The third episode of the seventh and final season of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. aired tonight on ABC, and it jumped the show ahead by about 20 years. Don’t worry, you didn’t miss anything, but the team made another time jump at the end of last week’s episode and now we know exactly where and when they are.
The episode opens with a young couple staring at the stars before they are startled by the Zephyr flying overhead. Inside, the team learns that they are now in the year 1955, though it doesn’t appear as though they’ll have time to attend the opening of Disneyland. Luckily for the team, they happened to end up just outside of Area 51, so their ship startling some teens is hardly out of the ordinary. Before, jumping to the next scene we get a new Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. logo and sci-fi-inspired intro.
Two of the Chronicom hunters meet with their predictor, who assures them that they are still on the right path after the two hunters argue over the fact that they allowed S.H.I.E.L.D. to live. The predictor explains that they must be delicate with time. Before moving on, we learn that their new plan involves something called Helius.
Back on the Zephyr, Mack and Daisy argue over her order to kill Freddy, but it is short-lived once Mack pulls rank. Simmons explains that they are more or less drafting off of the Chronicoms’ time jumps in order to follow them. Mack lays out to plan to find the Chronicom ship and go on the offensive and Coulson explains that Area 51 is a S.H.I.E.L.D. base, prompting a callback for Daisy to her season 1, conspiracy theorist days. The team discovers Helius at that base and conveniently realize that it is likely a piece of the Chronicoms’ plan.
Mack, Yo-Yo, Coulson and Daisy head to diner to pick up a mark, a man named Gerald Sharpe from the Department of Defense. After Daisy slips something in his coffee, they have him subdued on the Zephyr with plans to get information on Helius from him.
May joins the team and is quickly briefed on the fact that they are in 1955, in Area 51 and trying to stop the Chronicoms from stealing a space weapon. May once again has no reaction and the team is starting to take notice of her odd behavior. Mack and Daisy explain to her that Coulson and Simmons are already on the base. Coulson used Sharpe’s identity, but Simmons had to use one that was a bit more high profile – Agent Peggy Carter!
Inside the lab, Coulson and Simmons meet the head scientist who walks them through some of their high-tech inventions, at which the obviously unimpressed agents smile and nod. They explain that they need to question the scientists for a potential security breach.
Back on the Zephyr, Mack and Yo-Yo interrogate Sharpe but it turns out he’s not going to break so easily. After making some offensive comments toward both of them, he explains that he is ex-military and wrote the field manual on interrogation. Looks like he’s going to be a thread through the entire episode.
In the lab, scientists line up to be questioned by Coulson and Simmons. Coulson explains that they don’t need to test whether or not they’re Chronicoms, they just need to test if they’re human. That leads to a rather hilarious series of questions in which the agents simply try to get any kind of emotional reaction out of the scientists. My personal favorite involves Coulson simply saying the word “moist” over and over.
Another agent arrive on the base and a guard explains that two agents are interviewing the scientists, one of them being Peggy Carter. The arriving agent reveals himself to be Agent Daniel Sousa, the former partner of the real Peggy Carter. His presence is clearly going to be a problem for Simmons and Coulson.
On the Zephyr, Deke and Daisy argue over her order to kill Freddy. It seems odd that Daisy doesn’t understand that this would have accomplished the Chronicoms’ mission for them by this point. While looking through some paperwork, Daisy realizes that Sousa will be on the base, which will cause problems.
While she’s still questioning scientists, Simmons is interrupted by Sousa, who explains who he is and promptly arrests her. He then goes after Coulson who is hilariously questioning a bus full of scientists. Coulson is obviously in trouble but can’t help but show his fanboy side again in the presence of Sousa.
Back on the Zephyr, we learn even May couldn’t crack Sharpe. After some discussion, the team realizes Deke might have better luck because, well, because he’s white. The reluctant Deke eventually accepts his new mission.
Sousa heads to his office where he encounters Daisy who is under cover as a CIA agent. Daisy uses her knowledge of Sousa and the recent security breach to her advantage and wins him over. Sousa reveals that he has sent a report to the CIA regarding sleepers in S.H.I.E.L.D. post-World War II, a nod to the HYDRA plan revealed by Arnim Zola in Captain America: The Winter Soldier.
Deke takes a crack at interrogating Sharpe and, while it seems like he gains his trust in the beginning, Sharpe laughs him off and still refuses to talk. He does however slip up and explain that Helius doesn’t work because there is nothing powerful enough to get it up to velocity. Deke realizes that a Chronicom would be and that must be what they’re planning. He explains this to Mack, who decides to send May and Yo-Yo into the base.
Disguised as pilots, May and Yo-Yo head to the lab and toss in two gas canisters, with the plan to take down anyone who doesn’t react. However, once in the gas, May seemingly has a panic attack and Yo-Yo freezes again like she did last week and the Chronicom gets away.
Meanwhile, Sousa takes Daisy to see Coulson and Simmons, who quickly turn the tables on Agent Carter’s old partner and lock him in their cell as sirens sound off in the base. Coulson explains again that he’s a fan as they leave him there.
May and Yo-Yo regroup, with neither one being able to explain exactly what happened to them. Even if they could, they clearly don’t want to talk about it. Meanwhile, on the Zephyr, Sharpe escapes and wanders into the bridge. He is quickly overwhelmed by all the futuristic technology and begins to panic. Mack tells him to settle down and then knocks him out with a single punch.
As the panicked soldiers and scientists evacuate the base, Simmons, Daisy and Coulson head back to the lab to try and deactivate Helius while May and Yo-Yo go after the Chronicom, who is still trying to plug herself into the potential bomb.
Simmons quickly realizes she can use the EMP in the S.H.I.E.L.D. lab to stop Helius but she’ll need to amplify it, which is going to take time. Daisy tries to remove a scientist from the lab but it turns out he’s actually a second Chronicom who attacks her. Before she can do anything, Coulson tackles him, leading to another robot fight.
May and Yo-Yo face off with another Chronicom at the actual Helius device. At full-strength, the two agents would have no problem dealing with one Chronicom, but that is clearly not the case in this fight. After we jump between the two fights a bit, Simmons is finally able to use the EMP to shut down all electronics on the base, including Helius, the Chronicoms and Coulson.
Sousa, who had briefly joined Coulson’s fight, watches the Chronicom self-destruct and orders a soldier to get a medic for Coulson. He is clearly suspicious of these visitors but seems to accept that they are more-or-less the “good guys.” The shot slowly zooms in on an eye of the unconscious Coulson as he appears to be rebooting.
In the tag, Mack and Deke hover the Zephyr over Sharpe, who is now waking up in the dessert. Over a speaker, Mack refers to Sharpe as “Earthling” and tells him that the cannot reveal what he has seen or the next time they abduct him, he will be probed. It’s a funny gag, but also serves the purpose of preserving the timeline. It also serves the purpose of giving the episode its “Alien Commies From The Future!” title.
It’s clear that this season is going to continue to jump through different time periods which will keep each episode feeling fresh. This episode had plenty to get bot Marvel fans and fans of the series excited. The return of Sousa was a nice touch and I’m definitely excited to see what other surprises this season will have in store. The only thing this episode didn’t deliver was answers regarding Enoch and Koenig. It seems to me like they will definitely be coming back at some point this season, but it becomes less and less likely the further the team gets from 1931. I wouldn’t be surprised to see them next week.
Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. airs Wednesday nights on ABC.