S.H.I.E.L.D. Now And Then: "The Man Behind The Shield" Works!

The Good: Coulson and Fitz's arcs, Acting, Plot progression
The Bad: A few lines, A plot similarity with the reversal at the end
The Basics: "The Man Behind The Shield" rapidly becomes one of the best episodes of Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. as Coulson desperately searches for May and Mace through clues left by one of the adversaries from his past.


The problem with a long-running television series adding new characters is that sometimes, the new characters simply do not gel with the established characters. No show that keeps reinventing itself that is on television now seems to recognize that quite like Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.. To its credit, Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. quickly started to accent its core cast after Ward was outed in the first season as a HYDRA sleeper agent. But, between characters that simply have short arcs with nowhere to go - Agent Triplett, Lance Campbell - and characters who keep getting written out on the hopes that they might carry a spin-off series (Bobbi Morse, possibly Ghost Rider), Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. has had difficulty making new characters who integrate well with the established cast. Sadly, in the fourth season, the new S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Mace has certainly fallen into that unfortunate niche. As "The Man Behind The Shield" begins, Jason O'Mara's Director Mace is one step closer to being written out of the narrative, for better or for worse.

"The Man Behind The Shield" follows "BOOM" (reviewed here!) and that episode climaxed with Director Mace being captured by the Watchdogs. The leader of the Watchdogs, The Superior, has it out for Coulson specifically and "The Man Behind The Shield" opens with the promise that either Mace or Coulson might get fleshed out a bit. As it turns out, it is Coulson who gets a decent amount of characterization in "The Man Behind The Shield" as one of his earliest S.H.I.E.L.D. missions is flashed back to while he carries on his current quest to find May and Mace.

Coulson and Daisy experiment with a combat simulation in Fitz's version of the virtual reality framework before an agent informs Coulson that the GPS on has been found in Alaska. Reaching the Watchdog facility there, S.H.I.E.L.D. finds The Superior's wall of Coulson data. The Superior and his Watchdogs have returned to their new facility where Radcliffe has been spending more and more time in the framework. Looking over the wall, Daisy starts to piece together the Superior's past with Coulson. Coulson recalls one of his earliest S.H.I.E.L.D. missions - in Russia - with May. Mace breaks out of his cell, but is quickly subdued by the Superior.

On the Zephyr, Mack argues the ethical ramifications of the framework Fitz worked with Radcliffe on, while Coulson takes his team back to the Russian site where he once recovered an 0-8-4. While Mace is tortured by the Superior, the S.H.I.E.L.D. team reaches the site the Superior has prepared for them. The Superior lost a team of Russians quite some time ago and he blames Coulson for his loss. Fitz finds a way to track some of the code used in the framework, but he finds the code all around the world and is unable to narrow down its location.

"The Man Behind The Shield" provides backstory for Coulson and the episode is high on charm for every scene shared in flashback with Coulson and May. It is episodes like "The Man Behind The Shield," which remind viewers just how much has been lost or changed on Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.. The character interactions, the spunky dialogue, the actual spy missions, they have been minimized in the fourth season, but "The Man Behind The Shield" brings that all back hard! Coulson is played wonderfully by Clark Gregg and he seems to recall exactly how he used to play the role - in his cameos early in the Marvel movies - and he replicates that fun, quirky, acting perfectly.

Radcliffe in "The Man Behind The Shield" is reduced to little more than an information addict. Radcliffe starts to use the framework obsessively and that makes a lot of sense considering Agnes (the woman upon whom Aida is based) is now only alive inside his framework. Aida is presented in "The Man Behind The Shield" in an entirely mechanical way. Mallory Jansen plays Aida as entirely robotic, which she is good at, but is incongruent with the way Aida has been presented in most of the other episodes.

Just as Clark Gregg gets the opportunity to return to the way he used to play Coulson, it is instantly refreshing to see Ming-Na Wen back on screen, playing opposite Gregg. Wen and Gregg have great on-screen chemistry in the flashback scenes and those scenes are enough to make the viewer legitimately hope that the two characters they play will end up together. "The Man Behind The Shield" allows Iain De Caestecker and Elizabeth Henstridge to play off one another with legitimate chemistry as well.

