MARVEL'S AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D. Breaks Through a "Wall"

Article first published as MARVEL'S AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D. Review Season 2 Episode 7 The Writing on the Wall at Seat42F.

Is “The Writing on the Wall” for ABC’s MARVEL’S AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D.? Well, it quite literally is in last night’s episode, which finds Coulson’s (Clark Gregg) carving compulsions getting stronger and stronger, taking over his life. Luckily, there may be a break in the case as others who share his affliction begin showing up dead, murdered at the hands of one of their own. The team tracks the killer, hoping he will lead to answers.

I like that MARVEL’S AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D. has these big arcs right off the bat in season two. Season one began quite slowly, killing time until the series could build into the secrets revealed in the film Captain America: The Winter Soldier. While it seems this year’s stories could tie into the motion pictures, too, at least eventually, they also feel like they’ve been given the freedom not to wait for the big screen to catch up, to just go ahead and tell the tale they want to tell now. It’s a marked improvement.

Fans of both big and small screen Marvel endeavors have long wondered about Coulson’s resurrection, a key mystery when the show begins. The general facts are now known and “The Writing on the Wall” reveals more, as viewers are offered glimpses of the past when the serum was tested with six other individuals. It didn’t work out well, memories having to be re-written, and now only two, the killer (Brian Van Holt, Cougar Town) and his last would-be victim (Joel Gretsch, V), remain. This is the program that gave Coulson his second chance.

What I wonder is, though, after these tests failed, why was Coulson injected? Presumably it wasn’t up to Coulson, or that’s what the end of last season indicated. Perhaps Fury decided Coulson was valuable enough it was worth the risk. But Coulson alone was allowed to keep his identity. Why? Who thought this would work? Or did they know exactly what would happen and want the city Coulson has been carving to be found? That’s the new question going forward.

Skye (Chloe Bennet) continues to show none of the same symptoms as Coulson, even though she, too, has the alien blood in her veins. Does this mean Skye is an alien? Or perhaps an Inhuman, as that race has been given an upcoming Marvel film?

Coulson does betray Skye in “The Writing on the Wall,” but she should forgive him. He isn’t in his right mind, and that’s pretty obvious. This stuff made Garrett crazy, too, but Garrett had underlying evil in him. When Coulson makes poor judgment calls, he does so so that he can go try to save a life. It might not be wise or kind, but he’s not hurting anyone.

The other half of “The Writing on the Wall” finds May (Ming-Na Wen) and several agents on the trail of the escaped Grant Ward (Brett Dalton). This episode reminds us just how capable Ward is, eluding May’s attempts to get close, and quickly recognizing even agents he doesn’t know, such as Hunter (Nick Blood) and Bobbi (Adrianne Palicki). He’s a very smart person and it will not be easy to recapture him, S.H.I.E.L.D.’s best not yet being up to the task.

We knew Ward had to get out eventually, and I’m fascinated by the journey he is on. Equal parts insane and purpose-driven, it’s hard to know what he’ll do next. He definitely has his own inner compass that he follows and his own goals, so he’s not an erratic target. But what he believes and thinks is quite far enough skewed off of the norm that he’s not predictable, either. With the skills he has, he’s an impressive adversary.

I think it is telling that Ward doesn’t hurt or kill Bobbi or Hunter or anyone else. In fact, he gives his S.H.I.E.L.D. tail a present, a high-ranking Hydra official. Why? Is his end goal to prove himself worthy of Skye, which will never happen? Does he want to rejoin Hydra, which seems unlikely now that Garrett is gone? Does he think S.H.I.E.L.D. may just be desperate enough to take him back? I just don’t know, and that’s a good thing.

MARVEL’S AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D. is not as good as the movies, and I think it would benefit from shorter seasons, giving the writers more time to develop a compact story. However, it is still quite exciting, and has improved over its beginnings. The characters are excellent and the stories lead to somewhere worth going. “The Writing on the Wall” continues this trend.

MARVEL’S AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D. airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET on ABC.

V celebrates "Mother's Day"

     What an exciting finale ABC's V delivered! While the show is frequently uneven, and suffers from major plot holes, more so than almost any other show on television, when things work, they really work. The second season finale, entitled "Mother's Day", has few problems. In fact, it is probably one of the strongest episodes to date. Considering the steadily increasing quality, I am really holding out hope for season three, as the series may hit its stride given one more chance. Plus, with a cliffhanger like this, we just need to see more!

     The culmination for control of the V race came to a head. Lisa (Laura Vandervoort) lures Anna (Morena Baccarin) into a trap, intending to kill her. Anna sees what her daughter is about to do in a conveniently located reflective surface, and fakes emotion convincingly enough to stop Lisa. I can see why Lisa gives her mother the benefit of the doubt. Lisa has developed emotions, and so would want to think the best of her mother, no matter what past experience has taught her. Despite Erica's (Elizabeth Mitchell) anger at her, I think Lisa is justified in her actions.

