Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Series - All Episodes

Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. S01E10: "The Bridge"

First, I apologize for the lateness of this review (and for the shortness of it). I was busy writing my new James Wolk biography. Second, I liked and disliked different aspects of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s mid-season finale.

In essence, "The Bridge" did what I expected it to; it circled back around to the Centipede storyline that was originally introduced via J. August Richard's character, Mike Peterson, in the pilot. Three super soldiers broke a former Marine out of prison using their super strength, which automatically made S.H.I.E.L.D.'s spidey-sense tingle. It was, of course, discovered that these men had been altered with Extremis, and just like that we were talking about the main story arc again. The marine in question was the same man Raina was seen talking to at the end of "Girl in the Flower Dress." Naturally, the mission was to find these men, the marine, and the girl in the flower dress and find out what was up with the Centipede storyline once and for all.

Coulson decided to bring Peterson, who's been training with S.H.I.E.L.D. ever since he nearly destroyed Union Station, on board as extra support for this mission. Fighting fire with fire and all that jazz. I was all for this development, because I love Richards, and because it livened up the series a bit. But unfortunately, despite being the overarching Big Bad story for the entire season, we've really only scratched the surface of what this Centipede story even is. We're 10 episodes into Season 1 and I feel like we've made little to no progress on what should be one of the driving forces for the series. They're banging us over the head with Coulson's mysterious secret week after week, not to mention Skye's parentage mystery, but when it comes to the Centipede storyline, which affects all of the characters, not just Coulson or Skye, we only get an episode every once in awhile. That's not the best way to keep or grow an audience. And frankly, it's hurting the series a bit.

Who is behind the Centipede program? How can we stop them? Why do they need super soldiers? What are they planning on doing with the super soldiers? These are all questions we're supposed to care about and demand answers to, but Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. hasn't done a very good job of making viewers care about them. As it stands, Centipede and the Girl in the Flower Dress are kind of just a recurring pain in the ass. If they're such a global threat, why not, I don't know, treat them as one?

I don't subscribe to the idea that Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. should abandon all of the procedural elements of the series and stick to deeply serialized storytelling, but if the writers were to merge the two formats a bit more, the series would definitely succeed on more levels. And I think it would make the Centipede story feel more like the Big Bad story it's supposed to be. Right now the series is still at 85 percent procedural, 15 percent serialized. Skye's search for her parents is obviously important to her (or at least it was until May basically told her to grow the eff up and get over it), but is it more important to the overall success of the series than the season-long arc? The search for her parents definitely lends itself to character development, but only dedicating one out of every five episodes to the overarching story has definitely hurt the momentum of the series. And its created a weak, slightly mysterious enemy that no one cares much about.

All of that being said, I commend the series for Mike's ultimate betrayal of S.H.I.E.L.D. in the episode's final moments (even if he did attempt to right that wrong five minutes later). Because what I thought was going to be a mind-numbing ending to the mid-season finale—Mike's son is kidnapped and now he has to turn himself over in order to secure his safety—turned out to be a nice surprise when it was revealed that they didn't want Mike (whose powers had been stabilized by the gun FitzSimmons created in the pilot), but Coulson.

The episode zigged when I thought it would zag, and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. isn't really a zigging kind of series. So bravo, S.H.I.E.L.D. writers, you snuck one by me. As setup episodes go, "The Bridge" was all right. Not great, but not bad either. But I don't think it needed to be great to be successful in its goals. Because now I find myself asking all kinds of questions, where as I was mostly just watching and reacting to the characters for the last few episodes (don't think I've forgotten about Handsome and May's one/tenth told backstories either, because I haven't, and I still want more). But now I've become involved in the story once again.

Why do they want Coulson? Who wants Coulson? Is it because they know about his supposed resurrection, cloning, magical recuperation in Tahiti? Do they just want hotel recommendations? Or do they want to use him as leverage for something else? Coulson is suddenly interesting again in the wake of his kidnapping. And the Centipede storyline is interesting, and a big plot point, for the first time all season. I hope this means the series will be taking a more in depth look at this storyline when it returns. And that it isn't wrapped up in a neat bow within an episode. Keeping Coulson separated from the rest of the team for a little while is a good idea, because everyone will have to step up their game and become their own leaders (I foresee more of Handsome's backstory in our near future). And because the series really needed this push to break out of their one-and-done stories. Like I said, don't abandon the procedural elements, but better integrate the serialized ones, and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. will be better off.

DECLASSIFIED CASE FILES

– May's reaction to Skye's search for her birth parents leads me to believe the growing theory that she's either A) the agent who brought her in, or B) her mother. I don't particularly like either of those, because zzzzzzz.

– Fitz and Simmons, I enjoyed your very silly reaction to Peterson, but I don't fully understand it. Did you both lose your brains? I know the last time you saw him he was ripping apart train stations and talking about wanting to be a hero, but you weren't this frazzled or enamored by him then.

– Were the explosions at the end really necessary?

– I need this May and Handsome stuff to go away, because I fear we're headed for more-than-just-sex territory and you know how I feel about that.

– The kill switch is back in action this week, which makes me never want to have a kill switch in my brain.

Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: S01E09 : "Repairs"

Called it. May and Handsome were doing it. And this wasn't their first time! Apparently this is an ongoing thing. Some of you liked this development last week, but I hated it. I've been spending a lot of time thinking about it, which is probably why I hate it so much, but I think I've figured out why: May and Handsome are Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s two least-developed characters, and their jumping into bed together felt like too obvious of an attempt to shock viewers. Yes, they bonded over their emotional trauma and pain, but there was no build up to this development, and it felt weak. It was a new character pairing we didn't see coming, which is probably just about the only thing I like about it, but this liaison was meant to jump start their stories and make them more interesting, but it failed. Just like last week's "The Well," "Repairs" continued to only give out frustratingly small amounts of backstory. Needless to say, my interest in this particular dalliance remains on par with my interest in stabbing myself in the face with a rusty fork.

Last week, thanks to a well-placed Asgardian berserker staff, we learned that someone in Handsome's life was once in a well and either he prevented someone from saving him right away, or someone prevented him. And that's all we know. We don't know which of the boys Handsome was supposed to be, and we don't know whether or not the boy lived. It was only a glimpse behind the curtain, and that was my main problem with the episode. My dislike for "The Well" continued this week when all of Handsome's rage issues seemed to have disappeared overnight. I'm pretty sure Agent May's ladybits aren't that magical that they can erase that hatred and rage, but then again, maybe she's an unregistered gifted with the opposite power of Zoe Benson on American Horror Story. I don't know her life. Which is kind of the reason I disliked "Repairs."

This week, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. took one of the few things we've learned about May since the beginning of the series and turned the spotlight on it, but it wasn't enough. During "0-8-4" it was revealed that Agent May was called the Cavalry. We know this is supposed to convey that she's a badass who charges in to situations without fear, but why is she called that? What did she do to earn that nickname?

Like most often repeated stories about heroic acts—like the one about Coulson's death at the hands of Loki in The Avengers—the events have been greatly exaggerated. The events surrounding that mission have been inflated to make May seem more heroic than she was. "Repairs" began to tell us the real story, but it wasn't told by May, it was told by Coulson to Skye, and it read like a redacted S.H.I.E.L.D. document with the who, the what, the why, the when, and the how blacked out. We know May is responsible for taking out an enemy on a former mission, and that the result was that she was no longer warm and fierce, but cold and detached with a shoot first mentality. But we need more. I have no doubt this particular story will resurface at a later date, but the execution of it this week was poorly done, and would have meant more coming from May herself.

Going in, I was really excited for an episode that promised to shed some light on the mysterious Agent Melinda May, but ughhhhh. I didn't expect Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. to draw me a map and show me her psych evaluation, but I expected more than what we got. It makes sense that the writers don't want to reveal all of their secrets so early in the game, and they probably think they're whetting our appetites with the small hints they're dropping, but really, they're just frustrating the hell out of me. When I'm more interested in the case of the week about a man stuck between words trying to protect a girl he had a crush on than I am about what's going on with the main characters, that's a big warning flag. And this week, that's exactly what happened.

