"The War Without, The War Within" Is (Mostly) Simplistic And Insulting To Star Trek Fans!

The Good: Well-directed, Mary Wiseman's performance, Final speech from Michael Burnham
The Bad: Simple plot, Horrible philosophy, Glib character development
The Basics: Star Trek: Discovery argues that winning is the only philosophy in "The War Without, The War Within."


As Star Trek: Discovery rushes toward its first season finale, it has a tangled web to unweave to bring a sense of credibility back to Star Trek: Discovery to tie it back to the rest of the Star Trek franchise. The penultimate episode of the first season of Star Trek: Discovery is "The War Without, The War Within" and it returns to the forefront the war between the Klingons and the Federation. The sense going into "The War Without, The War Within" is that Star Trek: Discovery has bitten off more than it can chew; that reconciling the "prequel" series with the rest of the franchise is an impossible task that will require the events of the first season to be completely undone. As an example of why that sense exists among fans, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine established that outside the Borg incident there had not been a state of emergency declared on Earth in 200 years and that even at the peak conflict between the Klingons and the Federation, the Klingons never attacked Earth. So, with the war turned so drastically against the Federation, it is hard not to ask the question, "Why the hell haven't the Klingons attacked Earth?!"

"The War Without, The War Within" follows on the events of "What's Past Is Prologue" (reviewed here!), which put an end to the Mirror Universe plotline for Star Trek: Discovery and returned the lost ship to Federation space. Almost immediately, though, Saru and the Discovery crew recognized that a massive portion of Federation space was now occupied by Klingons. The U.S.S. Discovery, as it turned out, managed to return to our universe, but nine months after they left and in the meantime, the war has turned dramatically against StarFleet.

While repair crews fix the cosmetic changes to the Discovery, Captain Saru visits the transporter room. There, he finds Emperor Georgiou and has her beamed to confined quarters. With Burnham and the transporter technician ordered by Saru not to discuss Georgiou's presence, Saru visits Ash Tyler in Sickbay. Tyler describes what was done to him and Saru attempts to get information about Voq out of Tyler. The Discovery is borded by a nearby starship, with Admiral Cornwell taking command of the Discovery. Cornwell and Sarek detail the state of the war and how the Klingon Empire has taken twenty percent of Federation territory.

Ash Tyler is given leave to roam the ship and Tilly and Detmer go out of their way to not judge him for his crimes. When the Discovery reaches Starbase One, they find it severely damaged and occupied entirely by Klingons. Cornwell, in shock, turns to L'Rell. Hoping L'Rell knows about House D'Gor - Cornwell tries to figure out what might stop the war. The Discovery takes on a dangerous mission to leap into subterranean caves below the Klingon Homeworld, Kronos. En route, Georgiou appeals to Sarek with an idea on how to end the war definitively.

"The War Without, The War Within" is philosophically insulting for anyone who loves Star Trek. As the war with the Klingons takes a terrible turn toward almost certain defeat, StarFleet comes together. The implication is not that the Federation thrived because various species came together to celebrate their differences and build something; they huddled together out of desperation from a crushing military defeat. As the episode progresses and Cornwell and Sarek turn to Georgiou for guidance in winning the war, the philosophical implications are even more horrifying; the Federation could not survive without the brutality of a barbarian queen to guide them.

Sarek once again appears on Star Trek: Discovery in a very un-Sarek way. Sarek and Spock never mindmelded, but the moment Sarek appears, he leaps on Saru to mindmeld with him. Sarek seems like a parody of Sarek in "The War Without, The War Within."

"The War Without, The War Within" leaps to try to classify the mission to the Mirror Universe and there is some sensibility to that idea. But, as other Star Trek's have noted: you can't kill an idea (seriously, did NONE of the executive producers on this show watch Star Trek: Deep Space Nine?!) and military secrets are the most fleeting secrets of all. The idea that a whole ship full of people could abide by a gag order (especially for the decade until the events of "Mirror, Mirror") is utterly unrealistic. Hell, the Enterprise crew was given a gag order about the Genesis Planet and it took McCoy all of ten minutes to violate that (and the civilian to whom he mentioned the planet knew of the planet's existence already). Beyond that, Cornwell's viewpoint is entirely myopic; destroying information about the Mirror Universe robs our universe of any chance to organize a defense against any Mirror Universe incursions. Were it not in complete violation of the canon already, Cornwall should have - at the very least - ordered transporters retrofitted so that they could not beam people into the Mirror Universe.