     Sadly, that justification comes with steep consequences. Anna kills her mother, Diana (Jane Badler), whose friends have helped her escape, then installs Lisa in Diana's former dungeon. Anna's backup queen egg hatches, and Anna has her new daughter made to look exactly like Lisa and given her memories. Lisa 2.0 mates with, and kills, Tyler (Logan Huffman), whom Lisa is in love with, while Lisa watches helplessly on a video screen.

     This series has proved to me that Vandervoort's bad run on Smallville was either a fluke, or she has improved greatly in her acting ability. This episode gave her an even bigger chance to shine, as we got to see her as the Lisa we've grown to love AND a ruthless, cold blooded killer more chilling than even Anna. If for no other reason, V needs a third season pick up so we can watch Vandervoort work her magic in the duel role. From what we've seen so far, she is good, like Nina Dobrev in The Vampire Diaries level good.

     The really scary thing about this episode is that Anna finds the true nature of her evil. Up until now, Anna has fought against human emotions, even as they threaten to overwhelm her. The human skin the Vs cover themselves with somehow plays on them, making them more susceptible to feelings. When Anna fights against those emotions, it weakens her. Now that Anna discovers emotions can be used as a weapon, which she wields extremely effectively, she is more dangerous than easily imagined. This is the real consequence of Lisa's failure.

     Also scary? Anna now has a way to bliss mankind, effectively making us her slaves. Little Amy (multiple actresses, as she is rapidly growing), a human / V hybrid, is able to easily deliver bliss to humans, and she loves Anna. While I have viewed Amy mostly as a distraction, and have not at all liked the affect she has had on her father, Ryan (Morris Chestnut), clearly she is something more. Should the series be renewed, I would expect an adult actress to be cast to play a fully grown Amy, and stop the rotation of children. Anna and Amy together may just be unstoppable.

     Of course, humanity does have hope, however slim. Erica Evans began the series with a small cell of people she just met. Earlier this year, she found out how vast a net the Fifth Column casts, before taking over the group. Now, in the finale, she (and we) learn of Project Aries, (led by Marc Singer, like Jane Badler, a cast member in the original V) an international group determined to take out the V. It's interesting, because Erica thought she was fighting alone, and keeps finding larger and larger circles of people who already have the same goal. My question now is, given the scope of anti-V organizations, why didn't they do something before now? Why has Erica been the only one to really strike a blow against the Vs?

     As mentioned above, the body count last night was very high. We lost Tyler, who was mostly an annoying distraction to his mother. We lost Ryan, who has become annoying while being distracted by his daughter. It was only slightly surprising that Dianna died, because Anna had to overcome her somehow, and what transpired is far more exciting than Anna hiding and plotting quietly to take out Diana as she rules in peace, as next season could have been. As such, I don't see any really big losses to the cast, other than possibly Diana, but for the reasons above, I'm OK with it. If anything, the writers did a good job pruning. Time to bring in some fresh blood.

     Thankfully, Chad (Scott Wolf), who used to be annoying, but it just getting started in his usefulness, is merely captured by the Vs, not killed, though why not, I can't imagine. Unless Anna just plans on blissing him and doesn't want to bring in a new reporter to train all over again. I would also like to know where Hobbes (Charles Mesure) has gone, but I am hoping that his character will return to his roots, freed of the burden of Erica. I like the two of them together, but she did tame the beast, so to speak.

     Which just leaves Jack (Joel Gretsch). I really saw a love triangle developing between Erica, Hobbes, and Jack, now that Jack has lost his priesthood collar. It is incredibly ironic how Jack talks of looking to the sky, meaning god, for answers, and that's how Erica finds him at the end of the episode. Only instead of looking at god, he's being blissed by Amy.

     V is on the bubble, but I urge you to write and e-mail ABC asking for its renewal. There is also a facebook site set up for just such a purpose.

Article first published as TV Review: V - "Mother's Day" on Blogcritics.

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V - "Red Rain"

     To be perfectly honest, not a lot happened in the second season premiere of ABC's V this week. After the huge developments and cliffhanger last spring, it was a remarkably tame episode. Not one person died or had their life really even threatened. No shots were fired; nothing blew up. The worst thing that happened was when Tyler (Logan Huffman) got a little bump on the head during a would-be riot, which quickly calmed down. That doesn't mean it was a bad episode, but I honestly expected more excitement.

