After the Chromicons were beaten in their bid to stop SHIELD from being born last week, it’s revealed that maybe the Chroms have several backup plans SHIELD also has to beat. This week, it’s off to the group’s early days, and the return of a familiar face.

SPOILERS BELOW

This week’s episode starts with a scene that would be in a sci-fi movie in 1955, namely two teens about to make out when a flying saucer shows up. It’s really the Zephyr following the Chromicons in their bid to eliminate SHIELD and make taking over the Earth easier. The agents get reminded our nation was less enlightened in the so-called “Happy Days”, while making sure the Chroms don’t change history.

They arrive in a small town in Nevada, close to Area 51 (run by SHIELD). They’re looking for a Defense official named Sharpe (Michael Gaston) to get inside the place. LMD Coulson imitates Sharpe,while Jemma Simmons pretends to be, of all people, Peggy Carter. Even in a sexist world, no one doubts Peggy, and they still don’t. Simmons is lucky no one has met her. More on that later.

While Jemma is amazed by the tech made by the base, including the Apple Watch’s great-grandfather and a bomb that knocks out electricity, Coulson is looking for ways to identify Chroms. He asks how the word “moist” affects them, or their opinion of John Wayne. Actually, they work very well. He even interrogates an old lady, which some suspect is something he learned from Carol Danvers.

As for the Chroms, they seem to get getting their orders from a “predictor” named Sybil in a brightly lit room. That’s not much of a spaceship, but at least we have a Big Bad finally.

The target for both is something called Helius, which Deke says is the prototype for an ion core reactor that can cause a lot of damage.

Then a familiar face arrives: Daniel Sousa (Enver Gjokai), who used to run the West Coast branch of the SSR and has apparently done very well. He’s currently worried about SHIELD being infiltrated by HYDRA and who knows what else. He doesn’t know how right he is.
He does know Jemma isn’t Peggy, which is bad news. He winds up arresting her and Coulson, and probably wouldn’t believe the truth. He even accuses Jemma’s accent of being fake.
However, Daisy plays it cool pretending to be CIA, and is pretty convincing when she agrees SHIELD may be infiltrated.
This shows Sousa is good at his job, but he needs his old team. Naturally the episode doesn’t mention them, but it’s something Marvel should consider in the future.

Back to Sharpe, he’s the definition of a proud American official who’s very dismissive of people who’s, well, not like him. That’s why the agents have Deke interrogate him due to “stupid white privilege”.
He learns Sharpe considers Helius to be a dud because there’s nothing strong enough to get it off the ground. Deke thinks a Chromicon may be willing to sacrifice itself to get it off the ground.

Meanwhile, May still hasn’t quite healed, as she is still a little too eager to fight. She is eventually brought it, but is upset being called an “Oriental”.
Eventually, she and Elena gas a SHIELD office expecting to find a Chrom or two. They don’t notice one already trying to hack a control board. It’s interesting she looks just like Dottie Underwood from season one of Agent Carter. Maybe they met her?

The gas causes enough confusion, and Elena spots the Chrom…but can’t get to her in time. Have the Shrike bits inside her really stopped her super-speed, or it is something else? Maybe someone would have noticed her doing that, and thought it was a Russian weapon.
As for May, she suddenly panics in the gas. Is that related to her recovery from being dead? It’s interesting how the shows hold these two agents back, and how it affects the entire mission. It’s best both find a solution to their problems.

There’s another interesting scene where Deke wonders why they had to kill Freddy Malick, even if his son creates the American branch of HYDRA. Daisy says that since he’s part of SHIELD, instead of a CEO under shaky circumstances (using his knowledge of the future in the past), he’s got to follow the mission, even if it means making very tough decisions. That will be brought up several times this season.

Anyway, the agents stop the female Chrom from blowing up Helius, along with SHIELD officials, a Congressman and half of Nevada by using the pulse bomb. LMD Coulson winds up battling another Chrom while Sousa tries to attack them both. He gets shoved hard, but doesn’t quite get they are robots.
Once the Chroms self-destruct after the mission fails, Sousa still doesn’t get it, even as he leaves LMD Coulson a bit damaged.

Then Sharpe somehow gets on the the Zephyr. They have to knock him out, put him in the desert and tell him to keep quiet about meeting alien communists. Of course, he crawls into a restaurant telling everyone what happened. The aliens are not threatened.

So far, it seems the Chroms’ plan is simple: ruin SHIELD somehow, and Earth wakes to being part of the Chromicon empire as if it always was. SHIELD has the tougher position, having to preserve the timeline but always tempted to change things for what they hope is the better (but likely isn’t).
Then again, what if the Chroms win…only for the Kree to attack, or Thanos snaps his fingers. What then?
Oh, and is Fitz alive….anywhere? It’s about time fans get a hint, and how the Zephyr got upgraded.
At least Enoch is bound to return sometime. If the Chroms get the upper hand, he will be needed…unless they wind up hacking him.

Next week, Sousa returns, but may have to fulfill a sad destiny….but what if he doesn’t?