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

The Watchdogs are back in this latest episode of Marvel's Agents of SHIELD, building on from their previously-established story-line in Season 3, as they attempt a mass attack on the Inhumans through a series of power cuts across the world. While I've never been a fan of Agents of SHIELD tackling such political ideas with a slightly black-and-white perspective, thankfully this episode was a bit less bog-standard and the whole blackout concept was utilized quite effectively...even if I couldn't help but compare it the whole CADMUS story-line in Supergirl. It works much better on a narrative level, even if the Watchdogs themselves lack any complexity as characters.
I also have to admit that the scenes between Gabe and Daisy felt a little weak with the handling of the whole Inhuman topic. Gabe never felt truly justified in pushing Daisy away, and singling him out as almost an antagonist felt a little too forced in some ways.
The episode did start off with an interesting story set-up with Elena/Yo-yo stuck in the middle of a blackout with the Watchdogs after her, but sadly this sub-plot got over-simplified to her best friend cutting her out simply because of her being an Inhuman. The whole discrimination idea isn't bad, but the way Agents of SHIELD handles this with its characters feels very weak and clichéd.
This episode also gave us a bit of a death-scare with Agent May in a sub-plot that, despite being based around some pretty questionable science, failed to really go very far in the grand scheme of things. It was almost pointless to keep Agent May out for a little while when she might as well have just taken a back-seat. I probably wouldn't mind as much had they actually killed the character, but I get the impression that a surprise death in Agents of SHIELD is unlikely at this point.
Once again though, I find myself with little to say on 'Uprising' as I haven't with the first two episodes of Agents of SHIELD's fourth season. This is probably the most engaging so far, although that's probably helped by the whole mission-of-the-week plot that I think the show works best with, but overall it definitely could do with improvements, despite the positive aspects.

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