A blast from Coulson's past appears to be behind a spate of heists across the world, but he's not convinced that everything is as it seems.
SHIELD could hardly be described within the horror genre with its glossy visuals and comedy thriller sensibilities, but there were several aspects of Eye Spy that I found quite chilling, particularly the central plotline of a hijacked person. Not to mention any scene in which an eye was injected or operated on. I was with Fitz. The cold open with the red masks and the drone-like behaviour of the security agents was bad enough, but then we were introduced to who looked to be their target but was in fact their assailant, Akela Amador (Pascale Armand). Another mission, another personal connection to Coulson, it turns out that Amador was a former protege of the deadpan super spy. A former SHIELD agent who seems to have initially gone rogue, it turned out Amador was actually being controlled with an ocular impact complete with killswitch if she went off mission.
There was some great misdirection as Skye makes the not illogical leap to Amador perhaps developing superpowers like precognition. Although May is quick to jump in and say there is no scientific basis, I can't help but think that we will have psychic abilities before this season is out. In this case though, it was entirely technological. That thought of not only being controlled but of having someone watch your every move was really quite terrifying. Then again, as Coulson so wryly observes, we're in a society where we all surveil ourselves. It was a humourous aside within the episode, but the parallels are clear; we're making sure people can see our every move. It's not a big step from there for someone to be doing this for us.
The central narrative was perhaps the strongest we've seen so far, building around the central mystery of just what has happened to Amador. It may have been simple, but there was enough misdirection around what she was doing or how she was doing it. It also seems to be part of the ongoing secret antagonist that we don't seem to know about yet; could it be the Rising Tide? Far from wrapping up neatly, the reveal that her handler was also being controlled in a similar fashion could have been an anti-climax, but it managed to feel much bigger than that, developing the mystery further. There is also the intriguing final moment with Amador as she questions what has happened to Coulson; she notices that he behaves differently, reminding us all that we still don't know how Coulson came back. Well, apart from resting in Tahiti; it's a magical place.
The connection between Coulson and Amador led to some decent emotional beats, particularly the verbal scrap between May and Coulson as she calls him out on his personal connection to the case. I really love that although everyone is working together much better as a team, there is still conflict and tension there, particularly between the 'Mum' and 'Dad' of the group. Skye's relationship with Coulson is also developing nicely as the comparison is made with Amador. Everyone seems to have settled into the humourous aspect of the show too, the dialogue mining natural humour out of the characters rather than trying to force them into signposted one-liners. I particularly enjoyed Ward's response to the 'seduce him' command. Even he managed to be more interesting this week, given things to do other than reprimand Skye. Though of course that happened. The lack of clunky Marvel references has also ensured that the dialogue flows much better when characters aren't having to shout 'Captain America!' to connect it all back.
Another improvement on the previous episode, SHIELD continues its run with an intriguing tale of hijacked people and questions of autonomy. It's building well and I find myself actually looking forward to the next instalment. Let's hope it keeps going in an upward direction.
- Becky
You can read Becky's review of the previous episode here.
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After last week's fairly run of the mill episode in which the team were established and Skye feels a little more at home, The Asset focuses on watching the team work and sees them taking on multi-billionaire Ian Quinn to rescue one of their own.
The Asset opens with one of the best set pieces of the short series so far with a SHIELD agent trucker transporting precious cargo across country before it is hijacked by a mysterious shooty-uppy-in-the-air thing which later turns out to be gravitonium (a name marginally better than vibranium and whole worlds ahead of unobtainium). The truck reveal was a great switch and a nice reminder of SHIELD's reach across the world and the wide variety of agents they must have in their employ. It works to demonstrate that, although May and Ward's fears in the previous episode about the quality of the young agents on Coulson's team, their hiring isn't so out of place with SHIELD's overall make-up.
The previous cargo is one Dr. Franklin Hall (played by special guest star Ian Hart), a name familiar to those with an extensive knowledge of Marvel comics. I've had to research it a bit, which is quite honestly, endless fun for me. In the comics, Hall is a physicist working with gravitonium who accidentally becomes fused with molecules of the element, developing the ability to manipulate gravity and taking the rather impressive Graviton as his new identity. Now we don't see too much of that here until the final sting of the episode, a rewrite of the character's history but one that ties Hall inextricably with Coulson. Fury's appearance may have been funny, but that hand reaching out to the screen was positively spine-tingling.
The climactic confrontation between Coulson and Hall was the first scene where SHIELD really hit a high note with both Gregg and Hart excelling their respective roles. A particular highlight was their initial exchange in which Coulson went to outline the exit strategy only for Hall to respond that he's already in the right place. Gregg's brilliantly dry delivery of 'I'll be honest. Our strategy did not take into consideration you saying that" was a real laugh out loud moment. And then there was the scene in the rotating room, the characters clambering over furniture, walls and ceilings as the gravitonium shifted the gravity in the room.
It was an impressive scene not only in visual terms, but also in the themes that it brought to the fore. Rather than the outright villain straight away, Hall was trying to prevent his work from falling into the wrong hands, including SHIELD's. I commented in the review of the pilot that a common theme of Whedon's work was dealing with shady corporations handling technology that they didn't know how to control and it once again crops up here. SHIELD have already brought an alien invasion, as Hall rightly points out, and they are an organisation famous for going after technology they don't understand. Coulson's decision to shoot away the glass, killing Hall in the process, is another tally for SHIELD being the bad guys and something that Coulson will have to deal with. The re-working of Graviton's origin will have massive implications now not only for SHIELD but for Coulson himself.