"The Man Behind The Shield" also allows Fitz to have his first truly good arc of the season. Fitz has been pretty neglected in the fourth season as he has had something of a puppy dog crush on Aida. In "The Man Behind The Shield," Fitz finds himself wrestling with some of the consequences of his pure pursuit of science. The moral implications of Fitz's inventions have been glossed over in the past, but with Aida and the framework being projects Fitz worked on, he is now compelled to deal with some of the effects of what he created.

Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. has had a tendency to make unfortunately predictable reversals. "The Man Behind The Shield" climaxes with a far better reversal and the episode is actually one of the best of the series. Outside some truly cringeworthy lines from Mace and an unfortunate similarity to where Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. went previously when Daisy was swayed by Hive, "The Man Behind The Shield" resonates with good character moments, good performances, and a pretty solid plot!

For other works from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, please visit my reviews of:
Marvel Cinematic Universe Phase 1: Avengers Assemble
Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 1
Doctor Strange

[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!]

8.5/10

For other television reviews, please check out my Television Review Index Page for a listing of all the episodes and seasons I have reviewed!

© 2017 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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"Failed Experiments" Makes Science Fiction Coolness For Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.!

The Good: Engaging character moments, Well-performed, Good (if straightforward) plot
The Bad: Wonky science at the end, Simplistic plot
The Basics: The Kree return to Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. in "Failed Experiments," which ends up as a solid episode of the show!


One of the exciting things about Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. is seeing how the executive producers manage to tie the show into the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe. Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. has, since its inception, been involved with cleaning up after problems left from various films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and with the last few outings, the show has actually led into the blockbuster films. "Failed Experiments" is the Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. episode that immediately precedes Captain America: Civil War.

"Failed Experiments" continues where "The Singularity" (reviewed here!) left off. HYDRA was destroyed and Hive was in possession of Dr. Holden Radcliffe, an expert in parasitic organisms who had the potential to create a vaccine against Hive's influence. The episode also offers the most on-screen alien interaction of the series so far.

Opening in ancient times, a human is out hunting when he encounters two Kree Reapers. They capture him, experiment upon him, and make him into an Inhuman . . . Hive. In the present, Hive threatens to experiment upon the three remaining heads of HYDRA the same way, while May keeps Campbell locked down at the S.H.I.E.L.D. base to keep him safe and away from Hive's influence. Fitz and Simmons debate the toxin they have developed to free Daisy from Hive's influence when Campbell volunteers to test the toxin. When Coulson finds Daisy in the town Hive has bought in Wisconsin, he assigns Mack to go kill Hive. Hive is using Dr. Radcliffe to continue the Kree experiment and, in the process, he liquefies the HYDRA leaders.

Not taking no for an answer, Campbell injects himself with the vaccine against Hive's influence, which leaves him weakened. May interrogates James at Hive's town, while Hive tries to turn Daisy against S.H.I.E.L.D. Hive has activated the Kree device to lure live Kree to Earth in order to give Radcliffe the cellular material he needs for his experiments. Hive assigns Daisy to recover the Kree alive and when she comes into the field, Mack abandons the S.H.I.E.L.D. team to try to rescue her.

"Failed Experiments" is an interesting conceptual crossover with the blockbusters for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. As Captain America: Civil War explores a deep, philosophical conflict with real-world political consequences, "Failed Experiments" pushes Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. into the fantastic realms of science fiction more akin to the comic book roots of the series than where it has been for most of its tenure. Outside Guardians Of The Galaxy (reviewed here!), "Failed Experiments" might well have the most on-screen Kree of any work thus far in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Daisy and Mack continue to develop their relationship in interesting ways. Daisy, despite being under the influence of the Hive parasites, makes a pretty compelling speech on how she was initially lost and trading S.H.I.E.L.D. for Hive was just a lateral move. Mack shows an incredible level of character in appealing to Daisy's humanity. Despite all of the superhuman aspects of the plot in "Failed Experiments," the high points of the episode involve the interactions between Daisy and Mack.

"Failed Experiments" manages to keep the momentum of the Fitz and Simmons romantic relationship going. While they have moved forward in their relationship, the still have conflicts and disagreements with one another and "Failed Experiments" has the often-goofy characters acting surprisingly maturely.

Dr. Radcliffe explodes into Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. as a surprisingly interesting guest starring character. Radcliffe's failed experiment leads to a face-off between Radcliffe and Hive and Radcliffe holds his on screen. John Hannah makes the potentially unimpressive guest character substantive and in "Failed Experiments," he is the one to watch!

