Category Archives: Television

Television

Recap: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. – “A Fractured House”

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Phil Coulson in A Fractured House

After last week’s tense, exciting episode, it would have been tough for Agents of SHIELD to try to match that level of intensity.  The standoff between Raina and Coulson, with Simmons’ life hanging in the balance, combined with some new and emotional revelations about Skye’s father, would have been a tough act to follow.  Wisely, SHIELD charted a different course this week, giving us one of those all-important connect-the-dots episodes, that helps position the pieces for bigger things to come.  And while it might have been a slight but inevitable let down, it still packed in some great moments both fun and emotional, while setting up one big game changer that will affect how the rest of the season plays out.  So let’s take a look at “A Fractured House,” written by Rafe Judkins and Lauren LeFranc and directed by Ron Underwood.

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Recap: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. – “A Hen in the Wolf House”

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Bobbi Morse aka Mockingbird

I hope you’ve got your lanyards handy, because Agents of SHIELD got serious again this week.  Last week’s episode was all fun and action (and Philinda), but this week was drama, suspense, and emotional moments.  While last’s week was more of a standalone episode, giving us some small progress but not doing much to advance the plot, this week took some major steps forward.  We didn’t get any concrete answers to the show’s main mysteries, but they did shake up the status quo quite a bit.  Simmons undercover experience with HYDRA came to a head, and Coulson’s secrets are becoming less secret.  We learned more about the Doctor, none of which sounds good, and Raina was put in a tough position.  Oh, and there’s Bobbi Morse, who is the best.  So let’s dive right into “The Hen in the Wolf House,” written by Brent Fletcher and directed by Holly Dale.

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Recap: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. – “Face My enemy”

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Phil Coulson and Melinda May in "Face My Enemy"

This week’s Agents of SHIELD episode was both the funniest and had the best action of any episode thus far this season.  Last week finally told us what Simmons has been up to along with giving us some truly fantastic Fitz moments.  This week took the focus away from the “kids” of the show and put it squarely on mom and dad, as May and Coulson set off on an undercover assignment to retrieve a mysterious painting.  We got some seriously kickass moments from both May and Coulson, a lot of humor, and even some sweetness, in what proved to be a nice change of tone from the previous three episodes this season, all of which have been rather serious.  So let’s jump right into tonight’s episode (while keeping an eye out for laser grids), “Face My Enemy”, written by Drew Greenberg and directed by Kevin Tancharoen.

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Recap: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. – “Making Friends and Influencing People”

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Melinda May, Skye, "Making Friends and Influencing People"

Agents of SHIELD keeps putting out great episodes this season.  Last week’s wrap-up to the season premiere was a great one, giving us some solid character development while helping to feed some of the key mysteries that have been set up for this season.  This week, the mysteries and the Obelisk were set aside as we finally learned what Simmons has been up to.  We also got some stellar acting from Ian De Caestecker, who is the MVP of season 2 thus far, and a look at how all of our characters have changed and progressed since last season, and how the family dynamic of the team has shifted.  We also saw the return of one of last season’s dangling threads, perhaps setting the stage for more returning characters from last year.  So without further ado, let’s jump into “Making Friends and Influencing People” written by Monica Owusu-Breen and directed by Bobby Roth.

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Recap: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. – “Heavy is the Head”

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"Heavy is the Head" - Coulson, Skye and Tripp

After last week’s episode got season 2 of Agents of SHIELD off and running at a fast pace, the latest episode continued right where we left off with another exciting installment.  “Heavy is the Head” gave us some solid character development, it wrapped up some of the loose threads from last week, and it helped to set the stage for the coming season.  We got the addition of a new villain, allied with a returning character from last year, plus a deeper look at the new additions to our band of heroes.  And perhaps most importantly of all, we got the return of some humor to the show, for which the action last week left little time.  (Though I imagine that people are most interested in discussing the preview for next week’s episode, which we’ll get to at the end of the recap.)  In all, this episode felt like the second half of a two-hour premiere, and gave the team and the show a solid base to build on for the next 20 episodes.  So let’s dive right in to “Heavy is the Head,” written by Paul Zbyszewski and directed by Jesse Boncho.

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

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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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Recap: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. – “Beginning of the End”

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I’m just going to go ahead and say it: I’ve never seen a more exciting, emotional, badass, hilarious, sweet and special finale to a show’s first season.  Not only that, but tonight’s episode of Agents of SHIELD is already up there on my list of top season finales of any show ever.  I have to give full credit not only to the writers and showrunners Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tancharoen, but the cast, crew and everyone involved in the show for doing a truly spectacular job.  In an hour they managed to wrap up the dangling storylines left from last week and the entire season, not only as far as plot but also with the characters, set things in motion for next season by completely changing the direction of the show, work in the show’s best guest appearance thus far, while managing to surprise and send a fist straight into the chest of my emotions, pulling out one of my ribs in the process.  I could go on and on (and I will), but I might as well just jump right into tonight’s season finale, “Beginning of the End,” written by Jed and Maurissa and directed by David Straiton.

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Agents of SHIELD moving to a new time in the fall; Agent Carter to air midseason

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Just a quick update on the news from today’s ABC upfront about the scheduling for Agents of SHIELD and Agent Carter.  The first news is that Agents of SHIELD will be moving from 8pm to 9pm, presumably in the hopes of improving its ratings.  For most of the 2013-2014 season, Agents of SHIELD has gone head-to-head with NCIS, the most watched show on TV most weeks.  This can’t have done the show any favors, even if there isn’t a whole lot of overlap in the target demographics of the two shows.

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Thoughts on the end of Once Upon a Time’s 3rd Season

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Last night’s season 3 finale of Once Upon a Time hit me harder than anything on the show since its first season.  Despite religiously watching the show, I’ve never written about it, but after last night I felt that I had to, as I had a much stronger emotional reaction than I could have expected, particularly in its last minute reveal that sets the stage for season 4.  I want to use this moment to take a look back at the series thus far, and perhaps discover why this new development hit me so hard.  Needless to say, there will be spoilers for the show thus far, although I’ll give another, specific spoiler warning for last night’s episode when I get to that point.

Once Upon a Time was clearly a show designed to appeal to me.  Continue reading →

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. renewed! Plus, Agent Carter set to premiere this fall!

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That’s right, fellow Level 7 Agents, Agents of SHIELD has officially been renewed!  (Update: It’s moving to a new time in the fall!)  I thought we might have to wait until next week for the ABC’s upfront presentation, but the good news came tonight!  After much speculation, Coulson and his team (whoever survives next week’s season finale) will be back in the fall to continue to fight HYDRA and rebuild SHIELD.  After debuting to huge numbers last year, Agents of SHIELD steadily dropped in the ratings, though in the past couple of months viewership steadied and even rallied a bit.  The dramatic tie-in with Captain America: The Winter Soldier really helped, both in drawing attention to the show and in giving the show a creative boost.  The latest string of episodes has been edge-of-your-seat exciting, and I can’t wait to see where they take the show next season.

The other big news on the Marvel front was that the much-rumored Agent Carter series has been picked up for the fall.   Continue reading →