Saru, while an interesting character, shows a ridiculous trust for L'Rell. L'Rell performed the surgery that saved Ash Tyler's life and in "The War Without, The War Within," it appears that his Voq personality is in - at least - remission. Believing L'Rell that the Voq personality is destroyed seems painfully naive. While it is high-minded to not blame Ash Tyler for the crimes of the Klingon personality with whom he was grafted, it is absurd to give a known Klingon spy any form of roaming privileges with which he could betray the ship or the Federation. After all, Voq was latent within Tyler for quite a bit of time before his psyche split.

To that end, Tilly manages to deliver the most enlightened dialogue of the series so far in confronting Michael about Tyler. Mary Wiseman gives the performance of the episode in delivering her character's big speech.

Unfortunately, Wiseman's moment is philosophically enlightened in an episode that strains to be anything other than simplistic. The Discovery needs more spores in order to launch the attack on Kronos. Conveniently, there is one more mycillial spore-bearing plant left. Stamets has an idea to rapidly grow a whole crop of spores. Cool. The planet he names to take the spores to is not one of the many, many planets the Klingons have conquered or destroyed. (And, hey, where was that idea when they were in the Mirror Universe and needed to get back home - once Stamets came out of the coma, couldn't they have rescued Burnham, gone to the Veda moon and grown the crop there and gotten out of the Mirror Universe without becoming super-embroiled in their politics?!) The Discovery gets to the planet and uses terraforming devices to grow a new crop almost instantly. This, despite the fact that a century from this point, terraforming still took months to years ("Home Soil" might not be the most popular episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, but it did a good job of establishing the canon mythos about terraformers in the Trek Universe). And, apparently, environmental impact can go fuck itself when expediency is a factor; the Veda moon's entire ecosystem overrun by spores . . . like Tribbles removed from their predator-filled environment.

"The War Without, The War Within" lacks serious reflection in exchange for a glib sense of plot convenience.

For other penultimate episodes of seasons of Star Trek, please check out my reviews of:
"Two Days And Two Nights" - Star Trek: Enterprise
"Jetrel" - Star Trek: Voyager
"Duet" - Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
"Conspiracy" - Star Trek: The Next Generation
"City On The Edge Of Forever" - Star Trek

1.5/10

For other Star Trek episode, movie, and seasons, please check out my Star Trek Review Index Page!

© 2018 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Outside All Expectation Of Continuity, "Orientation, Part 2" Undermines Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.!

The Good: Acting is all right, Special effects/direction are competent
The Bad: Massive continuity issues, Character issues, Simple plot that does not actually go anywhere
The Basics: "Orientation, Part 2" caps off the fifth season premiere of Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. with a laundry list of problems that the viewer can pretty much figure will be undone by the season finale.


Long gone are the days where Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. is the logical partner show to the Captain America films. No longer a spy show, Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. has settled into being a pretty straightforward science fiction program, whatwith the lack of adversaries like H.Y.D.R.A., A.I.M., and other spy groups that might use intelligence to attempt to gain technology and military might the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Nowhere is the departure from the old formula for what Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. was more clear than in the fifth season premiere, "Orientation, Part 1."

"Orientation, Part 1" (reviewed here!) continues with "Orientation, Part 2" and the two episodes aired originally back-to-back. "Orientation, Part 2" picks up the events of "Orientation, Part 1," which found the Agents (formerly of S.H.I.E.L.D.) Coulson, May, Johnson, Simmons, Rodriguez and Mackenzie on a space station. The problem is that "Orientation, Part 1" existed almost entirely to establish the setting and build to a last-moment revelation that is explored in "Orientation, Part 2." As such, it is impossible to discuss "Orientation, Part 2" without spoiling the last moment of the first half of the season premiere.

