Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Turn, Turn, Turn

In the space of just a few weeks - since T.R.A.C.K.S. - Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. has gone from a show I watched (and enjoyed) simply because it was based on Marvel comic book characters to a show I genuinely love and look forward to every week.

Turn, Turn, Turn - which unfolded in parallel with the main plot of Captain America: The Winter Soldier - was as fine a piece of pulpy spy-fi as you can get on mainstream television.

Massive kudos to showrunners Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tancharoen, who scripted this episode, for ratcheting up the "trust no one" paranoia of the scenario.

I have to confess that I only really twigged who the mole in the central team was about the same time as Agent Coulson did and while I rather suspected the final betrayal was coming, it turned out to be more bloody than I was expecting.

While, in the context of Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. the episode stands well enough on its own, giving the audience the information it needs to follow the upheavals within the S.H.I.E.L.D. organisation, those of us who've seen the latest Captain America film will certainly pick up on more Easter Eggs and passing references.

And, of course, the brilliant thing is the plot isn't over yet...

Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. has certainly improved since its make-up segued from primarily episodic storytelling to its current serialised format, with the stories running into each other.

Hopefully this more "modern" take on storytelling will continue if/when the show returns for a second season.

However, I am beginning to suspect that this season's erratic scheduling issues (with ABC in the States, that led to knock-on issues with Channel 4 over here) were caused by the need to sync up certain episodes to the release of Marvel movies - ie. Thor: The Dark World and, more crucially, Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

Hopefully lessons have been learned and next season the movie tie-ins can be better planned for so the season can run from beginning to end with as little disruption as possible, and certainly not regular three or four week gaps between new episodes. That's a very easy way to piss off your audience and lose the interest of casual viewers.

Next Week: (trailer contains MAJOR SPOILERS if you haven't seen Turn, Turn, Turn)