"A Life Earned" Episode 504 Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

The S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents are Lost in Space! “Danger, Phil Coulson, Danger!”

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Airdate December 15, 2017
Created by Joss Whedon, Jed Whedon, Maurissa Tancharoen
Production Company ABC Studios & Marvel Television

What You Should Know:

At the end of last week’s episode, Kasius had turned Jemma into one of his golden personal servants, Coulson, May, Yo-Yo, and Mack had picked up a human transmission emanating from Earth and Deke had betrayed Sky-Daisy to the Kree.

What You’ll Find Out:

(SPOILERS AHEAD!) As this weeks episode opens, Kasius is taking a sample of Quake’s blood. He answers the nagging question of why the station doesn’t look very alien…it’s not! It was built by humans, the survivors of the quake-tastrophe. Kasius came along and, according to him, “rescued humanity”. He tells her of The Old Ones who used to tell tales of Quake and how S.H.I.E.L.D. would return one day from the past to save them. And now Quake and Jemma are here and Kasius wants to know if there are others. He also has bidders on the way and hopes to leave “this horrendous place” once and for all.

Elsewhere on the station, Coulson and the other agents are doing hard labor. Their search for Daisy and Jemma has turned up nothing. Taskmaster Grill comes and takes Mack to rough up a guy named Gunner who owes Grill. Mack learns of a place called Level 35 where Kree technology may be found. Sky-Daisy is taken to a room where a skilled Inhuman fighter is training. He’s also telepathic. Kasius wants a demonstration of Quake’s power.

Meanwhile, Coulson, May, Mack, and Yo-Yo set about to find Level 35. Determined to get to the truth, Kasius has his bodyguard Sinara bring Quake and the Inhuman telepath along with Jemma to him. After hearing their story, the Inhuman tells Kasius they aren’t lying. But Kasius is still distrusting so he has Quake tell the story of how she and Jemma got there while Jemma’s hearing is turned off. Then he tells Jemma the same thing, informing her their stories better matchup. And they do, thanks to some help from Telepath Guy. But while linking Quake and Jemma’s minds, he was also close enough to read Kasius’ mind…he saw the shame, the hatred Kasius has for the station…and when Kasius leaves he plans to blow the station, and everyone on it, to kingdom come!

The rest of the team, with Deke’s help, makes it inside Level 35. They discover the commodity being hid there is a baby. Deke reveals the Kree have sterilized the human populace through the food. Kasius want to control human breeding to increase the chance of births that can lead to being turned into Inhumans.

Later, the “bidders begin to arrive at the station. Kasius gathers them to introduce his special acquisition…Quake, Destroyer of Worlds! As Kasius raises a toast, one of the new arrivals steps forward and removes his helmet. It’s Fitz!

What This Means For The Future:

Fitz is back! In fact, the next episode, “Rewind”, looks to be a Fitz-centric one showing what he’s been up to and how he gets to the future outpost. Also, the next episode is the Winter Finale (I know, right? Already?) so we may not be getting back to the continuation of the story till next year. According to ReturnDates.com episode 506 is scheduled for January 5, 2018. Originally, Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. was scheduled to premiere in January 2018 and be shown with no breaks.

Rating: 8/10

Final Thought: This week we finally started to get some answers to questions that have been sticking out like what Kasius was up to. Still, if Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is going insist on staying on the Inhumans storyline (which is already becoming a tad long) then let’s bring in the Royal Family (Black Bolt, Medusa, Gorgon, Karnak, Krystal, Maximus, and Lockjaw) and see what they can do with the whole Terrigenesis outbreak on Earth. At the end of The Inhumans series, we saw the Inhumans escaping the destruction of Attilan and coming to Earth. Perhaps in a reverse comic book historical order, the Royal Family could build a new Great Refuge in the Himalayas and reign everybody in. Then S.H.I.E.L.D. could move on to other stories.

The Absorbing Man is an actual villain Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. used from the Marvel comics. He has appeared in three episodes over seasons two and three of the show. More integration of characters from the comics would help propel the series in reaching its potential.
Name: The Absorbing Man (aka “Crusher” Creel)
Actor: Brian Patrick Wade
1st Appearance: Season 2 “Shadows”