     Anna (Morena Baccarin) continues to battle human emotion, sparked when Erica (Elizabeth Mitchell) destroyed all of her solider eggs in the season finale. Some of the ships' captains, and especially Marcus (Christopher Shyer), seem to have noticed the slip, though Anna denied the feelings were real or had a significant impact on her. What I find curious is, if Anna is so easily affected, why doesn't she suspect more of her people are? The whole 5th Column came about because Visitors started to sympathize with humans. Now that Anna has seen just how easy it is to lose control, she shouldn't be asking how some of her people did the same, but why didn't more of them? In fact, she doesn't ever have even appeared to consider seriously that her daughter, Lisa (Laura Vandervoort), is more than just play acting her relationship with Tyler.

     That is merely one of the plot holes in the series. Plot holes are probably the number one mistake V makes. The acting is good, even Vandervoort, one of the best on V, whom I found lousy on Smallville. The special effects look fantastic. The drama builds just fine. Real action and danger play out wonderfully. But then there are these major aspects that just don't make sense. Let's look at more examples.

     Chad (Scott Wolf) has decided to join the human resistance against the Visitors. Sure, Jack (Joel Gretsch) is hesitant to let Chad know too much about the secret group, but he is given membership by the end of the episode. Besides that, Chad ignored plenty of evidence right in front of his face before, but seeing a human get pricked with some needles, and interviewing a few more who went through the same thing, but not even finding out why the Visitors were doing the pricking, swayed him? Based on his character as shown up til now, he should have asked Anna what the purpose of the pricks were, and if he couldn't get to her, assumed that they were something helpful. I didn't see a great reason for his sudden change of heart.

     Why were the humans so forgiving of the Visitors about Red Sky and Red Rain? I understand that Anna gave an explanation that Red Rain was a gift to mankind, healing the damage we had done to the planet. Yep, that sounds nice. But once she says that, no one seems to remember that she spent four days refusing to engage with the humans and arousing suspicions. She shut down healing centers, and stopped shuttles. No one asked her to explain why she did that, they just took her word that Red Rain was good, and everything was fine. Why? How?

     Lastly, I thought the twist of Anna letting Ryan (Morris Chestnut) go and keeping his baby so that she could control him, a major terrorist (from her perspective), down the road, was a good move. It was a nice story that made sense. But Hobbes (Charles Mesure) figured out Anna's real motivation immediately, and no one paid him much attention when he pointed it out. Maybe they believed him, but just couldn't see any way to get around Anna's game. That would have been fine, if they took a moment to say that. Instead, viewers are left confused at why nobody cares Anna has a potential mole in their group.

    The episode wasn't all bad. Dr. Sidney Miller was introduced to the cast, as the 5th Column's newest member. Though he wasn't given a choice about membership, and despite his obvious hesitation to join up, he also didn't argue much. Miller is played by Bret Harrison, who I thought hilarious on both The Loop and Reaper. I'm glad to see him get some more work, and hope he sticks around. The series would benefit from some of his brand of humor.

     I'm not sure why I like V, given the obvious flaws that run rampant within the series. There is still something about it, perhaps the underdog fight to save the world, that is appealing. As I mentioned, perhaps it's the actors themselves, who really commit to the material, even when it's not up to par, which is often. For whatever reason, I hope V sticks around long enough to fix those issues. And given that the show is beginning season two just as screwed up as season one was, let's hope the people making the show realize there are issues that need to be fixed.

     V airs Tuesday nights at 9 p.m. on ABC.


Article first published as TV Review: V - "Red Rain" on Blogcritics.


For frequent mini-reviews and occasional tv news, follow Jerome on Twitter.

V: Welcome to the Cheese

    This week's installment of ABC's V, the first after a very long hiatus, was called "Welcome to the War".  Unfortunately, it felt a lot like the pilot, where there might have been a grain of something good in there somewhere, but it was well hidden.  The first episode of the series was very similar, however, the other three episodes aired last fall were quite good.  That means to me that the show may be good again in the next few weeks, but I wouldn't guarantee it.

     What really didn't work for me was the recruitment of the mercenary / terrorist, Hobbes (Charles Mesure,Crossing Jordan), over to the small resistance cell four of the characters have formed.  While he seems to be a very tough man, he allowed Erica (Elizabeth Mitchell, Lost) to call in his location to the FBI.  Then he went with Erica and Ryan (Morris Chestnut) back to the church, though they had offered him no payment for his services.  The resistance then tried to appeal to him on a personal level, which, of course, they should have been smart enough to see wouldn't work.  Lastly, Ryan showing Hobbes that he was a V alien won him over very suddenly.  The whole thing seemed a bad joke, and poorly written.

      Also, why hasn't Erica come clean about everything to her son Tyler (Logan Huffman) yet?  She knows that the V are bad news, that they are extremely dangerous.  Sure, she knew they were watching her in that final discussion scene, so she didn't want to let on, but if she were smart, and her character is supposed to be, it's time for her to grab Tyler, tell him the whole truth, and go underground.  Otherwise, her son could easily be lost to her.  So why is she dragging her feet and avoiding telling him?  It's less dangerous to let him hang out with the V then to bring him in the loop?  I don't think so.

