In Review: Agents of Shield (S7-E6) – Adapt or Die

Synopsis: The stakes are higher than ever when, after blowing their cover and damaging the Zephyr in the process, the team must scramble to rescue Mack’s parents, save S.H.I.E.L.D. from a chronicom infestation, and fix the ship … all before the next time-jump.

The Story

Still stuck in 1976. The team is in real danger given that they have blown cover in order to destroy insight. When General Rick Stoner fires on the Zephyr it takes some fancy flying from Enoch to prevent them from being totally destroyed, which means that Simmons has the task of making some repairs, which will be a job and half given that he memory is failing.

Back at the Lighthouse Mack and Yo-Yo launch a desperate attempt to rescue Mack’s parents while Agent May and Coulson have to convince Stoner that S.H.I.E.L.D. has been infiltrated by both Hydra and the Chronicoms. Elsewhere Daisy and Sousa are being held by Nathaniel Malick who is trying to figure out a way of taking Daisy’s Quake abilities for himself.

The Acting

Henry Simmons puts in a great performance this week as Mack who has some trouble containing his emotions when rescuing his parents, which is somewhat of a rarety given that Mack isn’t really one to emote a great deal. It also makes the twist ending to the episode all the more heartbreaking.

We also get a great scene between Clark Gregg and Tamara Taylor as both Coulson and Sibyl engage in a bit of verbal cat and mouse. Coulson is playing for time whereas Sibyl who has led the Chronicoms is perhaps overconfident. Either way, it’s a brilliantly acted scene, which had me on the edge of my seat.

Overall

This episode wraps things up for the 1976 part of the story, but still leaves a fair bit to be resolved. We get a shocking plot twist toward the end of the episode and am sure there are plenty more twists to come in the remaining episodes. Overall a solid outing this week.