‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’ Episode 1.18 “Providence” (7 out of 10) Created by Joss Whedon, Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tancharoen; Starring Clark Gregg, Chloe Bennet, Ming-Na Wen, Brett Dalton; Tuesdays on ABC.
All bets are off for our special agents. After SHIELD’s collapse, the U.S. government has designated all operating agents as possible security threats—which means it’s time for our heroes to go off the grid. As I mentioned in my last review, there are some similarities between Coulson’s situation and that of “Battlestar Galactica’s” Captain Adama—both men are leading a skeleton crew into the vast unknown in order to escape an enemy that has them seriously outgunned. Though tonight’s episode skirted the desperation was evoked by the crew of the Galactica, I couldn’t help but feel like things would inevitably work out for Coulson and his team. As usual, there will be a few spoilers ahead.
The Bad Guys
Ward and Garrett appear to be operating as a HYDRA splinter cell, but there’s a moment in which Garrett mocks a minion for offering a “Hail HYDRA” salute that makes me suspicious of his true motivation. Yes, it’s safe to assume he’s in bed with HYDRA, but something tells me that he’s merely an opportunist who is using a moment of chaos to seize as much of the leftover pie as he can. Based on the fact that Garrett was revealed to be the Clairvoyant—the mystery villain that has been plaguing the team since the beginning—means that the dude isn’t answering to anybody but himself.
Now that the Clairvoyant’s secret is out, one wonders how some of the season’s sub-villains feel about being duped by a rogue SHIELD agent. Raina, otherwise known as the Girl in the Flower Dress, seems to be the most crestfallen with this news. She appears to have been doing all of her nasty experiments for the Clairvoyant out of a sense of belief in his mystical abilities, so seeing a person that she has idealized as some kind of prophet turn out to be a loud-mouthed asshole like Garrett has to be hard to swallow. Her crisis of faith along with her interaction with Agent Ward—she thinks that betraying a man like Coulson is pretty messed up—makes me think of her as the most likely flaw in Garrett’s master plan. Raina is a believer, and now that her belief system has been exposed as a series of well-orchestrated lies and betrayals, I could see her becoming one of the good guys as the series develops.
Tonight’s episode also toyed with the relationship between Skye and Ward, in both good and bad ways. The good way? Garrett has a SHIELD hard drive that only Skye can access, and guess who he’s sending to get her help? Knowing that Ward is a scheming prick while Skye still makes googly eyes whenever she hears his voice makes me look forward to the moment when Skye has to put a bullet in Ward’s traitorous skull. The bad way? Ward acts like his “feelings” for Skye are genuine when he calls Garrett out on having her shot in the stomach. Let’s be consistent, folks. Even if Ward turns out to be some kind of double-double agent, he killed lots of innocent people—including a harmless man with a crippling disability. The character has become completely unsympathetic, so giving him some “second thoughts” when it comes to Skye is useless at this point.
Garrett’s main priority is to infiltrate and pillage the SHIELD installation known as the Fridge, which is where all of the agencies confiscated goodies end up. It also doubles as a prison for the pantheon of sociopathic meta-humans that SHIELD has apprehended—not sure I see the logic behind storing experimental weapons in the same building as potential super villains, but what do you do? In addition to loading up on some new ordinance, Garrett also liberates a surly Ian Quinn, who’s a bit tetchy since Garrett almost ripped out his tongue and all. But, when Garrett offers Quinn the hunk of gravitonium that was confiscated earlier this season, he seems to be satisfied. It looks as if “Agents of SHIELD” might be toying with the idea of incorporating another lesser-known Marvel Comics character into the mix. If so, let’s hope he’s a bit cooler than his comic book predecessor, who looks like he could be Dr. Strange’s angsty little brother.
The Good Guys
Coulson and May are still pissy with each other, which is confusing to me. Yes, May had been communicating with Fury behind everybody’s back, but isn’t that what Coulson is doing right now? Given the circumstances, is it really that hard to believe that Fury would have an agent that he trusts watching another agent that he trusts? Not only are their little tiffs superfluous, but they undercut Coulson’s believability as someone who is so badass that Nick Fury himself recruited him for SHIELD. All of May’s talk about how Coulson could be working for HYDRA without even knowing about it because of his miraculous surgery makes Coulson appear weak and unstable, which are not great qualities to highlight in a guy that’s supposed to be keeping the team together.
After ducking the air force and deleting their identities, Coulson takes the remaining team to some coordinates that were transmitted to his badge, presumably by Fury. It turns out that Fury has a super-secret safehouse in the middle of the Canadian wilderness which looks to become Coulson’s new headquarters. The team is greeted by Agent Koening (Patton Oswalt) who has been keeping the safehouse fires warm since the events of “The Avengers.” Once Koening gets Coulson away from the rest of the team, he informs him that Fury is actually alive, but the rest of the team can’t know because they haven’t been properly vetted.
I spent the majority of the episode awaiting Patton Oswalt’s appearance because I love that goofy bastard, but I couldn’t help but feel a bit disappointed at the character that the showrunners created for him. Perhaps there’s more to Agent Koening than meets the eye—Nick Fury obviously trusts the hell out of him—but it felt like he was given a throw-away character so the show could gain a bit more geek credibility. Prove me wrong, “Agents of SHIELD.” Prove me wrong.
Verdict
The show followed a logical trajectory after the events of last week’s episode, and I like the whole “Empire Strikes Back” feel that the series has adopted. Currently, the bad guys are winning, which means the stakes are that much higher for the good guys. I’m pretty done with the mystery/lack of trust revolving around the procedure that brought Coulson back to life, though. Every time he tries to rally his team together, someone has to shake their head and bring up the “strange circumstances” that brought him back to life. At this point, it’s hurting Coulson’s character instead of helping it, and that’s a big ol’ problem seeing as how he’s the one who ties the whole Marvel movie universe together.