There was an unusual amount of name-dropping in this episode, including the likes of several Avengers, Ultron, and at last, the Inhumans. With that came very quick, but major (and spoiler-y), connections to the latest movie. I enjoyed the thematic connections to the upcoming Civil War film too, particularly when Gonzales was stating his opinions on how Ultron was created in the first place.

My main gripe with this episode came with the conclusion (no, not the after credits bit, which I will touch on later). I love the idea that Jiaying is so unwilling to have her people indexed and registered that she would kill Shield’s diplomatic messenger (RIP Gonzales) without even a second thought, let alone with a Terrigan crystal. What I don’t like is that she needed to frame the whole situation as if Shield attacked her. We all know everyone will eventually find out she started it all, so in the end we have a good amount of unnecessary drama about an intentional miscommunication. Jiaying should have simply owned up to what she did, and made herself an official enemy of Shield. The story would have propelled in the same direction while leaving the unnecessary conflict in the dust.

Brutal leader Jiaying.

Now I want to talk about Raina. I’ll start by saying that I really like how they made her someone that no one, including the audience, could trust. No matter what she says, you never know if she is lying to manipulate someone. I think it was a great move to solidify that aspect of her character — it makes her a stronger player in the story. I honestly had no idea if she was telling the truth, but I was glad when Gordon didn’t just fall for her potential lies. But with this big step in her story comes a tiny falter. Raina seems perfectly all right with her situation very suddenly. It was only an episode or two ago that she was completely broken, and hated what happened to her. Now she just doesn’t care, and is okay with everything?

Back at Shield, May is still super annoyed at Coulson, which I’m finding increasingly unbelievable. She has the right to be mad, more than anyone else on the team, but it still seems a little weird. May would know the importance of keeping secrets in particular situations. Even if she disagreed with Coulson’s handling of everything, she should be at least slightly over it. Meanwhile, Fitz and Simmons continued to excel in every personal scene between them, this episode being no exception. You could tell that Fitz is only now truly grasping how much Simmons has been changed for the worse.

Bobbi and Hunter are still not talking, so it looks like we will have to wait even longer for their eventual heart-to-heart. Things didn’t get any better for Bobbi either, as Agent 33 tricked her (and us). Now Bobbi is in the hands of Agent 33 and Ward himself. I’ve been adamant about my dislike for the whole Agent 33/Ward storyline. It’s so disconnected from everything else, especially when 90% of the story is focused on the Inhumans. There will need to be some major connection to the overall arch of the show to make all this time worth it.

Don’t waste our time, Bobbi.

“Scars” was a very good episode overall, that progressed the stories and characters in a big way, despite a few missteps. With the potential Shield spinoff starring Bobbi and Hunter, and now with Mack just suddenly up and leaving (I’m seriously hoping this is not the last we see of him), I’m wondering why the show feels the need to move all of its new players. Either way, I’m excited to see how the show will wrap up its second season, and explain just what the hell that liquid rock is.

Article by contributor Russ Milheim.