Out of the Past (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.)

"Out of the Past" is the fourth episode of the seventh season of the American television series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Based on the Marvel Comics organization S.H.I.E.L.D., it follows a Life Model Decoy of Phil Coulson and his team of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents as they race to stop the Chronicoms from unraveling history in 1955. It is set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and acknowledges the franchise's films. The episode was written by Mark Leitner and directed by Garry A. Brown.

"Out of the Past"
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. episode
The opening of the episode pays homage to the "iconic" Sunset Boulevard (1950) opening,[1] with a title card that is a "throwback-style credit intro".[2]
Episode no.Season 7
Episode 4
Directed byGarry A. Brown
Written byMark Leitner
Narrated byClark Gregg
Produced by
Featured music"No More Mr. Nice Guy" by Alice Cooper
Cinematography byKyle Jewell
Editing byEric Litman
Original air dateJune 17, 2020 (2020-06-17)
Guest appearance(s)

Clark Gregg reprises his role as Coulson from the film series, starring alongside Ming-Na Wen, Chloe Bennet, Elizabeth Henstridge, Henry Simmons, Natalia Cordova-Buckley, and Jeff Ward. The episode remains in 1955 after the characters traveled to that year in the previous episode, but takes on a film noir tone and is shot almost entirely in black and white. The episode's title is a reference to the 1947 noir film of the same name. Guest star Enver Gjokaj reprises his role of Daniel Sousa from the MCU series Agent Carter.

"Out of the Past" originally aired on ABC on June 17, 2020, and was watched by 1.40 million viewers.

Plot

The episode is told mostly from the viewpoint of a glitching Phil Coulson, who has lost his color vision and constantly hears his own voice narrating his thoughts, giving the episode the feel of a film noir. On the day the episode is set, Daniel Sousa is supposed to deliver a crucial piece of Stark tech to Los Angeles, a mission that will lead to his death at the hands of Hydra and make him a hero of S.H.I.E.L.D. While Coulson convinces Sousa he is his contact and the two travel to Los Angeles, Yo-Yo and Deke successfully retrieve the device, but Deke is captured in the process. His captor is revealed to be Wilfred Malick, who ultimately lets him go because Deke saved his life in the past, but Deke is left profoundly shocked by Malick's callous murder of one of his own henchmen. Meanwhile, Mack, Yo-yo and Daisy manage to bring the device to Coulson and Sousa while foiling an attempt on the latter's life, and decide to take him on board of the Zephyr in order to protect him for the rest of the mission. After May shakes Sousa's hand and experiences his confusion and distrust, Yo-yo figures out she has lost her own emotions but instead can feel everyone else's by touching them. Mack decides to alter history by saving Sousa's life, but May realises too late he intends to escape from the Zephyr to complete his mission anyway. Nonetheless, after the device has been successfully delivered, Coulson manages to subdue Sousa and fake his death, saving his life while also preserving history. As Sousa awakes on the Zephyr and is briefed by a restored Coulson about his new situation, the team jumps forward to the 1970s. Meanwhile, Enoch is once more left behind in the past, but so is Luke, a Chronicom who had been aiding Malick to sabotage Sousa's mission and who now offers to help take down S.H.I.E.L.D.

Production

Development

After the sixth season finale of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. aired in August 2019, showrunners Jed Whedon, Maurissa Tancharoen, and Jeffrey Bell revealed that the seventh season would feature the team trying to save the world from invasion by the Chronicoms. They use time travel to do this, allowing the season to explore the history of S.H.I.E.L.D.[3][4] Later that month, one of the season's episodes was revealed to be titled "Out of the Past" and written by Mark Leitner.[5] It was confirmed to be the fourth episode of the season in June 2020, when Garry A. Brown was revealed to have directed it.[6] The episode's title is a reference to the 1947 noir film of the same name.[7]

