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

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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Instant Reaction: Agents of SHIELD – “Making Friends and Influencing People”

*Update: My full recap of “Making Friends and Influencing People” is now live.  Read it here!

If tonight’s SHIELD episode gave us a closer look at what we can expect on a weekly basis from the show this season, then I’m excited to see what’s yet to come.  After last week helped wrap up the season premiere, this week we got more of a stand-alone episode that still helped to advance the story SHIELD is telling.  We got the return of (the real) Simmons, some new revelations, some new mysteries, and a good helping of suspense.  So read on for my instant reactions to the episode, and check back tomorrow for my full recap of the “Making Friends and Influencing People” (I’ll post a link here once it’s up).
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Recap: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. – “Heavy is the Head”

"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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Instant Reaction: Agents of SHIELD – “Heavy is the Head”

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

Tonight’s episode of Agents of SHIELD picked up right where last week’s episode left off.  In fact, in many ways it was almost as if the season premiere was split in half, and tonight was merely part two of an extended beginning.  We got some (temporary) resolution to the Creel/Absorbing Man plot, spent more time with this season’s newest cast member, and the stage was set for the larger movements of the plot going forward.  We got to see progression on some of the character arcs that were started last week, while some others were left out, and we saw the reappearance of a familiar face from last year along with the introduction of a new threat to SHIELD.  In all, it was a great followup to last week, and I can’t wait to see what’s in store going forward.  Here are my instant reactions to “Heavy is the Head,” and I’ll update this post with a link to my full episode recap once it’s finished.

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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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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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Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. – Looking back at season 1 and forward at season 2

We’re just one week away from the season 2 premiere of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and I can’t wait to see what this season has in store.  SHIELD quickly became my favorite show on TV last year, and despite some early struggles the final stretch of episodes were fantastic.  I had fully intended to write an in-depth recap of the first season, going through the major plot points and character progressions, looking at where the show succeeded and where it could use some work, but some unexpected illnesses and a fair amount of travel kept me from doing that.  (I also wanted to rewatch the first season before this one started, but the DVDs were released too late for me to fit it into my schedule.)  But I still wanted to post something before the next season starts, so here’s what you’ll find below: links to all of my recaps of season one, my top moments from the first season, some general thoughts on what I liked about season one and what I’d like to see from season two, and, most importantly, a request for feedback on what you’d like to see from my weekly episode recaps this season.

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

 

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

It’s the penultimate episode of Agents of SHIELD, and things are shaping up for a thrilling finish to the season.  After last week’s exciting showdown between Ward and Skye, as well as the rest of the team discovering Ward’s treachery and a great appearance from Maria Hill, tonight’s episode saw our crew digging for more information on HYDRA’s plans while we also got to see a bit of how Ward became the traitor he is today.  We also got some new revelations on a variety of fronts, and a killer cliffhanger leading into next week’s finale.  So let’s jump into tonight’s episode, “Ragtag,” written by Jeffrey Bell and directed by Roxann Dawson.

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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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