Agents of SHIELD 2x01: Shadows

[selenay]

All the spoilers ahead!


Well, that's the way to come back from summer hiatus with a bang!

I'm going to be unashamedly squeeful and I reserve the right to ignore anyone harshing my squee, okay?

This was a fantastic season opener. It felt like it built on and grew from the final run of episodes from season one, opening their world up and making it all a bit more terrible all at once. I kind of had a feeling HYDRA would be a big theme this year, but even with that, I didn't expect to find HYDRA had spread so far. So many red dots. So many.

There were just too many things to love:

- That opener with Agent Carter. Be still my heart, it was so good for me. So very good. Peggy being badass, Dum Dum and Morita discussing the German for nuts, the origin of the 084 designation...best opener.

- Skye. Everything she did. Picking up on the beginnings of a friendship with May at the end of the last season and running with it, so they're now a team and Skye is learning from her. She's more than just the hacker now, which makes me squeeful.

- May being protective over Coulson. Their friendship is so great, and I love that it hasn't changed even though Coulson is clearly trying to pull away from people.

- Lucy Lawless being amazing. I adored her character, all hardass and grim determination. It was fantastic. I don't believe for one moment that she's actually dead. The 084 did something. This is not the last we've seen of that character.

- Trip. Really, everything he did. He's a shining light of happy awesome. BJ Britt in a uniform. Posing as General Jones (Gabe shout out?) and looking fine doing it. I'm so happy to see Trip back and I'm really hoping he gets bumped up to series regular soon because he's terrific.

- Creepy HYDRA dude played by Reed Diamond (Daniel Whitehall). Yeah, I'm totally calling that this is the same guy we saw in the opener. Something has kept him from aging, and I'd put my money on it being the 084.

- Coulson's Talbot impression. So beautifully funny :-)

And then there were the things that broke my heart:

- FITZ. This is going to be painful. So very painful. I didn't see the reveal about Simmons coming at all. Not for one moment. They played that so perfectly, so seamlessly, that it wasn't until after that I thought back and realised nobody else had definitively interacted with Simmons. I'd just made assumptions and filled bits in. This storyline is going to hurt.

- COULSON. I'm guessing that he's pulling away from everyone because he knows something is wrong. The writing on the wall stuff would be a big clue. On the one hand, I'm happy that he trusts Skye to help him decode it. On the other hand, his relationship with Skye is one of my favourite things and I'm sad to see him pulling back from that. Pulling back from everyone and isolating himself. He looked so tired, and I don't think it was entirely because he's chasing allies around the globe 24 hours a day. This plot thread is going to be painful.

- No Skimmons scenes. Yes, okay, my shippy little heart is being all pouty about this. I need the real Simmons back pronto.

In conclusion, this episode was so good for me and opened up so many questions and threads for the season. I can't wait to see how everything plays out from here.

Is it next week yet?

Comments

[weepingnaiad]

I'm replying here because I don't want to spoil folks on Tumblr, though it's hard to contain my SQUEE.

Great review! And I couldn't agree with you more on everything. Talk about opening with a bang and a punch to the gut.

I definitely hate that Phil has pulled away, but I'm pretty sure he's doing it to protect his team. It's obvious he's the Director now and he has to make those hard choices that Fury was go at. At least Melinda's looking out for him. I miss his interactions with Skye, but he's still so protective of Skye. You know he hated asking that of her, but Ward has tons of intel that would have come in handy a long time ago. This all just made me despise Ward more. I have not one whit of sympathy for him.

I hope you're right about Hartley because I will cry if she only has one episode. She was such a badass. Strong, gritty, determined, and smart. Another kickass woman leader.

I can't even talk about Fitz. Dammit. That was so much worse than I'd imagined. GAH.

And Trip! That man's smile just lights up the whole screen.

[selenay]

Talk about opening with a bang and a punch to the gut.

I really don't think they could have done that better. It was the strongest returning episode I've seen yet and I squeed the whole way through.

You know he hated asking that of her, but Ward has tons of intel that would have come in handy a long time ago.

I loved that this showed how much he trusted her. It builds on my theory that he's pulling back to protect his team, rather than because he actually doesn't want to spend time with them. That scene really showed that he knows Skye, knows how strong she is, and trusts that she can handle Ward even though it's breaking his heart to make him do it.