So far everyone's talking about May, but only Skye seems to be interested in finding out what happened to her that drained the spark from her eyes and made her such a cold person. If we saw more of May outside the cockpit and outside her fighting, I think we'd care more about her. It was nice to see her be the person to talk Tobias into letting go of his love for Hannah and to stop trying to protect her from what he perceived to be dangerous situations, but we still don't know why it is she identified with him. Oh sure, we can infer all we want from this week's events, but I'm tired of inferring. I'm tried of trying to figure out what the writers are trying to say. This is one of those instances that I'm begging for them to show me and tell me. "The Well" used flashbacks to tell Handsome's story, and "Repairs" used exposition to tell May's. Neither of them worked particularly well, so here's an idea: use both?

But lest you think I hated the entire episode, I would like to draw your attention to Fitz and Simmons and their desire to prank Skye this week. Those poor kids were too smart for their own good and graduated early and never had the chance to prank people, so they chose Skye as their new target since she's new to S.H.I.E.L.D. and wouldn't know any better. But their pranks weren't really pranks, and they weren't really all that good either. Fitz's ideas sometimes felt on par with Winston's on New Girl, though I did love the mop dummy he placed in the closet to scare people only to then scare himself too. His scream was hilarious (and reminded me of this particularly funny moment on Supernatural). Love you Fitz.

Actually, I don't love just Fitz. I also love Simmons. They are my favorite characters on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. at this point. They're the main source of comedic relief, and although we still don't know a whole lot about them either, they're at least funny and warm while Handsome and May remain restrained and boring. This week FItzSimmons brought light into the dark abyss that was "Repairs" and for that I am truly thankful. If the series continues to dole out pieces of May and Handsome's backstories over the next few weeks, I'll be slightly more forgiving of these last two episodes, but I have a feeling, much like Handsome's rage, their stories will be boxed up and placed on a shelf until the next time the story calls for them to make an appearance.

DECLASSIFIED CASE FILES

– I included the above image because I didn't want you guys to miss out on its beauty. A+ to whoever chose to include it in the set of publicity images ABC released for this episode.

– "Repairs" was written by executive producers Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tancharoen, which makes me seriously sad. Come on, guys. You should know better. And for the record, I like that S.H.I.E.L.D. is attempting to develop its characters and their backstories, but right now it's just not enough. We need more.

– I don't really get the strong hate that people have for Skye. She's definitely not the who's worst character, and while she annoyed me a bit this week when she insisted that she should've been the person to talk to Hannah, etc. because she's still just a noob, I can also see that Skye's probably the most humanized member of the team, and that she understands people better than anyone else. So it was nice to see Coulson also point out her usefulness at the end.

– I never watch the "Next on..." promos in order to remain unspoiled for upcoming episodes while I write my reviews, but I forgot to turn off my TV and J. August Richard's character from the pilot returns in the next new episode! Please don't screw that one up, show!

– Oh hey, Handsome's Abs! You're way more interesting their his backstory! Come back soon!

– "They only made 20, I think." R.I.P. Coulson's watch.

Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. S01E08 "The Well"

HEADS UP: THIS REVIEW WILL CONTAIN MILD SPOILERS FOR THOR: THE DARK WORLD.

The prospect of an episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. that dealt with the aftermath of the events of Thor: The Dark World (which I'll try not to spoil too much in this review for those of you who haven't seen it yet) was an exciting one. However, it, um, could have been better?

Greenwich took the full brunt of the Dark Elves' assault on Earth in the film, so naturally, S.H.I.E.L.D. was called in to sort through the garbage and figure out what was alien in origin, and what was just plain old human trash. Most of the team was annoyed at this mission, even though this is technically sort of their job, and then there was Skye. She just walked around wishing that the Dark Elves' ship would have been left behind so she could have taken it for a joyride or something. There was a lot of talk about Thor being dreamy (duh), about Thor being off the grid and unable to help clean up the mess (oh really?), and the episode even included several scenes from the film, including a peek at Asgard and the Dark Elves' ship.

Unfortunately, that's pretty much where the Thor references ended, because the Asgardian weapon that was the focus of the episode didn't have a single thing to do with the assault on Earth. But while this episode was mostly just an excuse to talk about Thor and remind viewers this is a Marvel television series, the episode did have a few shining moments. So let's break down what this episode did well, what didn't, and that little inside joke for Whedon fans in the final scene.

I truthfully don't know how everyone else feels regarding this, but I for one really enjoy the references to Asgard and Norse mythology. It makes the series feel a bit more like it's part of the rest of the Marvel Universe, a linear connection to the films. Could the tie in with Asgard have been done better? Absolutely, but the simple fact that the series attempted to bridge the gap a bit was a good step. If you haven't seen Thor yet you might not have appreciated the episode as much, but reminding viewers that this universe is bigger than Coulson and his team every once in awhile will never be a bad thing. And if it can do it in a way where it's not just a throwaway line about the Battle of New York or the name-dropping of Captain America, it'll be even better.

The Berserker staff that was the subject of this episode, however, is where I take issue with this Asgardian story. It is completely understandable that the general population of Earth would take a sudden interest in Norse mythology after the Dark Elves arrived and Thor basically tore up Greenwich in an attempt to thwart their evil plans. I mean, I came home from the movie and immediately Googled videos of Tom Hiddelston singing in cars because I also have priorities and was reminded of how great a human being he is after seeing him as Loki in the film. But the series didn't do a very good job of explaining that interest in a Norse myth. Yes, we learned about it (from a man who would turn out to be the Asgardian warrior who stayed behind on Earth), but the series just expected us to believe that two wackadoodles who wanted to harness the power of "gods" like Thor, were able to find the staff in a TREE IN NORWAY WITH LITTLE TO NO PROBLEM WHEN PEOPLE HAD BEEN LOOKING FOR IT FOR CENTURIES? I enjoyed Skye suggesting it called to them through magic and May's dubious face that pretty much said, "Magic? HAHAHAHAHA GIRL, YOU'RE STUPID." That was hilarious. I appreciated that.

This storyline slightly resembles the events of the pilot in which J. August Richard's character explained his reasoning for allowing himself to be shot up with the Extremis serum. He'd been beaten down by the world, and after discovering the existence of superheroes and "gods" like Thor and Loki after the Battle of New York, he wanted to feel like he still mattered and that he could be somebody too. But where that story succeeded with its emotional depth (and trademark Whedon Meaning of Life Speech), this story failed.

Wanting to harness the power of an Asgardian weapon that would make you super-strong is understandable, I guess. But we had no reason to care about these two crazies, especially when the Beserker staff filled them with such rage that they went on a rampage, littering the streets with "We Are Gods" flaming graffiti. Mike's story in the pilot at least made sense and you cared about him. Here, we weren't supposed to care about these throwaway characters, but even the person you were supposed to care about-Handsome-you didn't.

This episode introduced us to Handsome's backstory. In theory, this should have been the episode I championed for its character development, but Handsome's dark past wasn't nearly as compelling as it could have or should have been. In our recent 4-Episode Test that included The Tomorrow People , Cory complimented the series' ability to push the narrative forward while simultaneously traveling backward in the characters' lives. The Tomorrow People isn't doing anything new or mind-blowing, but the writers have made it work because they build their episodes around the characters and tell their stories that way. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. tends to build its characters around its episodes, and while that worked for Simmons in "FZZT," it doesn't work here. "FZZT" made us feel sadness and worry for a character as it introduced us to the real Simmons (and the fact that she is still dealing with her near-death experience this week was a shining moment for the series, because I was slightly worried the writers would just move along like it never happened). "The Well" definitely filled me with feelings, but they were probably closer to the rage that was burning through Handsome after coming in contact with the staff than what I felt during Simmons' time in the spotlight.