Unfortunately, Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. pushes into remarkably familiar territory with "Failed Experiments." "Failed Experiments" puts the third season on a course for exactly where the second season of the show ended. Daisy's mother wanted to transform the world for Inhumans and Hive has the exact same goal.

As well, the science of "Failed Experiments" is ridiculous in the episode's final moments. Daisy resolves to give Hive what he wants . . . from her. In the first season, Daisy was healed using Kree blood. There has been nothing in the series to suggest that after their resurrections, Coulson and/or Daisy started to manufacture Kree blood in their bodies. In other words, Daisy's assertion at the climax of "Failed Experiments" that she has Kree blood in her after two years is absolutely ridiculous.

Despite where the episode ends, "Failed Experiments" is solidly performed, interestingly character-filled and generally well-structured.

[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!]

8/10

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!

© 2016 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Hive Revealed! "Paradise Lost."

The Good: Performances, Attempts at character development, Special effects
The Bad: Predictable plot and reversals
The Basics: "Paradise Lost" fleshes out the Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. villains and heroes well-enough to keep the show interesting.


Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. has had a pretty rough time of things lately. The episode "Spacetime" (reviewed here!), was an unfortunately lazy episode on the creative front. Shows like Star Trek: Deep Space Nine had already done the "prophecy episode" with "Destiny" (reviewed here!) decades ago and, frankly "Spacetime" did nothing new with the formula. In "Spacetime," Daisy witnessed a vision of the future and - because of her limited perspective in the future flashes and the inconvenient arrival of Lash - ultimately, the vision came true. "Spacetime" was not even clever enough to leave anything open to interpretation; things didn't come to pass "from a certain point of view," they literally came true in an immutable way which forces Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. into a constraint that time is treated as unchangeable.

"Paradise Lost" follows up on "Spacetime" and for those who missed the prior episode the only real takeaways were that the flashforward shown in the midseason premiere panned out just a little farther so the viewer now knows it is someone in a S.H.I.E.L.D. uniform bleeding to death in the spaceship orbiting Earth and that Gordon Malick now knows how he will die (it's either Ward or Giyera based on his reaction!). "Paradise Lost" finally explicitly exposes the creature that had infested Will and now occupies the corpse of Grant Ward and sets S.H.I.E.L.D. on a mission to take over

Opening in 1970, the Malick siblings bicker over the direction of HYDRA following their father's death. They head off to visit Daniel Whitehall. In the present, Gideon Malick arrives home where the Ward entity has called together all of the heads of HYDRA. S.H.I.E.L.D. evaluates the threat represented by the infested Ward and Coulson constructs a mission to GT Agrochemical, a subsidiary of Transia (which HYDRA took in the prior episode) to try to stop HYDRA. En route to the agrochem facility, Fitz and Simmons brief Coulson on the nature of the entity that now inhabit Malick - it is a hive of microorganisms that work together.

Daisy and Lincoln Campbell visit a potential Inhuman who stole information from Afterlife, where Daisy steps on a landmine. Defusing the situation, Daisy and Campbell interview James for information about the creature infesting Ward. At HYDRA's headquarters, Hive reveals himself to the leadership and at GT Agrochemical, Coulson, Mack and May square off against Giyera. Campbell and Daisy prepare to trade James a terragin crystal for a Kree artifact, when Campbell betrays the wannabe Inhuman. But Hive's plan is slowly revealed as he exacts the revenge demanded by one of his prior hosts and he puts pieces in place to destroy S.H.I.E.L.D.

"Paradise Lost" manages to not insult viewers with dragging out Malick's prophecy. Malick saw his death in "Spacetime" and it was Ward who he believes will kill him given that he is torn apart cell by cell. "Paradise Lost" is the first essential Gideon Malick episode and between the flashbacks to his interactions with the incarcerated Whitehall and his interactions with his daughter, he is finally fleshed out as more than just a generic HYDRA villain. Ironically, the episode continues to tease the vision of death Daisy had of the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent in the space ship without making that explicit yet.

HYDRA has the potential to be a parody of itself and "Paradise Lost" is an episode built around a number of conceits that undermine the longterm viability of the evil organization. Malick has essentially rebuilt HYDRA after Ward knocked off most of the organization's leadership, but before that, HYDRA existed for decades completely in the shadows. The implication of that is that HYDRA had a level of stability and co-existence among its members that worked opposite to the usual conceits of comic book supervillains. In comic books, supervillains almost invariably fail because they place their own self interest before any sense of community - unlike the heroes who work together for their greater cause. But, in "Paradise Lost," viewers see that Malick is predictably treacherous and HYDRA is filled with opportunists instead of people working under a sense of principles (albeit a horrible one).

