Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. - Season 5, Episode 3 Review

While Agents of SHIELD isn't a perfect show, its writing is often pretty strong, if a little too formulaic at times, with "A Life Spent" (confusingly numbered as Series 5 Episode 2 in the UK) feeling incredibly so. Not only did the episode feature an underdog cage fight (which I feel like I've seen so many of in Supergirl, Angel, Altered Carbon and to an extent with Thor: Ragnarok that I'm just fed up with them for the time being), but also a big "believe in yourself" storyline between Simmons and one-off Inhuman character Abby. It's by no means a bad story-line, but the frequently corny dialogue only serves to add this cliched narrative arc which ends as predictably as possible. Part of me hoped for a really down-beat ending with the champion straight-up murdering Abby in the arena, but its clear that was too dark for the SHIELD writers. Their final "twist" reveal that Abby was in fact sold felt a bit weak too, given that she'd made it quite clear earlier on in the episode that she wouldn't be able to return to her family again. It all just felt a bit "been there, done that" and with little to show for it by the end.

Meanwhile, Daisy attempted to try and rescue Simmons, but has to have as much verbal sparring with guest character Deke as possible. So much so that I'm pretty much convinced that they've set him up as her new love interest. Why else would they spend so much time working on their dynamic? The episode's cliffhanger, with Deke having betrayed Daisy feels like a fake-out, and even if it isn't, they'll still find a way to contrive a romance in there somehow. It'd be more of a twist if the writers didn't force them together at some point this season. Setting up Daisy as this "destroyer of worlds" is an interesting concept, but its such early days that nothing can be done with it yet. I even wonder if the writers would have been better off setting that up later on in the season so it could actually be developed properly.

Wow...this review is turning out so much more negative than I thought it would...

On the other hand, we have the Coulson and co story-line to keep us entertained. Building up the mystery of Virgil's secret activities is a surprisingly interesting ongoing story-line, given that the team now appear to need to investigate the surface of this desolate Earth (realised very well in a brief glimpse as part of the episode's epilogue). I'm genuinely interested to see what they find there, and I'm enjoying watching Coulson, May, Mack, Yo-Yo and newcomer Tess as they have some great character interactions and dynamics - even if Tess is a bit one-note at points.

The episode also incorporated some great action set-pieces, with Yo-Yo helping Daisy being perhaps the highlight. Daisy's attempts to find Simmons also has some great action moments, and the sequence in the spaceship as Coulson and Tess fended off their guard was very well-handled as well. See? I don't have *too* much to moan about!

Overall, "A Life Spent" was a fairly solid, if particularly unremarkable third installment to this season. We're still early days and it feels like it, with a distinct lack of narrative and character development so far. I'm hoping things will pick up next time.