‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’ Episode 1.14 “T.A.H.I.T.I.” (7 out of 10) Starring Clark Gregg, Chloe Bennet, Ming-Na Wen, Brett Dalton; Tuesdays at 8/7 central on ABC.
I was watching this thing called the Oscars a few days ago, and I happened to notice ABC’s aggressive new ad campaign to promote “Agents of SHIELD.” This ad campaign, which dropped terms like “series-shattering” and “maximum event” while tacking on the ominous subtitle Uprising, means one of two things. Either “Agents of SHIELD” is treading water and this is a last ditch effort to get people to rally behind the show, or they’ve finally established the world of the series to the point that they can start exploring the show’s true potential. Based on tonight’s episode, I’m leaning towards the latter. Expect a few spoilers, people.
Skye’s Still Been Shot
It’s been so long since the last episode that I almost forgot Skye had taken two shots to the stomach, which was pretty sad considering they’d finally decided to make her interesting. However, as Coulson was brought back from the dead by SHIELD, he’s hopeful that if they can make it to the Bethesda installation, they’ll be able to fix Skye up for good. Of course, this requires that they disobey a direct order from SHIELD—big surprise—and keep Ian Quinn in custody while they try to save Skye’s life.
This is where Bill Paxton comes in. He plays John Garrett, one of Coulson’s old buddies. Turns out, Garrett has some beef with Quinn too. Luckily, Garrett happens to be moved by Skye’s plight, and agrees to help out with their mission, which means he’s also disobeying a direct order. Someone in SHIELD’s HR department has got to start following up with these insubordination cases.
Paxton was a nice addition to this episode, and I hope he shows up again sometime soon. He played Garrett with the right amount of tough-guy bravado, but also made his decision to help Coulson’s team believable within the scope of his character. Plus, he totally threatened to rip out Quinn’s tongue right after May beat the hell out of him, so win win.
Bethesda
On their way to the site of Coulson’s resurrection, Fitz and Jemma try to decipher the records surrounding the event itself—but there are inconsistencies. It turns out, none of the data really matches up, so they’re back to square one. Only by entering the SHIELD jet’s supercool holographic computer room do they discover the name of a special drug and find a location within an abandoned World War II bunker (I smell a crossover, and it smells lovely).
The discovery of this bunker seemed a bit too convenient, however, which made me question whether or not they needed to add this level of mystery to Coulson’s treatment. Yes, the Clairvoyant is obsessed with it, and yes, it was pretty unconventional, but we get it already. We’ve seen how it happened, so let’s just move on.
Garrett, Coulson, Ward, and Fitz arrive at the bunker and have to fight their way past two guards who may or may not be employed by SHIELD. After narrowly avoiding being blown up, the team escapes with a miracle drug that is supposed to cure gunshot wounds—not before Coulson has a few trippy experiences of his own.
Seeing the installation where he was brought back to life unearths some more memories, and he is led down a corridor to a hatch marked with the acronym “T.A.H.I.T.I.” It looks like the miracle drug is being manufactured behind this door, and its source? The torso of a blue alien. This caused me some head scratching. It didn’t look like a Chitauri, but Nebula from “Guardians of the Galaxy” is bluish, so it could be, like, her cousin or something. I have a theory that it will somehow relate to the upcoming Captain America sequel, since Cap’s shield was featured during the aforementioned ad campaign, but who knows?
Let’s not forget the fact that Lorelei (Elene Satine), the Asgardian version of Poison Ivy showed up and stole a new husband from his wife at the end of the episode. Man, I can’t wait for Sif to show up and beat her home-wrecking ass.
Verdict
“Agents of SHIELD” is moving in the right direction, albeit slowly. I sometimes get the feeling that the writers have a rough skeleton of what they’d like to accomplish in a season, but that they also make things up as they go. Though this can be a positive thing, I think a show like “Agents of SHIELD” needs a tight gameplan. I can see one developing the more I watch, but I’m not sure the show is out of the woods just yet.
Next week, Jaimie Alexander will be reprising her role as Sif, and it looks like there will be some old-fashioned Asgardian brawling to look forward to. I’ve really liked the episodes that incorporate Asgard into the show’s narrative, so I’m pretty excited to see what happens next week. Join me after the show for more pontificating!