SHIELD continues its hot streak for Season 2, brings back Simmons and throws out a Dale Carnegie reference — yet somehow it manages to avoid the 50 ice puns that Batman and Robin gave us. Will that set the show back, or rocket it forward? Lets find out.
1. Wolfram and Hart 2.0
Those of you who watched Angel caught the reference already, but for those unawares, I find it humorous that Hydra has a strong resemblance to the evil organization from Angel, Wolfram and Hart (with a little bit of the DHARMA Initiative mixed in, if we’re being honest — remember Room 23?). This season will presumably revolve around the conflict between SHIELD and Hydra, and that’s fair, but I do find it humorous that SHIELD has double-dipped in the “evil innocuous organization” trope that we’ve seen in Whedon’s body of work a few times now; it was there in the finale of Season 1 for a Hydra subsidiary, and now we get a repeat of that complete with God Help The Girl’s eponymous song and humorously black labcoats.
I don’t mind the show going to the same idea twice, though. It works well in this interest, and brought back Simmons in a nice way, all things considered. And, speaking of,
2. God Help the Girl
Welcome back, Jemma! We missed you!
Simmons being with Hydra was about as predictable as the killer being that innocuous guy from the first five minutes of every cop procedural ever. That said, I do like the idea in general. Again, like the previous section it’s a big ol’ reusable trope — but the reason why it works nicely here is that Simmons can now be the Reverse Ward. SHIELD is using Hydra tactics, and that’s great, and what makes it more interesting is — as the show notes — Simmons is a terrible liar. She’s the wrong person for this assignment in universe, and the best person for the assignment storywise. With the added threat of brainwashing and in conjunction with Fitz’s deteriorating mental state, Simmons at Hydra represents actual palpable danger. I’m not worried about the character because I doubt the show would really do anything to her, but I’m still nervous. That’s a step in the right direction.
Speaking of Fitz, the best part of all this to me is Fitz flat out asking Coulson if she left because of what happened, and Coulson dodging the question. Ouch.
3. Ice is Twice as Nice
Remember the introduction of Donnie Gill, aka Blizzard, in Season 1? Remember how that episode wasn’t that good? Hey, that paid off!
Donnie Gill was back in this episode as the villain of the week, and while I do sort of lament his finale I do like that SHIELD brought back a character that was fairly boring the first time around and giving him some kind of purpose. Not only does it help make up for past mistakes, but it also makes this actually feel like a Marvel show; yeah, he’s a Z-List villain on a good day, but it’s SHIELD and Hydra in a race to catch a superhuman — and god damn, that just sounds like a good recipe for a comic book show. I don’t even care if Blizzard isn’t that good of a character or that Dylan Minnette kind of looks like he’s sleepy while playing the role. They’re still actually making a Marvel show!
But, most importantly, it allowed the episode to go global, and I honestly think that’s the best part. The first season of SHIELD saw them traveling a fair deal, sure, and yet it still felt isolated. Now we’re already have them hopping around chasing different assets and clashing with Hydra, and it gives the show a much “bigger” feeling. It’s probably one of the more subtle but sharper things we’ve seen being ticked up more in the second season already, and I commend the decision.
4. The Ward Problem
Well, I said Fitz would end up being kind of “evil”, right? Not eveil in the traditional sense of the word, but certainly a touch darker.
Ward represents an interesting problem to Season 2. On the one hand, I do kind of hate that the show couldn’t ditch him at the end of the first season; the pseudo-redemption arc they ostensibly have planned with him drags other characters down (like the aforementioned Fitz). On the other hand, Coulson does make a good, plausible argument for why he should be around at all — he’s an important asset, and one that they can use. Ward feels like a plausible deus ex machina waiting to happen and in that way he’s dangerous, but that the show had Ward tease the inclusion of Skye’s father and not just flat out reveal everything is a general nod that they have a good idea of how to build tension for Skye’s (admittedly much more interesting) character arc for Season 2.
Continued belowAll this said, I would like to see SHIELD axe Ward by the end of the season. I don’t know if that’s an unpopular choice, but based on what’s happening with other characters in his general rotation, someone needs to get their closure if we’re going to see an arc completed for real.
5. My Ears are Burning
This last one is a bit of an aside, but is it just me or did they mention Dr. Faustus at the beginning in regards to the brainwashing? I watched the episode a second time and think I’m not crazy here, but I’ve been known to be wrong about not being crazy before.
Either way, if Dr. Faustus is running around somewhere in the MCU, that could lead to some very cool story possibilities in the future. In the near future, even.
