Marvel's Agents of SHIELD 2.02: Heavy is the Head
Paul Zbyszewski
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.
- Coulson’s leadership style gets the spotlight
- Agent May gets some strong material
- Hunter’s shifting loyalties pale after what happened with Ward