Marvel's Agents of SHIELD Review by John Keegan

Marvel's Agents of SHIELD 2.02: Heavy is the Head

Marvel's Agents of SHIELD 2.02: Heavy is the Head

Written By:
Paul Zbyszewski
Directed By:
Jesse Bochco

Agents of SHIELD continues to make a strong statement that it is not the show that it began as; it has evolved into something much better.  One might even argue that the somewhat soft and light-hearted beginning of the series now makes a lot more sense; it gave the audience time to get to know the characters in better days, so that the drama now hits home in the right way.  At least some of the gravitas of the current season is recognizing how the weight of the current war has changed everyone.



 

Whatever lack of Agent May was holding back the premiere is remedied immediately in the opening of this episode.  This wasn’t on the cinematic level of The Winter Soldier, but it was a lot closer than the series has ever gotten.  And since this is where the battle in the trenches between Coulson’s new SHIELD and Hydra is taking place, as a result of Winter Soldier, it makes sense for the gritty feel of that film to translate to the small screen.  So far, it’s working well.

 

While the premiere explained what was going on with Fitz, this episode got into the details.  And they are brutal.  It’s hard to accept that this is what Fitz has become, and I suspect that it’s just the tip of the iceberg.  Using the situation to develop Mac is a great idea, especially when it was made clear that Fitz is still a capable idea guy, with Mac there to implement those ideas.

 



Hunter was a bit less successfully introduced, at least in terms of his wavering allegiance.  It did, however, give Coulson an opportunity to demonstrate how flexible his approach is going to be.  Hopefully he won’t just end up being a more lively Agent Ward.  Speaking of, Ward was out of the picture this time, and yet Skye continued to show a lot more depth.  She and Coulson still toss out the sarcastic commentary, but there’s a gallows-humor nature to it all that makes it far more palatable.

 

The end of the episode directly addressed the connection between the Obelisk, Skye, Coulson, Raina, and by extension the Kree origins of all of it.  Those of us who speculated that Skye’s father might turn out to be a pink-skinned Kree may have just received a bit of backing evidence, but it’s still up in the air.  With Coulson having regular “episodes”, but Skye apparently not, it points to a genetic difference.  Something tells me understanding that difference will end up becoming a plot point, since I doubt Coulson is going to remain entirely stable in terms of his ongoing health.

 



The important thing is that Agents of SHIELD is rapidly becoming the appointment television that everyone expected it to be out of the gate.  It’s a timely upgrade, considering that DC properties are proliferating all over the television landscape.  Agents of SHIELD is now something of a bastion for Marvel outside of Netflix, so it needs to maintain this strong start to show it can match (or exceed) the competition.


Our Grade:
B+
The Good:
  • Coulson’s leadership style gets the spotlight
  • Agent May gets some strong material
The Bad:
  • Hunter’s shifting loyalties pale after what happened with Ward

John Keegan aka "criticalmyth", is one of the hosts of the "Critical Myth" podcast heard here on VOG Network's radio feed Monday, Wednesday & Friday. You can follow him on twitter at @criticalmyth

Marvel's Agents of SHIELD by - 10/1/2014 8:50 AM166 views

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