By Chris Skalicky
Hey Schmoeville!
The fall TV season is back! For a TV junkie like me it’s like having your most anticipated films of the year premier each night with a guaranteed follow up each week! This week brought back one of my favorite and most improved shows from last year: Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD! The sophomore season was a vast improvement over the first, and it opened a whole new door in the Marvel Universe. Last night we saw the return of Agent Coulson and his fellow agents and new mysteries arise.
The premier set up the next challenge for the team to overcome by jumping right into the appearance of individuals with inhuman powers, the emergence of another government organization tasked with finding these individuals, a powerful new villain and we find out what happened to Agent Simmons (sort of).
The episode began with a bang as Skye…I mean Daisy (C’mon on Coulson, apparently it’s not that hard to get used to!) as Daisy, Hunter and Mack extract the newly powered Joey from a dangerous situation (and a fairly capable special opps team) and bring him aboard the new bus. I’m glad they addressed why his powers didn’t immediately liquefy that box or damage the plane; it was a customer material. The poor guy was freaking out and everything in his proximity was melting. Its little things like that go a long way. Just a few quick lines of explanation and you’re not left wondering why everything wasn’t melting. Simple.
I was very impressed with how calming Daisy was able to be fore Joey as he arrived on the bus. She has most definitely matured and grown to accept and embrace what happened to her with the emergence of her powers. I really like that scene of her calming him down. Also, interesting choice on what they are calling these changes, a “biomorphic” event. Oh and Phil loves his new toy! We’ve only seen the outside of the new bus but I’m anxious to see what’s different about this new SHIELD plane.
Once back at the SHIELD base we start to see more of the team. As much as I like see Adrianne Palicki’s Bobbi Morse out there kicking ass, I’m really digging science Bobbi! Can I just say that Adrianne is sexy as ever? Yes? Ok. Good. Just did. Coulson, Hunter and Mack are trying to discover who the mysterious woman is that is charge of the team that is tracking the Inhumans. Did anyone else notice that Coulson has the ax that Mack used to cut off his hand hanging on the wall? I found it slightly comical that it was mounted in his office almost as sort of a trophy. Speaking of Coulson’s hand I thought he was just rocking the Luke Skywalker black glove, covering some sort of robotic hand. Nope. No glove. That was his actual hand that he can just take off whenever he needs to. Which actually comes in quite handy later on. Handy. Get it?…Yeah, I’ll move on.
Daisy and Mack visited Joey and gave him the cliff notes on what was happening to him. I actually thought he was taking it rather well until he indicated he wanted to leave. Daisy tried to explain the situation but Mack didn’t sugar coat it one bit. Tough love Mack. He wanted it to be made clear that this was for everyone’s protection and that life as Joey new was over, at least for now.
One of the biggest question marks that I had at the end of last season was not only what happened to Agent Simmons but how long would it take for the team to find out what happened to her. I didn’t know if they thought she just left or went missing and wouldn’t realize it was anything to do with monolith. It looks like they know she was swallowed up by it. There must have been surveillance footage showing what happened to her. I’m glad they know and they can explore trying to find what it that thing is and what happed rather than wasting a few episodes looking in the completely wrong place. At least they have a starting place and it looks like Fitz is hell bent on figuring out what happened to Simmons. I liked the Fitz that we saw tonight. In season one, while brilliant he was very timid and wasn’t really suited for field work. Last season he had to overcome the damage done him at the end of season one and recover. He was much more capable by the end of last season especially as a field agent and in this episode he took his ability as an agent to the next level. Fitz went in with a plan to make a deal for an artifact that he believed would help him find Simmons. He was confident in his abilities and determined to get what he came for. Our Fitz is growing up! But how heartbreaking was that final scene of his when he was just screaming at the monolith to do something?! He is desperate to find Simmons.
