Deke And Mack Get An ’80s Flashback In This “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” Preview

Time can be a dangerous thing. It can trap a person in a “most excellent” decade for all of their lives without any of the benefits of future advancements or an understanding of how crummy a time it was for certain classes of people. It remains to be seen, though, if Deke (Jeff Ward) will get a proper 1980s education when he and Mack (Henry Simmons) are left behind in 1982. If this preview for next week’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is any indication, they will at least get to experience that most heinous of 1980s scourges: killer robots.

And, to be honest, a more lighthearted adventure is exactly what we need after the unexpected heaviness of this week. Between Mack discovering the Chronicoms murdered his parents — to say nothing of having to kill robots with their faces — Coulson’s (Clark Gregg) latest death, and Daisy (Chloe Bennet) being tortured, things got super serious. It makes sense pace-wise, but it also makes for a tougher episode to watch.
Meanwhile, for those of you keeping track of “the thread,” the loss of Mack’s parents could be a major disruption to the timestream. As he kept saying, July 4th, 1976 was not supposed to be the way it is now. Will it mean Mack never becomes part of S.H.I.E.L.D. thirty years in the future? Time, as always, will tell. It will also tell if Stoner’s (Patrick Warburton) report will root out any of the Hydra presence inside S.H.I.E.L.D. That would also be a major change to Marvel TV history.
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. airs Wednesdays on ABC.