Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. S05E09 Best Laid Plans review

Airing Sundays at 9pm in the UK on E4
Writers: George Kitson
Director: Garry A Brown

Essential Plot Points:

• The humans in the Lighthouse have banded together and are taking over their floors. Flint wants to take the fight to Kasius, and while Mack disagrees Yo-yo thinks it’s the right play.
• Kasius raises Tess from the dead and sends her down as a display of his god-like power. She tells Mack, Yo-yo and Flint that they must bring him all the kids over 10 and the Inhuman kit from the lab – or everyone in the Lighthouse dies.
• The team on Zephyr One try to get the ship off the ground or be forced to sit out a gravity storm in the caves for two weeks. Sinara attacks as they’re about to evacuate everyone.
• Mack and Yo-yo face down Kasius, holding his precious lab to ransom in exchange for the lives of the humans. Outsmarting him, Kasius comes of worst.

Review:

Things have moved on apace ahead of this episode, and some shows would take the time to put the brakes on and pause for breath, but not Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. With dual missions to complete and major obstacles in the way for the split team (Kasius threatening to blow up the base unless he gets his way, Zephyr One stubbornly refusing to power up to flight status as the team weather a gravity storm), it’s a tense one. There’s also a heightened fear that Flint’s willingness to fight might get him killed, now we know how important he is to the team getting home.

The opening firefight is a good scene setter, as the rebellion begins, while this episode’s major ass kicking comes courtesy of Sinara and a de-powered Quake. The “Destroyer of Worlds” is starting to think the inhibitor Kasius fitted to her might be a good thing, as she can’t burst the Earth apart if she has no Quake powers, and is forced to be merely Daisy Johnson, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. Turns out Agent Johnson is actually pretty good, even without her Inhuman skills, holding her own against Sinara in a way Deke can’t hope to match.

With the bad guys as much their own worst enemy as their actual enemies, this isn’t Kasius’ best episode. Although his willingness to push the button and wipe humanity out shows he’s still as cold as ever. It’s also not the best cliffhanger this series, as the door closes on Kasius’ “seer” – why has he waited so long to put that resource into action, given those powers could have saved him a heck of a lot of trouble?

The Good:

• Kasius’ method to quell the uprising is actually incredibly smart, eschewing simple violence. It also ties in nicely to previous Kree impacts on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. – Tahiti is a magical place.
• Melinda May’s “mom face.” We’d be off to bed with no phone and no dinner if Ming-Na Wen looked at us like that.

The Bad:

• The bad guys are still losing because they’re arrogant and think the humans can’t beat them. That mindset should have been put to bed a few episodes ago.

Best Quotes:

Kasius not giving up without a fight:
“It’s time to remind the humans that I am not their enemy. I am their god.”

Review by Matt Chapman

Read all of our Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. reviews