This episode had me totally fooled on that other team (the Advanced Threat Containment Unit or ATCU. Man do they love their acronyms) that was going after the Inhumans. I thought they were capturing them and experimenting on them, leading to their deaths. Nope. Completely wrong on that one. It was that other individual. Creature? Another inhuman? I’m not sure what to call him. Sound off in the comments below if the character was familiar or if you have any theories. Jumping back to that other team real quick. After they pulled a fast one on Coulson and Hunter on the train and handcuffed them both, I kept thinking Coulson can just take his hand off and get out of that easy. Low and behold when the opportunity presented itself Phil did just that. I mean, it only made sense. You would totally do that to get away.
Back to that creature that has been killing inhuman (I’m sure he’s someone in the Marvel universe. I just don’t know!), we first got to see it in action as he attacked Lincoln, Daisy and Mack. It’s good to see Lincoln again as he should be a major asset to the group when dealing with individuals as they uncover their powers. He’s spent most of his life dealing with those very scenarios. Oh and how great was Mack after that initial encounter with the creature? “I need a bigger gun. Or my ax. Or maybe a shotgun-ax combination of some sort.” I laughed out loud at that one. I wouldn’t put it past Mack to put something like that together and make it badass.
I love every scene with Bobbi and Hunter. Even it’s just a small, quiet scene with the two of them I love every second of their interaction. While I was excited at the proposition of them getting their own show, I like them much more as a part of this ensemble. I don’t want to see them leave this group even if I do love their scenes together. Mack and Bobbi scenes are always great and I love seeing Hunter and Coulson working together. Speaking of Hunter, it looks as if he’s off to track down the Ward. I’m digging this! Ward is one of my favorite characters on this show. While I was upset when they made him HYDRA back in season 1 that quickly dissolved as I saw how great a villain he was. Good or bad I will always enjoy more Agent Ward!
One of the complaints about Agents of SHIELD, especially early on, was that they hit you over the head with pointless references to the films. While agree that it was bit much early one, it lessened throughout season 2 and they were much more subtle and were more seamlessly woven into the story. The episode had quite a few references, but I never once thought they felt out of place or forced. I was actually shocked to see William Sadler show up as President Matthew Ellis. He mentioned the New York incident from The Avengers, the London attack from Thor: The Dark World and the catastrophe in Sokovia in Avengers: Age of Ultron. Coulson even mentioned what happened at Pym technologies to Fitz when they were discussing Simmons. To me these were all very natural references. These events are occurring in their world. They are major, life changing events. They would be talked about and mentioned just as we would refer to real world events in our own discussions. This is the world these characters live in. Speaking of that conversation between Coulson and Fitz, when Coulson mentioned May being gone I said to myself, “I totally forgot about May!”. How could I forget about May? That’s how much was going on in this episode! I legitimately forgot about one of the main characters we have been following for two years. I even re-watched the season 2 finale a couple days ago as a refresher and I still forgot.
Something else I wondered about during that address from President Ellis is how much of this will play into Captain America: Civil War? With the emergence of more super-powered beings and the formation ATCU to hunt down the beings one would have to think that this will tie in some way to Civil War when it comes out next May. Now it may only be a small reference to it in the film as not everyone who watched the movies follow the show, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the fallout from the movie impacts the show as did Captain American: The Winter Soldier. We shall see. This also made it abundantly clear if Marvel hadn’t done so already that the Inhumans are their mutants. This had a very X-Men type feel with a government task force setup to hunt down and neutralize any threats. Instead of the MRD (Mutant Response Division) we are getting the ATCU.
Last but not least, GEMMA! Where are you? It looks as if she is on a completely different planet. Or some other dimension. I’m leaning towards another planet since that monolith is Kree related (is it?). If you have any theories on that one let me know!
Overall, I thought “Laws of Nature” was a very strong premiere. I liked how Daisy has embraced her abilities. I’m always up for more Bobbi, Hunter and Mack. Coulson is always great (whom I got to meet at Comic Con this year!). I’m curious to see how Fitz is going to locate Simmons because he is bound and determined to find her. And let’s get Ward and May back as soon as possible! I’m excited to see what other crazy super-powers and new characters we’ll see this season!
4.1/5 Schmoes
Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD airs on Tuesday nights on ABC.
What did YOU think of the season 3 premiere Schmoeville?! What were some of you favorite moments? Who are your favorite characters? Do you think Season 3 got off to a strong start?
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