The Malick family is made up of loyalists, but Gideon Malick sacrificed his own brother to try to bring Hive back. In the flashback scenes, Malick is played by Cameron Palatas and Palatas did an excellent job of studying and replicating mannerisms Powers Boothe has used to establish his villainous character. Malick's arc in "Paradise Lost" might be somewhat predictable, but it is well-executed - stylistic and well-performed.

Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. continues to pander to certain conceits and the fight between May and Giyera seems unfortunately predictable. "Paradise Lost" is loaded with exposition that explores the nature of Hive and that is worthwhile for comparing the nature of the comic book version of Hive and the Marvel Cinematic Universe incarnation. Similarly, Hive's strange sense of revenge plays as something ridiculous. For an entity that is potentially immortal that has a leadership role in a multigenerational organization, the kill Hive makes is shockingly shortsighted.

What drives "Paradise Lost" up a bit is the focus on the characters. Coulson is finally haunted by killing Ward. Coulson is an inherently good human character and when he killed Ward on the distant world, he knew he crossed a line. That choice now torments him and Clark Gregg humanizes Coulson and illustrates a sense of consequences. At the other end of the spectrum, Lincoln Campbell is given a little more backstory when James outs him. Campbell fights for his relationship with Daisy and the way he is fleshed out is an odd mix of mundane and smart. More than the long exposition that gives Campbell a prior incident to give him a little more depth, Luke Mitchell's performance in delivering the dialogue emotively stands out. Viewers might not care much about Campbell, but the writers and executive producers at least give fleshing him out a shot.

When Hive is revealed, the special effect is surprisingly cool. "Paradise Lost" has decent special effects throughout.

"Paradise Lost" is a weird mix of plot and character concepts that feels like it underdevelops on all fronts. Gideon Malick is not treated as a sufficiently complicated or charismatic villain to warrant an entire episode, so his most central episode is packed with an entire plotline revolving around setting up for the next episode. Director Coulson's character struggle is too internal and cerebral to keep the action-oriented audience of Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. engaged (though I think that's the producers dumbing the show down and underestimating their audience), so his struggle is blended with scenes that finally make Lincoln Campbell more than just another generically good-looking guy on the team. None of the members of the Marvel Cinematic Universes's smartest super-spy team conceive of the idea that their Inhuman prison might be vulnerable to a guy who can completely manipulate mechanical and inorganic objects?!

The result is that "Paradise Lost" seems like one of the episodes of Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. that plays better the first time through and will suffer more with each subsequent viewing.

For other works with Reed Diamond, please visit my reviews of:
Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. - Season Two
Moneyball
Meet Bill
Spider-Man 2
Homicide: The Movie
Homicide: Life On The Street

[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!]

5.5/10

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!

© 2016 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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The Flash Recovers Its Footing When It Asks "Who Is Harrison Wells?" (My 7000th Review!!!!!)

The Good: Decent plot, Good character development, Special effects
The Bad: A few obvious technical gaffes, Problematic final scene, Arrow fans are robbed of an important moment.
The Basics: "Who Is Harrison Wells?" makes The Flash exciting and watchable once again!


It's been a Marvel intensive week for me, whatwith the Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 1 trading cards (reviewed here!) and Daredevil Season 1 (reviewed here!) being released. But given the mediocre quality of the prior few episodes of The Flash, I was not exactly eager to jump back into the DC "Cinematic" Universe. Fortunately, "Who Is Harrison Wells?" seems determined to put the mediocrity and awfulness of the prior pair of episodes. A more subtle crossover than "All Star Team Up" (reviewed here!), "Who Is Harrison Wells?" progresses the mysteries surrounding the elusive scientist Harrison Wells.

"Who Is Harrison Wells?" works a strong serialized plot focusing on the investigation into Harrison Wells with the pretty standard "Metahuman Of The Week" storyline that defines the episodic portions of The Flash. The nature of the metahuman - a shapeshifter going by Everyman - makes for some unfortunately predictable scenes and reversals that the episode's writers fail to innovate with. But, outside a few fairly minor gaffes on the directing side and a lack of real innovation on the writing front, "Who Is Harrison Wells?" makes The Flash exciting and worth watching again.

