Revolution For Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.: "Uprising."

The Good: Competent performances, Moments of plot, Sense that the various plot threads are building to something
The Bad: Very simple plot resolutions, Low on character development, No big performance moments
The Basics: "Uprising" is a mediocre Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. episode that very quickly resolves two potentially huge crises.


Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. is at a potentially precarious place as it appears to be the element that is introducing the supernatural into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The Avengers: Age Of Ultron (reviewed here!) seemed poised to infuse the MCU with magic elements by adding the Scarlet Witch into the mix. The film managed to avoid that, scientifically explained her powers, and moved right on. Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. seems mired in a quagmire by introducing Ghost Rider, Robbie Reyes, to the mix. Either Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. will undermine all of the work it has done by attempting to reveal everything the Agents encounter as scientific anomalies by introducing the Spirit Of Vengeance . . . or it will piss off Ghost Rider fans by completely gutting the mystic character by explaining his powers and anger in a scientific way that destroys the spiritual aspects of the character. "Uprising" opens bearing the weight of the conflict between where the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been and where it is headed.

"Meet The New Boss" (reviewed here!) climaxed with Daisy going off with Reyes after Agent May was stricken with her mysterious illness related to the "spirits" Ghost Rider had torn out of people. "Uprising" returns the Inhumans to the forefront while bringing Holden Radcliffe and Aida to the plot to resolve the Agent May's medical condition.

In Miami, Elena Rodriguez is at a party when Mack calls her moments before there is a blackout that knocks out all power in the city, including the cell phone Mack is calling on. At S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters, Director Mace views an Inhuman Resistance operative taking responsibility for the attack in Miami. While Simmons struggles to get to May - who is at a facility in Upstate New York - to save her life, Mace assigns Coulson, Fitz and Mack to go to Miami to maintain peace, locate the Inhuman and restore power to the city. Daisy and Reyes are headed to visit Reyes's uncle when the Inhuman terrorists attack a fourth time. They go to rescue Reyes's brother and in the process, Daisy hurts herself by using her abilities.

In Miami, Elena's party is broken into by thugs searching for the Inhuman. Coulson, Fitz and Mack arrive in Miami and lose all power, which leads Fitz to realize that the terrorists are using a continual EMP device. The trio arrive at Elena's side just as she is exposed as the Inhuman at the party. Simmons and Radcliffe conclude that May's brain is under attack by fear-driven hallucinations and that the best way to save her life is to kill her. Using rudimentary tools, Fitz devises a way to locate the EMP device and shut it down.

"Uprising" is pleasantly surprising for the way it sets up one type of episode and then manages to go in a very different direction. "Uprising" puts Aida in play very early in the episode before putting May in the same place as her, in mortal peril. Fans of science fiction and comic books might reasonably suspect that May was about to have her brain transferred into an android, much like the way Data was essentially replicated with B-4 in Star Trek: Nemesis (reviewed here!). Fortunately, the combination of Aida and May is not so lazily resolved.

Robbie Reyes is given characterization that certainly insinuates that his Ghost Rider personality is supernaturally-derived. He claims to have sold his soul to the devil and that the price of his powers was settling scores. But when getting vengeance on those who put his brother in a wheelchair failed, he started trying to get vengeance for other people. His failure to accomplish whatever goal will allow him to be rid of the Ghost Rider personality is what motivates him. Reyes's internal conflict is further motivated by his guilt over what has happened to his brother, Gabe.

One of the things that "Uprising" does extraordinarily well is that it reveals the moral and practical problems of the Sokovia Accords and the Inhuman Registration. Those lists that people with powers are put on can easily fall into the wrong hands and be used by people that have sinister agendas. That the Watchdogs resurface in full force is a nice tie-in to the third season that helps keep Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. vital and complicated in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Robbie Reyes continues to be a mysterious character in "Uprising;" the episode enhances Gabe much more than Robbie. The scenes with Gabe and Daisy are good and they enhance both characters. The relationship front is fleshed out by a reasonable sense of conflict between Mack and Rodriguez. Mack tries to get an honest response from Rodriguez and when she denies that she used him to get medication for Daisy he snaps at her.

