Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. S:02 E:21 & E:22

Title: S.O.S (Part 1 & 2)

Original Airdate: 12-5-15

Season 2 of ‘Agents Of S.H.I.E.LD.’ is considered to be an improvement from Season 1, however the season finale blows away any comparisons to its initial season and solidifies the show as one of the most interesting and nuanced shows that successfully blends super hero action with an engaging drama. Titled ‘S.O.S’, the two-part Season 2 Finale aired back to back as one lone episode, and in some ways, was move effective in pushing forward the story of the shared Marvel Cinematic Universe much more than a recent film set in the same world. With betrayals, the reveal of a clear antagonist, tying up loose ends and an intense cliffhanger ending, ‘S.O.S.’ shocks and awes as Season 3 cannot get here soon enough!

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Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. S:02 E:18

Episode Title: Frenemy Of My Enemy

Original Airdate: 21-4-15

After a few episodes of various sub plots focusing on different characters, this week’s episode of ‘Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.’ converges all of them together in an epic confrontation. After which, it’s hard to be certain whose side to be when the dust settles. The latest episode titled ‘Frenemy Of My Enemy’, start bringing plot points back together, after the detour of the other S.H.I.E.L.D. arc with Edward James Olmos’ Gonzalez,  and getting back to the story of the good guys versus H.Y.D.R.A. while it seems that the Inhumans have their own beef with H.Y.D.R.A.

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Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. S:02 E:16

Episode Title: Afterlife

Original Airdate: 7-4-14

It seems like Marvel’s ‘Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.’ is hell bent on correcting all the mistakes that they made from Season One. Titled ‘Afterlife’, this episode brings back some familiar faces, has some cool surprises and a lot of back-story about the Inhumans and how powered people before Skye live within this Marvel Cinematic Universe. Edward James Olmos’ Gonzalez also creates some ripples within his new S.H.I.E.L.D. as this episode sets the stage for the finale and we near the end of this season.

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Agents Of S.H.I.E.LD. S:02 E:15

Episode Title: One Door Closes

Original Airdate: 3-31-15

‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’ comes back to true form after the misstep of last week, with a great episode that has action, nostalgia, exposition, more Avengers references, and some cool reveals. Flashing back to the events that affected S.H.I.E.L.D. directly after the story of ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’, Episode 15 titled ‘One Door Closes‘ shows us exactly how the Edward James Olmos’ Gonzalez came to head up the real S.H.I.E.L.D., how they were formed and why exactly they disagree with Coulson’s methods. The episode also takes Skye deeper into her Inhuman origins with drastic changes to the overall status of the show thus far.

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Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. S:02 E:14

Episode Title: Love In The Time Of Hydra

Original Airdate: 3-24-15

New characters. New storylines. New conflicts and much else arise in the latest episode of ‘Agents of S.H.I.EL.D.’ entitled ‘Love In The Time Of Hydra’. Although it’s a curious title given that there is no more H.Y.D.R.A. Supposedly.  But there are two relationship angles playing out this episode. One of the conflicted one between Nick Blood’s Hunter an Adrianne Pallicki’s Bobbi, and another budding relationship between Brett Dalton’s Ward and the returning Agent 33 played by Maya Stojan. Despite all this, the most interesting elements of the show take a back seat this episode, which is very disappointing.

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Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. S:02 E:12

Episode Title: Who You Really Are
Original Airdate: 3-19-15

I (Bubbawheat) am just here for one episode while Shah is off on vacation (lucky so and so) but he will be back to continue discussing the rest of S.H.I.E.L.D. next week. After a great set up last week for the entire Inhumans-not-mutants situation, this brings in one of my favorite guest stars from last season Jaimie Alexander as Lady Sif, but what it really does is focus on the inner workings of the team dynamics and how Skye’s change has shifted everything completely. This is one of the few superhero shows outside of Arrow that is not on its first season and so it’s more able to focus on the characters and team dynamics rather than all the world building that needs to be done on the other shows. Not only that, but the characters here already have gone through changes and arcs and are the farthest thing from one-dimensional. And besides all of the character interactions, there are also a small handful of important revelations in this episode that have far reaching consequences.
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Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. S:02 E:11

Episode Title: Aftershocks
Original Airdate: 3-3-15

After a long mid season break, Marvel’s ‘Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.’ returns to continue the amazing plot set up in its earlier episodes of Season 2. Last time we saw Agent Coulson and the team, Skye had just been exposed to what is known as Terrigan Mist in the alien city, along with Raina, which also caused the death of Trip. This episode is a somber one that deals with the aftermath of the change in status quo for the show, while dealing with how the death of a team member affects everyone differently.

