Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. – Failed Experiments Review

This week’s Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. brought us blue aliens, betrayed friendships, and lost hope in "Failed Experiments." The title says it all, as the episode was laden with multiple tests for the characters that all ended in the worst ways possible. The episode started with my least favorite type of scene, a mythology flashback. We got to see exactly how Hive was created thanks to the Kree. I get that these scenes are somewhat necessary, but they also muddle the story. Obviously showing is better than telling and all that, but it just didn’t add anything for me. So Hive was created in a painful horrible way, what did we think it just ascended from the heavens? After Hive explained how the Kree created him, he finally revealed his mission. He wants to make all humans into Inhumans. Again I’m really not sure about the motive. I thought the point of the Inhumans was that not everybody had their skills, which made them elite, so if everyone is Inhuman aren’t we just back to square one of no one being special? Either way, Hive was very adamant about this goal. After one failed experiment by Dr. Radcliffe to make someone Inhuman by giving them Hive's blood, he told Hive they need Kree blood to make it work. So what did Hive do? He summoned them, even though they are apparently the only thing that could kill/harm him. At this point Mack, May, and a team of unknown (at least to us) agents appeared on the scene. May’s goal was to find Hive, figure out his plan, and hopefully take him out. Mack was only concerned with saving Daisy, who doesn’t want to be saved. They got there just in time for a Kree pod to crash land. Two Kree landed and immediately wanted to kill all the Inhumans in sight, which I guess was good for S.H.I.E.L.D. Eventually one caught up with Daisy, who had been given the task of getting the Kree blood. This led to a pretty awesome fight scene. Daisy’s powers still kind of confuse me. It just seemed crazy that she could take down one of the Kree, something that even Hive had trouble dealing with. But she succeeded and got the blood. Then Mack tried to act like a hero and get Daisy to come back with him. She, of course, refused and basically called him stupid for thinking there was any way she still cared about being his partner. She then proceeded to kick the crap out of him, which was really sad to watch. As that was happening, May and company watched the other Kree and Hive fight. Unfortunately Hive won, but May attempted to shoot him down, which did absolutely nothing. They ran out in time to save Mack from Daisy’s smack down and they quickly left, but not before Mack was able to destroy the Kree corpse and the blood that Hive needed. So the mission failed for both sides, which made the whole alien landing thing completely pointless. Hive didn’t get the blood he needed and S.H.I.E.L.D. wasn't able to kill Hive or rescue Daisy. That’s when Daisy realized she actually had Kree blood flowing through her veins, which was the blue alien stuff that saved her in a previous season. She told Hive to drain her blood and she was ready to make this experiment finally work. The other storyline this episode was all about Lincoln being Lincoln. He wanted so badly to help that he took matters into his own hands. Fitz and Simmons had been developing a cure for Hive’s infection of the Inhumans, but Coulson declared it too dangerous to test. Of course, Lincoln did it anyway and it failed. Lincoln’s actions weren’t at all surprising. The writers have set him up all season as being a character that does what he wants and flies off the handle. I’m really hoping he’s the agent that dies this season. He's grown on me, but out of everyone he’d be the least depressing one to lose. Final Thoughts: Overall this episode was just meh. I was hoping we would finally find a way to kill Hive, but that has yet to happen. I was also disappointed that Mack still thought he could save Daisy. I mean, she definitely trapped them all in the base, it doesn’t seem like she was fighting Hive's power over her at all. I also liked the little Captain America: Civil War reference. It delighted me that they didn’t actually say Iron Man or Captain America, but they still managed to get the point across. It was a nice nod to the fan base, especially with the film set to open in the US this weekend. There is only one episode left until the two hour season finale. Hopefully the team will find a way to take down Hive next week, which I feel like I’ve been saying the whole second half of this season.