By: Shalisha Francis (story)
The Story: It’s our second-favorite super-soldier to the rescue!
The Review: I’m not the first critic to point this out about S.H.I.E.L.D., but it always bears repeating that this show hasn’t done a very good job convincing anyone that it takes place in a universe of superheroes. As “The Well”‘ demonstrated, even episodes which directly tie into an Avenger’s storyline seem to have a distant relationship to the actual Avengers, and aside from a few obscure references, S.H.I.E.L.D. has barely leveraged Marvel continuity at all.
This would be acceptable if the show at least had integrity in its own material, but the writers have done a poor job creating any sense of cohesion among its various moving parts or across the season thus far. Most of the proffered episodes could easily stand alone, with only a couple minor character arcs to give you the sense there’s a bigger story here. This episode is thus crucial to the show’s long-term prospects; before we break for the holidays, we have to get at least some kind of plotline we can invest our interest in. Skye’s search for her parents and the interminable angst surrounding Coulson’s termination just won’t cut it.
I can’t say this episode completely succeeds in that regard, but Francis does manage to pull loose threads from earlier showings and weave them into something resembling a bigger picture. Specifically, she takes S.H.I.E.L.D.’s closest thing to a recurring antagonist, Raina (a.k.a. the girl in the flower dress), its closest thing to a bona fide superhero, Mike Peterson, and wraps them up together to form the rudiments of an overarching challenge for the team.
While this is an undeniable improvement, the rest of the episode is as by-the-book as all its predecessors, which is disheartening when the show is ostensibly about a group of people whose purpose is to break the rules. Almost no scene escapes the pall of blandness, from Ward and May attempting to convince you there’s some kind of spark between them (and embarrassing themselves in the process), Fitz and Simmons’ hero-worship around Mike, and pretty much everything involving Raina and Edison Po, her direct superior. The actors do their best with the material given, and the material itself is not poorly chosen, but all of it fails to grab your heart or your mind.
All, except for Mike Peterson. Now, it’s true that he may be the poor man’s replacement for Captain America (at one point, he asks his trainer if he’s beaten the good captain’s record on some exercise and is told he’s “[n]ot even close”), but he comes into the episode with such well-meaning charm that he ingratiates himself easily with both the team and yourself. He of course is a natural ally for Skye, warm enough to get along with Fitz, Simmons, and Coulson, and powerful enough to garner the respect of Ward and May. He even comes attached with some ready-made pathos in the shame he has over his past actions and the consequences it has on his relationship with his son. In short, he’d be a perfect emotional center for the cast—and then, spoiler alert, he gets killed off,* probably. It figures.
Conclusion: This episode could be the start of a turnaround for the series as a whole, but much will depend on what comes after, because in itself, the episode is only a limited improvement over the mediocrity of its brethren.
Grade: C+
– Minhquan Nguyen
Some Musings: * So it’s enough that Mike gets outclassed by other serum-enhanced soldiers, is coerced into betraying his values, and nearly loses his son? You got to have him go out in the most anticlimactic way possible, too?
– Seriously, Skye, stop asking to take off the bracelet. Try to realize the only person who can decide when to let you out of the doghouse is the one who put you there.
Grade
Conclusion