Writing

The episode is set in 1955, like the previous one, but takes on a film noir tone, with most of the episode in black and white.[8] In the episode, the Phil Coulson Life Model Decoy is malfunctioning, becoming the framing device for the noir tone, with Coulson seeing everything in black and white and having an internal monologue, thus serving as the episode's narrator.[1] Enver Gjokaj spoke about Daniel Sousa joining the S.H.I.E.L.D. team, saying "he’s on the ride for the time being" adding, Sousa is "very conflicted about being taken out of time, as you can imagine, because of all of the things that he had to love for in that time period."[9]

Casting

With the season renewal, main cast members Ming-Na Wen, Chloe Bennet, Elizabeth Henstridge, Henry Simmons, Natalia Cordova-Buckley, and Jeff Ward were confirmed to be returning from previous seasons as Melinda May, Daisy Johnson / Quake, Jemma Simmons, Alphonso "Mack" MacKenzie, Elena "Yo-Yo" Rodriguez, and Deke Shaw, respectively.[10] Series star Clark Gregg also returns as his character Phil Coulson, portraying a Life Model Decoy version of the character in the seventh season.[11]

In August 2019, Gjokaj was expected to reprise his role as Agent Daniel Sousa from the series Agent Carter,[12] which was confirmed in April 2020.[13] He guest stars in "Out of the Past" alongside Joel Stoffer, Tobias Jelinek, Neal Bledsoe, and Larry Clarke.[6] Stoffer, Jelinek, and Gjokaj return from earlier episodes of the season,[14][15] while Bledsoe portrays Wilfred Malick, who was introduced in earlier episodes as a younger man in 1931 portrayed by Darren Barnet.[16][17]

Design

The episode's opening sequence is an homage to Sunset Boulevard's (1950) "iconic opening of the dead body floating in a pool",[1] with a title card that is a "throwback-style credit intro".[2] When designing the costumes in the episode, costume designer Whitney Galitz had to create costumes that would work in both black and white and color, since they are featured both ways in the episode. Galitz felt some of her color and pattern choices "work[ed] well on the body but when shown in [black and white looked] totally different". Her fittings with Cordova-Buckley were photographed to helped see what would work in the episode.[18]

Filming

The sequences with Coulson and Sousa on the train were filmed on an actual train, rather than using green screen.[19]

Music

"No More Mr. Nice Guy" by Alice Cooper was featured at the end of the episode to indicate the team's time jump to 1973.[2]

Release

"Out of the Past" was first aired in the United States on ABC on June 17, 2020.[6]

Reception

Ratings

In the United States the episode received a 0.3 percent share among adults between the ages of 18 and 49, meaning that it was seen by 0.3 percent of all households in that demographic. It was watched by 1.40 million viewers.[20]

Critical response

Trent Moore at Syfy Wire called "Out of the Past" "a fun one, and you can tell [the creators are] pulling out all the stops for the final few adventures."[2] In his episode recap, Entertainment Weekly's Christian Houlb felt the episode was "a pretty fun noir parody".[21] Alex McLevy of The A.V. Club gave the episode a "B+". He said, "Out of the Past" "isn’t a perfect episode, but it’s so much fun that it manages to coast by on the strength of its numerous charms". McLevy also felt "this week’s throwback aesthetic commits fully to its premise, going far beyond mere black and white imagery to utilize hardened gumshoe voiceover, [and] a bevy of canted camera angles".[1] Den of Geek's Michael Ahr said the episode "found a clever way to tell a rather mundane story, and in some ways it was successful in upending expectations and delivering on its mysteries." He felt the smaller moments, such as Yo-Yo and Deke's conversation and May discovering her powers, were "the more powerful" in the episode and enjoyed Sousa's character arc. Ahr awarded the episode 3.5 stars out of 5.[22]

