Recap: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. – “Nothing Personal”

 

Apologies, my fellow Agents of SHIELD/HYDRA/Nothing, for this week’s recap being late.  I’m at home sick with pneumonia, so my schedule is a little off.  We’re only a few episodes from the end of the season, and things have really gotten intense.  Last week we saw Ward kill Agent Koenig and head off with Skye, who had secretly discovered his ties to HYDRA, May left the base for complex reasons, while Coulson and the rest of the team rescued Coulson’s former girlfriend from a creepy, superpowered stalker.  This week’s episode was one of the most exciting, suspenseful, dramatic and emotional hours of the show yet, all while featuring the return of Cobie Smulders as Maria Hill.  So let’s jump right into “Nothing Personal,” written by Paul Zbyszewski & DJ Doyle and directed by Billy Gierhart.

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Recap: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. – “The Only Light in the Darkness”

Happy Earth Day, readers!  SHIELD is back with another dynamite episode!  Last week we watched as Ward and Garrett emptied the Fridge, while Coulson and company chased some mysterious coordinates to Fury’s secret bunker, Providence.  Tonight’s episode introduced us to a couple new characters, all while taking another big step along the “who can we trust?” boardgame.  Things are really starting to build towards the season finale in a few weeks, so let’s jump right into “The Only Light in the Darkness,” written by Monica Owusu-Breen and directed by Vincent Misiano.

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

 

After last week’s game-changing episode of Agents of SHIELD, we were left with just as many questions as were our heroes.  This week both we viewers and the characters we watch got some answers, along with some clues about where the show goes from here.  There’s no way that this episode could live up to the huge moments of last week, and the show was wise not to try.  In many ways, it felt like the first episode of a mini series, heading into the finale of season one, setting up both the type of conflicts our heroes will face as well as the internal strife they must confront to find their place in a changed world.  So without further ado, let’s dive into tonight’s episode, “Providence,” written by Brent Fletcher and directed by Milan Cheylov.

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

A lot has happened since we last left Coulson’s crew just one week ago.  In the real world, Captain America: The Winter Soldier was released this past weekend, setting box office records and generally getting rave reviews.  In the process it changed almost everything about the Marvel Cinematic Universe and by extension our beloved Agents of SHIELD.  (Needless to say, there will be spoilers ahead for Captain America: The Winter Soldier.)  Never before has a film had this level of impact on a TV show, and tonight’s episode resolved several mysteries, altered the lives of our heroes for good, and set the show on its path going forward.  So without further ado, let’s jump into “Turn, Turn, Turn,” written by our married showrunners Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tancharoen and directed by Vincent Misiano.

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

Agents of SHIELD is back once more, this time with the promise of no more funky scheduling until the end of the season.  Last time we saw our heroes facing an Asgardian visitor and ended with the revelation that May has been spying on Coulson and company for some unknown authority.  Tonight our team decided to intensify the search for the Clairvoyant along with pretty much every agent who isn’t Nick Fury or Maria Hill, giving us an exciting episode that upped the mystery level even higher.  All of this happened while simultaneously setting us up for the premiere of Captain America: The Winter Soldier this weekend, which will lead directly into next week’s episode.  So let’s jump right into “End of the Beginning” written by Paul Zbyszewski and directed by Bobby Roth.

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

Coulson and crew are back again, in an action packed, exciting episode that also shook up our show’s characters all while giving us a healthy dose of humor to go along with it.  Also, we got the show’s biggest tie-in to the larger film world of the Marvel Cinematic Universe yet, with two visitors to Earth from Asgard.  Last week’s episode gave us some answers to some of the show’s biggest mysteries, including what actually happened in Tahiti, but raised even more questions in the process.  And while we didn’t get any real new revelations, the show still has some major momentum going into the rest of the season and I can’t wait to see what comes next.  So without further ado, let’s jump into “Yes Men,” written by Shalisha Francis and directed by John Terlesky.

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

The Olympics are over, the hiatus is done, and SHIELD is finally back!  When we last left our crew, things weren’t looking good.  Sure, they’d finally captured Ian Quinn, but before they did he shot Skye twice in the stomach, and Simmons was forced to cryogenically freeze Skye just to keep her alive long enough to reach help.  Tonight’s episode picked up right where that one left off, and gave us some interesting new information to chew on, all while introducing us to some new characters and giving us an interesting tease for next week.  So let’s head to T.A.H.I.T.I., written by Jeffrey Bell and directed by Bobby Roth.

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Recap: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. – “T.R.A.C.K.S.”

SHIELD is back with one of its most shocking and creative episodes yet!  After last episode’s journey to the Academy, where we uncovered some big revelations about Skye’s background and saw Ian Quinn take a bigger role with Centipede and the Clairvoyant, tonight’s episode gave us a direct followup to that while delivering some big punches, some clever storytelling, a juicy tease for Marvel comic fans and a cliffhanger that will have to tide us over until after the Olympics.  So without further ado let’s jump into “T.R.A.C.K.S.”, written by Lauren LeFranc and Rafe Judkins and directed by Paul Edwards.

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

Hello again, Level 7 Agents!  SHIELD is back after last week’s big episode, which explored the mysteries behind Coulson’s resurrection and the secret of the “Magical Place” from his memory.  Tonight’s episode continued the trend of revelations, this time giving us a partial explanation of Skye’s mysterious past which raises more questions than it answers while simultaneously driving the character forward (as all good mystery answers should).  It also brought back a character from earlier in the season, introduced us to a classic character from the comics as well as giving us a look at the oft-discussed SHIELD Academy.  In all, another solid episode from the show, as things keep building and growing.  So let’s go ahead and jump right into “Seeds”, written by Monica Owusu-Breen and showrunner Jed Whedon and directed by Ken Fink.

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Recap: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. – “The Magical Place”

I hope everybody enjoyed their holidays, because it’s time to ring in 2014 with a new episode of Agents of SHIELD.  Things were looking pretty dim when we last left our heroes; Coulson had been captured, everyone’s favorite guest star Mike Peterson had been blown up and our team had been left to fend for themselves.  Tonight’s episode picked up right where “The Bridge” left off, with Coulson’s Crew searching for him, while we learned some shocking new information about the show’s biggest mystery: Coulson’s resurrection.  Coulson’s absence allowed us to see how the team’s relationships have grown over the course of the show, now that he is not there to smooth things over.  Plus we got some action and a good helping of humor, plus some new information about Centipede.  But enough about all that, let’s jump to “The Magical Place”, written by Paul Zbyszewski and Brent Fletcher and directed by Kevin Hooks. Continue reading