‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’ Episode 1.19 “The Only Light in the Darkness” (8 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.
Last week, I called “Agents of SHIELD” out on the inclusion of Patton Oswalt as Fury’s failsafe SHIELD agent. Basically, I was concerned that Oswalt would just be a throw away character. When I mentioned my concerns on Twitter, I was surprised to see this little piece of awesome in my notification feed:
There, from Agent Koening’s own Twitter feed, came confirmation that “Agents of SHIELD” was planning something awesome—in time. After (SPOILER) happens on tonight’s episode, I’m currently convinced that Oswalt’s message is some type of coded communique, and it’s currently being decrypted by one of my many robot underlings. Regarding tonight’s review—there be spoilers ahead.
Blackout
Having Garrett bust open a prison filled with SHIELD enemies gives the show a now inexhaustible rogues gallery, which looks to be filled with some classic D-list Marvel bad guys. Some people may have a problem with this. I, on the other hand, think it’s awesome. First of all, we can’t have our A-game supervillains running amok on “Agents of SHIELD” when so much of the Marvel movie universe is yet to be explored. Second, I happen to like D-list characters—they’re the underdogs of the Marvel universe, and I’m glad they’re getting some screen time. Though this does open “Agents of SHIELD” up to milk the “freak of the week” formula, which would be bad, the way they handled tonight’s villain was actually pretty clever.
The villain in question is Blackout, who can manipulate a substance called ‘dark force,’ that allows him to absorb light and create tangible fields of darkness. On a nerd tangent, it’s great that the show is referencing dark force, as it’s also a power source that is tied to a few other Marvel characters—maybe we’ll see Cloak and Dagger?
Anywho, Blackout has an unhealthy fixation on a concert cellist named Audrey Nathan (Amy Acker), and since he’s broken out of the Fridge, he’s likely to go creeping after her. If the words ‘concert cellist’ don’t ring any bells, we soon find out that Audrey was once the love of Coulson’s life before his untimely death. Since the team is protecting her anyway, Fitz insists that Coulson reveal himself—but he refuses because he thinks it might be too painful for her. It’s logic that I don’t really understand, but I’m just going to chock it up to the fact that their reunion needs to be delayed for a more dramatic moment.
The subplot with Audrey was a good way to include Blackout without having him seem like a run of the mill bad guy that SHIELD had to round up. His history with Audrey put Coulson in the awkward situation of protecting her without letting her know he was actually alive, which added a bit of pathos to what could have been an otherwise clichéd battle between good and evil.
Ward, the Filthy Liar
With the bulk of Coulson’s team out hunting Blackout and May taking off because she and Coulson are on the outs, the treacherous Agent Ward is left alone with Skye and Koening. There’s a moment when Koening submits each agent to a lie detector test akin to the Voight-Kampff, and each of them check out okay—except Ward, of course. As Koening sees Ward’s reading spike, he finishes the rest of the test holding a gun to Ward’s head. It’s a very cool moment, and does solidify the fact that Koening’s just might be a badass beneath that cuddly exterior. Ward is an experienced liar, however, and he’s able to barely squeak through the test unscathed.
Ward seems to be fine with biding his time, but when Skye suggests that they hack the NSA’s satellite feed to see who exactly broke out of the Fridge, Ward gets a little squirmy. At this point, his duplicitous nature kicks in as he gets makey-outey with Skye moments before strangling Koening and ditching his body in a supply closet. When Skye finds Koening’s body, let’s just say she feels conflicted about the whole Ward situation. After a decent attempt to use her feminine wiles to lure Ward into lingering at the compound until the rest of the team returns, Ward manages to convince her to leave with him, presumably back to Garrett and the encrypted hard drive.
This is an interesting situation for Skye. She knows Ward’s a traitor, so how is she going to handle it? It would be immensely satisfying if Skye was the executor of Ward’s justice, since Ward’s betrayal likely hit her the hardest.
Verdict
Coulson’s beef with May was my biggest pet peeve this episode. I don’t know whether it’s the acting or writing, but their angry scenes just aren’t very believable. Though it led to a moment at the end of the episode in which May’s mom picks her up and agrees to take her to see Maria Hill, it’s difficult for me to buy the fact that Coulson would get that mad at May. In one of the evening’s more cheesy scenes, Coulson reasons that it’s about time to start trusting May again, but she’s already gone.
It was great to see Amy Acker take the role as Coulson’s former love interest. She’s a Joss Whedon regular, so I hope she sticks around—at least until she sees that Coulson isn’t really dead. Despite having Skye find out that Ward is evil, the subplot with Blackout was my favorite chunk of tonight’s episode. It was a clever way to introduce Coulson’s old girlfriend while adding a new dimension to his resurrection.
Only a few more episodes left! After being lukewarm towards “Agents of SHIELD” at the beginning of the season, I’m starting to see the potential in its future.