‘Collision Course (Part II)’ Plot Summary:
As Sarge (Clark Gregg) initiates the next part of his plan, the agents on the truck attempt to diffuse his bomb. Up on the spaceship Fitz (Iain De Caestecker) and Simmons (Elizabeth Henstridge) find themselves in their own harrowing situation.
When a show labels episodes as Parts I and II, you expect something big to happen, or at least a narrative thread between the two episodes. While this two-parter isn’t as big as I expected, the episodes share plot elements and locations. I suppose that justifies the episodes sharing a name. Still, they could have named the episodes different things and it wouldn’t have made a difference to me.
There’s no way the show is going to kill off that many main characters, so the bomb situation is needlessly prolonged (and the truck is oddly slow reaching its destination). Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. shouldn’t kill characters just to prove it’s hardcore, but it should take more risks. Unpredictability is a big factor in keeping viewers coming back for more. As for Daisy’s (Chloe Bennet) solution to the bomb problem, yeah, I guess that makes enough sense. It’s a comic book show. I can believe she has enough power to counteract the nuke’s triggering mechanism.
We learn more about Sarge this episode. His memories aren’t his own, apparently. It’s frustrating that the episode doesn’t give us a full explanation. This is episode nine and the second part of a two-parter. It’s time to stop playing games. Oh well, I think we’ll get the answers next week.
The rest of this episode, until the ending, is pretty cut and dry. Sarge tries to take over again, but loses to Mack (Henry Simmons), because there’s no way he’s beating Mack in a fistfight; Jaco (Winston James Francis) sacrifices himself; the gang is back together. I can’t say I care all that much about Jaco. His redemption arc is pretty standard.
So, the end of the episode makes this episode hard to rate. As it was ending I was thinking it had to have one more trick up its sleeve. And then May (Ming-Na Wen) shoots Sarge. Is he dead? Probably not. But Izel (Karolina Wydra) is controlling May somehow or May has gone off the deep end. Now am I going to be generous with the rating because of how this could affect the remaining episodes? I guess. It just wouldn’t feel right not to, even if this episode should have revealed more.
Rating: 7 out of 10 (Good)
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