Agents of SHIELD Episode Three- Retro Review

 By Mark Rodriguez

Originally written on October 8, 2013. Keep in mind these reviews were done way back when the show first aired, so we had no idea what future events or movies would bring. Also, before it was retconned away, at least at the moment, the Agents of SHIELD show was in canon with the movies.

After the Avengers saved New York from an alien invasion, the world at large knew about superheroes and bizarre futuristic technology that could be powerful in the wrong hands. Agent Coulson is somehow brought back from the dead to lead a team of random SHIELD agents to deal with these strange cases. This particular episode deals a lot with Skye, her commitment to the team and her questionable loyalty.

The episode opens with a big rig being escorted by SHIELD vehicles. Suddenly the cars are sent flying by some unseen force. It was even able to lift up the big rig and send it flying. A bunch of troops bust inside and take the truck's precious cargo, a scientist. Meanwhile, Grant is trying to train Skye in some self defense moves, but she's hardly taking it seriously.

Coulson's team goes to check out the scene and find out the scientist was Frank Hall. They also find a tiny orb that was some sort of anti-gravity device that caused the vehicles to be sent flying. Hall is taken to see a guy named Quinn, and they both used to work each other. Quinn is famous for stealing other people's work and making profits out of them. However, the study of the gravity device has been Hall's life work and now Quinn's working on a larger version of it, so he hardly needs to be forced to stay. He seems too fascinated and curious to care that he was kidnapped.

Later on Fitz and Simmons explain more about the device and everyone is worried that Hall's study on the matter could be used for dangerous purposes. They find out he's been captured by a guy named Quinn, but he's in a pretty untouchable base and if SHIELD is found anywhere there, they'll be breaking all sort of international laws. However the only way inside is to have someone on the inside turn off Quinn's defenses. Skye suggests she can go since technically she's not a SHIELD agent. Grant doubts since she's hardly a field agent, but she already used her hacking skills to get herself invited to Quinn's big dinner party.

Skye arrives at the party and mixes and mingle with the guests as Fitz and Simmons feeds her what she needs to say through a hidden earpiece. She has a compact that's actually a device that will get SHIELD access to Quinn's computers to shut down the security from the inside. Skye meets Quinn and is invited inside. Coulson and Grant work their way onto the island but can't enter the base due to a killer forcefield protecting the area. They need Skye to disable it.

Quinn gives his guests a big speech to promote his new gravity technology as Skye sneaks off to snoop around. She is soon caught, but she suddenly tell him she's been forced to work for SHIELD. She dunks her earpiece into a champagne glass, and the rest of the team lose contact with her. Quinn actually invited her to be part of his team due to her hacking skills. She explains how SHIELD captured her in episode one, and just when it looked she has betrayed them completely... she activates her compact.

With the forcefield down for half a second, Coulson and Grant are able to sneak inside. Quinn is on to her and knows the compact is a SHIELD device and pulls a gun on her. Coulson finds Hall working on the gravity device, but it seems he's not out to use it for evil, he's actually trying to destroy it since it is too dangerous for anyone to use. The problem is that Hall doesn't care if it takes out everyone in the island with the resulting explosion as long as it's to save the rest of mankind. Coulson tries to talk him out of it, but Hall activates the device and the force knocks Coulson on his side.

Skye is at gunpoint, but she used a self-defense technique she learned from Grant earlier on to disarm Quinn and aim the gun at him. However they know she doesn't have the heart to actually pull the trigger. She admits it and then dives out of the window and into the swimming pool below. Before Quinn can send his goons after her, the building starts to shake.

Coulson gets up and realizes that the room is now upside down, at least due to their perspective. He continues to try to talk Hall outside his suicidal plan, but Hall is willing to die to see his dangerous device be used elsewhere. Fitz and Summers tell Coulson that he needs some sort of catalyst to stop the device, since even cutting off the power won't stop it at this point. Skye is soon caught by the Quinn's men, but Grant arrives just in time to kick some ass and save her.

By now, Melinda, Fitz and Summers figured out that Hall actually wanted to be captured and purposely leaked some information that would lead to Quinn finding him and capturing him. Hall admits to Coulson he made the hard choice to die for his work. Coulson says he also made a hard choice and shoots the glass wall (now the floor to them) and it sends Hall right into the giant orb device. He's sucked into the weird particles gyrating inside it and the machine shuts itself off.

Later on, Melinda decides she wants to be sent into a combat mission next time so she can keep an eye on Coulson since he's a bit rusty on the field. Skye is now training hard on the punching bag, determined to be a better fighter and agent on the field. Finally we see SHIELD security lock away the gravity device in a special unmarked safe. Inside we still see Hall's hand trying to reach out of the orb's gravity particles.

Our Thoughts-

This was a pretty interesting episode. In several ways it felt more connected to the first episode than the second one did. There was a scene where Skye joked to Grant about how they used the truth serum on him, and he revealed there is no truth serum and he was playing along to gain her trust. Then Skye basically explained the events of the first episode to Quinn as she covered how she got mixed up into SHIELD. The main reference to episode 2 was Grant starting to train her.

We didn't see much of Melinda, Fitz and Summers since they stayed behind to guide Skye, we just know that Fitza and Summers were former students of Hall and looked up to him. Melinda wants to avoid action but after seeing how rusty Coulson is, she wants watch his back so I guess we'll be seeing more Not-Black Widow action.

As for Skye, she really took center stage in this episode. She showed how she's quick on her feet and able to BS her way into and out of any situation. If she wasn't such a major character, her suddenly 'betrayal' of SHIELD, complete with her getting rid of her earpiece and spilling the beans to Quinn, would have been more believable. She's still a member of the Rising Tide however... so there's still the possibility of her betraying the team. And hey, we got to see Chloe Bennet not only in a hot red dress... but after her dip in the pool, a wet skintight clingy hot red dress. Someone's happy.

Of course for more Marvel fans, the big deal was the appearance of Frank Hall. I honestly didn't know who that was until the very end when he's revealed to be somehow merged with the gravity device. Yep, it seems this guy is gonna turn into Graviton, a powerful enemy with control over gravity. In the recent Avengers Earth Mightiest Heroes cartoon he was the first major villain in the 2-part opener, so I remembered him from that.

My question is how will they handle him whenever he escapes that device with his powers? He's far beyond anything the human agents can handle. I think it's too much to ask for one of the actual Avengers to cameo to stop him... Maybe bring back Mike Peterson, or some other obscure Marvel superhero that will finally get a shot at live-action TV? We'll have to wait and see.