"Uprising" introduces a new villain and enhances the Watchdogs as an adversary, but it offers no moments that allow the performers to shine. Jason O'Mara is still comparatively low-impact as Director Mace, leaving no real impression on the viewers and giving them nothing to truly emotionally invest in. In a similar fashion, Gabriel Luna still has yet to break out as Reyes in an interesting way.

Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. has come back from lulls before - especially when it has been forced to divert from its own plotline to accommodate whichever blockbuster from the Marvel Cinematic Universe hits theaters. "Uprising" is stuck in the lull, but it is not the death knell of the series. But it is also not particularly compelling television, either.

For other works with John Hannah, please check out my reviews of:
Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. - Season 3
The Words
The Mummy Trilogy
Sliding Doors

[Knowing that single episodes are an inefficient way to get episodes, it's worth looking into Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. - The Complete Fourth Season on DVD or Blu-Ray, which is also a better economical choice than buying individual episodes. Read my review of the fourth season here!
Thanks!]

3.5/10

For other reviews of elements of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, please check out my Marvel Cinematic Universe Review Index Page for a listing of all those reviews!

© 2016 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Luke Cage Runnin' Away: "Blowin' Up The Spot" Undermines (Almost) Everyone!

The Good: Adequate performances, Misty Knight
The Bad: Most of the characters are undermined, Virtually plotless
The Basics: "Blowin' Up The Spot" is an entirely reactive episode of Luke Cage that does remarkably little to advance the plot of the season.


In every super hero story, it seems there is a moment where the viewer or the reader commits to the story or cuts and moves on to other works. With the Netflix television production of Luke Cage, the story's turning point truly happens in the climax of "Manifest." With "Blowin' Up The Spot," Luke Cage essentially reinvents itself and the second half of the season goes off in a very different direction from the first half. Truth be told, if I were not reviewing Luke Cage, "Blowin' Up The Spot" is where the show would have lost me.

Given where "Manifest" (reviewed here!) ended, it is entirely impossible to discuss "Blowin' Up The Spot" without some references to the prior episode. After all, "Blowin' Up The Spot" is essentially one long running away from what happened in "Manifest" on both the a- and b-plots. "Blowin' Up The Spot" is the proper introduction of the villain Diamondback, for whom Shades Alvarez has been working the entire season. But "Blowin' Up The Spot" is a series of sloppy attempts to reinvent Luke Cage that undermines virtually all of the characters.

Opening with Luke Cage being taken away from where he was shot by Diamondback with Claire Temple working to save his life, Diamondback follows the ambulance and shoots the ambulance. Back at the Harlem Paradise Club, Alvarez counsels Dillard on how to clean up and survive the murder of Stokes. Misty Knight arrives and interviews Dillard and Candice, a worker who implicates Luke Cage for killing Stokes. Dillard uses the death of Stokes as an opportunity to turn the media against Luke Cage.

While Misty Knight interviews Candice and has a terse conversation with Dillard, Claire Temple works to extract the shrapnel from Luke Cage. She learns that Cage's internal soft tissue is as impenetrable as his external skin. Alvarez seizes power by taking over the management of the Harlem Paradise Club while Misty tries to bring in Luke Cage for questioning. When Misty tracks Luke Cage down, she inadvertently leads Diamondback to Luke Cage and the situation goes south fast.

"Blowin' Up The Spot" is one of those episodes of Luke Cage that seems like it was written with a clear beginning by where the prior episode left the story and the writers knew exactly where they wanted to end the episode, but they had no clear idea to make a compelling story between points a and b. "Blowin' Up The Spot" takes place over just a few hours following the death of Stokes and is bookended by Luke Cage encountering Diamondback. The final line of the episode is intended as something of a climax, but it's a whole episode worth of filler setting up the line that could have easily come during the first encounter Cage and Diamondback have with one another.

