cult stuff, but it's sort of interesting to see where we go from this, because for the first time Hydra is actually shown as this group with minimal manpower, making it sort of a mirror to how SHIELD is at the moment. Overall, while unimpressive, "Principia" is a much-needed breather and a very solid episode. 

Marvel Easter Eggs Corner:

• Werner von Strucker returns after last being seen brutalized by competing Hydra leaders Grant Ward and Gideon Malick in season three. He was last seen being zapped by Lincoln in a memory enhancer machine, which has apparently given him super-memory powers. 
• Cybertek, the antagonistic organization from the first season, as well as John Garrett, the main villain of the first season, is briefly brought up by Daisy as a way to keep Coulson alive. Recurring villain Ian Quinn is also mentioned in the discussion, but apparently he has "disappeared".
• Operation Paperclip, the post-WWII effort to recruit old Nazi/Hydra scientists, which was mentioned in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, is mentioned and compared to the cover-up effort in regards to Cybertek scientists.