"Orientation, Part 2" is instantly hampered by the troubling notion at the climax of "Orientation, Part 1." At its climax, the various groups of Agents recognized that the monolith through which they passed teleported them through time, instead of space. One of the last shots of "Orientation, Part 1" was of the shattered remnant of Earth looming near the station. And while that might seem like a huge problem for the Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D., it is a debilitating problem for the fans who have stuck with the show for more than four years. After all, fans of the show will quickly hearken back to the third season episode "Spacetime" (reviewed here!) to recall that changing the past is not an option for Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.. Seeing a vision of the future, Daisy was told - and the season played out - that there was no way to change the events of the vision because such visions were merely perceptions of immutable events. So, the idea that Earth is doomed for Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. might seem like a compelling problem, save that it is crushed by two serious issues: 1. to save Earth, Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. will have to break its own rules concerning the physics of time travel (unless Doctor Strange makes an unlikely appearance to bend those rules) and 2. Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. exists within a larger Marvel Cinematic Universe that requires the Earth to keep on going.

Suspension of disbelief that the Earth in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is going to be ended on Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. is far too much to handle. As a result, "Orientation, Part 2" begins with viewers having the absolute certainty that one of two things will happen: the space station upon which the Agents have found themselves will be found to be in the vastly distant future (i.e. after all ties to the rest of the MCU have faded, with the destruction happening well after the Marvel Cinematic Universe is done with its barrage of super hero stories) or the whole point of the fifth season of Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. will be how the Agents prevent the destruction of Earth. Regardless, "Orientation, Part 2" opens at a point at which the suspension of disbelief is entirely shot: Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. is stuck along a predictable path that either must divorce the show from anything else the viewers care about in the franchise or undo its own, belabored, setting and problem.

Aboard the trawler, May and Simmons start to spiral out of control. To save their lives, Simmons turns off the ship and when it repowers, May is able to steer it. They return to the station, where Coulson confirms their suspicions. Deke starts freaking out, especially when Tess shows up and questions where Virgil is. Coulson starts to interrogate Tess about what happened to Earth. After the Earth was destroyed, the Kree arrived to establish order among the human survivors of the cataclysm. Tess brings Coulson back to Virgil's quarters where he finds artifacts from Coulson's time period.

When May and Simmons explore the lower areas, a man stabs another man. Simmons draws the attention of one of the Kree overlords when she treats the man's wounds. While the rest of the agents try to figure out how to get Simmons back and how to get information from Deke, Simmons is brought to Kasius, the station's leader. Daisy discovers that Deke has built his own version of the Framework, which she inserts herself into. When Rodriguez manages to steal a Kree tablet, Coulson uses the tablet to get him, Rodriguez and Mack "camouflage" in the form of installed trackers. Grill vouches for Coulson and saves his life, but in the process essentially makes Coulson his slave. When Simmons's meeting with Kasius takes a bad turn, Daisy learns a disturbing truth about the destruction of Earth.

"Orientation, Part 2" continues to belabor the establishment of the setting for this new corner of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The nature of the Lighthouse Station is explored, with food drops and a weird caste system by which some humans appear to be collaborating with the Kree. "Orientation, Part 2" shows off the dank setting of the Lighthouse, with most of the characters being entirely separated from technology. Outside the fact that the building in which the Agents find themselves being a space station, the setting is more akin to the Dark Ages with alien overlords than the distant future.

The setting of the Lighthouse is a fairly distinct one and unique within the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In addition to a caste system that separates the humans and the Kree, the Kree have a blood sport based on humans who fail to earn enough tokens in their economic system. The Lighthouse is brutal and filthy. "Orientation, Part 2" features a decent attention to detail in its setting; Tess notes that the new arrivals have matching buttons, which is an uncommon trait in this dark future.

Simmons's position in "Orientation, Part 2" is arguably the most horrific. Simmons, who has long been a character who is an almost absolute good, continues to use scientific methodology to attempt to figure out where and when the team is. It is her core goodness that leads Simmons to make what is a terrible mistake within the context of this twisted setting; saving a human life. The result gives Simmons - and the viewer - a very different perspective from the Coulson and Johnson portions of the story.