We get it. Handsome has done some really horrible shit in his life. And he's had a lot of really horrible shit happen to him. And like any other adult in need of some real therapy, he's locked those memories away so he doesn't have to think about them and he can go on living his life as an emotionless robot. I really want to explore Handsome's backstory and find out the truth about his upbringing, but the scenes in the well didn't sell it for me. I didn't really feel much at any point during his flashbacks. And I wanted to. The most surprising part of Handsome's story this week was not the action surrounding the well, but the open hotel room door. May faces her own rage every single day and now Handsome and May are going to bond, probably sexually, over their shared hidden rage, etc.? I don't even know how to process that.

I don't necessarily think this was a bad episode for the series, because even if I disagree with how Handsome's backstory is being doled out, the show is making an effort to explore that story. And I liked the tie-in with Asgard. But coming off two very strong episodes, this felt a bit off. I enjoyed the special effects this week, and I enjoyed Skye attempting to reach out and bond with Handsome as a friend, but I don't think I buy the Handsome and May bonding over their shared misery. It's an interesting development, that's for sure, but right now that's all it is. I think, or hope, that it'll continue and maybe then I'll care more about it. But right now? I think I'll go look at some Loki GIFs.

DECLASSIFIED CASE FILES

- Coulson's story is moving slightly along, although I will admit that I'm getting a little tired of it being mentioned in every single episode. It would be far more effective if it was only mentioned every few weeks. Right now we're being bashed over the head with the
WHAT HAPPENED TO COULSON? storyline. And if we don't start getting some answers, I'm going to go into my own Hulk mode.

- There was a treat for Dollhouse fans this week! In the final scene where Coulson was dreaming about supposedly being in Tahiti getting a massage, he asked the masseuse, "Did I fall asleep?" And she replied, "For a little while." This was a recurring bit of dialogue in Dollhouse, when after a doll returned from a mission, Topher (Fran Kranz) would basically wipe their minds and they'd wake up and ask him that same question. I don't think this was meant to be a clue as to what Coulson actually is (because that doesn't even really make sense), even without the legality issues that probably come in to the play, but rather just an Easter Egg for Whedon fans to devour with joy. Which I did. Tremendously. P.S. Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tancharoen, who are EPs for Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. also wrote for Dollhouse, so there's also that.

- "Let's see what we can dig up. See what I did there?" - Coulson, talking about going to a crypt

- Oh hey, Peter MacNicol! I know you've been working steadily, but you'll probably always be that guy from Ghostbusters II to me. And truthfully, MacNicol did a pretty fabulous job portraying Professor Elliot Randolph/the Asgardian warrior.

- To this day I cannot hear the word berserker without thinking of Clerks, so this episode made me laugh inappropriately throughout. And FYI: That link is definitely not safe for work.

Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. S01E07: "The Hub"

For weeks I've been complaining about Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s insistence on sticking with the same character pairings week in and week out. Since the premiere, it's essentially been May and Coulson, Skye and Handsome, and Fitz and Simmons. There's nothing inherently wrong with those match-ups, but keeping them so consistent doesn't allow for the character development that often comes with switching things up. Well, this week, all those fruit baskets I sent to Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tancharoen with little coded messages like "Pair up different characters or Snuffles gets it! XOXO" finally started to pay off (still no movement on the "What's Joss's garage door code? Pretty please, I promise I won't tell anyone else" front, but there are still plenty of episodes left this season, so I'm feeling pretty optimistic).

In "The Hub," Handsome went into the field with Fitz on a Level 8 (!) mission that involved disabling a device that produced sonic vibrations powerful enough to trigger weapons from a great distance. They didn't have specs on the thing, so they couldn't exactly teach Handsome or May how do to it—they'd need to send someone who could figure it out on-site. And that's the story of how Fitz was sent into the field, much to my delight. He's a by-the-book, follow-the-rules, science-makes-sense kind of guy, the type of character who's most comfortable staying put in his lab, because he can understand things in there. And so it made perfect sense to throw him into an unfamiliar situation. That's, like, Comedy 101 right there, and he far exceeded my expectations this week when he ventured out into the real world with his overpacked bag and Simmons' homemade sandwich. But if I had one complaint about the storyline, it's that it was very cliched—and, therefore, very predictable.

Naturally, Handsome was not happy about being saddled with someone like Fitz, who'd struggled to win a fight against sliding glass doors earlier in the episode. But in the end, Fitz came through and saved the day several times by using his own special knowledge and skills, like being able to repair the generator in the bar. It feels silly to nitpick this sort of thing, because I enjoyed seeing Fitz and Handsome partnered up for a mission—Fitz's silliness played so well off Handsome's straight-man seriousness—but this type of plot has been done a million times on a million other series like this one, and despite there being no extraction team, I never really felt the urgency I should have. I knew Fitz would somehow become an asset in the field, and I knew Handsome would end up appreciating his presence, but I never felt like the two of them were in any real danger, which might be S.H.I.E.L.D.'s biggest problem at the moment.

We know and expect our ragtag team to always win any fight they end up in, because otherwise there'd be no series. But in any case where you know that going in, you expect the show to find other ways to surprise you. That's exactly what S.H.I.E.L.D. did last week in "F.Z.Z.T.," and that's why it was so well done. Did I really think the show would write off Simmons in Episode 6? No, of course not. But the episode did a very good job of selling her helplessness and desperation. The writers created a dire situation, showed us how there was nothing anyone could do to prevent it, let us witness the same situation as it affected one of our beloved main characters, and then asked us to believe that they'd actually kill her. We know Simmons didn't die, but the show made us feel emotions and there were real stakes. With "The Hub," that wasn't the case.

While Handsome and Fitz were Odd Coupling it out in the dangerous wilderness, Skye's constant need to know what's going on had her teaming up with Simmons to break into the Hub's computer system. This was played for laughs quite well, and it mimicked the team in the field as Simmons was Fitz and Skye was the more experienced person like Handsome. Only instead of fists, Skye's talent was her quick thinking. Skye gives off the impression of being able to talk her way out of anything (and we saw her use that skill in "The Asset"), but Simmons is just plain terrible under pressure like that, which resulted in Simmons using the Night-Night Gun on an agent to get them out of a bad situation. But what Skye found once she was inside the system (after digging through the files relating to her parents, of course), was S.H.I.E.L.D.'s attempt at raising the stakes. Discovering that there was no extraction team still didn't feel all that dire, but it did provide the series with a way for Skye to confront Coulson about the importance of information and how much power it holds.

As it turned out, Coulson had been left in the dark regarding the fact there was no extraction planned for Handsome and Fitz. Which was a nice way of pointing out there's a lot of information that even Coulson doesn't know. For weeks, the series has been dropping hints that Coulson is becoming cognizant of the fact that there's something off about him. Between last week's physical and this week's attempt to retrieve his own death-and-recovery file, Coulson knows that something's up, and while I'm surprised that S.H.I.E.L.D. has already brought him this far (I didn't think this would happen until at least the mid-season break), I like that the series isn't just sitting on it.

The main theme of "The Hub" was basically: Information Is Dangerous. And it was pounded into our heads again and again that S.H.I.E.L.D. is an organization built around different levels of knowledge and that not everyone is privy to everything. Fitz, Simmons, May, Handsome and Coulson have all bought into that. But Skye, our resident hacker, thinks it's total bullshit, and by episode's end, Coulson seemed to be be coming around to her way of thinking. Maybe he shouldn't be so trusting of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Again, I am happy the series is moving forward on the Coulson front. And I'm also happy the series is moving forward on Skye's season-long arc, too. Coulson looked into the redacted files regarding Skye's parents and told her that she was dropped off on S.H.I.E.L.D.'s doorstep by an agent. But in another reminder that knowledge sometimes does more harm than good, he didn't tell her everything. Skye's thirst for the truth is probably going to be her undoing this season, and I have a feeling that at some point, she'll come to regret wanting to know it, just as Coulson might once he discovers more information about his own life.

