REVIEW -- Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. - Season 1, Episode 13: T.R.A.C.K.S.

Last week's episode of Marvel's Agents of SHIELD set the Internet on fire for Marvel Comics and Marvel Cinematic Universe fans from the roller coaster ride of the episode properly named, "T.R.A.C.K.S." These one-episode-per-month deals with ABC are killing me with this return of Marvel's Agents of SHIELD. If you weren't a fan of this show before, then trust and believe me, you will be after seeing this episode.

Episode Overview: (Spoilers)

In order to find the Clairvoyant, the team boards a train in Italy, on which a Cybertek security group led by Carlo Mancini (TJ Ramini) is shipping a package to Ian Quinn. They take over the mission for an Italian police member named Luca Russo (Carlo Rota). The team splits into groups, with Coulson and Simmons posing as a father and daughter while Fitz and Skye work with Ward and May to track down the package.

However, the group is exposed, leaving Coulson and Ward to flee the train. May also goes missing, but when Coulson and Ward track her down, they learn the team was sold out by Luca Russo, who is killed by May. The team finds the train and Simmons, but Fitz and Skye are gone, having disembarked to track the package to Quinn's mansion. In the basement, Skye is confronted by Quinn and Mancini, who reveal that Mike Peterson is alive, having been kept in a hyperbaric chamber. Mancini opens the package, which a high-tech prosthetic leg that he fits onto Peterson's severed right leg. To test Peterson's obedience to Centipede, Quinn orders him to kill Skye. He refuses as it is not what the Clairvoyant ordered. Instead, Quinn then shoots Skye twice in the stomach and leaves her for dead stating that he has his own orders. Peterson then executes the Cybertek security team because they led S.H.I.E.L.D. to the mansion. Quinn walks right into a S.H.I.E.L.D. raid on the mansion. Quinn is arrested, but Skye is left near death and Simmons can only sustain her temporarily by placing her into Peterson's hyperbaric chamber.

In the final scene, Peterson secretly observes his son at a playground and requests the Clairvoyant to let him see his son by writing on a piece of paper for the Clairvoyant to read. The Clairvoyant says "not yet". The view zooms in on his new prosthetic leg which bears the name "Project Deathlok".

The Verdict: 

I don't care what anyone says - this was Malinda May's episode from start to finish. Agents of SHIELD just gave me yet another reason to love Ming-Na Wen. (Whistles) Shit just got REAL on this episode. This has been arguably the best episode to date and I hope it shuts up a lot of the whiners, complainers, and other people doubting that this show as going to amount to anything big for the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

There's so many things to talk about on this episode... Where to begin?

First of all, I loved how this episode played out like a traditional Quentin Tarantino film on its style of narrative, with the use of flashbacks and multiple perspectives to move this episode's plot. After Coulson and Ward were forced to abandon the train after being discovered, I thought after the train disappeared they were sporting some sort of new A.I.M. technology and the Advanced Idea Mechanic was going to be properly introduced into this series. Nope, no dice. Minutes later, we follow May's heavily intense situation as Ming-Na Wen doesn't fail to disappoint in her bad-assery as this character. I said it once before and I'll say it again - who needs Ward when you have Malinda May on your damn team? She's an entire team on her own. Speaking of Ward, it seems that his and May's hidden romance is out in the open now and they are planting the seeds of Ward's possibly jealousy of Coulson. I don't see where they could go with this other than a weak knock off of Wonder Man and Vision's competition for Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch's affections from the Avengers comics. What's more interesting is that it seems that Ward is blaming Skye being hurt on Coulson as well for pushing the team too hard and too fast to catch Quinn. What is even more ironic is how far Coulson is willing to go to save Skye, which would contrast the extreme methods SHIELD did to save his own life. Sadly, we won't get that answer until March 4, when the next episode is set to air.

(Sighs) I hate having to wait, but geez... I did LOVE how they pretty much threw that PG rating out the window on this episode, especially from the way how May killed that bastard Mancini.

