The content of this post is heavy with spoiler. Head with caution.
The season premiere of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. continues where we left for the finale of the first season and also takes a dutiful moment to crawl back into 1945. As some of you may have known, the 1945 portion will serve some sort of a backdoor pilot to Marvel’s Agent Carter and so it did. It also marks the beginning of the new era for the covert organization under the helm of Director Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg). You can easily breath now that the opening episode of the new season is more beautiful than ugly, consistent than sloppy.
STORY
(Spoiler Alert!) The opening scene reveals another interesting artefact – known as the Obelisk, classified as level ten in the S.H.I.E.L.D. warehouse and the first 0-8-4 ever; for which Agent Carter (Hayley Atwell) and the Howling Commandos retrieved in 1945. The artefact – or at least the picture of it appears in the modern day, supposedly produced by an ex-agent during a trade-off trading with the undercover agents. However, the picture was hijacked by the Absorbing Man who is now working for the Hydra. So it makes sense that this first episode of the new season is about finding this piece of 0-8-4. The complications are – Absorbing Man is nearby and the search area is a military facility under Gen. Talbot.
REVIEW
Taking the speed consistent with the second half of season one, it is safe to say the new year in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. looks overly strong. I like the new direction they are going and the way the episode generates thing for the future. The few reasons why the previous season had a rocky start were because of character chemistry and incohesive plots – something that in this episode are trying to rectify. It works, in my opinion, not only because you can feel this is very similar to the MCU, but also in the ever changing dynamic and feels around it. Good job, and I can only hope this sort of momentum can keep going. At least the latest is not afraid to kill someone significant this early.
THINGS WE LEARNED FROM “SHADOWS”
(Spoiler Alert!)
1. Phil Coulson, as it was revealed in the finale of season one, is the new director of S.H.I.E.L.D. His first task is to rebuild the organization and has decided to recruit potential (fresh) personnel to join the new team. Not much of a new team but more like a rebranding. Lance Hunter (Nick Blood) is the first new member in the current line-up. Too bad, Hatley (Lucy Lawless) and Idaho were killed.
2. Lance Hunter is an ex-S.T.R.I.K.E. team (the one associated with Hydra, seen in Captain America: The Winter Soldier). Although I am not sure how accurate that he is a former member of a team that was associated with Hydra (but that is what I read elsewhere), I think his addition into the team should get a proper back story.
3. During the interrogation, Ward almost tells Skye about her real father. Remember the father?
4. If you are trying to get answers about the blueprint drawing Skye and Coulson "obsessed" about, you will not get one.
5. General Glenn Talbot (Adrian Pasdar) – we saw him back in the late stage of season one, seems to be very determined to throw S.H.I.E.L.D. into the bonfire – understandably since the kind of action Coulson pulled against his team. But can we really trust him? I mean Talbot is a villain. Sometimes TV series always takes some liberty out of the original. Nah, I guess not. It seems like Talbot’s grudge is never going to be easy to cool. I guess he will be a villain.
6. Poor Fitz! Simmons left somewhere in the period between the finale and this premiere episode, citing her uneasiness to work with the team (trust issue) and hoping her absence would speed up Fitz’s recovery from serious brain damage. But at least Fitz still alive. Fitz condition is now the saddest thing in the whole MCU!
7. The Hydra officer we see in the opening scene turns out to be still alive. He is now Dr Daniel Whitehall, still serving in Hydra and confirmed to be the Kraken (Secret Warrior’s version).
The season premiere of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. continues where we left for the finale of the first season and also takes a dutiful moment to crawl back into 1945. As some of you may have known, the 1945 portion will serve some sort of a backdoor pilot to Marvel’s Agent Carter and so it did. It also marks the beginning of the new era for the covert organization under the helm of Director Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg). You can easily breath now that the opening episode of the new season is more beautiful than ugly, consistent than sloppy.
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| Image source: http://shieldtv.net/ |
(Spoiler Alert!) The opening scene reveals another interesting artefact – known as the Obelisk, classified as level ten in the S.H.I.E.L.D. warehouse and the first 0-8-4 ever; for which Agent Carter (Hayley Atwell) and the Howling Commandos retrieved in 1945. The artefact – or at least the picture of it appears in the modern day, supposedly produced by an ex-agent during a trade-off trading with the undercover agents. However, the picture was hijacked by the Absorbing Man who is now working for the Hydra. So it makes sense that this first episode of the new season is about finding this piece of 0-8-4. The complications are – Absorbing Man is nearby and the search area is a military facility under Gen. Talbot.
REVIEW
Taking the speed consistent with the second half of season one, it is safe to say the new year in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. looks overly strong. I like the new direction they are going and the way the episode generates thing for the future. The few reasons why the previous season had a rocky start were because of character chemistry and incohesive plots – something that in this episode are trying to rectify. It works, in my opinion, not only because you can feel this is very similar to the MCU, but also in the ever changing dynamic and feels around it. Good job, and I can only hope this sort of momentum can keep going. At least the latest is not afraid to kill someone significant this early.
THINGS WE LEARNED FROM “SHADOWS”
(Spoiler Alert!)
1. Phil Coulson, as it was revealed in the finale of season one, is the new director of S.H.I.E.L.D. His first task is to rebuild the organization and has decided to recruit potential (fresh) personnel to join the new team. Not much of a new team but more like a rebranding. Lance Hunter (Nick Blood) is the first new member in the current line-up. Too bad, Hatley (Lucy Lawless) and Idaho were killed.
2. Lance Hunter is an ex-S.T.R.I.K.E. team (the one associated with Hydra, seen in Captain America: The Winter Soldier). Although I am not sure how accurate that he is a former member of a team that was associated with Hydra (but that is what I read elsewhere), I think his addition into the team should get a proper back story.
3. During the interrogation, Ward almost tells Skye about her real father. Remember the father?
4. If you are trying to get answers about the blueprint drawing Skye and Coulson "obsessed" about, you will not get one.
5. General Glenn Talbot (Adrian Pasdar) – we saw him back in the late stage of season one, seems to be very determined to throw S.H.I.E.L.D. into the bonfire – understandably since the kind of action Coulson pulled against his team. But can we really trust him? I mean Talbot is a villain. Sometimes TV series always takes some liberty out of the original. Nah, I guess not. It seems like Talbot’s grudge is never going to be easy to cool. I guess he will be a villain.
6. Poor Fitz! Simmons left somewhere in the period between the finale and this premiere episode, citing her uneasiness to work with the team (trust issue) and hoping her absence would speed up Fitz’s recovery from serious brain damage. But at least Fitz still alive. Fitz condition is now the saddest thing in the whole MCU!
7. The Hydra officer we see in the opening scene turns out to be still alive. He is now Dr Daniel Whitehall, still serving in Hydra and confirmed to be the Kraken (Secret Warrior’s version).