Misty Knight might be the only character who comes out of "Blowin' Up The Spot" unscathed. In her first scene of the episode, Misty Knight visualizes how Stokes was killed. She is professional, smart, and only hints at the joy she might feel at seeing Stokes laid out. Knight asks all of the right questions, explores the motivations of the suspects and approaches her work with a professional detachment that makes Misty Knight a truly great television detective. Simone Missick plays Knight with a fearless quality when the detective is at the mercy of Diamondback and that is well-executed.

Alvarez is pretty amazing in "Blowin' Up The Spot" and in the episode, his professionalism and efficiency hint at the true missed opportunity of the first season of Luke Cage. Shades Alvarez is arguably the most efficient criminal in the Marvel Cinematic Universe since Wilson Fisk and his ruthless efficiency and strange sense of pride in his work make for a compelling character. Unfortunately, the first season of Luke Cage does not focus sufficiently upon him and "Blowin' Up The Spot" undermines his character by his association with Diamondback. Diamondback is bat shit crazy in "Blowin' Up The Spot," so how and why a professional like Alvarez would work for him makes Alvarez seem less smart and professional.

Dillard is rendered in an intriguing way in "Blowin' Up The Spot." Her murder of Stokes was, admittedly, an unforeseen twist in Luke Cage. Her character is undergoing the transition from respectable politician to corrupt villain. Dillard clings to her old life and sense of respectability; her admonishment to Alvarez to never again call her "bitch" mirrors Luke Cage's refusal to sit by and let anyone call him "nigger." Dillard is a user and Alfre Woodard plays her well, but Dillard is ungrateful and makes a lot of stupid mistakes in "Blowin' Up The Spot," including goading Misty Knight.

Erik LaRay Harvey explodes into the Luke Cage narrative as Willis "Diamondback" Stryker and Harvey plays him as flat-out crazy. Stryker is given scenes with a lot of overt exposition that masquerades as characterization. "Blowin' Up The Spot" features Luke Cage trying to reason with crazy and Diamondback is a tough character to reconcile in his first full appearance. How does someone so overtly crazy and sloppy with a revenge fantasy orchestrate Carl Lucas's incarceration? How could he possibly get involved with an industrialist like Hammer to get the weapons he now possesses?! It is tough to believe that someone who is so unhinged could be rational enough to put together all of the backstory plots that led to his appearance in Luke Cage. And while Cornell Stokes loathed being called "Cottonmouth" (arguably because it had to do with his teeth getting knocked out by Pops back in the day and/or his quiet nature as a child), Stryker bursts out on the scene in "Blowin' Up The Spot" taking pride in being called "Diamondback." While Stokes rejected his nickname, Stryker takes pride in being called a snake. "Blowin' Up The Spot" is the episode of Luke Cage that makes explicit that both of Cage's obvious enemies are nicknamed after snakes.

Rosario Dawson gets thrown back in the role of sidekick in "Blowin' Up The Spot," which is an unfortunate direction for Claire Temple. Director Magnus Martens uses handheld cameras in unfortunate and awkward ways in "Blowin' Up The Spot." Between the look, illusion of movement and moments when characters unhinge in unrealistic ways, "Blowin' Up The Spot" is more of a mess than it is compelling television.

[Knowing that single episodes are an inefficient way to get episodes, it's worth looking into Luke Cage - The Complete First Season, which is also a better economical choice than buying individual episodes. Read my review of the debut season here!
Thanks!]

For other works with Alfre Woodard, please visit my reviews of:
Captain America: Civil War
12 Years A Slave
Something New
Star Trek: First Contact

4/10

For other television season and episode reviews, please check out my Television Review Index Page for a listing of those reviews!

© 2016 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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