I can't believe how happy I am with the way things are going. Seriously. The momentum is strong. Things are being pushed forward. All of the characters are moving in very interesting directions. Amy Acker is guest starring. Life is wonderful. Let's talk about it!
At Providence, Agent Koenig has the entire team take a very intense lie detector test. Ward nearly fails, but he manages to sneak through by stabbing himself in the finger with something and then blaming his pain on his recently cracked ribs, to account for fluctuations in the readings. Coulson, Fitz, Simmons, and Triplett all leave to go try and track down one of the prisoners who escaped from the Fridge (which I'll talk about in a second) while May, Ward, Skye, and Koenig stay at the secret base.
May announces to Ward that she's leaving, since she was only staying for Coulson, and he obviously doesn't want her around. Koenig and Skye have the idea of hacking into the NSA's video so that they can get a visual on the HYDRA people who broke into the Fridge, and see who all escaped. Ward knows that this will mean he's revealed to be HYDRA. He kills Koenig and stashes him away. Skye and Ward have a talk about their feelings, and share a passionate kiss. However, Skye notices blood on Ward. He says it's just one of his cuts opening up. Skye uses a tracking device to find Koenig, and when she does, she sees his dead body and realizes what that must mean.
Skye has to pretend that she doesn't know Ward is HYDRA, as he tells her that they have to open the encrypted folders for the good of the team. Skye tells Ward that the files are only accessible at a certain location, so Skye has to tell Ward where to pilot the bus! At the end of the episode, we see May being picked up on the road by her mother, and she reveals that she's looking for Agent Maria Hill.
Meanwhile, the case Coulson is working on hits pretty close to home, as they hunt for Marcus Daniels, a superhuman who is obsessed with Coulson's old girlfriend, Audrey Nathan (Amy Acker). Coulson decides not to reveal that he is alive to Audrey, even though she clearly still misses him. Simmons and Triplett set up a trap for Marcus Daniels. While Audrey is practicing cello, Daniels shows up and they are able to apprehend him. For a moment, Coulson holds an unconscious Audrey in his arms, but ultimately he decides to stay hidden from her. While all this is happening, Fitz is getting increasingly jealous of Simmons and Triplett. He's too scared to say anything to Simmons, but he really doesn't want to lose her.
Okay, where to start? Do I have problems?
Uhh... I'm actually drawing a blank. I actually don't think there's a single thing that I didn't like about this episode. If I had to seriously nitpick, I'd say that I want more from Triplett's character. I want to understand why Fitz sees him as a threat. He seems a bit generic and unformed at the moment. Hopefully that improves with time, because what I do see of him, I like.
But let's mention some of the awesomeness going on here.
Skye knows about Ward! I wasn't expecting that to happen so quickly. I'm very pleased with that twist. The timing during that whole scene was very intense and dramatic. We see Skye looking for Koenig, finding his body, realizing the truth, running to hide... she knows she needs to keep a cool face to stay alive, but she's just basically lost one of the most important people in her life. And then when they're on the Bus, and Ward tells Skye that she's in charge of where they go... she gets this little smile. She's a pretty smart girl, so she's probably going to be able to figure out how to trick him at least a little longer.
May leaving! Coulson deciding to make amends with her, but too late! Everything between Coulson and May seems 100% platonic, and I really hope it stays that way. I just love their deep friendship, and I love the challenges in it at the moment. Coulson realizes that he has to forgive May for keeping secrets, because he's keeping secrets from Audrey. But May is already moving on. She has to do what's best for herself and for the world, and right now that means finding someone higher up who can help: Maria Hill. It would be awesome if Cobie Smulders could come be in several episodes, especially now that How I Met Your Mother is over. Also, May's mother is awesome. That scene at the end was fantastic.
Fitz! My baby Fitz! Oddly enough, this was the first episode where I felt like there was obvious, overt textual evidence of Fitzsimmons as a romantic pairing. Obviously it's been there from the beginning, but in this particular episode, it was everywhere. When they're all taking the lie detector test, one of the questions is something like: "you're deserted alone on an island and you see a box. What's in it?" Fitz's answer? Simmons. Simmons' answer? The TARDIS. That was hilarious. A little later on, Fitz is badmouthing Triplett to Ward, and Ward seems to see past that to the real issue. He tells Fitz to tell Simmons how he feels while he still has the chance. Still later, Simmons talks to Fitz and asks him why he seems to have such a problem with Triplett. Fitz looks like he might be about to admit his feelings, but he chickens out, saying that he's just not fond of change. I love, love, love these two so much, and I want them to get together. Seriously. I want it so bad.
Amy Acker! Always a delight. I love the fact that a random mention of a cellist two years ago in The Avengers has turned into an actual character now. Obviously we didn't get a lot of time with Audrey here, but I think there was enough so that we understood that she and Coulson had something very special. I hope she can come back, although I doubt she'll be a part of the regular series any time soon.
A few other lovely nuts and bolts: There was a mention of Natasha Romanoff when they were talking about the lie detector test, which was super fun. I also liked Skye and Koenig's bonding, even though it was short lived. I'm going to miss Koenig, he was really fun. The whole lie detector sequence was probably my favorite part of the episode. I already mentioned Fitzsimmons' answers to the box on a desert island question, but there was also the fact that Skye gave herself her own name, having been christened by the orphanage as Mary Sue Poots. May apparently used to be married, Triplett is the grandson of a legacy... all very interesting stuff.
I'm going to leave it there. These last three episodes have just been leaps and bounds ahead of anything we've seen on the show so far. I'm so excited and happy.
9/10
No comments:
Post a Comment
I'd really appreciate hearing what you think!