TV Nights: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. #4
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Week 4
Episode: “Eye Spy”
Original Airdate: 10-15-13
One thing I realized this week about this show, while I do think that the quality and my enjoyment of the show has been increasing from week to week, there is one thing missing from it that I do think turns a lot of fans off. There is a distinct lack of Marvel in it. This episode gets it right in terms of building the mysteries, developing (most) of the characters, creating an interesting, mysterious, and action packed episode. But it doesn’t feel like we’re dealing with superheroes and aliens here, it feels more like a James Bond spinoff than a Marvel spinoff. And that’s not a bad thing for some people. I’m really enjoying the show for what it is, but aside from a cameo, a couple lines reminding you of other Marvel properties, and the fact that Coulson is a major player in the show, there just isn’t a strong Marvel presence in it. I don’t honestly know if it truly needs that strong of a connection, but I would kind of like to see it come into play a bit more often.
This episode focuses on a previous S.H.I.E.L.D. agent that was trained by Coulson, M.I.A. years ago, and has now popped up as part of a series of diamond heists. It turns out that she is actually being controlled by an unknown person or group through an advanced eye prosthetic. Just like last episode, there is a great through line of not knowing exactly what the whole story is, and the situation changes scene by scene until all the parts finally fall into place, while still leaving a few unexplained mysteries. I really like the fact that they are setting up this currently unknown organization that has highly advanced tech, and multiple layers of secrecy, so much so that there isn’t even a name to this organization just yet. Though honestly, it wouldn’t surprise me if it ended up being tied to the Rising Tide.
There is also some great character dynamics and development. Skye and Coulson are starting to share a bit of a father/daughter bond, Melinda May is quickly becoming a favorite character of mine, right alongside Skye. Ward and Fitz Simmons still have a ways to go as far as their characters are concerned, but a little bit at a time. I’m also quite curious about the frequent teases about Coulson’s return, once again there’s a hint that there’s more to it than meets the eye, as Akela notes that he’s changed, and not just his outlook on life. This time around, there’s not even a Marvel-related teaser pre-credits, though it is a funny little scene involving backscatter glasses and poker. Finally, for the first time, I actually caught this week’s MAOS: Declassified before watching the episode and it’s another fun little treat as you get to see last episode done as a fifth grade diorama. I hope that Brett Erlich gets a spot in the show proper at some point, he is really funny.
Posted on October 16, 2013, in TV Nights and tagged Marvel, review, SHIELD, television, tv. Bookmark the permalink. 10 Comments.
Flights, Tights, and Movie Nights 
That’s my biggest problem with the series, too. It’s pretty disconnected from the Marvel universe despite claiming to be a part of it — likely out of fear that they may step on the toes of upcoming unwritten movies. But that tip-toeing around the property leaves us with a low rent Men-in-Black-ish show, something trying to have the chemistry of Firefly but missing an essential spark.
(Plus it’s all soft and safe around the edges, like most ABC shows. I’m not expecting hardcore nudity and gore or anything, but the characters are so juvenile and simple that it hurts. It’s like watching a junior high school field trip in black leather catsuits and ties.)
I’m still watching it because eh, not much else on I particularly care about, but I’m not making it much of a priority and I’m not expecting much from it.
The Nick Fury cameo in episode 2 was fun, the Graviton bit in episode 3 was great for comic fans, but movie fans like me had no idea what the connection was unless they look it up afterward, and this had pretty much nothing. As far as safe goes, this did have a severed hand which honestly surprised me a little.
It’s not a huge success yet, but I quite enjoy three of the main characters and the other three have potential. I like the ongoing mysteries and for me the episodes keep getting better. It still has a ways to go, but I think there’s a good chance it can get there.
Great review. I’m a huge fan of the Marvel universe, and I’ve been trying to decide whether or not watching this is right for me.
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It has elements of the Marvel Universe, but it’s a far cry from the movies. It’s not huge on the sci-fi/superhero element yet, more of a spy show, but it’s enjoyable in its own right.
I only watched episode 2 and didn’t feel very intrigued… I felt that much of the acting was poor (not all of it) and there was nothing really special about the show. What do you think, does the show get much better from episode 2, so I should check out all of it?
Episodes 3 & 4 are much better than the first two in my opinion, I’d at least give them a chance. They focus less on introducing and acclimating the characters and more on developing the characters and introducing ongoing mysteries.
I agree, I’d like to see more than just vague hints of the Marvel Universe in this. I’ve been waiting for them to really come out and put some sort of semi-recognizable character in; not necessarily a movie character, but some B-lister that fans, at least, would recognize. I think the closest they’ve come is a vague allusion to Graviton in the previous episode, and he’s sufficiently obscure that even I didn’t catch it first time through.
I found it really surprising in this episode that Coulson and May flat out said “there’s no such thing as telepathy”. While I know that Marvel isn’t acknowledging X-Men due to the FOX license, I wasn’t expecting them to come so close to directly saying “They’re not in the Marvel Cinematic Universe” as this.
I can agree with the X-Men not being a part of this cinematic universe, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch are either a: from another dimension/timeline or b: given a new origin. Because S.H.I.E.L.D. and the rest of the current Marvel Cinematic Universe takes place in the very near-future where these superheroes and aliens are pretty brand new. The X-Men exist in a world where mutants are commonplace, something like 1 in 100 (?) people are a mutant or something along those lines?
That said, I would also like an increased presence of the Marvel comic universe in the S.H.I.E.L.D. series even though I’m not that familiar with that universe and would likely be caught unaware until I looked it up.
True about X-Men having superpowers be commonplace and the MCU having them be a novelty. I suspect with Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch, though, they’ll just gloss over their origins… I can’t see them making a straight-up change to them. That would add too many layers of potential confusion to the characters, and risk ruining them for both franchises.
Eh, if it doesn’t fly they can always just change it in the future. Like having Emma Frost be changed from Origins to First Class.