'Agents of SHIELD' Season 7 Episode 4 Review: Rewritten history, strong moments make 'Out of the Past' enjoyable
Spoilers for 'Agents of SHIELD' Season 7 Episode 4 'Out of the Past'
History is rewritten. And for those who sincerely hoped Daniel Sousa (Enver Gjokaj) would join the agents, they can head to bed with a smile on their face. 'Out of the Past' took a rather novel approach, served with a generous dose of easter eggs and brought in a rather 'Mission: Impossible' -type vibe. There might not have been a deadly '50s villain with a rat-a-tat Tommy gun and a cigar with a glowing tip hanging from the corner of his mouth, but there was a mission: Change history no matter the cost.
The episode also boasts of some strong moments— Melinda May's (Ming-Na Wen) new ability of sorts, the status quo conversation between Deke Shaw (Jeff Ward), and Elena "Yo-Yo" Rodriguez (Natalia Cordova- Buckley) which adds to the emotional factor. This bodes well for the episode as filler moments, but perhaps does more than what's needed for lending more depth to the new installment. The monochrome theme, the angles and the lines make the episode enjoyable. It is quick, breezy, funny, insightful and with all this, it makes that audacious move of changing history.
The 1955 storyline may have ended here, but not before it gave some MCU references. Howard Stark has been mentioned more than twice and "pompous" as Sousa describes him, is perfectly relatable to both Dominic Cooper and John Slattery's portrayal. Project Helius' destruction was meant to take out SHIELD as well as Sousa who in actual history would visit Howard to hand over a special device. Sousa's character arc definitely gets better explained as he is opened to several startling discoveries.
The question now will be, how can Sousa, now living to see another era be a brilliant operative in a generation that he never saw? The promo for the upcoming episode shows they're in the '70s and Sousa is a man out of time. 'Out of the Past' also does a great job of bringing back Wilfred Malick into the fold. His interaction with Deke justifies the need to bring him back again early on in the series. It is still debatable as to what Malick's future plans are but for now, he has lost Round 1.
Coming back to the fillers, May's got new powers, a result of her time in the shrike realm and this just adds another layer to the character. Three episodes saw May dispassionate, disoriented and just not herself. This episode gives out a quick answer and we're sure this power of hers will be explored in detail over the course of the series. For those who wanted to know where the agents are headed next, a 20-year jump takes them to the '70s. Now that's something to look forward to. And this time in color.
'Agents of SHIELD' airs Wednesdays 10 pm ET on ABC.