Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. recap: 'A Life Earned'

Daisy seems rather indifferent to the fact that she’s been captured by Kasius — much less that he also seems to be drawing a significant amount of blood from her. Though he still talks plainly, Kasius is clearly somewhat threatened by Daisy’s presence. Not just because she’s the so-called “Destroyer of Worlds,” but also because the prophecy foretold that multiple S.H.I.E.L.D. agents would return from the past to overthrow his order. He’s already connected that Simmons and Daisy must have come together, since neither have Metrics, but now he needs to know if there are more out there he should be looking for. After paying Deke his literal piece of silver for betraying Daisy, Kasius instructs him to find other time-travelers.

In the meantime, Kasius loops Daisy into his main business of training and then selling powerful Inhumans. Here Daisy meets a telepath, capable of hearing other people’s thoughts whenever his earpiece implant is turned off. That makes him capable of predicting and countering his opponents’ moves, which Daisy doesn’t think is necessarily fair. But she and the other SHIELD agents are still getting used to the alien morality of the station. As the telepath explains, he doesn’t mind being sold off, because his family will be compensated, giving them a better chance at survival. And here, survival is everything.

I must say, I greatly enjoy the constant tension in this season’s future setting. A particularly thrilling sequence comes when Kasius decides to interrogate Daisy and Simmons about how they got here; if their stories don’t match, then he’ll know they’re lying about being the only ones from the past. Daisy says that after Fitz killed their teammate Jeffrey Mace, she took Simmons to a diner to talk about their feelings, whereupon they were seized, knocked out, and woke up here. At first it seems impossible that the stories will match, since Kasius’ implant prevents Simmons from hearing well. But it turns out the telepath doesn’t just “hear” thoughts, he can also transmit them, allowing Simmons and Daisy to sync up their details. For now they’ve evaded suspicion, but being so close to Kasius means the telepath has picked up on his thoughts as well … and they seem to indicate a plan to destroy the station at some point in the near future, rendering his selfless sacrifice moot. So Daisy decides it’s time to shake up the rules a bit around here. (Recap continues on page 2)

With his previous enforcer exiled to Earth and eaten by roaches, the junkyard king Grill needs a new enforcer to do his dirty work. He settles on Mack, whose gentle personality is somewhat covered up by his impressive muscles. Grill wants to put those muscles to use and have Mack rough up a man named Gunner who owes the junkyard king some money.

Mack’s hesitant, but luckily he’s got a badass girlfriend who knows how to fight to survive. She takes the lead when they find Gunner, talking tough and using Mack’s strength as a threat. It soon becomes clear, though, that everything is not as it seems. Gunner’s behind on his payment because he’s busy with a package; when Mack threatens to destroy that package unless he pays up, Gunner reacts with unbridled horror. After all, the “package” is nothing less than a human baby, Gunner’s new child.

They sure don’t make humans like they used to! Elsewhere in the station, Deke gives Coulson and May the story. Nobody gets pregnant anymore; instead, Kasius and his subordinates grow the babies artificially, because this increases the chance of creating new Inhumans, which Kasius needs to continue funding his operation. In fact, Coulson and May see that the newest baby was spliced with DNA from Daisy … which means Deke was lying when he said he didn’t know where Daisy was. They’re soon interrupted by Sinara and Kree warriors, who May stays behind to deal with.

He may have betrayed Daisy, but Deke does seem to have genuine intentions. He lost his parents because they were both elders who held onto the hope of the prophecy. As a result, Kasius exiled them to the surface, where they were presumably devoured by roaches. But Deke recognized his father’s voice on the radio transmission Coulson received from Virgil’s contact, which means he still may be alive. So he wants to help them reach the surface, but he’ll have to earn Coulson’s trust first. For now, that means giving up his precious silver coin so that Gunner can pay off his debt. Oh, and Coulson also seals him in his room for the time being. Can’t be too careful.

Grill is happy with Mack’s performance getting Grill to pay up, but Mack’s not. When Gunner reacted to Mack’s violent threats by telling him he doesn’t deserve a child, our guy absolutely lost it, beating the crap out of Gunner until Yo-Yo finally pulled him off. They’ll need to get out of this horrible place soon, or it might start to change them for good…