Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. - Season 5, Episode 16 Review

"Inside Voices" marks a very clear point in this season of Marvel's Agents of SHIELD: the point at which it becomes clear that the writers couldn't quite drag this storyline out over 22 episodes, despite having solved that problem last season, and seemingly in splitting this season in two. So what happens in "Inside Voices"? Well, Talbot and Coulson escape Hale's base, and Yo-yo and Fitzsimmons escape the Lighthouse. Yup, that's pretty much it.

It's not that "Inside Voices" is a bad episode, but after last episode felt a little too much like padding, the show just seems to have really lost a sense of momentum. There's another six episodes to go, but it feels like we only really have two or three's worth of story to actually wrap everything up in a satisfactory way. Robin's return in this episode felt very much limited to setting a seed for the next episode/s, and re-establishing her close bond with Agent May, which wouldn't seem so bad if the episode didn't begin by repeating the ending to last week's episode. "We need to get Robin" says Daisy, before May points out that it could compromise her safety. Even the Yo-yo and Fitzsimmons storyline is very much taking something the characters had already realised - that if the future is set in stone, then they can't die prior to those events occurring - and acting out upon it.

The whole episode feels like a checklist of key story beats that the writers want to reaffirm to the audience before actually developing the story in an interesting direction, and regardless of how many Dr. Horrible's Sing-a-long Blog references or General Talbot, Talbot-ing you throw in, you can't quite hide it from us. However, "Inside Voices" is still a perfectly enjoyable episode in its own right, and demonstrates that even when it feels like its treading water, Agents of SHIELD is still much better than certain other comic book superhero shows on at the moment (sorry, The Flash, but using the same story every season is just lazy writing), and I'm still invested in what happens next - even if I'd admittedly like them to get on with it...

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