"The Hub" was a good—but not necessarily great— episode that acted mainly as a humorous standalone installment intended to switch up some character pairs. It was predictable, but it also continued to develop a few of the season's longer narrative arcs, like the mystery of Skye's parents, Coulson's trip to Tahiti, and Simmons and Fitz's friendship. But next week I'd like a bit more of the emotional stakes we experienced in "F.Z.Z.T.," mmmk? Oh, and don't forget about Joss's garage code, too.

DECLASSIFIED CASE FILES

– First mention of the Triskelion this week, and Victoria Hand's first appearance. Was this Agent Sitwell's first appearance as well? I can't remember, but he's shown up in the Marvel Universe before, in both Thor and The Avengers. And he's going to be in the upcoming Captain America movie, too.

– Why did the show force Saffron Burrows to speak in an American accent? Wouldn't it have been easier to cast someone else who was actually American? Because ouch, it was baaaad.

– I love Fitz and Simmons so much. I think they're my favorite characters.

– "No need to get started on one of your socialist riffs." This line really only works when you remember Fitz's face as he said it to Skye, but I chuckled so hard.

– "There are dogs tracking us, and you brought a prosciutto sandwich?"

– "Which non-expression is this?" OH BURNNNNN.

Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. S01E06: "F.Z.Z.T."

After a number of episodes that focused on Skye and her personal arc, it was refreshing to see Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. put her on the back burner and let someone else take center stage for awhile. As much as I personally enjoy Skye's quips, it was past time that we learned more about the rest of the team.

In "F.Z.Z.T." we explored Elizabeth Henstridge's Jemma Simmons through the case of the week as the S.H.I.E.L.D. team traveled to rural Pennsylvania. Three firefighters who'd been first responders at the Battle of New York were all dying in a very odd way that left them hovering in midair. Eventually, the team discovered that the fire station had decided to keep a Chitauri helmet as a souvenir (to remind them of what a fun, fantastic day that was?), and when the trio of men had been bored overnight, they'd cleaned it up real nice only to be thanked by being infected with a Chitauri virus. Maybe don't keep alien battle gear as trophies? Just saying.

Unfortunately, during her inspection of the first body, Simmons was infected with the same Chitauri virus, and the second half of the hour was dedicated to her character, and by extension, her relationship with Fitz, as she first went through the shock of realizing that she was probably going to die, and then as they attempted to find an anti-serum (not vaccine!) that would cure her. I like that the entire episode wasn't spent tracking down a killer, and that Fitz and Simmons weren't just brought in to find a way to cure a perfect stranger, but that the mystery was cleared up within the first half hour so we could focus on the characters we're supposed to root for and care about. The people were more important than the "mission" this week, and that's never a bad thing.

The episode, however, didn't dig too deep into Simmons and Fitz's backgrounds, but I'm not sure that it needed to. Skye, Handsome, Coulson, and May are all carrying big secrets about their pasts, and all of those secrets have shaped them and made them who they are. But Fitz and Simmons are (presumably) innocent scientists unburdened by secrets and I'd like to keep it that way. Too many secrets, too many ominous speeches about life and death, too many moments fraught with heavy meaning and the series becomes too heavy. Right now we have the mystery of who or what Coulson is, what happened to May that took her out of the field (though the show hinted that she was gravely injured in the field, like Coulson), who Skye's parents were and why they've been erased from existence save for a single S.H.I.E.L.D. document, and lastly, we have Handsome's family history that clearly screwed him up. That's more mysteries than I'd actually like, but as long as the series doesn't intend to solve them all this season then I'll allow it.

The episode wasn't perfect, but it worked because it explored Fitz and Simmons' friendship without having to go into great detail about their history together. We knew they were very close from the moment they walked on screen in the pilot. Their introduction was mostly them bickering and talking over one another, but it was also clear that they were completely comfortable with one another as a result of having known each other for a very long time. But since the series began we haven't really had the chance to get to know them. Like, at all. They've been tucked away in the lab, brought out only when the series needs a science-y fixing, and that's no way for characters to live.

In "F.Z.Z.T." we learned fun facts like Fitz can't stand dead bodies in the lab, especially after Simmons left a cat liver next to his lunch that one time, and we also learned (though I think it was always sort of obvious, and was possibly mentioned in passing in a previous episode too) that it been Simmons' idea to join S.H.I.E.L.D. and go into the field. Fitz has always seemed more like the follower in their relationship, but not because Simmons is such a strong leader. I think she just wanted to explore the world outside of the lab, while Fitz seems completely comfortable staying put. His following her probably came out of their strong friendship more than anything else. I definitely don't think he followed out of some wayward crush on his lab partner, because if anything, I would argue it's the other way around. Fitz has a crush on Skye, and it was funny to see him trying to flirt and have fun with her in the opening scene as they made fun of Handsome's Blue Steel, but I wouldn't be surprised if we found out that Simmons might be crushing on Fitz, even if she doesn't actually realize it for some time. Fitz's insistence that he was going to jump out of the plane after Simmons once she decided it was time to sacrifice herself to save everyone else was cute though. And you could tell Simmons appreciated the gesture and she said thank you by kissing him on the cheek. This relationship is probably my favorite of the entire series.

That being said, while I enjoyed that the episode focused on Simmons and Fitz, I would still like to see Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. switch up the pairings. The scene at the end of "Eye-Spy" in which Fitz and Handsome were playing cards was fun because A.) they were relaxed and seemed like actual, real human beings, and B.) it was a pairing we hadn't really explored yet. And the same thing applies here. The Fitz and Skye scene was refreshing because they're a pairing we haven't really had the chance to explore. Yes, it makes sense that Fitz and Simmons are constantly together, and it makes sense that Handsome and Skye are paired up as she trains to become an agent, but if we never see these characters in other situations or interacting with other characters, then we'll never really get to know them. All of the exposition in the world won't be able to tell us who they are if they're always in the same place with the same people. Our different friends bring out different sides of our personality, and I think an episode exploring Fitz and Ward or Simmons and Skye could be really fun. Mix is up a bit, will ya show?

DECLASSIFIED CASE FILES

— I've saved Coulson for notes because despite a parallel B-story about who he is and why he feels so different, we didn't actually learn all that much. All of his tests, which he'd ordered himself, came back normal. May told him that it didn't matter if it was eight seconds or 40, he still died, and that reason alone means he'll never be the same. And we've seen that this Coulson is definitely different from that of the films, and we had it spelled out for us in that ending tag when Blake pointed out that this wasn't the Coulson he used to know.

— Ward was pissed off that what was killing Simmons wasn't something he could fight. He's good with the physical threats, but not so much things he can't punch in the face. He really needs to work on being less ... mechanical? Is that the right word? I'm starting to wonder if it's not that Brett Dalton is stiff as an actor, but rather that everything he does is part of Handsome, like his stiffness is actually just an acting choice. Discuss.

— I probably could have done without the skydiving scene. Just... say no.

— "Little heavy on the iron. But don't worry, you don't have to start calling me 'Iron Man'."

— "This guy makes Captain America look like the Dude." (Gotta love a well placed Big Lebowski reference)

Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. S1E05 "Girl in the Flower Dress"

Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: S01E05: "Girl in the Flower Dress"

First, I apologize for the lateness of this review. My DVR ate the second half of "Girl in the Flower Dress" so I had to break it into a thousand pieces, throw them out the window, and then light them on fire. And then I had to watch the rest of the episode online. But I did, so now let's chat about it!