Sadly, the discovery of a Framework in this future - how did Deke, who doesn't seem all that bright, reconstruct the Framework when its coding came apart completely in the fourth season finale?! - sets Daisy Johnson on her course and the course of the season. "Orientation, Part 2" lays the framework for how the fifth season must go; Daisy Johnson must make it back to her original time and her actions after that point must be changed in order to save Earth. The problem here is that "Orientation, Part 2" establishes a "simple problem, simple solution" for the narrative of the fourth season of Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.: assuming Deke is right about the cause of the Earth's destruction, Daisy need only die in order to save Earth. If Daisy never goes back to her time, nothing she does after returning could have led to the destruction of Earth. Kill Daisy and the whole tangent timeline would collapse.

"Orientation, Part 2" creates a purposely disturbing vision of the future, but the problem viewers are likely to have is that none of the new characters introduced - Kasius, his lieutenant who wields a weapon instantly reminiscent of Yondu's arrow, Deke, and Grill - are good. They are miserable, mean-spirited people and they are no fun to watch. Tess has the potential to be a good person who might actually be a friend to the familiar protagonists, but she's not quite there in "Orientation, Part 2." Ultimately, the new characters in "Orientation, Part 2" make it feel right away like the heroes of the show are hopelessly outnumbered and surrounded in a situation that puts humanity on the verge of extinction. While that could be a compellingly disadvantageous position from which as show could work, Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. is handicapped by its own connection to a larger franchise. It's hard to buy that the world of the Marvel Cinematic Universe could possibly meet any form of tragic end when - for example - casting for the third season of Daredevil was announced just yesterday.

Phil Coulson is diminished through much of "Orientation, Part 2." Mack continues to be resourceful, intuitive and smart. Mack finds himself giving orders that make sense and essentially takes charge of Coulson's team. Mack has a much clearer sense of just how surrounded and how ignorant the temporal refugees actually are. While Mack steps up, he quietly undermines Coulson's authority or usefulness. Mack and Simmons move most of the key plot moments of "Orientation, Part 2."

Ultimately, "Orientation, Part 2" has the feeling of being a bedrock episode where the setting is being so eagerly fleshed out that the story that is utilizing that setting is being developed in a problematic and poor way.

For other recent events in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, please visit my reviews of:
"Virtue Of The Vicious" - The Punisher
Thor: Ragnarok
Inhumans - Season 1

2/10

For other Marvel Cinematic Universe television or movie reviews, please check out my Marvel Cinematic Universe Review Index Page for a relativistic listing!

© 2017 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Reaction Showcase: "Chaos Theory" progresses Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.!

The Good: Decent performances, Good special effects, Good character moments
The Bad: Plot is simplistic and focused, Blair Underwood's performance in the first half of the episode
The Basics: The Fitz/Simmons subplot in "Chaos Theory" steals an Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. episode that is very focused on exposing the villainous Inhuman Lash.


As Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. has progressed, it has become unclear what the goal of the television show is anymore . . . outside softening the fanbase up for an eventual The Inhumans addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. For a series that was built on Clark Gregg's recurring character from the Marvel films and has "S.H.I.E.L.D." in its name, the series has veered away from spies and super heroes and is now mired in revenge plots, soap operatic melodrama and mutants, er, Inhumans. "Chaos Theory" continues that trend.

"Chaos Theory" picks up after "Among Us Hide..." (reviewed here!) and it is impossible to discuss the latest episode without some references to where "Among Us Hide..." ended. For the past week, viewers of Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. have been wondering if they can trust the word of the lying HYDRA operative who told May the story of how things went down at the mini-mart with her ex-husband. "Chaos Theory" answers the question of whether or not Garner is the Inhuman Lash or not.

Opening 6 months ago while May and Garner were on vacation in Hawaii, May pitches the idea of staying away from S.H.I.E.L.D. Returning home, Garner expresses gratitude to Coulson for sending along artifacts from Afterlife. Opening a book, some dust from terrigen crystals exposes Garner to the element that unleashes his Inhuman potential. Back in the present, Simmons gives Fitz her phone for more aid in figuring out how to get back to the planet upon which she was stranded. On the return trip from meeting Von Strucker, May is clearly torn up about what the boy said and tries to corroborate his story. When Daisy tells her that Garner is off-site working with an Inhuman, May becomes alarmed.

