‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’ Episode 2.8 “The Things We Bury” (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.
This season’s primary acts of villainy have revolved around Daniel Whitehall (Reed Diamond), Skye’s father (Kyle MacLachlan) and the Obelisk/Diviner. Up to this point, the narrative has been pushing us towards an inevitable showdown between Coulson’s good guys and Whitehall’s bad guys. However, due to the events that took place tonight, things are about to get way more complicated than that.
Lesser of Two Evils
Let’s start with Whitehall. We learn that he has maintained his dapper, middle-aged appearance by surgically exploiting a woman who could touch the Obelisk without turning into beef jerky—thus his fascination with the alien artifact. Though I typically don’t mind it when I figure out a twist ending, I couldn’t help but feel that the big reveal of tonight’s episode was a little too easy to peg. Anyone who has been watching the show could tell you that a mysterious woman who is immune to the Obelisk’s destructo-powers is going to end up being Skye’s mom, and if that’s the case, Skye’s dad isn’t working for Whitehall in order to form a hostile co-venture for world domination—he’s looking for a bit of sweet revenge.
Though Whitehall’s origin story was a lot like that of Sebastian Shaw in “X-Men: First Class,” it was interesting to see his relationship to HYDRA and how years of imprisonment within a SHIELD facility has only made him tougher. In addition to having a decent German accent, Reed Diamond has done a solid job at making Whitehall come across as the ultimate death-cheating, white-collar villain. Kyle MacLachlan’s acting does seem a little over the top—especially when he’s in mad scientist mode—but oddly enough, I don’t hate it. Over the course of the show, the bad guys have usually been clean-cut, monologue-spewing businessmen. Skye’s father is the complete opposite. Not only are his motivations shrouded in mystery, but he seems to be really enjoying himself.
The Good Guys…and Ward
While Skye’s father and Whitehall are machinating, things are actually a bit slow concerning Coulson (Clark Gregg) and his team. After a convoluted plan to break into an Australian base ends with Tripp (B.J. Britt) getting shot, Coulson does come face to face with Skye’s father again—it’s a relatively creepy scene as he threatens to let Tripp bleed out to cover his escape. The buildup for this espionage mission was entertaining, but the actual execution of the plan was a bit anticlimactic.
The best moment for our heroes comes once again from Agent “Mockingbird” Morse (Adrianne Palicki) and her questionable interrogation tactics. She hacks through Mr. Bakshi’s (Simon Kassianides) mental defenses without even breaking a sweat, eventually resulting in Bakshi’s ingestion of a cyanide pill. As Bakshi killed himself right after threatening to reveal what Morse had to do to infiltrate HYDRA, the audience is left with some questions about her true intentions. Was it just a miscalculation? Or was Morse trying to keep a secret buried? And what happens when Hunter (Nick Blood) calls her on it? Van sex. That’s what happens. That Morse…she’s a sly one.
Our friend Ward (Brett Dalton) did some backsliding on my like-o-meter tonight. The subplot with his politician brother (Tim DeKay) was surprisingly weak considering the levels of mistrust that the audience has for both of them. Up until tonight, we didn’t know which of the Ward brothers to trust, and I was hoping that the conclusion of this fraternal conflict would have a more satisfying ending—and one that maybe didn’t end with Ward setting fire to the rest of his family. It goes to support Ward’s evolution as an independent, equal-opportunity bad guy, and he still might have a few tricks up his sleeve, but the whole thing left a bad taste somehow.
Verdict
Tonight’s episode set a lot of future events up. We learned more about Skye’s past, more about what the Obelisk/Diviner is, and we have an engaging endpoint in figuring out what the deal is with this madness-inducing city. The downside of the setup is that our supporting characters weren’t left with much to do. Regardless, the show is still making vast improvements as far as writing and acting go—and I’m still trying to unravel what this city might be, so it’s got me mentally checked in even when the show’s not on. Until next week, friends!