With each passing week, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is becoming a more fully developed series. We're learning more about our team (or we're learning more about Skye), and each new episode, while still procedural in nature, has been stronger than those that preceded it. This week's case was also directly connected to two of the series' ongoing story arcs—Extremis and the secret life of Skye—which automatically makes "Girl in the Flower Dress" a winner in my book.

Let's tackle Skye first, because she's S.H.I.E.L.D.'s most accessible character. For weeks we've been wondering what Skye's true motives are. We've been wondering where her true allegiances lie since the second episode of the series, when she signed on as a consultant to the team. Is she with S.H.I.E.L.D. or the Rising Tide? In "Girl in the Flower Dress," we discovered that the answer is neither. Skye's only allegiance is to herself and to her van. And depending on the situation, S.H.I.E.L.D. is a distant third. Everything she's done, including joining Rising Tide and then joining S.H.I.E.L.D., has been to find out who she is and who her parents are.

We already knew that Skye essentially raised herself, that she grew up in the system, but we never knew why. And as it turns out, neither did she. Everything she knows about her parents can be traced back to a single S.H.I.E.L.D. document that looks like the list I received from my high school guidance counselor after I told her my hopes and dreams. Everything was blacked out or redacted, so Skye became a hacker and eventually joined the team with the hope that she'd one day be able to find out more information about her own past. Seems legit, no? I'd want to know who my birth parents were, especially if they were somehow involved with S.H.I.E.L.D. Were they good guys? Bad guys? Carnies? Is she a test tube baby conceived as part of a S.H.I.E.L.D. experiment? It's still unclear whether Skye has actually had the chance to really dive into the search, especially because she's not a full agent and probably has little to no clearance at the moment. But it doesn't look like she's going to get the opportunity any time soon, either.

Agent Coulson—feeling less betrayed than he was when he first discovered that Skye had been lying to him and that she had her own agenda for joining the team—told her that she might actually be better off living in the dark (obviously this statement was as much about Skye as it was Coulson's own past). There's a reason people say ignorance is bliss, and it's that sometimes ignorance really is better than knowing the truth. In the end, Skye was allowed to remain a member of the team (I guess?), but with S.H.I.E.L.D.'s version of a shock collar; she now has to wear a bracelet that probably zaps her and/or severely injures her if she tries to do anything involving electronics. But hey, at least it's fashionable, right?

We also met Skye's mentor and part-time lover, Miles Lydon, in "Girl in the Flower Dress." But he wasn't who Skye thought he was and she gave him the official boot by episode's end. For all of his talk about freedom of information, he was still willing to accept a $1M paycheck in exchange for some information, which was not cool in Skye's book. Especially since the information he sold was about Chan Ho Yin, a man from Hong Kong with pyro-kinetic abilities, and who was directly related to a S.H.I.E.L.D. case. And that's how the case of the week tied both Skye's arc and the Extremis arc together.

Lydon sold the information to a Centipede research lab in Hong Kong believing it really was an ecological research lab, so in his defense, he really didn't know what would happen. (But in defense of good ol' fashioned common sense: What the hell would an eco-lab want with S.H.I.E.L.D. information? Lydon might be computer smart, but he doesn't really seem smart smart. Just saying). Lydon had no idea that Shannon Lucio would return as Doctor Debbie from the pilot and inject Chan—who was given the name Scorch (LOL) by the mysterious girl in the flower dress (who, as we later learned, was named Raina)—with the Extremis serum.

As Debbie had expected, the blood platelets in Chan's blood that kept him from being burned by the fire he could create, also acted as a stabilizer for the Extremis. Naturally, she ordered him drained of blood so they could stabilize the serum for their army of toy soldiers. S.H.I.E.L.D. was eventually able to intervene, but Chan had had a taste of the power that the serum gave him and injected himself with more. A kerfuffle ensued and Coulson and May were forced to make the hard call of injecting him twice more, which eventually caused the reaction we've come to recognize with Extremis: combustion. R.I.P. Scorch, we hardly even had the chance to laugh at your catchphrase, "You just got scorched!"

While Skye's arc wasn't exactly a mind blowing reveal, it was definitely a new piece to the Skye puzzle and character development is never a bad thing. I really thought her Rising Tide/S.H.I.E.L.D. allegiance would end up being a major plot point towards the end of the season, and I suppose it still could come in to play, but now that we know her true motives, it looks like the search for her parents will become Skye's larger arc instead, which is kind of boring in my very important opinion. Her relationship with Agent Handsome has also now been strained, because he feels betrayed by her actions (and because he refused to sit in on her meeting with Coulson, he doesn't know the truth about her real objectives).

As for the Extremis arc and what it means going forward: with Chan's blood, the Big Bad can now move forward with their army of super soldiers. We still don't know much more than that, which is okay. This is a season-long story and we're only five episodes in. I'm just glad we're starting to move towards some semblance of serialized storytelling, tying in cases of the week with the overarching stories of the season. Keep it up, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.; you're doing all right.

DECLASSIFIED CASE FILES

– Fight scenes, guys. Work on them. Go watch some episodes of Arrow if you need some inspiration. They could be (and should be) so, so, so much better.

– What's Stage 3? And is there really someone who's clairvoyant now? After being told last week that there's no evidence of anyone having that ability? Interesting.

– Is Scorch really dead? We didn't see a body!

– Steve Rogers/Captain America shout-out!

– Shannon Lucio died in two shows last night (S.H.I.E.L.D. and Supernatural). Tough luck.

– Bye Austin Nichols, please come back soon because your laid-back scruffyness is the perfect antithesis to Agent Handsome's cold, hard Blue Steel!

– Does Fitz have a crush on Skye? He was really hurt that Skye hadn't said anything about her relationship with Miles. And it seemed to be more than just a friendly hurt.

– Fitz and Simmons didn't have much to do this week, so I still don't have much to say about them. Please give them more to do than just act as comic relief, show. I enjoy them, but so far they're still just two characters we met in the pilot.

– Handsome: "Make it a double." May: "Is there any other kind?" (May is the best.)

– "Now you're making fun of my van!?" Do NOT insult Skye's van, y'all.

– "So we're good, right?"

– May: "His file say anything about him being homicidal?" Coulson: "Just that he was kind of a tool."

Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. S1E04 "Eye Spy"

Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. S01E04: "Eye Spy"

My opinions of TV episodes don't usually change over time, at least not as quickly as overnight, and my snap judgement immediately after watching "Eye Spy" was that I really liked it. And as I thought more about it while writing my review, I think I talked myself into liking it even more. "Eye Spy" continued the momentum built by "The Asset," and in a way, it was a darker, more adult outing for Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. The series' previous episodes were fine in that they acted as second and third versions of the pilot, allowing new viewers to step in without much difficult, but "Eye Spy" felt less like we were being re-introduced to the characters and what it is that S.H.I.E.L.D. does, and more like the latest installment of a more developed series.

We also got the chance to dive into the well of Agent Coulson's history, which is at least part of the reason the episode worked so well. It's important to remember that Coulson is still basically a mystery, even to fans of the Marvel films. Clark Gregg once said he only appeared in the first Iron Man film as a favor to Jon Favreau, and now the character is leading an entire TV show. We still don't know much about who Coulson actually is, let alone what really happened after the Battle of New York, and "Eye Spy" gave us a peek in to his past.

The mission this week was one that Coulson picked up on his own, without orders from S.H.I.E.L.D. HQ. Right away that should've triggered warning bells. And his insistence that the team complete their task without help from HQ was another red flag. They were tracking a master thief, believing that maybe the person was an unregistered gifted—Skye threw out the idea that their target had telekinetic powers or ESP, but Agent May told her there was no evidence of anyone with those powers existing. As it it turned out, the thief was actually a former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent who had been trained by Coulson himself.

