‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’ Episode 2.6 “A Fractured House” (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.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m excited to see what the Obelisk is, but I’ve been getting a little burned out on super villainy. Luckily, tonight’s episode focused more on regular villainy that involved HYDRA agents attacking the UN dressed like SHIELD agents. This put General Talbot (Adrian Pasdar) in some hot water with a certain senator who is secretly related to someone super-secret, and Coulson (Clark Gregg) is tasked with setting the record straight—it’s hard to be a do-gooder when the U.S. military is out for your blood.
Spoilers ahead!
May, Hunter, and Morse Steal the Show
Without a doubt, the scenes with these three were the best of the evening, and arguably the best of the show so far. Serious props to the writers for setting up that disgruntled relationship between Hunter (Nick Blood) and Morse (Adrianne Palicki). Of course, it wouldn’t work if Blood and Palicki didn’t totally capture how much these two hate/love each other—a prime example comes when the two are arguing only to stop and simultaneously shoot a HYDRA agent before they finish. In the past, “Agents of SHIELD” has been a bit too heavy on the angsty characters and the inclusion of Hunter and Morse injects the show with just the right amount of levity.
Perhaps it’s not fair that Agent May (Ming-Na Wen) gets all the good fight scenes. I didn’t think she could top the fisticuffs with Ward in which she used a nailgun to pin his traitorous foot to the ground, but the scene where she takes on a HYDRA soldier (Antal Kalik) who is armed with one of those ninja chainy-knifey weapons—day-umn. Maybe it was a bit too convenient for this scene to take place in an unfurnished room that was big enough to play a decent game of racquetball, but it was one of the best choreographed fight scenes that I’ve seen on a TV show.
Fitz is Awkward
Now that Jemma (Elizabeth Henstridge) is back from her stint as a SHIELD mole, you’d think that Fitz (Iain De Caestecker) would be a bit cheerier. Instead, it feels like he would be more comfortable if his imaginary Jemma was back in the picture. The main hang up that I have here is that I don’t understand why Fitz is upset that Jemma left SHIELD after Ward tried to kill the two of them. Obviously, she had some important spying to do over at HYDRA, and it’s surprising that Fitz still gets mopey over that. The whole situation between them feels like the writers don’t really know what to do with him as a character, so he’s been perpetually mopey and insecure. Except for that time when he almost suffocated Ward (Brett Dalton). That was hardcore.
Ward’s Family is Messed Up
Speaking of the treacherous Agent Ward, he had some interesting screen time tonight. Remember that senator that I was talking about earlier? Well, it turns out his name is Christian Ward (Tim Dekay), and guess what? Grant Ward is his brother! Scandal! This, of course, was enough motivation for Senator Ward to put SHIELD in the crosshairs after HYDRA’s attack on the UN. There’s an interesting pair of scenes in which Coulson is speaking to Senator Ward at the same time that Skye (Chloe Bennet) is speaking to Grant. Both brothers are telling the same story, but they’ve also changed the details around so each of them appears to be in the right, and both of them seem genuinely afraid of the other. Based on the fact that “being a douchebag runs in the family”—Skye’s words, not mine—it’s hard to tell which one is lying. Regardless, Coulson needs the government to back off, so he agrees to turn Grant over to his brother—a move that he will soon regret after he finds out that the slippery turncoat has overpowered his captors and is now on the loose.
I’m a staunch Ward-hater, but this season has done a lot to add some complexity to the guy. Even after the typically demure Jemma threatens to kill him, there’s still something almost endearing about him—and I never thought I’d say that because I hate him.
Verdict
As the show progresses, it’s been interesting to see the bugs get worked out. The beginning of the season showed some promise, and I think we’re starting to see the payoff. All of the new characters appear to have been thoughtfully cast and written in order to fix a few of the glaring problems that were present during season one. Though I will always love it when the show references the world of the Marvel films, it feels like “Agents of SHIELD” is starting to stand on its own legs.