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Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. S:02 E:09 & E:10

Episode: …Ye Who Enter Here
Original Airdate: 12-2-14
Episode: What They Become
Original Airdate: 12-9-14

I know, I’m a week behind on this, but it just slipped my mind. It’s not because of the lack of interest because I’ve been enjoying the second season quite a bit. The characters have really meshed well together, the story arc is getting interesting, and I keep hearing good things about what’s going on. I will be combining these two episodes as I watched them back to back and am not entirely sure where one episode ends and the other begins anymore in my memory. This marks the return of Rayna who was left to run off into the wild so that she could more or less lead S.H.I.E.L.D. to Whitehall because he was after her. One of the best parts of the moment where Rayna gets recaptured by S.H.I.E.L.D. is the return of Patton Oswald as the Koenig triplets who are down to two, though there’s a question as to whether there are more brothers out there that we haven’t been introduced to yet. With all of the action going on and the politics between Hydra and S.H.I.E.L.D, the comic relief of Patton Oswald is worth the minor budgetary special effects used in order to sell the twin effect. I loved the little jokes that he kept doing like when he said there were thirteen of them, and then later when his brother was off screen he joked that he had to recharge his batteries. There’s also a great moment of return of Agent 33 who still has the technology that gave her Agent May’s face and voice, although because of the electrocution from their earlier fight it apparently is permanently fused to her face, only there’s a large burn scar on one side and the voice modulation isn’t working correctly. Although I imagine that part of that is so that Ming Na can get a little bit more screen time as well as the chance to play a villain because she is so great at being the badass. And now that the team dynamic has shifted in season 2, she hasn’t had nearly as many opportunities to be that badass, especially since Skye has started to transition more into that role herself. And she gets a great chance to kick some major ass here during a fight with Agent 33, though she doesn’t come through it completely unscathed. But some of the major relationship issues get resolved here in the midseason finale portion. Skye gets one of the greatest moments with Ward when he starts working with her again, and she just shoots him the moment she gets a chance to, even though he does manage to survive. It really shows a lot of growth for Skye’s character compared to how she started out in the first season. There’s also the slight surprising moment where Whitehall gets shot by Coulson, not only that, but he shoots him right before Skye’s father gets his moment of revenge for the death of his wife and Skye’s mother. Or technically Daisy’s mother. I must say that I almost expected during the moment when Skye’s father starts humming “Bicycle Built for Two” and Skye says that she had heard that song before, I totally expected her to say something along the lines of “that space movie with that psycho HAL computer”. And we finally get to see what’s inside the buried alien city which is mainly just a lot of weirdness, and we do earlier get to find out that the aliens definitely are the Kree who play an important part in the Marvel universe, though I personally don’t exactly know what that part is. It’s sad to see Agent Triplett go, but I am curious to see what the future holds for Skye and Rayna in the latter half of the show.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. S:02 E:08

Episode: The Things We Bury
Original Airdate: 11-18-14

This was a great episode, especially for anyone who thought that they might still be angling towards some sort of redemption for Ward’s character. No, he is fully within the realm of a villain, and a very interesting villain at that. He’s good at what he does, he has intimate knowledge of S.H.I.E.L.D. and its operations, and there’s honestly no telling what his real motivation or goal is. There’s been some speculation that he might end up becoming Taskmaster who was featured in the recent direct to video Marvel animation Iron Man and Captain America: Heroes United, speculation that Brett Dalton himself appreciated but did not confirm or deny. At the end of season one I was a bit worried at what he would become here in season two, but I must say that I do like the direction they are going, especially after his full turn here. There’s still an element where he is working both sides, but I’m pretty sure that whatever his goal is, it’s entirely for his own purposes and not to specifically align himself with either Hydra or S.H.I.E.L.D. On the other side of things, Skye’s father gets a bit more screentime and allows himself to become quite the person of interest as well. There’s also plenty of flashbacks that shed light into Whitehall’s background and how he has remained youthful for all these years. We also get a brief cameo from another Whedon alum who I recognized as Sierra from Dollhouse who plays what appears to be Skye’s mother in a great reveal at the end of the episode. It’s such a simple moment, but it informs so much more about what angle her father is playing and what is actually so special about her. It’s really a standout episode in an already stellar season, I can’t wait to see where everything goes from here.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. S:02 E:06

Episode: A Fractured House
Original Airdate: 10-28-14

Honestly, this episode felt like a giant excuse to show how much of a badass Ward can still be even though he has more or less gone rogue and escaped from S.H.I.E.L.D. custody. But as much as some people like Ward, he just seems way too good at everything he does. There’s still a question of his overall motive, but I’m glad that they don’t seem to be going for the full redemption storyline that I suspected at the end of the first season. Even though he is working for the good of S.H.I.E.L.D. at the moment, the way he is going about it is way too reckless and violent for him to continue to be a valued asset for the team. The only positive outcome I can see at this point for his character is that he might become someone like the Punisher when he was part of the Avengers where he is called in to do the jobs that no one else is able to do, the ones where they need to do the jobs that require the elimination of the target. The other aspect of the episode finally answers the question of the mysterious alien writing that has been plaguing Coulson and a few other members. While I’m glad that this issue has finally been resolved, I didn’t quite like how everything was wrapped up in a neat little package. And now it is all ok. The solution that the map was three dimensional was the one aspect that I liked about it, but time will tell if this new-ish alien city aspect of the story pans out in a good way or a bad way.