This episode also marked the first cameo of Stan Lee appearing in Marvel's Agents of SHIELD.

If the espionage action with Coulson, May, and Ward weren't enough, Skye, Gemma, and Fitz got into the mix as well. Gemma sacrificed herself to buy Skye and Fitz the opportunity to trail Quinn. Skye's amateur SHIELD training seemed to be enough to get her inside Quinn's base of operations only to find Michael Peterson locked up in storage. At this stage, I could see why Ward is upset about Coulson pushing Skye so hard at this point. She is still a rookie and pretty green when it comes to combat. Gemma and Fitz at least have some degree of field training, but Skye is pretty much a newbie at all of this. Her place is behind her computers, tucked away safely on The Bus. At the same time, it was her own stupidity to go in there after Quinn without a plan what so ever. After receiving the bionic leg implant, I thought The Clairvoyant was going to order Peterson to kill Skye and Quinn on the spot, but it seems like "he/she" has other plans in motion for those two. It was rather odd that The Clairvoyant allowed both Quinn AND Raina to be captured by SHIELD, despite how value they have been to The Clairvoyant's plans thus far. Peterson could have easily made short work of Coulson's team, but The Clairvoyant ordered him not to engage them.

Now let's talk about "Project Deathlok" shall we?

There's a bit of nerd outrage about the inclusion of the Deathlok character being injected into this series and even though I'm a comic book nerd myself, I'm a bit more forgiving on this character being introduced into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Micheal Peterson is only Deathlok in name only, so I don't see why people are getting so upset. Much like most of their properties in the current Marvel NOW! reboot of Marvel Comics, Marvel are revamping and approaching their characters from different angles to keep up with modern times and themes. For example, the current Ms. Marvel is a Muslim female and the current Spider-Man is a half-African American and half-Hispanic male. Seriously, I'm down to the point of I'm like "okay, cool..." with Marvel's changes now. It doesn't squash the stuff I grew up reading while at the same time, it offers a new entry point or gateway into Marvel Comics for both long-time fans and newcomers alike without feeling alienated that they did not read the source material. Whether people like it or not, that is a common issue that this series suffered from at the start. I found myself writing lengthy explanations for what is going on or what it could be possibly building towards in the Marvel Cinematic Universe from small tidbits and themes found in each early episode of Marvel's Agents of SHIELD. Now, Josh Whedon and his writers realize that they can't alienate fans who aren't comic book savvy and are introducing elements that aren't commonly well-known to fans of Marvel Comics.

I can only guess from this debut, but it seems like The Clairvoyant doesn't want Peterson to engage SHIELD yet - at least not until they finish his upgrades. I just hope they don't have him wearing that ugly yellow and red singlet like in the comics. Much like most comic book costumes, that shit would not look cool on TV, so I'm guessing he would end up looking like a Terminator by the time The Clairvoyant is done with him. A better question is that what is going to happen to Skye with her life in critical condition. Are Coulson and his team going to do something as drastic as what Nick Fury did to save his life? Fans are still speculating that Coulson is a Life Model Decoy of the real Coulson that died during the events of Avengers, and I wouldn't be surprised if they pull something similar with Skye and she ends up being a synthezoid like Jocasta. With her technological expertise in a cybernetic body, she could be a formidable opponent for Peterson after he makes the full transformation into Deathlok. I know that sounds a little far-fetched but my mind has been buzzing with crazy tie-ins and connections since the announcement that Ultron is going to be the feature villain of Avengers 2. In either case, I'm positive this season will end with Deathlok and Skye (after her "hidden powers awaken") squaring off.

"T.R.A.C.K.S." set the bar pretty high for Marvel's Agents of SHIELD and definitely stands out as one of its best episodes to date. I personally haven't been this excited to see what's in store for the upcoming episode(s) since "Girl In The Flower Dress" (Raina's debut). I give this episode a perfect rating - a 5 out of 5.