Agents of SHIELD Episode 10 RETRO REVIEW

 By Mark Rodriguez

Originally written on December 10, 2013. Keep in mind these reviews were done way back when the show first aired, so we had no idea what future events or movies would bring. Also, before it was retconned away, at least at the moment, the Agents of SHIELD show was in canon with the movies.

This is an intense episode that not only brought back Mike Peterson from the first episode... but also Reyna and Centipede.. and anything related to that general story line. It was clever that they reran the episode with Reyna and Amador the week before since it keeps people who missed it up to date. This is also the first episode that starts with a 'previously on Agents of SHIELD' showing clips of the episodes with Mike Peterson and Reyna. Let's get this started!

The episode officially opens in the Havenworth Federal Penitentiary with the mystery man in prison that Reyna was talking to in an earlier episode. Just then three soldiers bust in through the roof, and they have the super strength to send the guards flying with their punches. They grab the man and escape with him.

Coulson gathers the gang and tells them about the escaped prisoner named Edison Po. They already know the soldiers are involved with Centipede. He tells them he's gonna call for back-up, and it will be someone they know. It's actually the Hooded Hero from the first episode, Mike Peterson. He's later seen at a training camp shoving a tractor around and trying to break Captain America's record. Coulson shows up and tells him it's time for him to suit up.

The gang is against the idea of having Mike Peterson with them due to how insane he acted the first time they saw each other. They also find one of the people involved with Centipede was named Brian Hayward and he has a sister they can use to track him down. Mike is taken for testing to check his limits. He tells Fitz and Simmons that it was the bullet they designed that prevented the Extermis from blowing him up and saved his life. They're both very flattered and surprised. Simmons asks about the Centipede thing embedded into his arm and he explains he can't take it off without killing him.

Coulson and Grant drive around stalking the school where Brian's sister goes to. They talk about relationships and Coulson mentioned he had a woman he loved. Unfortunately he 'died' and they had to keep his revival a secret so he ended up losing her.

Skye keeps digging around, and May walks in, a bit upset that Coulson told her that she'd be helping find the files on her missing parents. Skye does find video of Po talking to the woman in the flower dress in prison. Peterson sees this and recognizes her as Reyna, the woman that recruited her into Centipede and gave him his powers.

Reyna talks to Edison and tells him about how SHIELD is destroying their bases and they're constantly on the run. The soldiers also need a lot of maintenance and are always drained after their missions. Edison says it's time for them to stop running.

Meanwhile, Grant approaches Laura Haywart and tells her that her brother won the lottery and hands her a ticket. After he leaves, Laura calls her brothers and Coulson and Grant trace the call to Oakland California. Now is the time for Peterson to hit the field, wearing a black outfit that keeps tracks of his vitals and such designed by Fitz and Summers.

Coulson and Peterson head towards a storage area and Brian Haywart jumps out a storage container to attack them. Peterson is able to hold him back, and Coulson shoots him down, but he gets right back up. More super powered soldiers show up and May and Grant jump into action as well. The regular agents are down, and it's up to Peterson to face the soldiers, and he ends up getting stabbed by a steel pole. The soldiers run away, except for one that is taken down. Coulson questions him and the soldier soon dies with a kill switch activated through the eyes.

Reyna and Edison are watching the scene through the eyes of their agents and recognize Peterson. They think he has the cure they need to stabilize their soldiers and start their Phase 3. Skye recognizes the eye kill switch technology as something similar with Amador, but this time she can't hack into their feed.

Reyna is curious about the Clairvoyant that Edison talks to, and he tells her that he knifed the last person that asked about him and doesn't wish to do the same with her.

On their downtime, May shows up and is angry at Grant for taking a punch for her during the fight. He says he did it since it was tactical to keep her out of harm's way since she is the fastest between them. As he walks off, Skye overheard their little conversation. May snaps at her saying that she better remember why she's with SHIELD and to set aside her personal attachments. They're there for their mission, not to find her parents. Skye goes off to cry and Coulson overhears it.

Coulson talks to Peterson, who's still recovering from being stabbed. He asks him why he hasn't seen his son since the airport ordeal. Mike feels ashamed since the last time his son saw him was when he was an enraged maniac. Coulson convinces him to give his son a call. Unfortunately when he does, he finds out that his son has a 'new friend'... who turns out to be Reyna.

Everyone discusses what to do, but they have no choice but to hand over Peterson so he can save his son. Fitz puts a tracker on him that will help follow him wherever they take him. May wanted to escort Mike, but they insisted that Coulson be one to show up with Mike.

As they head out, Fitz and Simmons are ready to activate the tracker, and Grant is a sniper. Coulson and Mike see Reyna and one of the soldiers. Unfortunately, Mike made a deal with them that no one else was in on. They wanted Coulson, not Mike. Mike apologizes and Coulson says he knows it was the only choice they had. They let Mike's son go, and as he walks off with him, Coulson gets injected by a knock out drug and is carried off by the soldier. The others are ready to activate the tracker but are confused that Coulson is being taken instead of Mike.

Mike won't stand for this and after he secures his son with Skye, he runs back to help out before they can get away with Coulson. However, all the random cars and trucks in the area suddenly explode around him. There's no signs of Mike... and the car that they took Coulson is also blown up. Just then a helicopter flies off and it shoots at Grant. Everyone is surprised that Coulson has been taken.

In the chopper, Coulson tells Reyna that whatever they want, he'll never give to them. He thinks they want the way they stabilized Mike Peterson's powers.... but what they really want is know about the day after he died.

My Opinions:

Wow. Just wow. It seems everything came together for this episode... at least everything involving Centipede and their plans to have super soldiers. The ending was just all sorts of shocking. And the next episode, airing in January will not only finally reveal how Coulson was brought back... but also bring back Victoria Hand.

It was awesome to see Peterson come back, and basically redeem himself. He was never a bad guy, and always wanted to do the right thing. I kinda didn't like nobody wanting to work with him... but I guess from their point of view I can understand how they'd be worried about him freaking out and destroying everything.  I do like how he was surprised to see that Skye was actually working with SHIELD now. But wow... I understand they didn't want to be too flashy... or maybe they didn't have the budget for something better... but my only complaint is Peterson's lame-ass simplistic outfit. Hardly looks like he can stand aside the Avengers... and man... even the X-Men generic movie costumes look fancier than that.

As for the others... well... Grant and Melinda May got some good fighting scenes in this one... especially when Melinda found those swords and went wild. The thing that stands out is that.... fighting skills and all.. those two have no business in this kind of fight. They're fighting guys that can push tractors and knock steel bunkerss around as if they were nothing... and yet somehow they survived. Yeah, Grant and May did get smacked down, but there's no way they could fight super humans head on and not end up going to the emergency room.

The tension between Grant and May continues on, it seems they're both still a bit uncomfortable with what happened that one night. Skye was a bit downplayed except for her continued search for her parents. Fitz and Simmons were also downplayed a bit, but we got to see Simmons gush over getting to feel up... I mean inspect Peterson. Finally we still have Reyna. Still an incredibly unlikable bitch, walking around as if she is untouchable. I do hope eventually she finds out she's just as expendable to Centipede as is anyone else.

So yeah, this episode knocks it out of the park. I really can't wait til January to see it. Even if I have to watch in the smaller TV since Paige will be busy with the season premiere of Pretty Little Liars on the big HD TV.