Agents of SHIELD: Small Screen Marvels

Introduction

One of the few constants I’ve kept in the years since I’ve started this blog is my continuing coverage of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. As of last Thursday, I’ve reviewed 11 of the 13 films in the MCU, all the One-Shot short films, and season one of Agents of SHIELD. However, due to my prolonged absence, I was unable to properly review Avengers: Age of Ultron, Ant-Man, or the Daredevil, Jessica Jones and Agent Carter shows.

For the sake of my credibility as a superhero nerd, I am honor bound to “catch up” on everything Marvel, so for the next few days I will be reviewing all the MCU films and shows that I haven’t covered yet. To begin, I give unto you a thorough analysis of all three seasons of Agents of SHIELD, Marvel’s inaugural TV show, since the third season took its bow just last week. Be warned, here there be spoilers.

Season One: Hail Hydra!

First, the story so far. SHIELD’s first season was handicapped by an initially rocky first batch of episodes. While there was promise in putting a resurrected Agent Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) from The Avengers in charge of his own small, elite team of SHIELD agents, the episodes were too standalone in nature and, without an overarching threat, lacked agency. It was only during the back half of the season did the show finally gain a legitimate threat. That threat was the Nazi cult HYDRA disguised as SHIELD, a twist that could only be revealed once Captain America: The Winter Soldier exposed that key detail.

Once HYDRA stepped into the spotlight, the show’s quality improved significantly. Coulson learns he was resurrected by Nick Fury with blood from an alien corpse (it’s a long story) and had to confront the fact that one of his hand-picked agents, Grant Ward, was a HYDRA mole alongside his mentor John Garrett. This revelation did wonders for the show, giving it a better focus from the “X-Files light” vibe the season’s first half had. It also started Ward on the path to becoming one of the better MCU villains outside of the films.

While the first half of the season was by and large inferior, it did allow us as viewers to familiarize with the characters, including Melinda “The Calvary” May, adorkable scientist duo Leo Fitz and Jemma Simmons and the orphaned hacker Skye, who Coulson took on as a protégé. These earlier adventures did eventually give weight to the HYDRA twist towards the season’s climax. They also turned the complicated resurrection of Coulson into a thrilling plot point, which managed to make sense in the context of the MCU and help set up future events.

Coulson’s death was a huge turning point in the first Avengers film, and his resurrection was clearly motivated in a meta sense by his popularity with fans. Ultimately, the show justifies this by showing the lengths it took to bring Coulson back, while giving him greater depth as a character and allowing him to act as a mentor figure to the other agents, Skye especially.

Season Two: Enter, the Inhumans!

I’m reiterating all this because, going into season 2, the complete 180 change in tone does wonders for the show, and it wouldn’t have been possible without the transition that began at the end of season one. The premise becomes a lot more espionage based, as it should be, with the taking on of new recruits like Bobbi Morse/Mockingbird, her mercenary ex-husband Lance Hunter and talented everyman Mack. These are all great additions that add more flavor to the cast. Coupled with the HYDRA reveal, SHIELD’s new rogue agency status under Coulson and Ward’s presence as a Hannibal Lecter type, the show is given a much needed sense of urgency.

Coulson’s resurrection ties neatly into Skye’s character arc, as it’s revealed that the alien whose blood runs through Coulson’s veins is a Kree, the race Ronan comes from in Guardians of the Galaxy. It’s a nice little tie-in that highlights what the show should’ve been doing from the beginning: expanding the world of the Marvel films organically, without forcing tie-ins to the movies.

As a show about SHIELD, it made sense that the HYDRA reveal from Winter Soldier should impact the characters, but having them essentially clean up the messes of Iron Man 3 and Thor: The Dark World only felt forced. It’s neat to have Lady Sif from the Thor films pop in every once in a while, but does she really belong in a show about spies?

It’s something that season 2 thankfully corrects, as the show becomes more preoccupied with its own characters and developing its own part of the MCU than forcing tie-ins to the films. The Kree connection is great because it’s a natural link to Guardians without overtly referencing that film’s events. It’s used instead to set up a new story that becomes pivotal to the show going forward, signaling a new threat that is both entwined and separate from HYDRA.

What is that threat? The Inhumans: Kree/human hybrids with built-in superpowers, of whom Skye is one. And not just any old Inhuman, but the MCU’s version of Daisy Johnson/Quake, the earth-moving superhero of the comics. Skye’s empowerment and learning of her heritage does wonders for her character arc here. It not only introduces genuine superpowers to the show, but allows Skye/Daisy’s growth as a hero to parallel Ward’s growing acceptance of himself as a villain. Ward’s icy calmness hides a boiling yet calculated rage that makes him simply fascinating to watch, and his descent into villainy throughout the show is what makes him one of the MCU’s most complex villains.

But Ward isn’t the only villain here. Alongside Ward and HYDRA are Daisy’s father, Dr. Calvin Zabo/Mr. Hyde, and mother Jaiying, the leader of an Inhuman sanctuary. Zabo is easily one of the best things about season two, being somehow both over the top and strangely sympathetic in his attempts to reunite with his lost daughter. The season essentially boils down to a tense confrontation between Skye and her parents, and that very human focus makes it a great finale.

Season Two (and a half): The Problem with Movie Tie-Ins

With that said, the latter half of this season, while still great, suffers a bit compared to the first half. The compelling HYDRA plot gives way to the Inhumans and a schism in SHIELD over how to deal with them, as they’re essentially turned into a stand-in for mutants (thank Fox for that, otherwise we may have gotten X-Men here). Skye’s mother Jaiying is basically Xavier before turning into Magneto, in a somewhat jarring twist that nevertheless ties both halves of the season together thematically. It’s all well-played, if a little conventional given the tropes the show is working with.

