The idea of curing the Inhumans, or them being treated as outsiders was a big theme in this week’s episode. As time went on, we saw that there was the potential for a cure to be developed. The idea of this cure put Daisy and Lincoln on opposite sides, briefly, and both had different ideas on what something like that could mean for their people. It’s hard not to see the parallels here between the Inhumans and the X-Men. I wonder where this will lead eventually, as it’s clearly something that could be used against someone like Hive and his army, but is that technically unethical?
We also got the return of the Absorbing Man, last seen at the beginning of Season 2. Instead of being a weapon of Hydra, though, he’s working for Talbot as a bodyguard. It’s been long enough that it isn’t hard to accept the change in belief and thankfully it didn’t seem to be misplaced as he stayed the course and didn’t actually betray SHIELD in the end.
The interesting thing is, he has powers, but isn’t Inhuman. He’s the only human to survive contact with the obelisk. So his blood is where the vaccine comes from. I wonder if his origins will be further explored in the show, or if he’s simply served his purpose now.
The rest of the episode bounced back and forth between the summit and Malick at his Hydra headquarters. It’s here we see him beginning to doubt his faith. Hive’s body isn’t recovering and so he simply remains a useless tool for Malick at the moment. As it turns out, he needs human bodies, not Inhumans, as Malick originally thought. Maybe now we can finally see how Hive will play into the overall story instead of just sitting in a bunker.
The stuff at the summit was interesting though. There was a lot of fun action there involving our non-powered people. The reveal that Talbot was the inside man was originally concerning to me because he seemed like the last person that would work for Hydra. It was also kind of eye rolling because it made it seem like everyone who isn’t apart of SHIELD (and some who are) are always going to be a part of Hydra.
Thankfully we quickly learned that this was all due to blackmail. Malick had kidnapped Talbot’s son and forced him to betray Coulson. There was some more backbiting between the two as they escaped, and by the end they’d come to something of a mutual respect for each other. Even if it hurts Talbot to admit it.
The episode ended with Hunter and Bobbi stowed away on a plane as they followed Malick into the belly of the beast. It’ll be interesting to see where they wind up and if anything that happens with them causes them to go on the run for ABC's spinoff series, Marvel's MOST WANTED.
Written by Peter Freeman, TV & Animation Writer -- Click to read Peter's posts.
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