TV Review: Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. "One of Us"

Maybe the new S.H.I.E.L.D. is the good S.H.I.E.L.D.?

Review by Brandon Wolfe

Say what you will about Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. – and I will – but the show attracts some impressive guest stars. That unmistakably has more to do with the Marvel brand name being the center of the showbiz universe than it does with the quality of the show itself, but it stands as an asset to a show that could certainly use one. In addition to Kyle MacLachlan, who’s still having the time of his life camping it up hardcore as archvillain Cal, the show also brings in Drea de Matteo and Blair Underwood this week. With a lead cast loaded with lightweights, shuttling in outside talent to pinch-hit can only help.

What doesn’t help is that Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. doesn’t really know how to serve its guest characters any better than its primary ones. Take de Matteo, who anchored one of the more memorable and devastating story arcs on The Sopranos, one of the best television series ever produced. Here she’s a “gifted” whose bladed fingertips have been sheathed in metal finger-cuffs by S.H.I.E.L.D. (so metal razor tips are her power? And putting metal pipes on them was S.H.I.E.L.D.’s solution? I swear, this show.), giving her the proper motivation for vengeance against the agency when Cal comes calling, as he is putting a gang together comprised of gifteds mistreated by S.H.I.E.L.D. to strike back against Coulson. de Matteo is charged with grimacing and occasionally slashing people with her Catwoman claws and that’s pretty much it. This is an actress proven capable of heartbreaking levels of depth and the show hires her to scratch people.

Faring a bit better is Underwood, who portrays Dr. Garner, a psychologist brought in to evaluate Skye and, perhaps more pertinently, is Agent May’s ex-husband. Garner’s sessions with Skye, whom he gently chastises for deflecting using humor (erroneously floating the notion that Skye has ever said anything funny), are every bit as dull as you might expect, but the character is really here as a means to provide some background on Agent May, whom, it’s hinted, wasn’t the grunting statue we know now when she was married to Garner. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. doesn’t seem to realize that the problem with Agent May is that she’s a complete void, an automaton that sometimes kicks people. Cramming in backstory about how she got that stupid “Cavalry” nickname isn’t as pressing as simply coloring in a personality for who she is now.

In main cast news, Fitz and Simmons are still insufferable. The show continues to dance around the precarious relationship these two have, because I suppose some people out there must think they’re adorable, but I continue to be fascinated by how these characters are written as though they were children. This week, for instance, Simmons is giving Fitz the silent treatment because Fitz lied to her about Skye’s DNA and they never used to keep secrets. Putting aside the fact that these people work for an intelligence agency and should be accustomed to information being withheld or kept on a need-to-know basis, these are also ostensibly adults. The show continuing to portray FitzSimmons as possessing a second-grade mentality is infuriating.

Also infuriating is the show’s repeated refusal to allow the characters to behave like the rigid government operatives they’re supposed to be, falling back on that gooey “We’re a family” sentiment that has no place in this context. Last week, Coulson refused to allow Sif to take Skye back to Asgard to place her into hands more capable of dealing with her situation, and this week May dismisses Garner’s beyond-reasonable recommendation that Skye be removed from active duty while coping with her newfound abilities. This is not the proper venue for a group-hug atmosphere, and if they won’t even let a hardened fembot like May make a tough but necessary decision then I don’t know what we’re doing here. This is an espionage series with the soul of a T.G.I.F. show, except those maybe had stronger writers.

But “One of Us” does a couple of things alright. The notion of Cal putting together a van-based army of supervillains is neat, and the incorporation of the lesser-known Angar the Screamer character results in the episode’s one kinda-cool moment, as Angar fells a football field full of students - as well as all the birds in the vicinity - with a scream (even if his elongated Mummy mouth while screaming is as goofy as it gets). Putting superhuman abilities on display is a genuine plus for the series, which spent far too much time shying away from engaging with the more fantastical side of the Marvel Universe. Benching superpowered beings in a world filled with them never made a lot of sense, except perhaps to the Marvel bean counters.

The other aspect of the episode that works is its final revelation of just what Bobbi and Mack have been up to so clandestinely, as they inform a captive Hunter that the organization they’ve been working for is the real S.H.I.E.L.D. This is a development that has some potential. It always seemed a leap that Coulson’s junior-varsity squadron of drips was the only still-functioning leg of the entire operation in play, particularly since the man who handed Coulson the keys to the kingdom is believed to be dead by the rest of the world and thus presumably couldn’t make that official. The knowledge that there’s another, likely more capable version of S.H.I.E.L.D. out there is enticing. Particularly since, if there is another S.H.I.E.L.D., maybe we could just start following that one instead? It has to be better. It just has to.

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