Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. left Mack (Henry Simmons, Shark) and Deke (Jeff Ward, Manson’s Lost Girls) in a bad spot last week. The Chronicoms killed Mack’s parents and Mack and Deke were stuck in 1982. If ever there was a bump in the road, this would be it. The question was how the following week was going to explore all the narrative possibilities.
This week’s episode, ‘The Totally Excellent Adventures of Mack and The D’ starts out very strong. Mack goes to his parents’ grave and mourns them. It’s surprisingly heartbreaking. We didn’t exactly spend that much time with Mack’s parents, and when we did it wasn’t even really them. But the scene works because of Simmons’ acting and the overall presentation. Too often fiction glosses over death or even trivializes it. Real moments of grief are rare outside the “all is lost” part of the story because people want to come out feeling good at the end.
It’s ironic that the episode pairs the somber aftermath of the previous storyline with a much more comical situation. I suppose it’s because the writers still wanted the show to be fun, but the styles clash. Just look at episode’s title, ‘The Totally Excellent Adventures of Mack and the D.’ Not the most serious name, by any stretch of the imagination.
While the show makers’ appreciation for retro aesthetics factored into previous episodes (most notably “Out of the Past”), it’s very clear that they love the 1980s. I mean, besides creatives growing up in the decade now being in charge of shows like Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., the ‘80s are pop culture gold mine. But do we really a scene of Deke singing “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” for three minutes? That just feels like filler to me.
Besides the music, which Deke passes as his own work, the clearest inspiration for this week’s episode in 1980s slasher films. While the killer robots are more sci-fi, the blood splattering on the walls is a dead giveaway. So much for death not being trivialized. I’m honestly surprised the FCC let them to be so graphic, but then again, NBC played Hannibal for three seasons.
While I can let the Chronicoms surviving through old technology slide, it’s harder to imagine Coulson (Clark Gregg, Captain Marvel) surviving. They supposedly saved him on a hard drive, but it’s unclear when they would have had time to do this and Deke would even have access to it. Besides, it seems like he’s in a TV, not a hard drive. Chalk it up to the writers wanting to make him into a Max Headroom parody and little else.
I do sound like I’m being a little harsh on this episode. After all, I did want the show to incorporate more style into its installments. But it just feels like the writers wanted an episode to goof off before getting back on track. I’ve also noticed there’s a been much less social commentary these past two decades. That’s not what I come to Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. for, but it’s not like the world’s problems ended in the 1970s, otherwise we wouldn’t be dealing with the same issues today.
I’m more intrigued by where next week’s episode will take us, so I can give the show a pass for this week.
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