References
  1. McLevy, Alex (June 17, 2020). "Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. goes full film noir for a black-and-white adventure". The A.V. Club. Archived from the original on June 18, 2020. Retrieved June 18, 2020.
  2. Moore, Trent (June 17, 2020). "The Team Changes History and Recruits a New Member in Latest Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." Syfy Wire. Archived from the original on June 18, 2020. Retrieved June 18, 2020.
  3. Agard, Chancellor (August 2, 2019). "Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. bosses explain what those twists mean for the final season". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on August 3, 2019. Retrieved August 18, 2019.
  4. Mitovich, Matt Webb (August 2, 2019). "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. EPs Break Down Those Trippy Season-Ending Twists, How Final Season Will Tap Into History". TVLine. Archived from the original on August 3, 2019. Retrieved August 18, 2019.
  5. "Marvel's Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D." Writers Guild of America West. Archived from the original on August 25, 2019. Retrieved August 25, 2019. Episodes with a credit date in 2019.
  6. "(#704) "Out of the Past"". The Futon Critic. Retrieved June 12, 2020.
  7. Santa Rosa, Priscila (June 19, 2020). "Why Agents of SHIELD Season 7 Episode 4 Was In Black & White". Screen Rant. Archived from the original on June 21, 2020. Retrieved June 21, 2020.
  8. Paige, Rachel (June 11, 2020). "'Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.' Goes 1950s Noir". Marvel.com. Archived from the original on June 12, 2020. Retrieved June 12, 2020.
  9. Mitovitch, Matt Webb (June 17, 2020). "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Recap: Dead Man Walking — Plus, Enver Gjokaj Shares His Take on Sousa's Twist of Fate". TVLine. Archived from the original on June 18, 2020. Retrieved June 18, 2020.
  10. Andreeva, Nellie; Petski, Denise (November 16, 2018). "'Marvel's Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D' Renewed For Season 7 By ABC". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on November 16, 2018. Retrieved November 17, 2018.
  11. Mitovitch, Matt Webb (April 14, 2020). "Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Gets Final Season Premiere Date". TVLine. Archived from the original on April 14, 2020. Retrieved April 14, 2020.
  12. Steele, Sean (August 7, 2019). "Exclusive: Hayley Atwell's Agent Carter to Appear in 'Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.' Season 7". FandomWire. Archived from the original on May 5, 2020. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
  13. Agard, Chancellor (April 15, 2020). "Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. brings back Agent Carter character in season 7 first look". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on April 15, 2020. Retrieved April 15, 2020.
  14. "(#701) "The New Deal"". The Futon Critic. Retrieved May 13, 2020.
  15. "(#703) "Alien Commies from the Future!"". The Futon Critic. Retrieved June 6, 2020.
  16. Jirak, Jamie (May 27, 2020). "Agents of SHIELD Premiere Reveals Darren Barnet's Character, Explains Why SHIELD Must Save Hydra". Comicbook.com. Archived from the original on May 28, 2020. Retrieved May 27, 2020.
  17. Harjo, Noetta (June 17, 2020). "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Recap (S07 E04): Out of the Past". Geek Girl Authority. Archived from the original on June 18, 2020. Retrieved June 18, 2020.
  18. Galitz, Whitney [@whitneyhg] (June 21, 2020). "We knew going in that episode 4 #agentsofshield would be shot as noir so as the #costumedesigner I had to think in color but also in black/white knowing the costumes would be on camera both ways. Sometimes color choices and patterns may work well on the body but when shown in b/w will look totally different. I photographed our fittings with @yosoycordova both ways so we could see what worked and what didn't. I miss playing with Natalia and the rest of the cast. We had a lot of fun coming up with Yo-Yo's wardrobe choices!". Retrieved June 26, 2020 – via Instagram.
  19. Mitovitch, Matt Webb (June 16, 2020). "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Enver Gjokaj Breaks Down Sousa's Reaction to 'Agent Carter,' Previews Noir Episode". TVLine. Archived from the original on June 17, 2020. Retrieved June 18, 2020.
  20. Metcalf, Mitch (June 18, 2020). "Updated: ShowBuzzDaily's Top 150 Wednesday Cable Originals & Network Finals: 6.17.2020". Showbuzz Daily. Archived from the original on June 19, 2020. Retrieved June 19, 2020.
  21. Houlb, Christian (June 17, 2020). "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. recap: The death and life of Agent Sousa". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on June 18, 2020. Retrieved June 18, 2020.
  22. Ahr, Michael (June 17, 2020). "Agents of SHIELD Season 7 Episode 4 Review: Out of the Past". Den of Geek. Archived from the original on June 19, 2020. Retrieved June 19, 2020.
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