Danny Hale reviews Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 2 Episode 19…
First off, that single-shot fight scene with Skye was awesome! As a big fan of one-shot takes I feel very spoiled this month what with Daredevil and now this! It became clear that Skye had become quite the formidable agent under May’s tutelage but it’s these moments where it all pays off. We’ve seen Skye get her fair bit of action this season but this topped it all. Skye took down an entire room of Hydra agents and more importantly, unless I’m mistaken, it was Chloe Bennet herself performing every punch, kick, flip and gunshot. If they used a stunt double at any point, it was covered very well. Also, how great was it to see Skye stand up and consciously use her powers in an effective way? I’m glad she’s gaining some control because adding powers to her already impressive hand-to-hand skills can bode nothing but good fortune for upcoming action scenes!
This was one of my favourite episodes of this season; it brought back the original team and had them work together to spring Mike and Lincoln free from a Hydra base (Mike has lost a leg albeit temporarily and an eye. Poor Mike). One of my issues with the last few episodes is that I felt there was very little downtime. We need to have downtime to see the people we are rooting for. Many shows have us hold on to attachments made to characters very early on and forget that as an audience we need to see our characters behaving normally. We need to relate to these people if we are to care. If all we get is action then it will carry very little weight when the world and characters we don’t really care about crumble. Thankfully having our original team back together allowed for some past wounds to open and for a lot of characters to confront Ward. It seems Agent Ward is still unable to accept responsibility for his actions; he still blames his family and Garret for taking advantage of him. The team isn’t buying it. This brings me to Simmons.
Simmons was on fire this week; making a solid attempt to kill Ward was an amazing look at just how far her character has come this season. More importantly I believed her. It didn’t feel forced, it felt right. Simmons is justified in being pissed about being sunk to the bottom of the ocean but Ward is directly responsible for what happened to Fitz and for the ensuing deterioration of their once sturdy relationship. What remains to be seen is will Simmons get away with her attack? She did end up killing Bakshi instead but just maybe Ultron taking on the Avengers will prove an adequate distraction.
Meanwhile in the Afterlife, Jiaying shows a little more of her darker nature by blatantly making no attempt to save Lincoln after he was taken prisoner. This was a nice moment as it echoed her decision last week to dump Cal with no concern of those he would hurt and it also gave Skye more reason to question her mother. Whether Jiaying is just making a tough decision for the greater good or has something more sinister brewing is still to be revealed. We also got to see Raina start to utilise her powers. I was fully convinced she was setting Skye up but as it stands now she may not have been but I suppose there is a possibility that Raina is interested in a truce in order to convince Skye to help her escape the Afterlife.
Hunter and Mack also had a really nice scene this week where Mack attempted to make amends for you know, choking him and taking him prisoner. Given the lives these two guys live and given Mack’s genuine apology it was a quick but completely believable resolution to their feud. Meanwhile Bobbi had a great scene with Kara AKA Agent 33. On Ward’s recommendation Kara remained behind to try and remember her past as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. Bobbi claims to have met Kara several times before and offered her any help she needed. Bobbi’s great, now let’s hope that Agent 33 has not just been planted to stir more trouble.
The end of the episode also did a decent job of leading into Avengers: Age of Ultron without it being a huge deal or feeling pointless and Coulson’s spoiler drop of Fury being alive to Gonzalez followed by the ensuing call from Maria Hill genuinely made me smile. He very quickly put Gonzalez in his place and thankfully debunked any further rumours that he was not working for the greater good all along. With Avengers releasing in the US today I’m sure we’ll see some of the consequences of Ultron when Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. returns next week.
Danny Hale
https://youtu.be/pnc360pUDRI?list=PL18yMRIfoszFLSgML6ddazw180SXMvMz5
Originally published May 1, 2015. Updated April 14, 2018.
