5) 4,722 Hours – Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s exciting tie-ins to the wider MCU are all well and good, but a show has got to prove it can be great on its own two feet as well. That’s exactly what AoS did in this third episode, which showed it wasn’t afraid to experiment.
Detailing the traumatic six months that Jemma Simmons was stuck on a bleak alien world, it is absolutely the most emotional installment of the show so far – with a touching one-off romance and a creepy monster to boot. Elizabeth Henstridge shows her impressive acting range here and highlights how far Simmons has come since the series’ beginning.
With the feel of a classic sci-fi movie, it’s a well-told tale of survival against all the odds (with some coincidental comparisons to The Martian, which was released around the same time) and proof that AoS can do great standalone drama when it wants to.