‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D’ 1.02 Episode Recap and Review: 0-8-4

Time for a little teamwork on this episode of Agents of SHIELD.

When we last left our intrepid heroes, Agent Coulson had just received a call from The Bus regarding an 084, which we are told many, many times means that we don’t know what it is. I bet that code gets used an awful lot. Evidently, the last 084 turned out to be Thor’s hammer. This one, while interesting in terms of wider story arc, is nowhere near as awesome. (Fewer biceps, no abs whatsoever. Fortunately, Arrow returns this week!)

Neither of the experienced agents are particularly thrilled that Skye is moving in. Bad enough to have the scientific non-combatants. The van-squatting hacker chick is just right out. Coulson basically tells them to suck it up, as she may be useful one day. The team tracks the 084 to a pre-Incan temple in Peru. They’re almost immediately ambushed by a number of soldiers, the leader of whom appears to be one of Coulson’s former paramours. As soon as their hostilities are all worked out, the entire group is ambushed by the Peruvian rebels that Skye has made certain to mention about five times prior to their appearance. Ward wrenches the alien artifact from the temple wall and everyone fights their way back to The Bus, including Commandante Camilla Reyes and her boys.

Fiz and Simmons discover that the artifact is definitely a weapon, one powered by Tesseract technology. All kinds of very-bad, no-good. Meanwhile, the Peruvian soldiers are bunking down for the night, more or less, while Reyes attempts to get Coulson to “bunk down” in an entirely different fashion. Coulson sees her seduction for the distraction it is, but he’s too late to keep the hostile takeover from happening. It turns out that the Peruvian government commissioned the Tesseract weapon from Hydra back in the 1940s, but lost it during a test fire. Now they want it back and are willing to kill to keep it.

The motley crew of Ward, May, Fitz, Simmons, and Skye put their heads together to take back control of the plane, incidentally blowing a hole in the hull in the process. Oops. The bad guys are defeated by the power of teamwork and the superweapon is taken back to SHIELD HQ, where the higher-ups decide to shoot it into the sun. As everyone else watches the launch, Skye gets an untraceable text from Rising Tide asking for orders. Sounds like she’s still playing for the wrong team.

First off, apologies for the extreme lateness of this review. I was… doing hands-on research into Marvel’s relatively new parent company and their ability to capitalize on this property. (Granted, you happy few who follow me on Twitter know that this translates to “I was shopping for Avengers souvenirs at Disney World between rides and wine tastings,” but why split hairs?) Regardless, I have returned full of opinions and pithy commentary!

So Skye is still a double agent, hmm? Discovered double agents have an interesting range of fates on Joss Whedon shows. I’m giving Skye a few more episodes to make herself likeable before I start heavily campaigning for the Attic of the Dollhouse. (Ooh, maybe Coulson’s an Active and “It’s a magical place” is one of his catchphrases. The crossover fanfiction practically writes itself.)

Despite my growing dislike of the character who is supposed to be our audience avatar, I still really enjoyed the episode. Much-needed, if somewhat clichéd, team-building was accomplished, we got a little more Coulson backstory, and a Nick Fury cameo happened, and no sorrow will live in me as long as that joy.

Best Quotes:

Coulson: “Do you need anything else before I go check on the device fueled by evil that’s sitting in our cargo hold?”

Nick Fury: “You know, I have the authority to downgrade your a** to a Winnebago!”

Things to ponder:

• I want Melinda May origin story. Like yesterday.
• Tesseract technology! Please let this be a continuing story arc. I live in fear of SHIELD becoming a “Hero of the Week” show.
• Inflatable life raft sealing the plane’s hull? My kneejerk reaction is that physics says no, but I’d love to hear from someone with a more scientific background than my own. Thoughts?