Guardians 106The gang are sent undercover by Corpsman Titus to infiltrate a gang known as the Black Order, and stop them selling a powerful superweapon on the black market. But can they trust the deal that he’s offering?

Opening with our heroes disguised as Nova Corps (Rocket and Groot hilariously sharing the same oversized outfit) as they attempt to steal a crystal for Quill’s Cosmic Seed map, things go wrong when an alarm gets tripped and an ex-girlfriend of Quill’s – named Supergiant – gets out of control and escapes her cell.

Though managing to escape briefly on board a disguised Milano, they end up captured by Titus. Facing the revocation of their pardon and a lengthy spell in the Kyln, the gang agree to Titus’ offer to infiltrate the Black Order, and set off to find them.

Finding them turns out to be fairly straightforward – infiltrating them less so, as one of their number has mind control powers, and forces a quick and easy confession from Quill. The others prove more resilient, and manage to blag their way into being shown the whereabouts of the super weapon in question, which turns out to be something rather familiar.

Having retrieved it, the Black Order then look to dispose of the Guardians and a fight ensues. This is then ended by the arrival of a common foe, against whom they must all unite to win the day.

It’s nice to see the series avoiding being too ‘formulaic’. The overreaching arc of the search for the cosmic seed could easily have been just a series of episodes of ‘clue of the week’, but episodes like this which break off from that and give us little ‘side-quests’ for the heroes are a welcome change of pace.

Verdict: This is another great episode from the writers, who really seem to have settled in to the characters. Drax gets more comedic with each new instalment, as they explore more than the movie was able to his literal frame of mind and how this can affect his interactions. Gamora is as laconic and dry as ever, Rocket is pleasingly snarky and Quill is the roguish wit who isn’t quite as dashing as he’d like to think. They way they all play off one another is as good as it was in the movie, and I’m pleased to report that there were several laugh out loud moments in this episode. All in all, it’s very impressive stuff. 9/10

Greg D. Smith