The greatest flaw in season two’s latter half, however, is the tie-in with Age of Ultron. Instead of dealing with the after effects of the films like in season one, or seeding a small link to Guardians, the Ultron tie-in is so incredibly forced that it ultimately hurts both the show and the film it’s supporting. It comes down to Coulson preserving an old Helicarrier, which Fury then uses for the Ultron climax in Sokovia. The revelation obviously isn’t important to the film, otherwise it would’ve been mentioned, and the show glosses over it almost immediately afterwards to go back to the Inhumans plot.

The whole thing feels cynically corporate, more so than any of the tie-ins in season one. Seeing this only highlights the fact that the show is much better focusing on its own plots than trying to force connections to the movies. And what’s really great is that, by the end of the second season, SHIELD has become so good at telling its own stories, with its own uniquely developed characters, that it doesn’t even need the movies as a crutch aside from the occasional fun shout out. Everything it does, it does to further its own story, and its MCU connections are now more interesting since the show is adding something to the continuity of the films, rather than the films basically propping up the show.

Season Three: And Lo, the Secret Warriors Shall Come!

With the show now more standalone from the films than ever, season three goes full throttle with its plotlines. Between Skye/Daisy setting up the Secret Warriors Inhuman team with fellow Inhuman Lincoln, Coulson’s rivalry/romance with government liaison Rosalynd, May’s ex-husband becoming the Inhuman killer Lash, Ward reviving HYDRA with its last head Gideon Malick and Simmons falling through a portal to an alien world, there are a lot of balls to juggle.

And that’s why season three’s first half stumbles a bit setting all this up. There’s simply way too much going on at once, and while a TV show can obviously afford to spend more time with these plots than a movie can, it feels almost like overkill. But then the show does something miraculous, and reveals that all these seemingly unconnected plots are really just parts of a whole. The portal subplot, which seems unnecessary, ends up becoming the main goal of HYDRA, as they plan on using it to return an ancient, exiled Inhuman to Earth.

It’s stunning how expertly the show weaves these separate plots into one giant story, all while never losing sight of the characters that are now the show’s heart. Fitz’s romance with Simmons, and his quest to get her back, is particularly well-played, as is Simmons’ attempts to survive on this harsh alien world (seriously, it’s one of the show’s best episodes).

Everything coalesces into a pitch perfect mid-series finale that closes off some threads while opening brand new ones. Coulson gets some great development here, as his actions directly cause a new threat to emerge in the form of Hive, the aforementioned ancient Inhuman who HYDRA worships as a god. Armed with the ability to possess the bodies of dead humans and take control of other Inhumans, Hive begins a campaign to make the Earth more Inhuman-friendly. This leads to a much more streamlined back half of season three that dispenses (permanently, it seems) with HYDRA while moving Daisy into the forefront as the new focus.

Daisy’s need to belong and have a family, established all the way back in season one, comes full circle with Hive in ways you might not initially expect. On a larger scale, relationships become a key focal point for the season, as FitzSimmons, May, Coulson, Mack, Daisy and Lincoln all have huge character moments based on their viewing of SHIELD as a surrogate family. This is made even more poignant during an episode where Bobbi and Lance are forced to leave the team, with their teammates giving them a tearful goodbye that is one of the show’s saddest moments.

It is also here when the tie-ins to the films become better, because they’re virtually nonexistent. Season three chooses to tie in with Captain America: Civil War thematically instead of overtly. Hive’s plan is inspired by how only those in power have the means to create superheroes, as he hopes to turn regular humans without Kree DNA into Inhumans. It all leads to a fantastic, emotional finale that wisely focuses on Daisy and her need for belonging. The one weak point is that as the show finally seems to wrap up most of the threads hanging since season one, it cuts to six months later to begin a brand new story arc. If the season was allowed to end more organically, and let the emotional beats play out, it would’ve been a spectacular ending to a thrilling season. Instead, it’s a lukewarm ending that’s focused more on what comes next than wrapping up what they already have.

Conclusion

So after watching this show go from being a weak Marvel commercial to a compelling super-powered spy drama, was it really all worth it? Given what Marvel TV has now become, was this show really how Marvel should’ve gotten onto the small screen? Did Coulson really need to be resurrected? What’s the point of doing the Inhumans when it looks like the Inhumans movie is now cancelled? Why give an emotional farewell to Lance and Bobbi when their spinoff, Most Wanted, was passed over? And most importantly, why follow a team of spies that operate in the shadows, when they and their actions are pretty much ignored by the films?

All compelling questions, and they all have a simple answer. Despite what this show started as, when looking at what it’s become, Agents of SHIELD has completely earned its place in the tapestry of the MCU. The film and spinoff show it could’ve helped set up may now be in jeopardy, but given that we’re getting a fourth season, there’s still plenty of time to wrap up whatever threads remain. Given Most Wanted being passed over and sister show Agent Carter being cancelled, coupled with the fourth season moving to the 10 pm time slot this fall, it looks like the show may not even be on the air much longer. If the upcoming fourth season is its last, Agents of SHIELD will still have justified its existence.

And that’s purely because the characters have now become so enduring, and their stories so captivating, that we don’t need Iron Man or Captain America to show up to make things exciting. Coulson’s SHIELD agents occupy their own corner of the MCU, and even if it may not be “essential viewing” to anyone who isn’t a Marvel diehard, it still fleshes out a part of the universe we wouldn’t see in the films. I strongly recommend giving this show a try. Any flaws it once had have given way to a fantastic show that knows how to treat its characters with respect. Take your time with it, and you will be rewarded, as the buildup leads to one hell of a payoff. As a tie-in to the larger Marvel film world, SHIELD doesn’t always work. But when it’s simply telling its own story, SHIELD is a blast, and as long as it keeps this momentum going, it’ll continue to be so.