After last week’s strong return for Agents of SHIELD, hopes are high that Season 2 will be the change we longed to see. But as the second episode airs, do we rise further up on hype train’s track, or are our hopes immediately dashed on the rocks?
1. RIP Hartley and Idaho
Well, that was a lot of hype thrown out the window fast, right? After the oft-mentioned and heavily publicized appearance of Lucy Lawless as a new member of SHIELD 2.0, it turns out that she really did die at the end of the first episode, along with the not-quite-good-enough-for-a-last-name Idaho. That’s what happens when your name is a state.
I’m of mixed feelings about this, to be honest. On the one hand, I’d actually point it to a positive that SHIELD endeavored to pull a fast one; making us assume that Hartley might be around for a while was a good misdirect to kill her off, making it actually quite surprising and shocking. You don’t get that a lot on this show, let alone most network shows (resulting in the Sylar Problem of Heroes). On the other hand, it continues a rather boring and repetitive narrative in which a female or any non-white character (or in this case, both) is offed in order to prove a point to the show watchers, or to just show how evil the bad guy is (something that, for what its worth, happens again in this episode in the diner). And while Hartley certainly got some great time to shine in the premiere and showed a great deal of agency as an individual, it feels like a bit of a waste in the end.
C’est la vie. Chalk it up to a missed opportunity, I suppose. Speaking of the new team, though —
2. Lance Hunter
He’s a bit of a dick, huh? Kind of hard to like, but very clearly done in that “oh, so roguish!” way.
Here’s the thing: out of the three members of Hartley’s team, it really is a bummer that we’re left with Lance as the survivor. While Hunter does hold a bit more “canon” in the comics than Hartley did (since Hartley was a made-up character for the show), leaving us with Hunter over the continued appearance of Lucy Lawless is like trading in a great, expensive meal you know you love for a cheap appetizer that could be just okay. And that’s not meant to be a sleight against actor Nick Blood; rather, his character is essentially Ward 2.0 — the suave, bad-ass dude who may and probably will eventually betray the team. The only difference is now they’re not subtle about it.
And I sort of get it; they want to maintain a certain status quo, and perhaps Lucy Lawless didn’t want to sign on for the full season. But man, I would’ve been so much happier with BJ Britt (Triplett, who is apparently not a full cast member) signing up full time and being the new series regular rather than Blood/Hunter, who is a bit shoehorned in all things considered, even if he has a bad ass name in character and in real life.
3. Season Premiere, Part Two
While this is a very minor complaint — if it even is a complaint — I’d say that this episode would’ve been much better if it had aired last week as a two-part premiere. In fact, if last week had gone for the full two hour extravaganza, my opinions on it would’ve been even higher. While both episodes individually are pretty good, together they’re great; a lot is teased, a lot is set-up and a lot is paid off in these two hours. Spreading the two stories out doesn’t really hurt either episode, but together they make up something much better with a much more coherent narrative.
But, really, things are boding quite well for Season Two. I’m still a bit adverse to really allowing myself to mentally go all in because I don’t want to be let down again, but this has been two strong first outings for the new season. It’s a definite upgrade from what came before, that’s for sure, and I’m excited to see what SHIELD does with its brand new set of rotating plates as the team battles against an angry and vengeful government, the remnants of HYDRA and a third player who makes himself seen in this episode.
Continued belowSpeaking of which,
4. Raina and The Obelisk
Who else thought that Raina might call it quits this episode? Just me? Okay then.
Raina’s interaction with what we’re now officially supposed to call the Obelisk was an interesting turn of events. While the Obelisk is seen as a destructive force to most, apparently it has some form of sentience to it; that, or it is keyed towards certain people or things. We’ve been assuming it is in some way alien-related, and this episode certainly adds to that notion; there’s an apparent connection to Coulson’s visions and the schematic, and the Obelisk has some form of relation to Skye based on Rain’s discourse with a new character — and, as was pointed out to me after last week’s premiere, apparently the Obelisk visually reacted to Skye when she looked at it. Perhaps Raina has some kind of connection to the blood in Coulson and Skye’s veins as well? And perhaps that is why she was so curious and concerned last season what was going to happen to her in the future?
Sky(e) is the limit when it comes to Raina theories. But for now, lets talk about her new companion.
5. “The Doctor”
So! Credited as a “mysterious doctor,” it appears that Kyle MacLachlan is indeed playing Skye’s father from the previous season finale — a tidbit that was leaked before the show’s premiere. And if his connection with Raina wasn’t obvious enough, if his entrance wiping his hands wasn’t even more obvious (given the blood dripping from them in the first season finale), certainly his line about Raina bringing Skye to him hit the nail on the head. And while we know very little about him, we know that he is a monster — and clearly that means Agents of SHIELD is the long awaited sequel to Twin Peaks and Skye’s father is BOB possessing Agent Dale Cooper.
SOLVED IT.
I like MacLachlan a lot, as I’m sure anyone who has seen one of his many performances in various different films and programs does. While I have no real idea what to expect for the continued story of Skye’s lineage, I have high hopes for it — specifically with hopes that it will in some way relate back to the Marvel U in a tangible way. While Skye is going to be introduced as a new character to the Comic Universe in that upcoming Mark Waid book, it would be nice to find out that her father is one of many potential villains we’ve seen over the years in comics. I’d go so far as to say that at least 80% of them could potentially fit, and it would definitely give some added oomph to that reveal whenever it happens.
