Recap: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. – “Shadows”

Agents of SHIELD Cast, season 2

Ladies and gentlemen, Agents of SHIELD is back!  It’s got a new timeslot, a bunch of new faces, a new enemy, and a new group dynamic, but SHIELD’s mission hasn’t changed.  The events of Captain America: The Winter Soldier may have changed everything for Coulson and his team last season, but they’re still out to protect people, even if they may not have the seemingly endless resources of last year.  Coulson’s trying to rebuild SHIELD from the ground up as its new director, which means making deals with some shady characters and making harder decisions than he ever has before.  Tonight’s episode gave us our first look at how this new version of SHIELD will play out, setting the stage for some season-long arcs while delivering some solid action, new superpowers and connections to the Marvel universe, and hints to larger mysteries, a tease for Agent Carter, and a good helping of drama.  So let’s jump right into “Shadows,” written by Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tancharoen and directed by Vincent Misiano.

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Quote of the Day

“Maybe we could call the police from that phone booth,” Klaus said.

“Dragnet!” Sunny said, which meant “But the police think we’re murderers!”

A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Carnivorous Carnival – Lemony Snicket

Instant Reaction: Agents of SHIELD – “Shadows”

*Update: My full recap of “Shadows” is now live.  Read it here!

Agents of SHIELD is back!  I don’t know about you but I was an energizing mix of excited and nervous for the premiere, full of questions but eager to finally get back into my favorite show.  Would the new season live up to the first?  What’s the status of all of the mysteries left over from last season?  What’s going to happen to Ward?  What happened to Fitz?  How will Skye’s new hairdo look?  We got some glimpses at the answers to these questions along with a whole host of new mysteries for season 2 in tonight’s episode, “Shadows.”

I’m going to be trying something new this season as a result of SHIELD‘s later timeslot and in an effort to maintain a more human sleep schedule.  After a new episode airs I’ll post an “instant reaction” like this one, and in the following day or two I’ll put up my full recap as usual, going into more depth than this quick reaction and covering the entire episode, with my customary S.H.I.E.L.D. thoughts to cap it off.  Please be patient with me, as it will probably take me a little while to find the right balance between the two (and please offer any suggestions you might have on how to improve things).  These quick reactions will be in the form of bullet points, not necessarily in order, and will hit some of the big moments from the episode along with anything that catches my eye.  Some of them will pop up again in my full recap while others will only live here.  Once my full recap is posted, I’ll update this post to include a link to it.  So without further ado, here are my thoughts about “Shadows.”
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Quote of the Day

Jadzia Dax: Worf, you’re practically easygoing. What’s next? A sense of humor?

Worf: I have a sense of humor! On the Enterprise I was considered to be quite amusing.

Jadzia Dax: That must have been one dull ship.

Worf: That is a joke. I get it… it is not funny, but I get it.

Jadzia Dax: I don’t know if I can get used to this “new you.” It’s kind of eerie.

Worf: Your problem is, you cannot accept change.

Jadzia Dax: *I* can’t accept change?

Worf: That is correct.

Jadzia Dax: Oh, you’ve gotta be kidding! I’ve changed bodies six times, Worf.

Worf: Yes, but you are still very set in your ways.

Jadzia Dax: And look who’s talking.

Worf: Well, I do not have to sleep on the same side of the bed every night, or brush my hair exactly fifty strokes every night, or eat the same thing for breakfast every day, or read the last page of the book before the beginning, or lift up the…

Jadzia Dax: I get the point! I don’t know how you can live with someone so monotonous.

Worf: It is not easy… *That* was a joke.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Season 6: Episode 16 – “Change of Heart”

Book Review: Joss Whedon: The Biography

Joss Whedon: The Biography

*Update: I was informed by author Amy Pascale on Twitter that Joss Whedon: The Biography is not an “authorized biography” and have edited this review to remove any references to it as such.  I apologize for the mistake.

I had some mixed feelings about reading a biography of Joss Whedon.  For starters, I rarely read non-fiction (just as a matter of personal preference), but what made me more reluctant was my personal admiration and loyalty to Joss, the man who has created so many of my favorite stories over the past fifteen years or so.  The man who created “cult classics” like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, and Firefly in addition to writing and directing The Avengers, one of the most successful films of all time, is certainly a subject ripe for study, but what to expect from a biography?  Could it capture the essence of this Lord of the Geeks that his fans all know and love, while managing to explain to the uninitiated why he’s worthy of our praise, while managing to find something new that will surprise even his most devoted followers or that could give a deeper meaning to his work?  While I found the book to be an enjoyable read, the bigger answers to these questions turned out to be something of a mixed bag.

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Quote of the Day

“There is nothing to be feared from a body, Harry, any more than there is anything to be feared from the darkness. Lord Voldemort, who of course secretly fears both, disagrees. But once again he reveals his lack of wisdom. It is the unknown we fear when we look upon death and darkness, nothing more.”

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince – J.K. Rowling

Quote of the Day

When She Was Bad

Willow:  Giles!

Xander:  Yo! G-man! What’s up?

Giles:  Nice to see you. And don’t ever call me that.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 2: Episode 1 – “When She Was Bad”

Quote of the Day

Behind these two booths was an enormous roller coaster, a phrase which here means “a series of small carts where people can sit and race up and down steep and frightening hills of tracks, for no discernible reason.”

A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Carnivorous Carnival – Lemony Snicket

Tonight’s Movie: The Hunger Games

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Quote of the Day

Worf: Very well. Room service.

Jadzia Dax: Really?

Worf: Really.

Jadzia Dax: Oh, that was easy.

Worf: Did you want to fight over it?

Jadzia Dax: No, it’s just, I didn’t expect you to surrender so quickly.

Worf: Surrender?

Jadzia Dax: Bad word.

Worf: Very bad.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Season 6: Episode 16 – “Change of Heart”