Agents of SHIELD episode Two - Retro Review

 By Mark Rodriguez

This was originally written on October 2, 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.

For those that missed the last episode, this show brings back Agent Phil Coulson from the dead, to lead a new team of SHIELD agents to deal with super powered humans that started appearing after the events of the Avengers movie and Iron Man 3. The last episode ended with Coulson being advised that an O8-7 was found... which is some kind of object found that is completely unknown. The trailers also promised a surprise cameo after the credits.

The episode starts with the crew on a plane, when suddenly a hole is blasted out of it and Phil is hanging on for dear life. We go back 19 hours earlier as everyone is getting ready for the flight to Peru to find the O8-7. They're unsure if it's safe or not, but the last one they found was Thor's hammer. The Agents bicker and don't get along, especially Grant mistrusting Skye, since she works for the Rising Tide, a group out to expose SHIELD and bring them down. Phil tells them they have to start getting along.

They arrive in the jungles of Peru and Simmons and Fitz check out a cave that has a strange item with an internal power source, glowing with blue energy. Suddenly the team is attacked by soldiers, and Grant and Melinda quickly act to fight back. Coulson sees that their leader is Commandante Carmella Reyes, and he tells her to back off her men. They used to work missions together, and both agree to work something out as they take the device aboard the SHIELD jet. Just then another rogue team of enemy soldiers attack, and Coulson and Carmella's teams quickly team up to take them out.

During the flight, Fitz and Simmons discover the device, while being centuries old, has been modernized and weaponized... It's also powered by the Tessaract, the glowing cube from the Thor, Captain America and Avengers movies. The soldiers eventually start to attack and Camilla reveals herself to have been plotting to steal the device for herself all along. Worse of all, she's working for Hydra. Camilla ties Coulson to a pole and is convinced her men can handle the green agents. Phil says now she's given them a common enemy.

Tied up in the same room, the agents get along long enough to plan their escape. Melinda easily gets free and helps the others. Fitz and Simmons control the Tessaract weapon to blast a hole out of the side of the plane. During the confusion caused by the air vacuum, Grant and Melinda take out the soldiers, and Coulson is able to defeat Carmella and tie her to the pole instead. The agents then use an inflatable raft to cover up the hole in the airplane causing the vacuum.

Later on the team is back on the ground and Phil tells Skye that the weapon was taken under SHIELD containment since it's too dangerous for man to have, and Carmella is also held under their custody though it probably won't be for long. The team gets along better now, and Grant decides to whip Skye into the shape. As they watch a rocket take off (I'm not sure what that was about...) Skye gets a text from her people at the Rising Tide asking how she's doing. She texts them back 'I'm in' but looks guilty about it.

Now for the spoiler cameo part. Nick Fury guest stars (still played by Samuel L Jackson) and basically chews Phil out for having wrecked the plane. He wants the plane fixed exactly the way they found it and also warns him that Skye is a risk.

Mark and Paige's Thoughts-

This was a good episode, not as superheroey as the first (though we got references to Hydra and the Tesseract), but we got to see some cool fight scenes in the jungle and later on in the plane. This one focused more on the characters and how they get along. I like how Skye felt way over her head on all this since she found out this was the other agents' second mission. Plus some of them are just tech heads and yet they got thrown into combat situations.

Paige and I still feel Melinda is Black Widow Lite, but she has some backstory we have yet to uncover. It seems in the past she was known as 'The Calvary' and whatever she did back then, either she wasn't proud of, or it traumatized her. She wasn't too happy to see combat in Peru either.

As for Skye, she's as cute as always, and it seems her sudden induction into SHIELD was 'all part of the plan' for the Rising Tide. She seems to be growing fond of Phil and Grant, only time will tell what she will do when the time comes.

As for Samuel L Jackson... it was nice to see him.. but c'mon... as if it would have been such a big surprise to see him in the show sooner or later. Past interviews already had him say he'd be interested in making a cameo or two. I think one of the actual Avengers or another big-name superhero woulda been more unexpected, especially since the commercials were all like 'you never know WHO might show up'. His scene was ok, just didn't like it was all mostly bitching out Coulson. Dude, be glad he's alive. I was hoping he'd at least end it with 'by the way, good to see you back... but you still owe me a new jet' or something like that.

Not to much to say about Carmella herself. It was cool seeing her and Phil shoot bad guys side by side. It's also interesting to see Coulson probably had a romantic history with her. How romantic or how psychical it got between them is classified. But after the Hydra reveal, she just became a typical evil spy villain, and was easily dealt with.

Our final thoughts are with the fact that an inflatable raft was not only able to clog up the hole in the side of the plane, but was also strong enough to withstand not being sucked out anyway. Paige told me she calls BS on this and wants to see this tried out on Myth Busters to see if it's true. I also don't believe that it could be so sturdy, and geez, after the fight Grant just sat on the floor and laid his head up against it. SHIELD must make even their inflatable rafts out of damn good materials.