Article first published as MARVEL'S AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D. Review Season 2 Episode 1 Shadows on Seat42F.
MARVEL’S
AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D. is back! Airing last night, the second season
premiere, “Shadows,” picks up several months after the shocking events
of last spring’s finale. Director Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) has stepped
away from the team to run the entire new S.H.I.E.L.D. agency. Everyone,
which includes quite a few more people than the original team, now
works out of the secret base known as The Playground. And some
characters are much-changed.
The
episode begins with a glimpse of Agent Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell) and
the Howling Commandos in 1945, a welcome connection to the upcoming
miniseries, Agent Carter, that will air when MARVEL’S AGENTS OF
S.H.I.E.L.D. goes on winter hiatus. Peggy and her crew are capturing an
artifact from Hydra officer Daniel Whitehall (Reed Diamond, Franklin
& Bash, Dollhouse). In the present day, S.H.I.E.L.D. and Hydra
(including a still-youthful Whitehall) hunt the same object, which is
now controlled by the government and Brigadier General Glenn Talbot
(Adrian Pasdar).
The dynamic between
the three organizations, S.H.I.E.L.D., Hydra, and the U.S. military,
will definitely be giving the show plenty of legs to run on this season.
As it stands now, Hydra is winning, with the larger, globally-expansive
network, while S.H.I.E.L.D. is rebuilding desperately. One would think
it makes sense for the American government to side with S.H.I.E.L.D.,
but those in charge of the troops, specifically petty Talbot, have been
burned when S.H.I.E.L.D. collapsed, and are justifiably wary about
getting in bed with them again, especially after such a public campaign
against them. It’s an unstable mix, which can only result in
entertaining showdowns.
Poor Coulson
is stuck in a terrible situation. Not only is he struggling to recruit
enough reliable people to help build the organization Fury has entrusted
him with, but now he has to look at the bigger picture, which means
weighing his personal feelings for his agents against what has to be
done in the war game. This means he has to endanger people he cares
about, as well as send them into extremely uncomfortable situations they
don’t want to be in. Coulson still isn’t a bad guy, but he’s sure to
tick off some of our heroes when putting the world ahead of them, which
will spark good, authentic drama.
Skye
(Chloe Bennet) is now a full-fledged agent, working under the tutelage
of May (Ming-Na Wen). That doesn’t mean she’s ready, though, when
Coulson sends her to pump Ward (Brett Dalton), imprisoned in The
Playground, for information. She’s still deeply wounded by the turncoat,
and can’t stomach to look at him long, even as he tries to promise her
secrets on her origin. She’s much better at the physical stuff,
surprisingly.
Ward is very different
now. His driving purpose seems to be his love for Skye, which she is
certainly not returning. His suicide attempts and unkempt appearance
indicate he’s given up on rejoining Hydra and may not care about it at
all, now that his mentor is dead. I’m not sure where MARVEL’S AGENTS OF
S.H.I.E.L.D. is going with him, but I’m very glad he’s been kept around
and allowed to be a dynamic character. His psychosis is a delicious
thing for the actor to play, and he’s doing a fine job of it so far.
Even
more startling than the new Ward is Fitz’s (Iain De Caestecker) mental
state. We know he’s injured, but for most of “Shadows,” it just seems
like he stutters a bit. It isn’t until the end of the episode that
viewers are clued in to the fact that Simmons (Elizabeth Henstridge)
left the base some time ago, and her appearances in the hour are
hallucinations. This indicates far deeper problems, with no one quite
trusting Fitz to do his job any more, but still keeping him around out
of loyalty. How long will it take Fitz to recover, or will he ever? (I’m
going to guess he’ll return to form by mid-season.)
“Shadow”
brings a lot of new blood into MARVEL’S AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D., and
that’s a good thing. The structure of the show has changed, and by
necessity, we need more faces to fill it. Lucy Lawless (Battlestar
Galactica, Xena: Warrior Princess) is fantastic as Agent Hartley, and
I’m very sad she is killed off so quickly. But we still get another
appearance of a Koenig (Patton Oswalt), whom I hope sticks around as
much as possible. Triplett (B.J. Britt) deserves a promotion to central
cast, a full part of the team by this point. There’s also a mercenary
named Lance Hunter (Nick Blood, Trollied) and a mechanic named Mac
(Henry Simmons, Man Up, NYPD Blue) in the season premiere.
Interestingly,
the ABC press site still only lists the six core main characters, while
Blood’s name is in the Starring portion of the opening credits. The way
all these new people are handled, it’s easy to be unsure about who’s a
main character and who isn’t. However, given Joss Whedon’s connection to
the project, I recommend not worrying about that, as he has a tendency
to heavily use good performers over a long period of time, even if they
are not added to the principal cast.
As
you may have surmised from the above review, there’s a lot going on in
MARVEL’S AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D. this year, and I feel like I’ve barely
scratched the surface. Of note, we also got to see a man who can change
his substance, a cool jet that can turn invisible, and more glimpses of
the doodle lines crazy Coulson draws. With so many balls in the air,
fans are sure to be in for a heck of a fall run, jam-packed with action,
story, and continued character development in TV’s current best
superhero series, and that’s saying something, given the
suddenly-crowded field.
MARVEL’S AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D. airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET on ABC.
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