The Agents must ensure another important event in the history of SHIELD happens without interruption, regardless of the cost.

There’s definitely a sense to this season that the writers are mainly trying to have a bit of fun with the concept of the show generally and this season’s setup in particular, and none more so than here – an episode presented in black and white as a noir-ish pulp detective story recounted by Coulson. The reason for the black and white format needn’t detain us here but suffice to say it tracks internally while adding nicely to the aesthetic the episode is going for.

This week, the task is very simple, yet horribly difficult – Daniel Souza is due to deliver a package to Howard Stark and history says that after he does so, he dies, becoming the first name on the wall of fallen heroes at SHIELD. Coulson, as a huge history geek, is fully alive to this, and now slightly concerned that their actions in the previous episode will have thrown this all off track. He can’t afford for Souza to be questioning him too long and miss his window, and has to think fast.

And that’s basically it – if we thought the agents trying to protect the future key figure in HYDRA was bad, watching them wrestle with the idea of making sure a good man gets to his death on time is much worse. That’s the real narrative meat here, and it allows exploration of a lot of different characters. Also, Enoch is back, in an extended, episode-long joke that, if I’m honest, gets tedious towards the end.

Deke and YoYo have some interesting discussions on the status quo and the merits of maintaining it, and by the closing credits, one of them has shifted position considerably. Coulson – or at least his LMD – has to balance his instinctive admiration for Souza with his dedication to the mission of preserving history as it is. Mack perhaps has it worst of all – as a deeply moral, decent man he’s stuck in the literal middle of a dilemma, wanting to oppose the Chronicom plan but realising increasingly how much evil that means he will need to preserve to achieve.

May, meanwhile, finally gets to start the arc that the series has been putting off as we get the beginnings of an explanation for her strange behaviour. Two things to note – the reason is absolutely the worst possible thing for a character like May, and it’s not going to help with her and ‘Coulson’ getting along.

It all rattles along pretty well, and while you’ll see the ultimate conclusion coming some way off, that doesn’t make it any less satisfying. The first three episodes of this season varied in quality but ultimately didn’t feel all that great. This is the first one that genuinely felt fun to watch, and I can only hope that the rest of the season builds on all this.

Verdict: Decent character interplay and some nice narrative tensions wrapped up in a genuinely entertaining narrative conceit. This is how you do a swansong series. 9/10

Greg D. Smith