Last night on Agents of SHIELD, Amy Acker guest starred as Nathaniel Ayers and somehow never played Bach’s Cello Suite No. 1 Prelude. Apparently SHIELD didn’t want to be that show. Meanwhile, Agent Ward proved that he doesn’t like good comedy and everyone learned how to win at Two Truths and a Lie.
Read on as we talk about last night’s episode, with a spoiler warning in full effect.
1. Orientation
In terms of last night’s episode, this was easily the best part. It leaned heavily on a rather classic storytelling trope and we’ve seen this scene play out a thousand times, but man, when it is done well it is done well. The Orientation sequence gave us little bits and pieces of all the characters that we may not have known (Triplett in particular — he’s a legacy!) and it all served a rather strong purpose.
Of course, Ward taking the Orientation was the best part. There’s the dramatic irony that we’re aware of, but all things considered I do like that Koenig still didn’t take Ward’s BS and pulled a gun on him. The machine was that good. The problem, unfortunately, was that man in his analysis is fallible — and apparently one truth was all it took to cast doubt. I suppose we could debate the logic of the scene further, but I think I’m willing to take it at face value for the decent amount of tension built up throughout.
2. The Cellist
This episode introduced us to Phil Coulson’s lost cellist, first mentioned in the Avengers. Played by Whedon favorite Amy Acker, Audrey Nathan was a decent enough addition to the show, if only for the fact that Phil Coulson did not have to go through Orientation. We learned something about everyone except him (he already had his lanyard), so Nathan became our way of connecting to him for this episode.
That said, it’s a bit disappointing to see the show essentially just use an actress as talented as Acker as a prop. I think there’s a good deal of lost opportunity in that decision, as Acker has been a staple and extremely versatile addition to the list of actors and actresses Whedon frequently uses in his work; her casting as the cellist makes perfect sense, but her use? Incredibly poor. I hate to say it, but outside of her monologue in which she expresses her affection for Coulson, I don’t think her role passes Kelly Sue’s lamp test — and considering the villain of the episode, that seems an even bigger loss.
3. Blackout
This is what we all expected SHIELD to be, right? A super-powered villain on the loose, Coulson and the gang to the rescue, trying to figure out a clever trick to defeat the villain and save the day! Hooray!
But I’m a bit disappointed still. It was decent, I feel like they were certainly trying, but it was a really under-utilized Villain Of The Week all things considered. What did he do besides walk around menacingly and turn out lights? And in terms of adding a villain, I mean, I guess you could go further down the list of character’s no one remembers than Blackout, but the fact that you made it that far down isn’t a great sign. And really, he was about as useful to the episode as Audrey Nathan’s character.
Really, it’s all about Coulson and propping him up and revealing facets of his character. I get that. But 19 episodes in, I’d think we were a bit past that, no?
4. The Trouble with Ward
Agent Ward continues his trek down the villainous path as our revealed Hydra agent, and man, what a prick! Not only did he take out Patton Oswalt’s character (he only got two episodes! Poor Patton…) but he kept flipping between menacing terror and somewhat affable guy that I almost began to lose track of whether I should be rooting for him or rooting for Skye to take him out. Geez.
Ward is bad, and there’s no escaping that, but I do think that the episode did a good job of working in his double-agent nature into the story for this week. It seemed that they sort of wrote themselves into a wall by the end of the episode and there were far too many moments of Ward almost getting caught or revealing himself, but it never felt too egregious. I like Ward as a villain and Brett Dalton makes being bad look pretty good, so hey, let’s see how long we can keep beating this drum.
Continued belowBut I swear: if this season doesn’t end with a standoff between Coulson and Ward and someone firing a gun, I’m going to be severely disappointed. And none of this “chance for redemption” nonsense, either; I want to see Ward get his come-uppance. He killed Patton! That crosses the line!
5. I’ve Always Liked Maria, Too
So. May’s mother is an agent, and May — who somehow has the amazing ability to walk the through wilds of who knows where to Ontario — is going to find Maria Hill.
It had certainly been announced somewhere online that Colbie Smulders would be coming back to the show in her post-Winter Soldier status, and I have to admit that after the end of Winter Soldier I had no idea what Maria Hill was up to. She was applying for a job at Stark Industries as… what? A receptionist? A specialist? A consultant? So while I haven’t been following too much of the “Marvel Announces ___ Appears On Their Hit Show!” news, I am actually interested to see what Maria Hill’s new role is with SHIELD out of the picture.
And — I know I complain about all the synergy of the show and the movie, but hey, I’m allowed to be a hypocrite every now and then.
