I admit to being a little frustrated with this season of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. after the first few episodes. Time travel plots are commonplace in fiction and the show sort of already did time travel with Season 5. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. really needed a something to set itself apart. Enter episode 4.
Named after the classic Robert Mitchum film, “Out of the Past” continues the storyline with Sousa (Enver Gjokaj, Agent Carter) from last week. However, the twist is that the Coulson LMD’s (Clark Gregg, The New Adventures of Old Christine) circuitry has gone haywire from an electromagnetic pulse. As a result, Coulson can only see in black and white. Coulson also suffers from an internal monologue.
Black and white and voiceover narration are staples of film noir, the genre of the movie the episode is named after. I’ve made it no secret that I’m a fan of film noir. So, this episode is the perfect way to get me more invested in the season. There’s a beauty to black and white photography that we unfortunately don’t get to see that often anymore. The episode’s use of techniques like Dutch angles also adds to the style.
As far as the actual plot goes, there are some interesting developments. Sousa is supposed to be killed by Russian agents, according to the S.H.I.E.L.D. history books. It turns out that these so-called Russians are actually Hydra agents. Sousa died trying to expose Hydra’s infiltration of S.H.I.E.L.D. This leads to another revelation: Wilfred Malick (Neal Bledsoe, Shameless) is back and now in charge of Hydra. This is a callback I wasn’t expecting but should have.
The way our heroes save the day is unconventional, to say the least. They swap Coulson for Sousa, so Coulson takes a couple of bullets in the back. Being an LMD, he just shrugs it off. However, Sousa still goes down in history as having died, when in reality he’s with the team on the Zephyr. Enver Gjokaj probably thought he was done playing Sousa after Agent Carter ended, so his continued presence in this season must be a pleasant surprise for him.
Another plot point of note is that May’s (Ming-Na Wen, Mulan) time in the fear dimension has led to her feeling the emotions of anyone she touches. I can’t say where they’re going with it, though.
I’d be lying if I didn’t say that my appreciation for this episode primarily stems from the noir aesthetic. I just found it so well done. But this episode does have some twists and turns that I appreciated. Also, Deke (Jeff Ward, The Boy Downstairs) asking if women were allowed to drive in the 1950s makes you really reflect on how society changes over time.
The next episode is in the ‘70s and it’s my hope that it can replicate the results of this one. But we will see.
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