Seriously, this series- it has improved in leaps and bounds since early season one.
But then this series was always destined to delve deeper into the Marvel Cinematic Universe's mythos, if from the viewpoint of the everyman (or secret agent anyway). And I always thought it achieved this, albeit with a few teething problems, that may just as easily have been on me as the viewer than the actual production. Either way I have always enjoyed the show, and thought it an admirable start to widen the MCU beyond the cinema constraints.
So this review/bit-of-nonsense write up will deal with spoilers and potential spoilers for UK viewers who haven't seen the header-episode.
..
..
..
..
First, it was wonderful to see more of Agent Peggy Carter, SHIELDs creator/head agent and possibly its first Director(?).
We saw her in the season opener- accompanying the Howling Commandos (weapon in hand no less) to arrest Nazi and HYDRA head Daniel Whitehall/Werner Reinhardt and to seize the alien artefacts, and aliens, thus helping bring HYDRA to its knees *cough*. In this episode Carter is shown interrogating, threatening and eventually locking the aforementioned away, never to see the light of day again!
*cough* Sorry. Terrible frog-in-the-throat ;)
Of course this is all to build up the head of SSR/SHIELDs own series, starting in the New Year, which looks very interesting, and closely tied to everything we have seen so far and hopefully really easy to get into. It'll be interesting to see in more depth, how the two different generations of agents handle the day-to-day of aliens and monsters.
Of course The Things We Bury didn't just give us more of Agent Carter. It gave us glimpses of Whitehall's rise to the current head of HYDRA. Like he was going to die in that cell..
It also gave us this^ unnamed character, played by Dichen Lachman, no stranger to either sci-fi or Joss Whedon's works (previously Dollhouse of course). She comes to Whitehall- or Reinhardt really, a terrified young woman, taken as part of (possibly) the group that discovered The Obelisk. She is forced to touch the device, which a previous unfortunate didn't survive, but unlike him can handle it with no ill effects. Reinhardt is determined to cut her open to discover why, when Carter and the Commandos come to take him away.
Years later, in 1989, he is released and discovers the young woman, still young! And he continues with his dissection. All this is fairly intriguing on its own, but the real kicker comes right at the end, when, after seemingly dumping the body, the mysterious Doctor (Skye's father) discovers her, and swears revenge on someone he seemed to care for very much!
So it seems we've been introduced-briefly- to Skye's mother!
Both parents seem to have qualities that are, well, alien. So it's a bit difficult to pick out whether they were both extra-terrestrial, or if the mother just had (as the episode implies) qualities that would mark her as being saved upon alien take-over (or had the take-over already happened by then?!).
Either way, it's all getting very interesting.
The other fairly major plot, rather overshadowed, was Grant Ward's cathartic revenge on his brother, the Senator, and his parents for how he and his younger brother were treated. After which Ward is shown to be making his way into HYDRA's ranks, alongside Skye's father. Although in a rather nice little twist the Doctor basically calls Whitehall out as his enemy. So he may not be on Coulson's side, but he's certainly not on HYDRA's, and I suspect Ward may have a strong ulterior motive there too.
So a very solid episode. It's nice to see Fitz back in the field as well, and performing as well (if not better) than season one. Though it is worrying to hear that the viewer numbers are still falling, and that the producers are preparing for cancellation. I think this is a damned shame, this show has just gotten better and better, and is starting to set things in motion for the movies it would seem. If people (globally, not just the US) are willing to put so much stock in X-Factor and I'm A Celebrity, why not scripted shows too? I miss watching those- especially ones based in sci-fi or fantasy! Falling viewer numbers are what makes these shows die an early death, and the networks less willing to take chances on them. And we shouldn't be letting that happen. We pay for these shows by subscribing, buying DVDs and Blue-Rays. We review them, and live-Tweet our reactions to them. And we campaign for them when they face the axe.
So please give Agents of SHIELD a second chance, because it is so much better then naysayers would have you believe.
No comments:
Post a Comment