Last weeks episode was my favorite thus far. I’ve enjoyed all of the episodes, but I think the way they told this story is exactly what the show had been missing.
Let’s recap, shall we?
Previously, on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.:
Floating bodies begin popping up, and the team is sent in to investigate (when I say “floating,” I mean in the air, not in the water like I first thought when I read the description of the episode).
A connection between the first two deaths lead the team to a fire station where they are just in time to witness the third death. They discover that the firefighters have taken a Chitari helmet from the Battle of New York as a souvenir and that the helmet has an alien virus on it that causes humans to basically become electromagnetic bombs.
Back on the bus, Simmons realizes that she has contracted the virus and that she only has two hours before she ends up like the firefighters and the plane gets destroyed by the electric pulse.
What follows are probably the most tense filled moments of the show thus far as Fitz-Simmons try desperately to find a cure. It climaxes when Simmons jumps off of the plane and Ward goes after her, 007 style, with the antiserum.
The sub-story is about Coulson still dealing with not feeling like himself since his death. May reminds him that something like coming back from the dead will change him. He is no longer his old self. She also implies that something similar happened to her – maybe that’s why she left the field the first time.
I love that this episode was character driven instead of action driven like the other episodes. I also enjoyed seeing Fitz-Simmons in the spotlight.
Again, I think this is what the show was lacking, and I hope we see more of it.
But, moving on to this week:
The official synopsis is: “Dangerous secrets are being kept from Coulson’s team and he works the system to save Ward and Fitz when they are sent on a Level 8 classified mission that may end in tragedy.”
We get to see Agent Sitwell again as well. He was in the background in Thor and The Avengers and played prominent roles in the Marvel One-Shots. I like his character and look forward to seeing him again.
I also like the idea that there is a Level 8 that Coulson might not even know about. It seems that, much like its director, S.H.I.E.L.D.’s secrets have secrets.
Usually, Marvel releases a couple of clips from the upcoming episode but, except for the teaser clip, they didn’t this week. Marketing seemed to be more focused on that (relatively unknown movie) that they released last weekend.
What did you think of last weeks episode?