     I'd also like to mention that Father Jack (Joel Gretsch, The 4400) was stabbed by a specialized V weapon, which did not look like a typical knife.  But the V doctors who healed him didn't notice this?  Really?  With all their sophistication, they couldn't spot damage from an unearthly weapon?  Because I also watch Bones, and they can do that right now, with current earth technology and expertise.

     What the show did do well, though, are the V themselves.  Anna (Morena Baccarin, Serenity) is chillingly cold as she sets events into motion.  At the end, where she mates and then kills the male, shows the true colors that have been boiling barely below her visage.  Equally wonderful and emotionless is her daughter Lisa (Laura Vandervoot, Smallville).  Lisa handles Tyler perfectly, and between the two, it is clear that we are dealing with a very different race from humans.  If only the human characters showed the same realness and depth.

     V airs on ABC Tuesday nights at 10pm, and has eight episodes left in the series first season. 

V Vindicated

     Back in November, I was raving about a brilliant pilot for FlashForward and a lame one for ABC's V.  Now the tables have turned.  While Flash Forward suffers along, V has delivered three excellent episodes before breaking for four months.  Stupid to go on such a long hiatus right after premiering a great new show?  Monumentally.  The interim may kill the show, and that would be a shame, because it has really shaped up.

     Why has it improved so much?  Because the aliens are awesome!  In four short hours, viewers have already covered plenty of nifty little twists about our complex Visitors.  For one, there is a movement called the Fifth Column made up of Vs that want to overthrow head honcho Anna (Morena Baccarin, Firefly).  It appears that they were mostly defeated awhile ago, but now they are back, including Ryan (Morris Chestnut), who may have fathered the first hybrid baby.  Equally creepy is the sophisticated way Anna plans to inject the human population with her concoction, and the jackets that spy on people.  Why she had her daughter, Lisa (Laura Vandervoot, Smallville, whom I sincerely apologize to for criticizing her casing) seduce Tyler (Logan Huffman) is anyone's guess, but surely there is more than meets the eye.  Plus, super large fleet of Vs on their way to Earth!

     Back in the human camp, the teamup of federal agent Erica (Elizabeth Mitchell, Lost) with Father Jack (Joel Gretsch) makes much more sense now that we now he is ex-military and can hold his own.  A priest that can stitch up a bullet wound and throw a punch?  Sign me up!  What I really want to know is when Chad (Scott Wolf, Everwood) is going to stop taking orders and start fighting back.  Clearly he is suspicious of Anna and the gang, but since they've given him a stardom, he seems reluctant to question them too difficult.  But that can't possibly go on too much longer.

     If you haven't given V a chance, or canceled the season pass after the mediocre, plot-hole ridden pilot, you still have plenty of time to catch up.  After all, only four episodes have aired.  V will return on March 30th.

V is for ?

     The pilot for ABC's new V was vexing.  I say that, because it was impossible to tell if the series is going to be any good or not.  Pilots can often be decieving, and this one puzzled me.  I am not a fan of the original version, so I can't compare, only write about impressions from the one hour that ABC aired Tuesday.
     On one hand, there was the great cast, led by Elizabeth Mitchell (Lost) and including two Firefly / Serenity veterans (Morena Baccarin and the always fantastic Alan Tudyk), as well as other television stars such as Joel Gretsch (The 4400) and Scott Wolf (Party of Five, The Nine).  It also had wonderful special effects, hints of a mysterious backstory, and potential intrigue.

     On the other, it had cheesiness out the wazoo.  TWO priests assigned to a church that has "stood empty for years", save for a handful of bums?  With the nationwide shortage of clergy, I can't see one such priest staying there, or even the church staying open, let alone two, and it looks well kept up and clean.  Then Elizabeth Mitchell just happened to find her son in the busy city swarming with people?  And speaking of her character, why didn't she notice that Alan Tudyk was ready to give up three seconds after smashing into the shed, despite being a trained FBI agent?  It makes sense to the viewer, because of his twist later, but as far as she knows, he is her loyal partner.  Would the feds really give up that easily?  Even I knew that there had to be some secret trap door down to a basement.  Duh!  I also count casting Smallville's wooden Supergirl, Laura Vandervoot, as a misstep.

     Glaring cliches like those could hold this series back, and earn it a cancellation by February sweeps.  It is a positive sign that ABC is airing it through November.  This was one of the shows I was looking most forward to this year.  By episode two, the loopholes may be fixed, and they'd better be, or else the Viewers may not care to watch the Visitors.