Believing Akela Amador had been killed in action several years ago, Coulson obviously felt responsible for what had happened to her. She'd been held prisoner for years and then implanted with a robotic eyeball that not only allowed her to see through several spectrums but acted as a camera for her handler and whoever else was controlling her. When Coulson learned that she was alive and being held prisoner in her own body (haha what's free will?), his guilt ratcheted straight up. He was adamant about helping her. Is it ridiculous to think that Coulson has formed this new super squad in an attempt to right his past failures as a leader? Akela had been sent on mission after mission, forced to commit crimes and to carry out the work of an unseen master who would activate the kill switch located in her robotic eye if she disobeyed. It was kill or be killed for Akela. And that's a really shitty way to live, to be honest.

Akela's predicament was later "solved" after Skye hijacked her camera feed, allowing Akela to spend some quality time recounting what happened to her all those years to a guilt-ridden Coulson. While they were playing story hour, Agent Handsome completed Akela's latest mission wearing a pair of special eyeglasses that reported back to her handler as if nothing was out of the ordinary. He received all of the orders sent to Akela, including one that directed him to seduce a security guard. Agent Handsome attempted to bromance the guard, and holy crap is he bad at making friends.

Agent Handsome's people skills really are the equivalent of poop + knives—or a porcupine, if you prefer it that way. And it's obvious his inability to play well with others, or even hang out with others in a way that's not strictly "I'm in charge of you, do what I say" will be his season-long arc. It's also obvious that his relationship with Skye is supposed to be the thing that changes him. The two actors work just fine together—especially in this episode, where they were actually partners instead of being thrown together for future romance's sake—but after awhile it's going to start to feel old if it's constantly Handsome and Skye against the world, even if he is her superior officer.

The only way this team will ever feel like a team and act like a team is if these characters interact with every member of the team. So far, the pairings have been Skye and Ward, Fitz and Simmons, May and Coulson, and Skye and Coulson. These aren't bad match-ups, especially not while the show finds its legs, but eventually I'd like to see Skye and Simmons or May and Ward work together and get to know one another.

Skye and Coulson's relationship is probably the strongest of the series so far, and that's great because every series needs a constant. She looks up to him and trusts him because he offered her a family with S.H.I.E.L.D., something she hasn't had in a very long time. Which is why I'm really interested to see how her continued affiliation with the Rising Tide will affect her as the weeks go by. Will she become conflicted? Will she drop the Rising Tide like hot trash? This has the potential to be a great personal arc for Skye, and I don't believe, despite what next week's episode previews suggest, that Coulson will find out about her parallel dealings with the group, otherwise that would be a complete waste of a complicated personal story for the character.

As for the brainiac twins, I don't know that we'll ever really see much of Fitz and Simmons splitting up on missions. But I'd really like the writers to give them something more to do than save the day by performing standard robotic eyeball removal surgery and complaining about being hungry while doing surveillance (though I laughed at that entire scene, because they would think nothing of calling Agent Handsome to ask about using the restroom and grabbing a bite). The closing scene of "Eye Spy," in which Fitz and Handsome were playing cards, was fun once you realized Skye was helping Fitz cheat, but it was also fun because it was a pairing we haven't really had a chance to explore. I just want everyone to be friends, is that too much to ask?

Anyway, like I said at the start, this episode was a welcome change for the series. The characters worked well together, the sampling of Coulson's backstory helped bring us up to speed a bit on who he really is, and the episode at least toyed with the idea of reaching for something deeper. If S.H.I.E.L.D. can continue to build on the momentum it's created with "The Asset" and "Eye Spy," I think the series stands a chance of becoming what we want it to be. It might not be the high-stakes series fans hoped for, but I don't know that that was ever going to be the case. And I don't necessarily subscribe to the notion that the team needs to be fighting a global threat every week to be successful. Right now it's very plot-heavy, but given time, S.H.I.E.L.D. will add more character drama, I'm sure of it. And if it can balance those two things, that full-season pickup will turn out to be a very smart idea.

DECLASSIFIED CASE FILES

– While I enjoyed the hell out of this episode based on what happened on the surface, I wish it had dealt more with the idea of free will. Akela couldn't even go to sleep without permission from her handler. This is the kind of stuff that could make Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. a worthy series and a successor to Joss Whedon's other work. Dollhouse was all about free will and being human, Buffy was one giant metaphor for high school being hell. Firefly was basically just the best thing in the 'verse. If Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. can tap into stories that tackle larger, more character-driven stories and spark debates about larger issues, it'll definitely raise the bar in terms of quality.

– Akela's handler had been a former MI6 agent, who was also being controlled by someone else. When Coulson approached him, his kill switch was engaged. Who is the mysterious master here? Who is calling the shots? Is this a new Big Bad or the same one we've been dealing with? I like the way the series is playing up potential longterm threats, but sometimes I have no patience and I want answers, stat.

– "What did they do to him?" Akela asked May with regard to Coulson. If she could tell something was off about him after not being in his presence for any number of years, why can't May? Coulson and May clearly have a history of some sort. I suspect this will lead to a lot of May staring at Coulson in the background, watching him and attempting to see what Akela saw in a matter of hours.

– "You're a robot, can you do that?" Ouch, someone get Handsome an ice pack for that burn, plz.

– "Bang?"

Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. "The Asset"

Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. S01E03: "The Asset"

If I had to rank the first three episodes of Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. in order from best to not best, I'd rank them like this: 1. "Pilot," 2. "The Asset," and 3. "0-8-4." While I enjoyed the result of "0-8-4" and the way the team worked together to solve their crisis, this week's episode felt more like the show was really finding its groove. The characters are all settling into their respective roles, and if you're not on board with the show by now, you're probably never going to be.

With each passing week we're getting to know more about our team of agents (and Skye), and its nice to see that the show isn't forsaking the quieter character moments for the action and vice versa. The mission this week was to rescue Dr. Franklin Hall, an asset who'd been kidnapped. He was being held at Ian Quinn's mansion in Malta though, which meant S.H.I.E.L.D. was unable to go in with guns and gadgets blazin'. International law is kind of a pain in the ass sometimes, no?

Too bad for Quinn, because Skye isn't an official agent yet (though she's training with Agent Handsome as her superior officer), and was able to hack backdoor channels or something (I don't even know if those words are in the right order, also what's a computer?) to score an invite to the swanky shareholders party for Quinn Worldwide. This means she was the perfect person to infiltrate the party and make it possible for Agents Coulson and Handsome to get past the laser security wall (if only we had tiny monkeys!).

When she was compromised it looked as if Skye's true colors as a member of the Rising Tide were showing. She told Quinn the truth about S.H.I.E.L.D. listening in, how they'd offered her a job (something he'd also done moments before he found her snooping around his office), and how she was sent to gain access to his office. In the end, it was telling the truth that allowed Skye access to a nearby wireless connection for Fitz to take down the laser wall surrounding the compound for Coulson and Handsome, but this probably won't be the last time we see Skye go off on her own and have to talk her way in to or out of situations.

She's a smart girl who knows how to play people, which is a result of growing up in foster care and having been forced to raise herself, but she's still in an agent-in-training. Before reading the episode description for "The Asset," you'd never know the asset in question wasn't Skye at all, but she proved once again that she's a great addition to the team. She has committed herself to her training with Agent Handsome and is beginning to open up.

"Hoping for something and losing it," she said, "hurts more than never hoping for anything." And Skye really wants this it seems. It's possible that she's also playing Agent Handsome, and therefore playing us, but she looked and sounded sincere in that moment and we don't actually have a reason to not trust her right now. Handsome had played story hour with her earlier in order to get her to see the importance of her training and what it means to be an agent, and while I'm not really buying their instantaneous bond, nor do I care if they eventually wind up in a relationship (because that seems to be what all their scenes indicate), I don't think we should just assume that Skye is either S.H.I.E.L.D. or Rising Tide. Right now I think she actually wants to be both, but we'll probably have to wait to see how and when her allegiance is tested (I'm guessing mid-season or the end of the season).