The episode is not without its low points; Ward is still a fairly dull prospect with a lame back story, Ian Quinn was a suitably bland villain and if he appears more, they're going to have to make him more interesting. If he's going to be a TV bad guy version of Tony Stark then they need to run with that rather than just making him a charisma vacuum in a suit. However, there was also lots to love; Skye getting caught almost immediately in her first mission, Coulson in his suit in the attack on the compound, Fitz's monkey, the glare that Fitz got after his suggestion that Skye was using her 'assets' on Quinn, the lack of references to the MCU and Melinda May promising to get back into the action.
The Asset is the first episode that has really gelled for me; a blend of origin story, heist movie and character piece all rolled into one that hints at big things for the series. That final post-credits scene had me sold. Do we have a Big Bad?
- Becky
You can read Becky's review of the previous episode here.
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To say that Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. was highly anticipated is something of an understatement. Not only is it following in the wake of one of the biggest movies of all time, but it is also created and the pilot directed by current man of the moment, Joss Whedon, finally in the spotlight after years as a cult favourite.
Those expecting to be instantly blown away by the show or expecting all the best bits of the Marvel Cinematic Universe in a TV episode might be disappointed. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. does not immediately hit the ground running with fully formed characters, a cohesive team or the atmosphere that Marvel have garnered in their films. And nor should it because this an expansion, not a recreation. Thankfully, it is a solid start to a television show that has the unenviable task of emerging from the shadow of the MCU, but also of ensuring that it belongs in that world of superheroes, operating on a much smaller scale than an Iron Man movie.
A neat introductory montage quickly establishes the shifts that have taken place in this Marvel universe since the Battle of New York with flashes of Thor, Captain America, The Hulk and Iron Man all making a very brief appearance. The biggest connections though are the shiny insignia of S.H.I.E.L.D. itself and its agents, Maria Hill (a guest appearance from Cobie Smulders) and the returning Coulson, first name Phil (Clark Gregg who is just great). The longstanding connection across the MCU, Coulson's death in The Avengers was the galvanising factor and a suitably gut-wrenching moment. When it was announced he would return, I thought it would cheapen this but thankfully, there seems to be much more going on then he was dead for a little bit/held his breath. Also, his entrance was immediately my favourite moment of the episode. I may have guffawed.
The scale of S.H.I.E.L.D., when compared to what has gone before, is much smaller, but this is not to the detriment of the unfolding action which takes on a more individual focus through the figure of Mike, played by Whedon stalwart J. August Richards, who finds himself blessed/cursed with super-strength. With his backstory of being made redundant due to an injury and unable to find a job despite his new powers, Mike is a product of the economic climate; an everyman who can't catch a break. He's also very aware of his place in the story; rather than go for the moral black-and-white of 'he's about to explode = bad guy", Mike is placed firmly the grey area, capable of being the hero or the bad guy. The MCU may be dealing with gods, aliens and monsters, but the television branch has firmly set out to tackle the human story, those dealing with the knowledge that they are no longer the most powerful beings on Earth.
In the middle of it all is S.H.I.E.L.D., the agency tasked with preventing these situations from getting out of hand, tracking down Chitauri technology (if you haven't seen the Marvel one-shot on this theme, Item 47, track it down) and contain any threat. Now if you're familiar with Whedon's work, you'll know that shady corporations causing problems for our heroes are a fairly standard theme; think The Initiative, Wolfram & Hart or the Alliance. The thing this, now S.H.I.E.L.D. are the shady organisation, something which Mike is quick to point out to Coulson in their confrontation. It's an interesting dynamic and following on from Nick Fury's meddling in The Avengers and the shadiness surrounding Coulson's resurrection, it's clear that the upper echelons of S.H.I.E.L.D. may still not entirely be the good guys.
We also have potential antagonists, The Rising Tide, who we are introduced to early and meet one of their members, Skye (Chloe Bennett) who also serves the function of our introduction to S.H.I.E.L.D. Every science-fiction show seems to have this; the new recruit discovering this world for the first time and thus allowing the audience to do so too (think Dana Scully, Olivia Dunham, Gwen Cooper - I'm now noticing another pattern here...). However, in S.H.I.E.L.D., we got two of these and it was perhaps the only aspect of this episode that felt very clumsy. First up, there was Ward (Brett Dalton) and his assignment to Coulson's new team and then Skye herself, who for someone so against S.H.I.E.L.D., was remarkably quick to sign up. Convenient for the pilot yes, but just a little jarring.
The characters do look promising though and I particularly loved Ming-Na Wen's performance as obvious badass Melinda May whose backstory I am already desperate to know. Currently fulfilling the nerdy comic relief requirement, the combination of Fitz (Iain de Caestecker) and Simmons (Elizabeth Henstridge) also promises a great deal while Ward fills the action man requirement nicely. Much of the episode kept the team apart so whilst they had moments to individually shine, there's not much to go on just yet as to how they gel as an ensemble though I'm looking forward to learning more about them as the show progresses. It is, as expected, Clark Gregg who steals the show. All of the affability and then badassery that makes Coulson so great was present and correct and so too was the gravitas that makes him such an effective thru-line in the Marvel movies.
A promising start then from the men and women in dark suits and sunglasses. There is enough of a hook to keep everyone interested and it's going to be fun to get to know these characters and find out what place in this Marvel world they will possess.
- Becky
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