While last week's 'supervillain team-up' was underwhelming, to say the least, this week's introduction of a second iteration of S.H.I.E.L.D. bordered on the baffling.
And despite the return of Agents Ward and 33 and their infiltration of Brigadier General Glenn Talbot's army base (to liberate Sunil Bakshi), as well as Hunter's escape from the new S.H.I.E.L.D., Love In The Time Of Hydra highlighted a major issue with the show - almost a backslide to some of the weaker episodes of the first season - in that really very little happened.
Sure a lot was said and people moved around a lot, but, honestly, the story here could have been handled in half the time.
As much as I love all the spy-fi stuff and the sneaking around, at the end of the day this is a Marvel show and Marvel means action when it comes to live-action.
For instance, all this agonising over whether Skye can handle her powers is getting rather tedious already. That sub-plot should have been over in a couple of episodes, so the show could move on.
Comparing recent episodes to the incredible run at the end of the first season - where Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. tied directly into the events of Captain America: The Winter Soldier - this almost feels like its floundering because it has no big film to sync itself to.
Maybe, once Coulson and co are aware of this second S.H.I.E.L.D. things will pick up again, but at the moment, despite its best efforts, Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. is doing itself no favours by pussyfooting around.
That said, it was great to see the legendary Edward James Olmos (who makes everything better) as Robert Gonzales heading up the alternate S.H.I.E.L.D. alongside Fringe's Kirk Acevedo as Agent Calderon.
And I do get that they have concerns about Coulson's "alien tech" obsession et al, but there are still a lot of questions about this super secret organisation (that still manages to have a fleet of planes at its beck and call and more agents than Coulson).
Thankfully, Coulson and May are getting suspicious of Mack, so hopefully now it won't be long before S.H.I.E.L.D. meets S.H.I.E.L.D. and we get some answers.
Next Time:
But it is tying into Age of Ultron.
ReplyDeleteI do believe you get to see the why of S.H.I.E.L.D. 2: Electric Bugaloo next week.
You want action? You'll get action.
Thanks for the good news ;-)
DeleteI'm very relieved to hear that (on both accounts). While I've been trying to stay spoiler free on Age Of Ultron I haven't noticed any references to SHIELD (even though Maria Hill and Fury have popped up, but seemingly as free agents).