After Morse tells Hunter she does not want to keep hunting Ward, the two clash. Fitz finds a picture of Simmons with the man she met on the distant world and Lincoln meets with Mack clandestinely to tell him that Lash is inside S.H.I.E.L.D. Daisy meets with Rosalind Price and May confronts Garner. Frustrated about being found out, Garner shoots May. He takes her away in order to talk with her about his transformation. When Campbell and Mack make it back to the S.H.I.E.L.D. jet, they expose Dr. Garner and the race is on to find Garner and May.

"Chaos Theory" is saddled with an unfortunate problem that has plagued spy shows since the third season of Alias (reviewed here!) and has already been an issue in Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.. In the third season of Alias, things were going along in a fairly mundane fashion until Vaughn's wife was seen at the end of an episode killing someone the "good guys" were meeting. From that point on, because the audience knew she was working for the enemy, she began to act twitchy and creepy. Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. did that with Ward and "Chaos Theory" picks up doing that with Dr. Garner. Suddenly Blair Underwood is acting like a villain, which undermines the character Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. has been building.

What works in "Chaos Theory" is that the episode does not overly dick around viewers. Instead of keeping up a "is he or isn't he" or "how stupid are these people not to figure out he's an Inhuman" tension, "Chaos Theory" almost instantly leaps into the characters wrestling with the potential consequences of Dr. Garner being an Inhuman. Attentive viewers will easily note that there's still some wiggle room; at the forty minute mark, we still have not seen Dr. Garner actually transform into Lash. So, as the episode reaches its climax, there is a reasonable tension that actually makes "Chaos Theory" exciting. For those worried about yet another spy show that jerks viewers around, Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. immediately puts the fears to rest by giving unambiguous answers as to whether or not Dr. Garner is Lash.

The scenes in "Chaos Theory" that truly land on the character front are the ones that feature Fitz watching the recordings Simmons made while on the alien planet. Iain De Caestecker once again gives a nuanced performance when simply reacting to someone else giving a monologue and he makes those scenes work amazingly well.

The other enjoyable episode of "Chaos Theory" is that Coulson suddenly returns. Since the last time Nick Fury appeared on Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D., the writers have had a tendency to write the character very dryly. In "Chaos Theory," the writers suddenly remember how it became viable to build a series around Clark Gregg's cameo-based character. Coulson was originally informed, but snarky; observant and wry. The return of those character traits to the forefront of Coulson's character play very well throughout "Chaos Theory."

The special effects in "Chaos Theory" are good, especially the morphs. Director David Solomon smartly does not let the special effects overwhelm the performances and that makes one of the last scenes in the episode truly pop.

Despite the lame seeding of Hunter and Morse and their melodrama and continuing the very unresolved thread with Fitz and Simmons, "Chaos Theory" is one of the more focused episodes this season and by and large it works to keep fans coming back . . . even if the bulk of it is involved with continuing the Inhumans thread in a way that has no clear goal outside the immediate obstacle of the episode.

For other works with Matthew Willig, please visit my reviews of:
We're The Millers
Year One

[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 Third Season on DVD or Blu-Ray, which is also a better economical choice than buying individual episodes. Read my review of the third season here!
Thanks!]

7/10

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

© 2015 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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The Other Side Of The Island: "One Door Closes" Explores "The Real S.H.I.E.L.D.!"

The Good: Decent performances, Engaging plot, Special effects, Moments of character development
The Bad: More plot-heavy than character motivated
The Basics: "One Door Closes" answers a number of questions that have lingered in the second season of Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. and it does so in a satisfying-enough way to please most fans.


One of the cool ways that Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. has managed to keep the Marvel Cinematic Universe alive and well in the collective unconscious of viewers is to make allusions to the Marvel films. Chief among the Marvel films to get referenced in Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. is Captain America: The Winter Soldier (reviewed here!). "One Door Closes" is yet another Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. episode that heavily relies upon that film.

Picking up after "Love In The Time Of H.Y.D.R.A." (reviewed here!), "One Door Closes" is analogous to the Lost episode "The Other 48 Days," which retold Lost from the perspective of those in the tail section of the plane. "One Door Closes" explores the post-Winter Soldier events from the perspective of Mack, Bobbi Morse and the S.H.I.E.L.D. survivors/loyalists in the immediate wake of H.Y.D.R.A. taking over S.H.I.E.L.D.

