This week’s episode of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. was perhaps the series’ biggest emotional roller coaster yet, as we finally learned the origin of how Melinda May became known as The Calvary. In addition, Skye started to master her Inhuman abilities, and we also got a clue as to what other powers Raina may have.
One of the consistently good things in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has been the character of Melinda May, even though she is sometimes one of the quietest characters on the show (for the record, whenever she doesn’t talk, the reason nine times out of ten is because she’s spending her time kicking some serious butt). This episode, which a lot of us have been waiting for, was emotionally gut-wrenching, because despite knowing that something really bad was going to happen in order to explain why May is the way she is today, I never imagined this. I do wonder though if the Calvary backstory was always meant to feature Melinda having to take the life of an Inhuman young girl. Regardless, it was heartbreaking to see the performance Wen delivered as May had no other way of stopping the girl from taking control over more people. I’m just glad that they didn’t show us May shooting her, even though there are a lot of things that this show has been able to do now that they are at 9 PM.
It was also genuinely great to see Coulson and May back in the Phase 1 period of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, when the Avengers Initiative was just being launched by Fury. Like I said above, Wen has been a highlight in pretty much 99% of the whole series, but just seeing a May that was smiling, that was still together with Andrew Garner, who she had plans to start a family with and all that, made the Calvary story that more devastating. Along with the great writing that this episode had, this was one of Wen’s finest performances in the whole series for the character of May.
Meanwhile in the Afterlife, we start to see Skye mastering her powers in one of the most beautiful visual ways ever by amplifying the frequency to a mountain. I don’t know what it is with that Skye/Quake theme that Bear McCreary composed, but I love how it’s used whenever we see her use these powers; it goes well with the theme of the growth of a superhero. Last week, I kept thinking how long it would take before Jiaying would tell Skye that she was her mother; I was thinking around Episode 20 or so. However, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. ain’t moving that slow, as Jiaying tells her daughter that she is her mother, and as expected, it’s heartbreaking. I know that we should consider her fellow agents over at S.H.I.E.L.D. as her family too, but just seeing Skye getting to be with her biological family was a highlight of this whole episode. You could see in Skye’s eyes that this was something that she had wanted for a long time.
This reveal leads us to a great and surprising scene, where Skye reunites with Cal for the first time since the events in the mid-season finale. You know that Cal has done a lot of bad things. However, you still have to feel for this guy so much because all he ever wanted was to get to be with his daughter, so I put all his negative actions aside and got teary eyed watching him thank Jiaying and Skye for giving him another shot.
Just seeing these three have dinner together was special and sweet, but as they are having a great time, Lincoln discovered something that goes back to Raina. Earlier in the episode, Raina (who is having the worst time of her life) describes a dream that she keeps having about Skye where she is happy and with her father, and it resembles a lot what we see later in the episode. Is Raina possibly clairvoyant? That’s what I can’t wait to find out in the next few weeks.
Overall, “Melinda” was one of the best episodes of not just this season, but the whole series. Both Wen and Bennet had one of their finest hours, and it was great to not have so much focus on the S.H.I.E.L.D. vs. Anti-S.H.I.E.L.D. (not calling them “Real” S.H.I.E.L.D. anymore) this week. Although that new tidbit we learned about Coulson’s unknown activities on the side with super-powered people may be a clue to what this possible Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. spin-off might be all about.
Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. airs on Tuesday nights, 9/8c on ABC.
[Photo via ABC]
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awesome review! i too, probably like Skye, forgot all of the bad things Cal had done, and was just happy to see a family reunited. If only I didn’t have to chase away those damn ninjas chopping onions…