Anghus Houvouras reviews the sixth episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. season 2…
Agent Ward (Brett Dalton) was probably the least interesting character on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. until we learned he was a spy working for Hydra. It was then that the boy scout routine was shed and in its place we met a sociopathic puppet who blindly followed his abusive father figure. He left Fitz and Simmons for dead and risked everything for Skye…
Because Skye is special, damn it. She just is! She’s the most important person in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Plus, this week she has stylish bangs.
Fortunately, Skye only appears briefly in this very good installment of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.. She delivers a cringe-worthy line in the first five minutes, referring to Ward’s older brother Christian as a douche bag once again revealing what a sore thumb she is to a show that is desperate to shed its first season skin. ‘A Fractured House’ gives us the season’s best Coulson scenes, some awesome interplay between Agent Bobbi Morse a.k.a. Mockingbird and her ex-husband Lance Hunter, and unshackling Agent Ward who gets to ditch the Silence of the Lambs routine.
Hydra has decided to retaliate by impersonating S.H.I.E.L.D. agents while attacking… (snicker) the United Nations (chortle)… which is as ridiculous as it sounds. I’m a stalwart defender of the show, but sometimes the scenarios feel like they’re cribbed from the unused scripts of Man from U.N.C.L.E. or Adam West era Batman.
When Ward’s older brother Christian begins to publicly denounce S.H.I.E.L.D., Coulson sets up an impromptu meeting and bargains with the one chip he has: his brother. Christian claims his brother is a pathological liar. Since season one’s reveal Ward has been claiming his brother is an insane megalomaniac with a hidden agenda. Coulson cares little for the pleas of a murderer and turns Ward over to his brother and begins a new relationship with Colonel Talbot and his military task force. Peace has been temporarily brokered, but at what cost?
This season hasn’t yet fired on all cylinders, but this is the closest it’s come to achieving that goal. A good, brisk plot, with a heavy focus on confrontation and action. We even get Agent May in a fight that feels inspired by the final fight sequence of The Rundown. I was highly amused by Agent Triplett who has been reduced to the role of “Corporal Exposition”. I think his longest line tonight was something to the effect of “There’s something you need to see.” I’m not complaining, mind you. The show will never reach any level of consistent awesomeness until it abandons everything that’s not working, like… I don’t know… Skye perhaps?
Now that we know she’s an alien, maybe she can have a Poochie inspired exit and ‘go back to her home planet’.
‘A Fractured House’ is a good as S.H.I.E.L.D. gets.
Anghus Houvouras is a North Carolina based writer and filmmaker. His latest work, the novel My Career Suicide Note, is available from Amazon. Follow him on Twitter.
Originally published October 29, 2014. Updated April 13, 2018.
