Just a few words about last night's episode before I get into anything spoilery... We've now had two episodes of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. in a row which suffered due to writing. I don't like to be negative on here and it's personally important to me not to slam other peoples' creative work. However, I have a rooting interest for this show to stay on the air and reach its full potential and I'm afraid that isn't going to happen if the writing is cringe-worthy on the two most important episodes of the season so far.
Clark Gregg still managed to produce a couple of very sincere moments. All the more impressive considering the circumstances. So, kudos to Clark's acting prowess and his ability to bring some added facets to Phil Coulson that I wasn't sure were possible.
We were promised answers last night. Did we get them? Mehhh... yeah sort of. I would call it satisfactory. We basically know Coulson is still human, we have an overall idea of what he went through and who is responsible. But there are plenty of details still out there to be discovered. That was probably the best way to handle it and best for the show.
- SPOILER: Coulson is not a Life Model Decoy.
- The phone that (killed?) Edison Po seemed to have a very similar effect to the device that Obadiah Stane used to paralyze people in Iron Man.
- There were zero connections to the 616 (comics) Universe that I noticed in last night's episode, apart from the second appearance of Victoria Hand.
In my lowly opinion, last night's developments practically demand that we see Tony Stark learn that Coulson is alive and then confront Fury on the ethical issues of what was done to him. They can't possibly spend the time in one of the feature films to do this, therefore it would be necessary to make it happen in AOS. It is a moment that begs to be written and seen. It would be the most poignant and emotional issue Marvel has tackled by miles. You bring Downey and Sam Jackson in for this and Joss to write or direct it and you create the best hour of television that this show could ever generate. Put a script and a bag of cash in front of Downey that he can't resist. Make it a monumental TV event. Disney, eat the cost. You would never recoup it in a hundred years but the investment would be worth it. Why? It sends a message. Marvel TV isn't screwing around. This is no joke and this why you, the audience, want to watch every new series we produce from here on out. Because we might do things like this.
Let's hope the writing and directing rebound before the end of the season. I have hopes that the revelation of Coulson's resurrection will continue to be interesting. We'll see you here next week.