| Series: | Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. |
| Season: | 7 |
| Episode: | 5 |
| Director: | Stan Brooks |
| Producer: | |
| Photographer: | Allan Westbrook |
| Editor: | Dexter Adriano |
| Length: | 41 minutes |
| Guests: |
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| Prev: | Out of the Past |
| Next: | Adapt or Die |
| Season Article: | Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. season 7 |
| Episode List: | List of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. episodes |
"A Trout in the Milk" is the fifth 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 the 1970s. It is set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and acknowledges the franchise's films. The episode was written by Iden Bagdadchi and directed by Stan Brooks.
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 moves to the mid-1970s, bringing with it guest star Enver Gjokaj who reprised his role of Daniel Sousa from the MCU series Agent Carter in the previous two episodes. Neal Bledsoe also returns as Wilfred Malick, while Patrick Warburton reprises his role as Rick Stoner from season five. Following changes made to the timeline, the episode depicts events from the MCU film (2014) taking place in the 1970s.
"A Trout in the Milk" originally aired on ABC on June 24, 2020, and was watched by 1.37 million viewers. It received positive reviews for its use of events from The Winter Soldier and other Marvel references.
Landing in 1973, the agents return to the speakeasy to figure out the Chronicoms' latest plan while Daniel Sousa adjusts to the new time period, only to discover from General Rick Stoner that Wilfred Malick, who should have died in 1970, is leading S.H.I.E.L.D. in preparing Project Insight, which should not have been developed for several more decades. Wilfred and the Chronicoms attempt to capture the agents, but Daisy Johnson takes the former's son, Nathaniel, hostage to facilitate their escape. Unbeknownst to her, Nathaniel sees her using her powers. The agents reunite with Enoch and return to their mobile headquarters, Zephyr One, to stop Project Insight, believing they have time to do so.
Without warning however, the Chronicoms jump forward to 1976, when Project Insight is set to launch, causing Zephyr One to follow them. The aliens also confront Wilfred regarding his saving Nathaniel over destroying S.H.I.E.L.D., though they become inspired to use their enemies' emotions against them. With no other options left, Johnson and Sousa hack the Lighthouse's security system while Phil Coulson and Melinda May infiltrate the S.H.I.E.L.D. base to plant explosives. Concurrently, Deke Shaw and Elena "Yo-Yo" Rodriguez confront Wilfred, who reveals the Chronicoms knew they were going to try and destroy the Lighthouse before Shaw kills him. Despite this, he and Yo-Yo discover too late that the Chronicoms have captured Director Alphonso "Mack" Mackenzie's parents and imprisoned them in the Lighthouse. In response, Mack aborts the detonation, allowing Insight to launch. The team uses Zephyr One to destroy Insight, giving away their location as Chronicom leader Sibyl predicted while Coulson and May are arrested. Meanwhile, after capturing Johnson and Sousa, Nathaniel attempts to acquire Hydra scientist Daniel Whitehall's research on transplanting superhuman powers to others.
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. Later that month, one of the season's episodes was revealed to be titled "A Trout in the Milk" and written by Iden Bagdadchi. It was confirmed to be the fifth episode of the season in June 2020, when Stan Brooks was revealed to have directed it. While creating the episode, the writers researched the opening credit sequences of 1970s crime series, ultimately finding the opening of The Streets of San Francisco. The episode they found was named "A Trout in the Milk", which led to this episode being named similarly. To prepare for the episode, Brooks watched the film Saturday Night Fever (1977) and "a lot of 70s TV" including Mannix, The Streets of San Francisco, Columbo, and Cannon.
Enver Gjokaj said it was fun to portray Daniel Sousa in the 1970s and reacting to the new time period. He added that having Sousa be out of his time would give "some clarity" to his Marvel Cinematic Universe history and the status of his relationship with Peggy Carter. The episode also shows Sousa "struggling to be a part of the team, or S.H.I.E.L.D., and go from being at the top of the S.H.I.E.L.D. organization in his time to not really having a clue what's going on in this time." Some of the decisions Sousa makes are in service of his original mission to take down Hydra, and "feeling allegiance" to his own time.
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. Series star Clark Gregg also returns as his character Phil Coulson, portraying a Life Model Decoy version of the character in the seventh season.
In August 2019, Patrick Warburton was revealed to be returning for the final season after appearing as Rick Stoner earlier in the series, guest starring in "A Trout in the Milk". Also guest starring are Joel Stoffer as Enoch, Tobias Jelinek as Luke, Neal Bledsoe as Wilfred Malick, and Enver Gjokaj reprising his Agent Carter role as agent Daniel Sousa, all returning from earlier episodes of the season. Cameron Palatas reprises his role as a young Gideon Malick from the third season, while Thomas E. Sullivan takes on the role of Nathaniel Malick who was portrayed by Joel Dabney Courtney in the third season. They are joined by Dawan Owens as agent Ford, Sedale Threatt Jr. as John Mackenzie, and Paulina Bugembe as Lilla Mackenzie.
Jessica Torok joined the series as costume designer alongside Whitney Galitz beginning with this episode, ahead of Galitz leaving the series to give birth to her daughter. The 1970s blue S.H.I.E.L.D. jumpsuits are a reference to the uniforms worn by S.H.I.E.L.D. agents in Marvel Comics from the 1960s and 1970s. Though the comics versions had "a darker shade of blue" and were "more skintight", the episode versions had a S.H.I.E.L.D. logo patch on the left shoulder, white bands on the right arm, and a white belt and gun holster, similarly to the comics counterpart. Torok's designs for the jumpsuits also took inspiration from real life 1970s jumpsuits. Brooks specifically requested the red Adidas tracksuit for Shaw "because there's nothing more iconic to 70s".