“Principia” Plot Summary:
In the team’s search for Gravitonium, Mack (Henry Simmons) runs into an old friend.
With this potentially being the final season of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., one would figure that the writers would be making the most of the remaining episodes. While that was certainly true of last week’s 100th episode, it’s strange how much this week’s feels like a run of the mill installment. It’s not the series suddenly drops the serialized format that’s worked so well for it. “Principia” in fact builds off elements from previous weeks while setting the table for weeks to come. However, there is a smaller, self-contained story that reminds me of the series’ earlier seasons.
Despite the show getting darker as it has gone on, it has maintained a degree of humor. The jokes revolving around Mack and his high school pal Tony (Jake Busey) highlight this. Whether it’s wisecracks about Mack’s yearbook photo or his MC Hammer fandom, it never fades. The characters even manage to make light of the loss of Yo-Yo’s (Natalia Cordova-Buckely) arms.
The more that Gravitonium is part of the plot, the more hope there is that the villain Graviton will show up at some point. His debut is far past due. In the meantime, the team’s adventures still take them to exciting locations, even this far into the series’ lifetime. The visual effects for the floating ship, the titular Principia, look remarkably good, especially for a show on its last legs.
The most intriguing storyline in this week’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. reunites us with Werner von Strucker (Spencer Treat Clark), last seen questioned by S.H.I.E.L.D. At first it seems like he’s become an Inhuman, but the episode later reveals that his ability to remember past events has been enhanced from his time in S.H.I.E.L.D.’s memory machine. This is far more interesting. Speaking of memories, Ruby (Dove Cameron) has one particularly memorable conversation with Werner. Where her allegiances truly lie remains up in the air, so I’m eager to see more of her character.
Not too much else to say about this week’s episode. Looks like they haven’t totally fixed the fear dimension problem. As a result of that, Deke (Jeff Ward) now knows he’s related to Fitz (Iain De Caestecker) and Simmons (Elizabeth Henstridge). Hopefully that plotline won’t get too overbearing and hopefully next week will give us an episode with a little more substance.