Opening during the H.Y.D.R.A. takeover of S.H.I.E.L.D., Mack is cornered by a H.Y.D.R.A. agent when he is rescued by Bobbi Morse and Agent Hartley. In the present day, Morse returns to Coulson's S.H.I.E.L.D. base, where she and Mack are preparing to move on Coulson's team. Simmons contacts Skye about using the new gauntlets that she designed, but discovers that Skye has not yet tried them. Coulson confronts Mack about the Chief Engineer's true loyalties and when he claims to work for S.H.I.E.L.D., Coulson turns his security forces on him. At the same time, May and Bobbi square off before Morse sets off an EMP to evade May. Fitz realizes that Mack and Morse were after Vibranium that Coulson was keeping in his desk and that Morse managed to get Fury's toolbox.

As Coulson's team works to contain the two saboteurs, Skye lets the eyeless man (Gordon) into her safe house. He begins to mentor Skye about her post-mist abilities. While Simmons manages to incapacitate Morse, May discovers that Mack and Morse are not trying to escape the facility, they are helping others break in. Gonzales, Weaver and the rest of the other S.H.I.E.L.D. break into Coulson's base. They successfully take the base and that leads Coulson and Gonzales to face off for an important conversation. While they have their discussion, Morse leads the team to recover Skye.

"One Door Closes" is plot-intensive, but it finally makes decent use of Lucy Lawless. Lawless appeared early in the season and the only real disadvantage of her appearing so efficiently as Hartley in the flashback scenes is that it makes how easily she was dispatched in this season seem ridiculous. And while Hartley's character is strengthened here (and retroactively weakened), Agent Melinda May once again is illustrated to be the uber-efficient badass of Coulson's S.H.I.E.L.D. team. When she and Morse square off, May does what viewers of Fringe find themselves screaming for Olivia Dunham to do every time she squares off with any guy who can outrun her; she shoots at Morse to try to incapacitate her. That's efficiency and it's refreshing to see among people who are supposed to be smart, efficient, super-spies.

Coulson and Gonzales are given an interesting dynamic in "One Door Closes." Both men believe they are the head of the legitimate S.H.I.E.L.D. and much of the episode hinges on the two actors having roughly the same level of screen presence. Clark Gregg is seldom considered as being the same (or similar) caliber as Edward James Olmos, but in "One Door Closes," he illustrates that that is a conversation worth having. Gregg has a subtlety and force to him that he is able to deliver even questionable lines perfectly. To his credit, Gregg is asked to sell one of the toughest lines of the episode and he pulls it off. In fact, when Coulson says that he went looking for Gonzales after the fall of S.H.I.E.L.D., Colson delivers the line with such intensity that only the nitpickers will sit, screaming at the screen, "Bullshit! You were chasing Garrett and never had the time!"

"One Door Closes" also enhances Morse's character by having her take an ethical stand in the takeover of the S.H.I.E.L.D. carrier and while it's refreshing to see her given some depth, it makes one question how Gonzales could actually trust her as part of her inner circle. In re-creating S.H.I.E.L.D., Gonzales would need loyal agents. Morse's first act is to take a stand that shows she cannot just take orders.

The acting in "One Door Closes" is homogeneously good, even when there is not a ton of character development in the episode. "One Door Closes" has pretty awesome special effects, though, and it has enough moments of exploring character relationships to make it one of the better episodes of the season!

For other works with Christine Adams, please check out my reviews of:
"Turn, Turn, Turn" - Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.
"Seeds" - Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Tron: Legacy
Batman Begins
"The Long Game" - Doctor Who

[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 Second Season on DVD or Blu-Ray, which is also a better economical choice than buying individual episodes. Read my review of the sophomore season here!
Thanks!]

8/10

For other television reviews, please check out my Television Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2015 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Skye Is Not The New Spike And Hardly “The Asset” To Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.

The Good: Moments of humor, Clues about Coulson
The Bad: Surprisingly banal and predictable plot, Somewhat telegraphed performances, Chloe Bennet fails to impress.
The Basics: In its third episode, Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. fails to wow with “The Asset,” which quickly devolves into an origin story for something yet to come.