And wow, that scene with Ward was amazing. Utterly creepy. Brett Dalton is doing amazing things with the character. It's not the way I thought they'd go, and I thought it was fantastic.

I hope you're right about Hartley because I will cry if she only has one episode.

I was pretty sure they'd hired Lawless for a multi-episode thing, so I'm pretty confident. I mean, why would you hire *Lucy Lawless* and kill her that fast? Nope, she'll be back :-)

That was so much worse than I'd imagined. GAH.

Oh, god, yes. So much worse. I'd been expecting a coma, so it got me all hopeful that he was actually find. Just a little bit of aphasia, nothing serious. AND THEN THAT SCENE HAPPENED AND I CRIED.

And Trip! That man's smile just lights up the whole screen.

BJ Britt has the best smile. I really want to keep Trip forever in this show. He's such a great character and just makes everything feel happier when he's around, you know?

[weepingnaiad]

All the yes. And definitely have to give Brett Dalton props because that was some impressive-level acting there. I feel like he's hit his stride with Ward as a villain because I was less than impressed with his ability vis-a-vis Ward in 3/4 of Season One.

I just hope they keep him like this because he's far more interesting.

The episode just aired and I need another one already!

[selenay]

I had no idea Brett Dalton was this good until we got evil!Ward. He was the character that I spent 3/4 of the season being totally 'meh' about, because he was so completely bland. Villain!Ward is so much more interesting.

Creepy villain Ward is amazing.

I'm already wishing it was next week :-)

[settiai]

Like I said over on my journal, this episode was basically everything that I've wanted from this show since the very beginning. ♥

(Well, minus the apparent killing of Lucy Lawless's character, which I'm very hoping was a fake-out. Because, really. Lucy Lawless.)

[selenay]

Honestly, there's no way she's really dead. It's Lucy Lawless. You do not hire her for one episode, without making her something really integral to the plot. Hartley wasn't--no surprise reveals about her history or actually being evil after all--so I'm not buying that this is it for her. This is a beginning.

If I'm wrong, I may weep.

[settiai]

Until I have definitive proof that she's definitely gone and not coming back, I choose to live in denial. Because, yeah, like you said: it's Lucy Lawless.

[monanotlisa]

Nice review!

[selenay]

Thank you!

[rhienelleth]

I agree with this unabashedly squeeful review 110%. I loved every single moment of the season opener, and I have high hopes that it will only get better from here.

Dark!Ward is awesome, and I look forward to seeing where they go with it. Eventually, he is so getting out of that cage. Because, of course, they'll need his intel in a hands-on way at some point. The tidbit about Skye's father was intriguing.

Oh, Fitz. That storyline is going to break my heart before it gets better.

[selenay]

Eventually, he is so getting out of that cage

Oh, yeah, that's a given :-) He's getting out of that cage, and I'm willing to bet it won't go well for anyone. Dark!Ward is so much more interesting than his cover, and I'm hoping they won't go for a quick and easy redemption. I suspect he'd stop being interesting if they did that.

The tidbit about Skye's father was intriguing.

Raina told him something, and I'm fascinated to know what it was :-)

That storyline is going to break my heart before it gets better.

This storyline is going to make me ugly cry, I know it.

[rhienelleth]

No, he did too many terrible things for a quick redemption. That would not play right. He has a lot of redeeming to do, which should at least take an entire season and a lot of self-sacrifice, and maybe finding a way to help Fitz, since Ward is responsible for what happened to him. IDK, I'm keeping an open mind about it. I love a good redemption arc, if its done well, but there will always have to be enough of Dark!Ward in him to keep the character interesting. :)

[selenay]

Yes, Ward's redemption (if it happens) needs to play out over at least a season. It could be brilliant if they do it well. Just as long as he doesn't regress to boring!Ward.

Or they could keep him dark and do something cool with escapes and plans and big evil. That would also be fun :-)

Someone has to fix Fitz. Really, really has to. If it's Ward, that would make my little FitzWard shipper heart happy, but that would mean he'd have to stay broken for a long time. Which, no. NOOOO.