Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Blends Worldbuilding and Tension in “A Life Spent”

‘A Life Spent’ Plot Summary:

As Daisy (Chloe Bennet) looks for a way to rescue Simmons (Elizabeth Henstridge), the Kree task Simmons with helping an Inhuman learn to control her powers. Meanwhile, Coulson (Clark Gregg) and the others deal with their own servitude.

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. hit us a few bombshells last week in the season premiere, ranging from revealing the team was in future to suggesting that Daisy destroyed the Earth with her Quake powers. This week the show doesn’t totally step back from these twists, but it hypothesizes different possibilities. Our heroes might be in an alternate universe. This would explain how Daisy could have wrecked the planet if she hadn’t already done so. This is all still speculation, and I understand Marvel doesn’t want restrict itself by setting the future in stone. It would make sense if it pans out, so wouldn’t be a cop out.

Besides Deke (Jeff Ward) and Daisy’s short and troubled partnership, the most interesting storyline this week is Simmons assisting Abby (Ciara Bravo), one of the many Inhumans the Kree use for amusement. We’ll probably never see Abby again, but her ability to control her molecular density is pretty nifty. I suppose I should’ve seen her gladiator match coming, but somehow I didn’t. Even though her victory is inevitable, it’s brutal to watch a big, muscular guy pummel a smaller teenage girl. Of course, her deathblow is also brutal.

I don’t know how there can be such a night-and-day difference between Inhumans and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., but there is. S.H.I.E.L.D. is even superior when it comes to action. Inhumans had a couple of cool fights, but it relied more on effects. The fight scenes in S.H.I.E.L.D. focus more on choreography, to the point that most of them feel on par with the MCU movies. For instance, Daisy’s fight with a couple Kree is fantastic, echoing Black Widow. Daisy has powers, of course, but they don’t feel like a crutch to make confrontations interesting.

While it isn’t a fight scene, the episode puts Yo-Yo (Natalia Cordova-Buckley) to good use. Elena was conspicuously absent from much of last season, so this is a welcome change. How far Yo-Yo can run before she has to return to her point of origin is unclear, but there’s still plenty of tension as she makes a mad dash behind Grill’s (Pruitt Taylor Vince) back. Using her powers to make Grill think her tracker is off the fritz is clever, too.

With such long stretch of episodes, it’s unreasonable to expect every installment to be a knockout like the premiere. However, “A Life Spent” gives us plenty of exciting moments and teases more to come.

Rating: 8 out of 10 (Great)