Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: F.Z.Z.T. (1x06)

This is definitely the strongest episode we've had yet. And yet, still, it wasn't up to the usual Whedon standards. I guess I'm probably still expecting a bit too much, but what can you do? The man that gave us Firefly, Buffy, and The Avengers is capable of more than this, I just know it. But here's an episode where I'm seeing the seeds of future success. Here's an episode that explored a character dynamic in a very subtle and still beautiful way. Here's an episode that took us away from Skye as the focus... and it's about time.

So, the plot is actually very simple and contained, which I think works in this episode's favor. The gang investigate a couple of deaths and learn that they result from contamination due to exposure to a Chitauri helmet. These people have been spreading the infection due to electrostatic shock, and Jemma Simmons contracts the disease when dealing with one of the victims. The rest of the episode is a race to find a cure. Although at first it doesn't seem like they will be able to find one in time, at the last second Fitz discovers an antiserum, and thanks to some quick skydiving from Ward, Simmons is saved.

That's honestly the entire plot. There were a few other side things going on that helped to advance the characters, but the plot took place almost entirely on the Bus, centered around a very scared Jemma in the lab. I think this setup is honestly what made the episode so strong. I want to go through character by character and talk about their reactions.

First of all, we've got Skye. I think her character was the weakest for me in the episode, as she has been the weakest for me all season if I'm being honest. She was really emotionally torn up about Simmons' imminent death, which would have been a lot more meaningful if we had seen any sort of real friendship between these two characters. The emotional weight of Skye's reactions felt lacking to me.

Agent May was the least outwardly affected by Simmons' plight. Her most powerful moments came when she was talking with Coulson. He has been distressed by how different he feels since his death, and May reassures him that it's okay that he's changed. It's only to be expected. She also says some tantalizing little line that perhaps suggests that she had her own near death experience... I'm really interested to learn more about May, but unlike with some of the other characters I feel as if her unformed character is a good thing. She's mysterious, almost always in the background. Once we learn her back story, I'm sure it's going to add a lot of nuance.

Ward got to courageously dive out of a plane to save Simmons, which was awesome and bad ass. We also saw that he has a sense of humor, as he attempts to parody his own heroic attitude with Simmons at the end of the episode. This was decently funny. He had one speech to Skye that I didn't like, though, where he talked about how hard it was for him to have nobody to fight. When the enemy you're facing is a disease, there's no way for someone like Ward to take care of the threat. This is one of the most overused cliches in the book. Ward's character is already too simplistic, and I felt that this speech really just cemented his identity as the generic man of action. However, as I mentioned before, there were some spots in the episode that gave me hope he might become more complex in the future.

Coulson had a number of nice character moments. Honestly, of all the characters in this show, I find him to be consistently the most interesting. Kudos to the acting and the writing on him in general. Anyways, he feels like something about him is different since his death, and he orders a physical to make sure all is okay. On paper, everything seems normal, and May even encourages him that he's going to be fine. I'm so excited to see what this is building up to... it's probably going to be pretty intense. I also really enjoyed the scene where Coulson talks to the man who is about to die. It was really touching, and also so sad that there was literally nothing they could do. It was a good moment of solemnity for him. And then of course there's the fact that he refuses to get rid of Jemma just because she's contaminated, defying orders from higher up to do so. His speech to Ward and Simmons was also really sweet - he acted angry about the stunt they pulled, but in reality he was just relieved that Simmons would be okay.

And lastly, let's talk about the real focus of the episode: Fitzsimmons. I'm happy to report that for the first time I feel like I understand very clearly the distinction between Fitz and Simmons. Simmons is the more adventurous of the two of them, and the one with the slightly more macabre sense of humor. Fitz is scared, and doesn't take risks. However, the two of them have been working together for such a long time that when Simmons wanted to do something risky and join the team, Fitz came along.

I think probably the most poignant image in the entire episode was when Fitz and Simmons were sitting on either side of the glass, leaning against each other through the barrier. There was this sense that Fitz was just magnetized to be wherever Simmons is, no matter how hopeless the situation. Then there's the fact that Fitz risked contamination so that he could work with Simmons on the cure. I love how the two of them are constantly bickering, but they do it in a way that indicates such total understanding and respect. When Fitz saw Simmons about to jump off of the Bus, his heartfelt cry of "Jemma!" was really powerful. I think the only slightly weaker moment with the two of them was the little moment at the end where she calls him a hero and kisses him on the cheek. I don't know why, but that felt like overkill. It might have been nicer to have something more subtle here.

In all, however, I was very pleased with this episode. It was a bit of a contrived scenario, what with the cure working just in time, and the wild skydiving incident and all of that. However, I think that this show definitely needed a small scale character-driven plot so we could develop some of these relationships a bit better, and that's what we got here.

8.5/10