Cisco and Joe prepare to go to Starling City to find whatever they can about the time Harrison Wells spent there, when Dr. Caitlin Snow rejects helping the small group that is investigating him. A bank robbery in Central City leads Eddie Thawne to suspect that the perpetrator of the robbery is able to influence minds or take on other shapes when the robber's alibi seems incredible strong (and the crime is entirely uncharacteristic of her). Barry and Eddie trace the history of wrongly convicted people in Central City back to Hannibal Bates, which leads to a chase in which it appears Thawne shot two police officers. Bates is the shapeshifter and he is able to appear as anyone he touches, which makes Barry fearful of being touched by him (because it might reveal to Bates that he is the Flash). Barry is able to find some evidence to exonerate Eddie, but then (rather stupidly) falls victim to the shapeshifter.

In Starling City, Joe and Cisco work with Detective Lance to investigate the scene of Wells' accident decades prior. Cisco discovers tachyons at the site and there, they dig up a corpse with Cisco quickly identifying the body as that of the actual Harrison Wells. Back at S.T.A.R. Labs, the shapeshifter learns from Dr. Snow about a serum that will stop him. Iris arrives, recognizing an inconsistency with the video footage of Eddie and Harrison Wells is actually able to stop the shapeshifter. While the S.T.A.R. Labs team and Iris work to exonerate Eddie, Cisco comes up with the evidence that proves that Wells is not who he says he is.

"Who Is Harrison Wells?" has an interesting balance of amusing moments that work incredibly well and eye-rolling moments that genre fans are likely to loathe. Hannibal Bates as Barry Allen hits on Dr. Snow and the incredibly awkward moment Snow experiences is hilarious to watch. "Who Is Harrison Wells?" has one of Danielle Panabaker's better performances on The Flash has she has body language that perfectly embodies discomfort and eye movements that are hilarious.

Director Wendy Stanzler presents a rather unremarkable take on a shapeshifter suspense episode, though she gives the bulk of the cast a chance to do fight scenes with Grant Gustin (The Flash). That's fun to watch. But Stanzler has poor attention to detail; seconds after Barry takes Dr. Snow from Wells's house, Snow and Wells are assisting the Flash from S.T.A.R. Labs. Stanzler cannot take all the blame for the episode's shortcomings. Fans of Arrow (which, to date, I am not) are likely to feel cheated by "Who Is Harrison Wells?" as Black Canary gets an essential piece of her costume/tech in this episode, as opposed to on Arrow. As well, it seems like the big moment of reconciliation for whatever problems Quentin and Laurel Lance have comes in an episode of The Flash.

Moreover, the episode's final sequence is somewhat ridiculous. Cisco's ability to find the secret room at S.T.A.R. Labs makes perfect sense and it is pretty easy to buy his explanation for why he did not find it before, but how Barry, Cisco and Dr. Snow get access to it is utterly ridiculous. How could a man as smart as "Harrison Wells" not have the secret, hidden room that requires a handprint to access have it biometrically sealed to only his DNA or handprint is utterly ridiculous.

Ironically, in one of the episodes that does the most travel and uses the whole cast fairly well, the high point might well be an intimate scene between Joe and Harrison near the climax of the episode. Tom Cavanagh and Jesse L. Martin play a conversational scene with such timing and subtlety that the rising tension between their characters is palpable. So little is said and so much is done in undertones that the genius of the moment is that it manages to create such tension! The scene is so strong and sets up such excitement for the next episode that it is almost enough to forget the obvious reversal with the shapeshifter when Barry and Eddie visit Hannibal Bates's grandmother.

The performances in "Who Is Harrison Wells?" are good, with Panabaker standing out for being the best. This is not a high-emotion episode of The Flash, but actresses like Panabaker and Candice Patton are given the chance to do more physical acting than usual. And they rise to the challenge quite well.

The result is an episode that makes The Flash well worth watching again. Viewers may already know who Harrison Wells is, but "Who Is Harrison Wells?" makes the process of the characters learning the truth exciting.

For other works with shapeshifters, check out my reviews of:
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Fringe
"I Will Face My Enemy" - Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.

[Knowing that single episodes are an inefficient way to get episodes, it's worth looking into The Flash - 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!
Thanks!]

7.5/10

For other television episode and movie reviews, please visit my Movie Review Index Page!

© 2015 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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