‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’ Episode 1.15 “Yes Men” (6 out of 10) Starring Clark Gregg, Chloe Bennet, Ming-Na Wen, Brett Dalton; Tuesdays on ABC.
As if bewitched by an Asgardian sorceress, I liked what I saw during tonight’s episode, but I couldn’t shake the nagging feeling that something was out of place. Sif (Jaimie Alexander) and Lorelei (Elena Satine) provided an interesting departure from the Centipede/Clairvoyant storyline, Skye’s doing better after getting healed by goo from half of a dead alien, and Coulson is trying to track down Nick Fury because he wants answers, by damn.
Sif and Lorelei
These two ladies of Asgard have some bad blood between them. Before her imprisonment, Lorelei enslaved Sif’s boyfriend, which landed her deep within the Allfather’s dungeon. During the Dark Elf attack of “Thor 2,” Lorelei managed to escape and has come to Earth with designs on enslaving the human race—well, half of the human race, anyway. Her wiles don’t work on the ladyfolk. Sif comes to Earth on orders to apprehend Lorelei, and SHIELD is there to provide backup. Despite the fact that Asgard had the tactical sense to send a female agent to apprehend a sorceress who wraps men around her finger, SHIELD figures that Ward will be unfazed, because he’s, you know, Ward. It’s not long before Ward joins the enemy, however, resulting in a pretty awesome fight between him and May.
There were some pros and cons regarding the Asgardians. Jaimie Alexander was great as Sif. It was good to see a cool secondary character get more of the spotlight, and we get to learn a little bit more about her backstory. It turns out that she sticks to her code of honor for the same reasons that SHIELD agents May and Coulson do, and the three of them formed a strong warrior’s bond. Elena Satine didn’t quite nail it, however. She can do the sexy, pouty, British thing just fine, but she struggled with scenes that required more than bedroom eyes and puckered lips. These struggles might not have been entirely her fault, because she was given some pretty clunky Asgardian dialogue to chew on.
Lorelei’s machinations did create an interesting rift between the female and male characters of the show—as the men (except Coulson. He punches Fitz in the face) of the team fall victim to Lorelei’s enchantment, it comes down to the ladies to take control. They eventually neutralize Lorelei, and Sif hauls her ass back to Asgard.
Coulson and Skye
During the previous episode, Coulson saw some strange things. The strangest of these things would have to be the blue alien torso that was pumping out GX something something, which was the drug that brought him and Skye back from the brink of death. Coulson didn’t want this chemical injected into Skye, and he explains why in this episode.
Coulson figures that since the chemical is of alien origin, there’s no telling what it might do to their Earthling bodies. Skye handles the information a bit more positively, because it did bring them both back to life. Though I understand that being injected with alien goo is risky, but I don’t understand why it’s made Coulson all mopey. What’s done is done, Coulson. If the blue goo turns you into an interplanetary grapefruit with a sixteen vestigial thumbs, then that is your destiny, my friend.
Functionally, this scene does strengthen the bond between Skye and Coulson, which is shaping up to be one of the show’s most enduring relationships—though they have yet to actually do anything with said relationship. Thus far it’s consisted of not much more than some heartfelt dialogue, solemn stares, and stern head-nodding. However, the fact that this mysterious alien drug is now coursing through both of their veins, it’s a safe bet that they’ll both figure out something big about SHIELD together.
Verdict
The diversion from Centipede was actually pretty nice. I’m interested in Deathlok and all, but I felt the show was talking a lot about Centipede and its nefarious schemes without really doing anything. If you’ve been reading these reviews, you’ll know that I love it when “Agents of SHIELD” flexes its crossover potential, which it did tonight.
That being said, I think it’s time to put the “will they/won’t they” relationship between May and Ward to bed already. They don’t really have any chemistry with one another, and May at least has confirmed that it was nothing more than a physical dalliance, so why not leave it at that? I don’t think it strengthens the show in any way—in fact, any relationship with Ward outside of SHIELD would detract from May’s character, who I see as a straight up samurai who has no time for paltry things like love and feelings.
No episode next week, but it looks like ABC will be airing a pretty sweet Marvel documentary that has promised to show exclusive clips from “Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” “Guardians of the Galaxy,” and—gasp!—“The Avengers: Age of Ultron.” I don’t know about you, but I’ll be keeping tabs on any blue aliens that happen to turn up.