Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. - Season 3, Episode 4 Review

Carrying on with my SHIELD catch up, let's talk about "Devils You Know".
The first thing to note about this episode is how well-paced it is. While Episode 3 had its action moments, it felt quite slow and methodical at points. This episode, however, rockets along at a very solid pace from beginning to end, whilst also remaining as a very entertaining, moderately standalone and well-structured episode.
"Devil's You Know" follows Hunter and May's close encounter with Ward, whose grudge against SHIELD becomes more apparent through some not-so-subtle "hey, this is kinda like SHIELD" lines. I like the idea that Ward's grudge against SHIELD and Coulson bleeds through into his new Hydra regime, while Brett Dalton still looks like he's having a hell of a lot of fun in the role.
Meanwhile, a joint-mission between the ACTU and SHIELD leads Daisy and Mack to encounter Lash - the Inhuman who has been murdering his species - who is revealed to transform into a human. It's slightly irritating that I know who Lash is (thanks social media), but it is interesting to see the build-up to the reveal. I'm assuming that, given the ending of this episode, that reveal is coming within the next couple of episodes, so I look forward to seeing the revelation in context. What I can say though is that Lash himself looks awesome - great design, great execution.
One thing I've noted about this season of Agents of SHIELD is that it really focuses on the spy thriller aspects much better than the previous seasons. Everyone seems to have their own motivations and not everyone can trust one another. It's an interesting dynamic for the protagonists, and given that they all do feel like real characters we can invest in now (thanks to some actual character moments this season), these trust issues have real weight to them.
I also found it interesting that the episode included an Inhuman who was in fact allergic to other Inhumans. Whether that scientifically makes sense I don't know or care, but I think its an interesting idea to include. All of this Inhuman stuff does remind me a lot of X-Men though, which I can't tell whether its a bad thing or not.
As for the whole Simmons wants to go back to the alien planet thing, I have nothing to say about it. It's clearly being set-up for later on and it may go somewhere interesting.
Overall, "Devil's You Know" was a cracker of an episode. Well paced, very enjoyable and with some cool action sequences. 8/10

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