‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D’ 1.03 Episode Recap and Review: The Asset

The team goes to Malta and Skye makes some decisions about her place on the team on this episode of Agents of SHIELD.

Our case of the week involves the kidnapping of prominent scientist Dr. Franklin Hall from the back of an extremely secure SHIELD transport truck that was being escorted by several field agents, including the truck driver himself. I’m choosing to ignore the call-sign of the female agent taking point, because really Joss? “Little girl”? Anyhoo, the semi and escorting inconspicuous black SUVs get tossed around as if by an invisible Hulk. When the dust clears, Dr. Hall is in the hands of the bad guys and our team is on the way.

Dr. Hall, as it so happens, was one of Fitz-Simmons’s favorite professors back in their uni days. Extra incentive to get the SHIELD asset back safely! They discover that the invisible Hulk effect was caused by tiny little gravity generators powered by a rare element called “gravitonium” (yeah, you sat through an entire movie about “unobtainium.” Don’t judge). Coincidentally, Dr. Hall is the foremost expert on gravitonium. Could this be related to his kidnapping? Signs point to yes. Signs also point to a former colleague of Dr. Hall’s, Ian Quinn. Quinn has a secret underground lab in Malta where he’s working on a full-scale version of the aforementioned gravity generators. He just needs Hall’s help to make them stable.

Malta has some pretty strict international treaties, so the only member of the SHIELD team who can get into Quinn’s complex openly is Skye, who wrangles an invite through her Rising Tide connections. She works her “man on the inside” mojo to get Coulson in to find Dr. Hall, but not without first giving some serious consideration to the merits of a good Face-Heel Turn.

Hall isn’t in as much trouble as he appears, though. In fact, he left clues for Quinn to find in order to engineer his own kidnapping. He’s concerned that the technology Quinn is playing with is too dangerous for any corporation or government to have, so he’s wormed his way into Quinn’s lab in order to destroy the tech, the research, and the whole complex. Coulson is forced to throw Dr. Hall into the machine itself in order to save the lives of everyone on the grounds. Heeding Hall’s words regarding the machine, Coulson makes certain that the device is locked deep in the secret bowels of a SHIELD vault, with no records whatsoever about its presence.

So… was that Skye being super good at her job and totally fooling Quinn the whole time, or was that Skye still just looking out for Rising Tide and her own interests? Like Jayne, but less ruggedly endearing. I’d say we need Summer Glau to pop in and threaten to kill Skye with her brain, but I’m liking Agents of SHIELD thus far, and Summer being slated to appear on Arrow has me nervous enough about the fate of shows I enjoy.

On another note, we knew it couldn’t be long before May decided to get back into the field. I love that her general expression was “Oh for the love of God, just move and let me do it.” She and Fitz-Simmons are definitely my favorites on this show, so far. Ward is a little too “but I’m a Hero” for my tastes, and let’s just not talk about Skye for a little while. I’m sure there will come a day when she’s less Dawn Summers, but it is not this day.

Best Quote:

Fitz: “If we had a monkey, we could get in.”
Simmons: “Oh, Fitz!”
Fitz: “If we had a small monkey, he could slip through the sensors and disable the fence’s power source with his adorable little hands.”

Things to Ponder:

  • Birth of Graviton! I wonder when we’ll be seeing him again…
  • Okay, seriously. What kind of instructor lets a student get away with punches like that without correcting her? The “training” scenes just hurt to watch.

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