‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’ Episode 1.13 “T.R.A.C.K.S.” (8 out of 10) Starring Clark Gregg, Chloe Bennet, Ming-Na Wen, Brett Dalton; Tuesdays at 8/7 central on ABC.
Call me old-fashioned, but I love train heists. You put a train heist in an episode of “Duck Dynasty” and I’d be on that like a pilot fish on a shark’s belly. Maybe it’s the fact that anything could go wrong on a high speed train or perhaps it’s because our protagonists are disguised as regular passengers, helping to feed the fantasy that next time I ride public transit, one of my fellow travelers just might be a secret agent. Regardless of the bias that I have towards railroad larceny, tonight’s episode of SHIELD sufficiently thrust the viewer right back into the action after its mid-January break. As usual, there are spoilers ahead.
Verona to Zagreb
After our introduction to Ian Quinn, sleazy rich dude who is in cahoots with Centipede, during the previous episode, SHIELD has made him a high-priority target. They’ve discovered a plan in which a company called Cybertech (I wonder what they make…) is transporting an unidentified item of interest to Quinn via an Italian passenger train. Coulson’s plan is to go undercover and intercept this item before it reaches Quinn. As one has come to expect from train heists, nothing goes as planned.
Before everything goes horribly wrong however, Marvel’s god-emperor Stan Lee graced the show with his presence. As I predicted, he plays an elderly gentleman who takes a moment to chastise Coulson for his lack of manners. Funny, but it’s pretty much the same as all of Lee’s cameos. Would he just sign on to play the Vulture in the next Spider-Man flick already?
To my knowledge, Cybertech is a fairly new entity to the SHIELD game. After learning about the show’s plans to unveil Deathlok, however, it’s a safe bet that whatever they’re hiding has something to do with him. This pleases me.
“Thanks for the Knife.”
A lot of the action in this episode happens in a very Tarantino-esque fractured narrative. Though this kind of makes sense with the inclusion of time-freezing grenades that the Cybertech goons are fond of, the transitions were a bit clunky.
Through these mini-flashbacks, however, Agent May manages to prove her genuine badassery. In a fairly predictable turn of events, SHIELD’s Italian contact betrays them and captures May. After taking her to a barn and tying her to the ceiling, the dude freaking stabs her in the shoulder, leaving the blade lodged below May’s clavicle. What does May do? She thanks him for the knife and uses it to cut herself free just before chucking it into the mole’s back before he could murder Ward and Coulson. Throughout the series, you definitely get the sense that May is hardcore, but this moment really showcased how terrifying she really is.
End of the Line
As fun as the train heist was, the show had an impressive closing act. One thing that was cool about this episode was that it stuck the agents into unfamiliar roles. For example, Skye and Fitz were supposed to run communication, but when all the combat-ready agents got booted off of the train, it was down to them to infiltrate Quinn’s swanky super-villain headquarters (a super-villa, if you will). I had a bad feeling about Skye taking on all these trained killers by herself, which was completely validated—more on that in a minute.
After Quinn apprehends Skye, he shows her the mutilated body of Mike Peterson which is still breathing inside a hyperbaric chamber. Quinn then proceeds to attach the piece of Cybertech equipment to Peterson’s leg—and yes, it extends to become a sweet cybernetic Deathlok leg (it’s identified as Deathlok in the final scene—as Mike is making an attempt to see his son)! It also appears that Peterson has had some behavior modifications—he states that he is unable to harm Quinn, but that he does have a mission to take out a target that has not yet been identified. At this point, SHIELD has arrived to take care of business, and Quinn SHOOTS SKYE TWICE! POINT BLANK! It was totally unexpected, and totally gut-wrenching—especially when Coulson finds her on the brink of death. As he’s become her surrogate father, he can’t help but feel responsible for this injury, and much guilty introspection ensues.
Verdict
Train heists and cliffhangers make for an entertaining episode, that’s for sure. Though the situation with Skye is pretty grim, I’m sure it’s just a way for them to explain why she was considered an “unidentified object” when she was a baby. Also, there is some great territory to explore with Mike Peterson/Deathlok—although if not done carefully, he runs the risk of becoming a Robocop rip off.
I can appreciate the fact that the show seems to consistently be going in new directions, it could use the occasional episode that arrives at a given point, rather than one that always appears to be setting things up for the future. Perhaps all roads simply lead to Bill Paxton, who will be guest-starring next week. Regardless of my misgivings, SHIELD, still has some life left in it.