Should you watch it, wiki it, or wait for the recap? Watch it. Mainly for Maria Hill.
Maria Hill returns to aid Coulson his battle against Hydra. Meanwhile, Skye must outwit Ward long enough to figure out his plan and escape. But when Deathlok gets involved, how will Skye manage to overcome her captors?
OK I must say I was really excited to see Maria Hill in “Nothing Personal” as we didn’t really see much of her in “The Avengers” movie. That aside, Skye manages to get captured (by Deathlok, so it’s not that she’s incompetent or anything) and rescued (in a suitably spectacular fashion, no less), giving us a rather interesting main plot this time around. Thankfully there’s no token case of the week to deal with, so the story can really focus on the series arc as we head towards the last two episodes.
I like Deathlok. He’s really growing on me, in a way. I never thought much of him before this, but hey, that’s the whole point of this television series right – to take second or third tier characters and make them interesting! Sans Nick Fury, who took another level in interesting when he appeared here.
Highlights:
Skye’s level up
We get to see how much Skye has grown from the first episode. Her XP gain is similarly mirrored in the choice of location, as she forces Ward to bring her back to the diner from the first episode, thus giving us a symbolic callback to her level 1 (OK maybe she was level 2 then) self. She also manages to deceive Ward, who himself is a trained liar, also reminding us that the student has surpassed the teacher.
To counter this though, Deathlok appears to capture her, which reminds us that even though Skye has levelled up, so have her enemies.
Coulson’s rescue
Coulson was given more levels of awesome as he single-handedly infiltrates the Bus (wonder if we’ll ever get a toy of this from SDCC) to rescue Skye and unintentionally confront Deathlok. They make an exciting getaway that is plagued with product placement, but that makes the action even more spectacular, in a way. I daresay the CGI has improved as well!
Maria Hill
Again, I’m a Maria Hill fan, because she’s quite interesting in “Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes” cartoon and also similarly has that stern demeanour in the “New Avengers” comic. I like how she has the OL look and feel while in SHIELD tights. I think she’s every career woman stereotype rolled up in the form of a secret agent. The best part is, she can fight and kick butt with the best of them, as evidenced in the teaser for the episode.
Letdowns
Colonel Glenn Talbot
OK, so we had a cameo from him in a previous episode, and here he’s… just boring. He plays a redneck general, which is a distinct departure from the kind of roles he takes. But his performance is kind of flat. If came off more obnoxious, or if he had some subtext to him, then Glenn Talbot could have served a purpose. Right now, he seems like a wasted guest star to make the US Airforce seem interesting.
Overall, this episode begins to pick up the pace, which is crucial as we move on to the final two episodes of the season. The exposition is set up well here amidst lots of tension and action, which is what you’re looking for when you watch Agents of SHIELD, right?
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