Joss Whedon’s works, traditionally, have a rogue character who is usually working against the main characters and who evolves into a “love to hate” character that fans gravitate toward. With Buffy The Vampire Slayer (reviewed here!), it was Spike (though in the larger arc, I’d say Cordelia evolved as much), and in his wildly popular cult-hit Firefly (reviewed here!), it was Jayne. Spike and Jayne pursued their own agendas, often to the detriment of the Scoobies and the crew of Serenity, respectively, though they would eventually come through to be both beloved and an asset to the team they are on. With Whedon’s new production, Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D., he is playing the same variable card character with Skye and in “The Asset” fans of Whedon’s prior works will see the plays coming, even if the other members of the team do not.

Unfortunately for Whedon, the more Skye appears on screen, the more Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. starts to remind die-hard geeks of The Lone Gunmen (reviewed here!). Skye fills the exact same niche Eve did on that program; in addition to supplying the sex appeal that the primary male character(s) who sold the show initially did not, both women become the sounding block for massive amounts of exposition and they betray the teams they appear to be a part of while appearing to work with or for them. In fact, “The Asset” starts to drag Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. into all-around troublingly familiar territory. In addition to playing Skye as a familiar Whedon rogue, Whedon and Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tancharoen (the latter two wrote the episode) start to give enough details that genre fans will have figured out who and what Coulson is and they will see the episode’s final shot coming about a mile off. Still, “The Asset” continues the continuity of Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. well and the episode picks up where “0-8-4” (reviewed here!) left off.

A S.H.I.E.L.D. transport is attacked by an unseen force, which draws in Coulson and his team. Aboard the transport was a Canadian scientist, Dr. Hall, who was abducted by what appears to be military forces after the attack. While investigating, Simmons and Fitz discover an electromagnetic disturbance coming from a tiny device. Fearing a mole within the agency, Coulson has Skye start looking through the communications logs from when Hall’s transport began. Hall’s abductor is Quinn, a scientist who believed in the element Gravitonium.

Offered the opportunity to develop his theoretical work by Quinn, Hall is held captive in Malta, where the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. cannot go without violating international laws. When Skye manages to get an invitation to Quinn’s compound, she becomes the deniable asset that can be sent in to rescue Hall. But as Skye confronts Quinn, Coulson and Ward overcome the compound’s extensive security system to try to reach Hall. In confronting Hall, Coulson is surprised and the Gravitonium experiments take a turn for the dark and weird.

Unfortunately, “The Asset” is painfully predictable. The moment Hall appears on screen opposite Quinn and Quinn tries to seduce the scientist – who appears to be anything but a mad scientist – viewers have a pretty good idea that Hall is neither a victim nor a villain. Quinn is an obvious villain and for someone who has such a cool security system in an area S.H.I.E.L.D. cannot legally invade, he is surprisingly stupid in a James Bond villain-type way.

As Hall is set up for a grisly and somewhat obvious fate with potential for return (this episode has “origin story” written all over it!), “The Asset” is unfortunately dominated by Skye. Unlike Jayne and Spike, Skye is not very interesting and Chloe Bennet does not have the on-screen x-factor to make the rogue character the breakout. In fact, despite how the episode tries to play down sex appeal (Fitz is chided by Simmons and May for the suggestion she used her breasts to get into Quinn’s presence), that seems to be all Bennet actually has going for her. In fact, her practicing on the punching bag may be some of the worst physical performance ever seen on screen (she pulls her punches and is not exerting nearly enough for someone who is realistically training to be a field agent).

At the other end of the spectrum is Clark Gregg. Clark Gregg, in his stride, is telegraphing the eventual revelation of who (and what) he is. This is unfortunate for those who want to believe S.H.I.E.L.D. technology is viable and superior, but clues like Coulson’s lack of muscle memory and Gregg’s stride in the wide shots suggest that the producers are eager to explain the MacGuffin faster, as opposed to well, and that is unfortunate.

The special effects in “The Asset” are fine and the episode features decent banter, but none of the guest stars shine and unless the result of the episode is carried in a compelling way into the future of the Marvel Universe (like with the appearance of the episode’s end result as a super hero or, more likely, super villain, in one of the forthcoming Marvel Phase Two films), the episode feels like something of a waste of potential and the first real disappointment from Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D..

[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 First Season on DVD or Blu-Ray, which is also a better economical choice than buying individual episodes. Read my review of the debut season here!
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4/10

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© 2013 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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