Back to the asset, though. Dr. Hall was a mentor to Fitz and Simmons, and the roommate and bestie of Ian Quinn in college. Together they had designed a theoretical machine powered by a theoretical substance called gravatonium. Quinn continued to look for that substance on his path to world domination or something and he found it. According to FitzSimmons—in language even a high school drop out like Skye can understand—the substance distorts the gravity fields within it. Then some other science-y stuff happens and basically it creates rooms that look like they belong in Inception!

Quinn needed Hall to run point on this operation because he wasn't smart enough, I guess. But Hall recognized the danger of the situation and his bright idea to deal with it was to just level Quinn's compound, taking the machine, the gravatonium, and everyone inside the place with it as it sank to the bottom of the ocean. Seems good to me! Except Coulson wasn't really having it. There was a nice little moment in which Hall told Coulson that we have to live with the choices we make, but sometimes we have to die with them too. I will definitely not be subscribing to that life philosophy, but looks like Hall will, because in his last attempt to stop the machine, Coulson shot a hole in a window and Hall fell right into the gravatonium (remember the Inception-ized room!). And that, ladies and gentleman, is how villains are born. Dr. Frank Hall has for all intents and purposes become Graviton, but he's currently locked away in a super secret S.H.I.E.L.D. facility, unbeknownst, of course, to everyone since he's hanging out in the gravitonium right now.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. SE1E2 "0-8-4"

Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. opened big last week, but the real test of its staying power came tonight with Episode 2. How many people returned for "0-8-4"? Was the episode a success? Did you care about the story and the characters? Did it make you laugh? Did you enjoy the action-y moments?

Based on a lot of the reviews and feedback I read about the premiere, I think there were a lot of misconceptions about what Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. was supposed to be. A lot of people, myself included, loved it. But some people thought the show was going to be similar to The Avengers movie and feature superheroes, and so they were disappointed when they found out they're weren't any superheroes. Others were confused when the series wasn't as "adult" as they'd have liked it to be—which is not an unreasonable complaint—but being based in a world that originated in a comic book and airing at 8pm kind of hinted that would be the case. And still others watched last week's premiere and came away upset that the series was about a group of people with special powers, similar to the premise of Heroes. I've had a week to think about what Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is and what I want it to be, and I came up with three criteria. "0-8-4" met all three, so I was happy with the second outing. (However, I don't know what that third group of people was thinking, because this series is nothinglike Heroes.)

So, what are those three criteria? Well, to be successful, this series needs to be accessible, it needs to flesh out its characters and develop its world, and it needs to find the right balance of heart, humor, and action. I think "0-8-4" did just fine in accomplishing those goals.

Being accessible means that until it establishes itself as its own series, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. cannot be heavily serialized. Fans (and potential fans) must be able to enter this world without needing an encyclopedia of Marvel facts, or a flowchart to keep things straight. And I truthfully feel that S.H.I.E.L.D.'s writers have done the best they can in that regard. Is it easier to understand the lingo if you've seen any of the movies or read the comics? Of course. But just as Skye was starting to learn S.H.I.E.L.D.'s lingo this week, you will too, eventually.

If you've seen the Marvel films of if you've read the comics, then you picked up on Agent Coulson's reference to Thor's hammer, and you understand what Hydra is, and why Tesseract-fueled anythings are no good. But you don't need to have understood those references to know that Hydra=bad and that the 0-8-4 (an object of unknown origin) the team found tonight would have been disastrous in the wrong hands. Those things were explained via exposition from the characters like they would be on any other series with heavy mythology. Plus, guys, with the amount of crap on the internet these days, and especially with the amount of Marvel knowledge you can find out there, if you don't understand something and it's really bothering you, just Google it. It'll take you more time to complain about not understanding it than it would to find the answer.

So the series needs to be accessible. It needs to follow a formula in which Coulson's specialized S.H.I.E.L.D. team travels somewhere (like Peru, as was the case in this week's episode) and assesses and contains any and all threats (like the Tesseract-fueled technology they found, and then Camilla Reyes and her team when they decided they wanted to use the 0-8-4 for their own personal gain), and then maybe everyone shares a beer afterward like any other team of co-workers toasting the end of a long work day. And also, you know, not dying.

Many of the comments I read about the premiere discussed being worried that the show was going to be boring if it followed the same procedure week after week—and that's not a completely ridiculous fear—but I think many viewers are forgetting that a great number of successful shows currently on TV are procedurals. Hell, NCIS is in its, what, eleventh season? It's the most watched show on television and it's a procedural. It's gotta be doing something right. In the post-Breaking Bad world, we tend to think that in order to be good, a series has to be heavily serialized, but that's not the case at all. Yes, of course there needs to be some sort of serialization happening; the characters need to grow and evolve and larger story arcs must take place in order to move the story forward, but being a procedural is not a death sentence. And I think many Joss Whedon fans are forgetting that each of his former series began as procedurals themselves, and they had a hell of a lot of overarching stories and character development over the course of their runs. Lots of those fans are probably also forgetting that exactly zero of his shows were born as fully formed success stories.

The second thing this series needs to accomplish to be successful is to make its characters more human. We need to get to know who Skye is, and why Agent Handsome is so methodical and machine-like. We need to get to know Fitz and Simmons as people beyond their super brains that make the rest of us look bad. And we definitely need to get the dirt that is Melinda May's classified file. "0-8-4" made some big strides on that front. We started to see Skye—who's basically the audience stand-in—attempt to find her place as a consultant/member of the S.H.I.E.L.D. team. In fact, we got to see everyone begin to settle into their roles as members of this team tonight—this was only their second mission together—and although I get the feeling Fitz and Simmons have been working together—or have at least known each other—for quite awhile now, everyone worked together to defeat Reyes and her men and no one died, so that's got to be a good start, right?

While first impressions are important, they're not everything, and tonight I felt like I got to know more about who Skye was and her philosophy on life and why she makes the choices she makes. She likes social media and how technology is bringing people all over the world who've never met together, and to hear her talk about 100 people each having or being 1 percent of the solution, made a lot of sense. And Agent Handsome even used that logic to help rally the troops when they needed to find a way to take back the plane, so already we see what an asset she can be. Skye also helped Agent Handsome bring down some of his own walls during their conversation on the plane, so we got to know a tiny sliver about what makes him tick, though I'm concerned about his character's development more than I am anyone else's. He's got the difficult job of being the straight man on a team of quirky weirdos, which may or may not lend itself to easy character development. While we still don't actually know much about these people—or whether or not we can even trust them—we're starting to learn more about them, and that's what's important.

Lastly, and just as important to the success of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. as the previous two requirements, this series needs to find the right balance of the heart, the humor, and the action. Some people thought the premiere was too quippy, while I myself found it perfectly adequate on the quippy scale. We all have differing opinions, but I think tonight's episode scaled back on the humor and still managed to do just fine.

As for the heart, there was no big meaning of life speech this week, but there was a moment when the team quit their bickering and worked together to solve the Reyes problem. Papa Coulson appreciated their efforts and didn't once lose his cool about the fact his team blew a hole in the side of his newly renovated airplane (though surprise guest star Samuel L. Jackson was pisssssssed!). And the action? Yeah, I think they managed to get enough in to satisfy the fanboys and girls. The shootout in Peru, the fight sequences on the plane, and then everything that went down after the massive hole-in-the-plane thing was plenty of action for one episode. And just for the record? The green screen on this series is about a million-bajillion times better than Once Upon a Time, so thanks for all that cash Marvel, the world is grateful.

Whether you liked or loved or hated the premiere, I do think this was a strong second outing for a series that's got every single eye in the world trained on it, just waiting for it to slip up or make a mistake. Tonight's episode was more focused than the premiere, too. It didn't have to be showy so much as it had to really set the pace and tone for the rest of the series, and I think it did a good job in that regard.

Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. S01E01: "Pilot"

There are TV shows, and then there are Joss Whedon TV shows. If you're not sure of the difference, if you're not one of Whedon's acolytes, the difference is this: Joss Whedon TV shows aren't just about the shiny, or the witty dialogue—although both of those things obviously factor heavily into every Whedon production—they're about people. Oh sure, you could argue that every TV show is about people and you wouldn't be wrong, but Whedon shows tend to focus on the psyche, and what makes us human, what makes us strong, what makes us want to be better. Whedon shows explore humanity in abnormal circumstances and scenarios, and they're never really about what they appear to be about on the surface.

Whedon's four previous series—Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Buffy's spin-off Angel, Firefly, and Dollhouse—all focused on good people fighting the good fight against whatever evil they came up against, whether it was a demon in the night or a corrupt organization that had the ability to wipe personal identities and free will and reprogram humans as it saw fit. They were all stories about people from all different worlds who fought evil.

Buffy wasn't a pop-culture phenomenon because its main character was a tiny blonde girl who chased after the monster in a dark alley; it became a landmark series because it turned every notion we had about horror and the supernatural on its head, and it did so with heart and comedy. But more importantly, it was about how "family" means more than just a group of people who are related by blood. In fact, while most of Whedon's work doesn't actually involve many blood relatives, the concept of family typically factors heavily, and Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.—which I will be shortening to Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and probably just S.H.I.E.L.D. by the middle of October, and maybe eventually I'll get really crazy and go with SHIELD—is no different. So let's take a second to review what we've just learned about the members of this new S.H.I.E.L.D. family, shall we?

Brett Dalton stars as Agent Ward, who I will be referring to as Agent Handsome for the rest of the series. Ward is your typical hard-ass who's all about the job and probably eats his frozen dinners by himself. He also likely believes emotions are a weakness, hates puppies, and doesn't play well with others. In the premiere, Agent Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) explained to Agent Handsome that in her files, Agent Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders) had described Handsome's "people skills" via an illustration of a little poop with knives sticking out of it. Hill explained later that it was actually a porcupine, but whatever, poop + knives is way better.

Then there's Skye, though that's totally not her real name. She's played by Chloe Bennet (who, btw, was one of our nine actors who deserve to break out this season), and she's a hacker. We don't know much else about her yet, but it's probably safe to assume she didn't have the best childhood, and was probably forced to raise herself. She's great at improvising, always has really great hair in the middle of a crisis, and she's smarter than all of us combined. She was able to break into S.H.I.E.L.D.'s database, and she knows how to erase people's entire identity from government databases. If she could make my driver's license picture go away forever, that would be super cool.

Making up the science-y part of the team—a staple of all Whedon shows (think Willow in Buffy, Fred in Angel, Kaylee and Simon in Firefly, and Topher in Dollhouse) are FitzSimmons, a.k.a. Leo Fitz (Iain De Caestecker), who's in charge of engineering, and Jemma "I'm not Hermione!" Simmons (Elizabeth Henstridge), who's a biochemistry whiz. They like to talk over each other a lot, and they seem to get along as well as they fight. Ming-Na's Melinda May—the veteran team member who's only function is "to drive the bus"—is a puzzle, because we still don't know why she's been out of the field for so many years. MYSTERY.

And lastly, but perhaps most importantly, is Agent Phil Coulson, who you'll remember bit the dust in The Avengers. He is the leader of this clan, but how he came to be where he is is shrouded in secrecy. Not even Coulson knows what really happened to him. He claimed he stopped breathing for eight seconds after being "shanked by the Asgardian Mussolini," and then spent several weeks in Tahiti recuperating. Also, the Avengers don't know he's alive (which is the easy way out of explaining why Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Hemsworth won't be stopping by the TV series).

It was clear very early on that Coulson doesn't know the truth about his own resurrection (was it a resurrection?), as was made clear by an ominous exchange between Shepherd Book (okay fine, Ron Glass's character on this show is Dr. Streiten) and Agent Hill:

Streiten: "He really doesn't know does he?"

Hill: "He can never know."

This story undoubtedly goes much deeper than a simple eight-second death, and I suspect it will be a major arc that plays out over the course of the first season, or perhaps even longer. And for the record, I'm not mad that the question of how Coulson is alive wasn't answered right away, because that would have been awfully cheap. And Whedon is not cheap.

Speaking of not cheap, as you probably already know, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is a spin-off of the highly successful, kajillion-dollar 2012 summer blockbuster The Avengers—though you don't have to have seen it to understand S.H.I.E.L.D. (However, you should see it regardless, because it was A.W.E.S.O.M.E.) The series is not about the superheroes who populate the Marvel Universe, but about the little guys who "protect people from the news they aren't ready to hear" (and look out for the helpless/hopeless?).

That being said, the pilot focused heavily on an "unregistered gifted" played by Whedon alum J. August Richards (Gunn on Angel). He plays a down-on-his-luck man who put his trust in a doctor (played by The O.C.'s Shannon Lucio) who promised she could improve his life. Unfortunately, and you'll know this if you saw Ironman 3 (or read the comics), what she did instead was pump him full of Extremis, a highly unstable new drug/serum that was supposed to create super soldiers. Did I mention it was unstable? Because it is, and people who've been injected with Extremis usually eventually explode because human bodies cannot handle it. So Gunn (okay, the character's name is actually Mike Peterson but I will call him Gunn because I want to and I can) was basically a ticking bomb. Sounds awesome! Where do I sign up?

The Extremis pumping through Gunn's blood made him extremely volatile. And after kidnapping Skye to "protect her from the scary men in dark suits" (she's said the same thing to him earlier in the pilot, right before she yanked his ID out of his pocket—sneaky!), and also so she could work her hacker magic to erase his identity so he and his son could start over, he completely lost his cool when he realized that Skye had alerted S.H.I.E.L.D. to their location. And for a second it looked like he was about to take out Union Station. Obviously, the new S.H.I.E.L.D. team that Coulson had assembled was able to save Gunn's life, because you not only can't kill off J. August Richards in the pilot, but because that's what this team does. They take relatively small (compared to the Battle of New York), odd, unexplicable (to the mass public) situations and diffuse them.

Much like every other Whedon production, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. will be a procedural with season-long arcs that tell a bigger story. Eventually, once the series establishes itself, I wouldn't be surprised if it pushed the procedural to the back burner, and brought the character development to the forefront. That's where Whedon shows really excel. And the pilot had everything you could ask for from a Whedon production: heart, witty dialogue, and enough action to keep even the most ADD viewers interested. But perhaps most importantly, it had the patented Whedon Deeper Meaning of Life Speech, which I've transcribed here because it perfectly sums up the underlying message of the series. As Gunn became potentially more volatile in response to S.H.I.E.L.D. trying to contain him—lest he he explode, taking out two city blocks—he said:

Gunn: "I'm not like that other guy. It matters who I am inside. If I'm a good person. If I'm strong... You said if we worked hard, if we did right, we'd have a place. You said it was enough to be a man, but there's better than man—there's gods. And the rest of us? What are we? They're giants. We're what they step on."

Coulson: "I've seen giants up close, and that privilege cost me nearly everything. But the good ones, the real deal, they're not heroes because of what they have that we don't—it's what they do with it. You're right, it matters who you are."

The Agents of S.H.I.E.LD. pilot was exactly what we expected to be. You needn't be a Whedon fan to enjoy this series, because it's shaping up to a fun action series that will probably tug on our heartstrings as much as it will pull out all sorts of cool gadgets and gizmos and take down lots of bad guys. There will be plenty of humor, but there will be plenty of real danger, too. The speech at the end of this first episode was typical Whedon, but it worked because it solidified what the show is about: people, and who those people are on the inside. It doesn't matter that they're not genius, billionaire, playboy philanthropists, or the Chosen One. Because being human, and being the best that you can be, is what's important. Believing in yourself, that's what makes everyone a hero (in their own way).