By The Nerdling

Deke returns and he is the same as ever. The investigation into Sarge’s latest move takes a terrifying turn.

Spoilers!

Super-Fast Rundown

Sarge and his crew track down one of the blips the radar gun pointed to. The blip is a guy on his way to Sioux City (an area where lay lines are prominent). Sarge corners him and stabs the man. As he dies, he makes an odd screeching noise and several grey-metallic crystals extend from his body.

SHIELD gets the call from the locals and takes the body to Benson back at the Lighthouse. He, Keller, and Yo-Yo do an autopsy to find a dead bird creature inside of the body. Of course, the bird is not actually dead and escapes. In the confusion to corner it, the bird forces its way down Keller’s throat. Benson and Yo-Yo do what they can for Keller, but it is too late and the bird attempts to do whatever it was going to do. Yo-Yo stabs and kills Keller before it can happen.

Sarge tracks down Deke (who is also a blip on the map) at his startup gaming company. When Deke started to ask him about SHIELD, Sarge pretends he is Coulson and has been wiped of his memories. But Deke only falls for the ruse for a short while before throwing out random agent’s names and finally stabbing Sarge in the hand to see if it is real or fake.

Deke’s friend and co-worker reveals himself to actually be a SHIELD agent assigned to keep an eye on the future man. He calls for backup from Mac and May, then rescues Deke and his girlfriend from Sarge. Realizing he needs to approach his mission in a different way, Sarge takes May hostage.

Thoughts

RIP Agent Keller. We barely knew ye.

I’m not really sad to see him go. His chemistry with Yo-Yo was non-existent. Plus, the idea of there being a love triangle with those two and Mac was going to be wildly out of place with the interdimensional hunters, killer birds, space travel, and Fitz finding.

To be fair, Keller wasn’t a useless character. He and the deceased Agent Fox were the ones to put forth the lay lines theory that may or may not go somewhere. But his death is going to be far more fascinated in terms of what in the hell are the purpose of the apocalyptic birds.

The return of Deke. I really enjoyed the series took him exactly where you thought he would be. Capitalizing off this knowledge of the future and providing an escapism experience for a large fee.

His speaking in hashtags and influencer girlfriend are cringe-worthy, but I feel Mac’s line about those who want to kill Deke to “get in line” was a little harsh. Deke was able to detect Sarge was not Coulson apropos of nothing. He is still an interesting character in his own annoying, Zima loving way.

Speaking of the influencer Sequoia, I love it when writer/producer Maurissa Tancharoen does the guest star bit. If you don’t recognize her, she played Kilo in the short-lived Dollhouse. Sequoia’s takeover of the AoS’s Instagram stories (an extension of what was seen in the epilogue) was hilarious. You can tell she had so much fun with it.

The mystery around Sarge deepens more this week. At the beginning of the episode, it seems he is implanting the destruction birds inside his out of time/dimension victims. But next week’s promo infers he and his team are actually tracking people who already have the birds inside killing them to save the Earth.

Are not-Coulson and SHIELD going to work together now they may have a common enemy? Taking May to show her what he is really hunting and leaving behind Pax, Jaco, and his would-be victim, Deke suggests how important Sarge finds this mission.

I also think he is genuinely curious about who Coulson was.

Sorry for such a quick recap and rundown of theories. Next episode will (hopefully) be more thorough.

No new episode this week due to the NBA finals. I will see you back here in two weeks!

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The Nerdling was born in the majestic land known as Texas and currently resides there after several years of journeying through Middle Earth in a failed attempt to steal the one Ring from that annoying hobbit, serving the Galactic Empire for a time, and then a short stint as a crew member on the Serenity. Since moving back to her homeland, Nerdling flirted with a hero reputation. Saving children from the dangers of adoring domineering, sparkly vampires (champions with souls are the only vampires worth loving) and teaching normals the value of nerdom, all while rooting for her beloved Dallas Stars. Then came the Sokovia Accords and her short spell of saving others came to an end. With Darth Vader’s reputation rightfully returning to badass status, Nerdling is making her way back to the Empire. They do have cookies, you know. You can find her on Twitter and Instagram.