Agents of SHIELD (7×07) The Totally Excellent Adventures of Mack and the D Review

For our review of the last episode of Agents of SHIELD, click here.

Synopsis: After getting stranded in 1982, Mack retreats to his childhood home to deal with the death of his parents; Deke scouts a group of new agents. (IMDb)

The genre hopping returns as the latest Agents of SHIELD serves as a entertaining 80’s campy, quasi horror/sci-fi romp that still throws in some sentimentality for Mack and Deke, acting as a showcase for Henry Simmons and Jeff Ward while still pushing the season’s story arc forward.

The Totally Excellent Adventures of Mack and the D began with Deke who recounts the events of the episode to May. He and Mack were stranded in 1982 but the story begin with a man named Russell Feldman (Austin Basis), a computer repair man who would happen to encounter whatever was left of Sibyl. She asked for his help to build her a body (he was enamored with her so of course he obliged). Meanwhile, Mack and Deke were confused with what was next. The loss of his parents was still fresh with Mack who became dejected and mostly isolated himself from the world in spite of Deke’s efforts to continue to engage with him.

Mack (and his obviously fake beard) finally came out to see Deke at a bar where his band happened to be performing a set of familiar songs. However, this band was not just any band but rather a group of agents masquerading as a band (their intro was a nice touch). Deke Squad also commandeered the Lighthouse as their HQ where Coulson’s mind was preserved and displayed on a TV screen (Sibyl survived in a similar fashion). Deke hoped that Mack could help shape up the team and lead them (they still needed some work). He did not seem interested in them or the shotgun/axe Deke made for him. Meanwhile with her new body, Sibyl proceeded to build more robots before eliminating Russell.

It would take a reminder of what Deke did for Mack during his isolation to turn him around but of course that moment would also be when Sibyl and her army showed up at the Lighthouse (they needed to retrieve something from the base). The first victim was Cricket, the drummer, who was murdered in a surprisingly brutal fashion (embellishing on the blood to fit the theme). From there, it was the team against the robots though some couldn’t handle it. In the end, they came together to destroy Sibyl. To wrap things up with them, it was time for Mack to get some closure with his younger self.

Once that was over, the zephyr returned after Mack and Deke were stranded for 20 months. Meanwhile, the last scene saw the only robot that escaped the Lighthouse handing a device needed to allegedly control the future of humanity to Nathaniel Malick who was with a version of Sibyl set up like Coulson.

This season has consistently been knocking it out of the park with these genre hopping episodes. It’s too bad that it took until the final season to get here. While this may not be practical the rest of the way through, it’ll definitely be interesting to see where the season goes from here.

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Keith Noakes

The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.