Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Providence (1x18)

Yikes. They certainly are keeping up the momentum. I am beyond excited about where this show is headed. I hope they can keep it going.

So. We see that Ward and Garrett have teamed up to take advantage of the fact that S.H.I.E.L.D. is in shambles. They free Raina, and we learn definitively that Project Centipede was HYDRA. She is disappointed to find out that the Clairvoyant has no real powers, but she still agrees to help them find the miracle drug that saved Coulson and Skye, so she can continue with Centipede. Ward has a drive with all the information, but it's protected from anyone but Skye, meaning that Ward has to go get her to open it. Ward and Garrett are able to get into the Fridge, and confiscate a lot of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s dangerous protected weapons and alien technology. At HYDRA's base, Ian Quinn is very annoyed with Garrett's actions in imprisoning him. Garrett is able to make up for it by showing Quinn his gravitonium, which he found in the Fridge.

Meanwhile, Coulson and his team get word from Colonel Talbot that a military team is coming to the Hub to take over the remains of S.H.I.E.L.D. Coulson doesn't trust Talbot, so he takes his team on the bus and escapes. Triplett comes with them, at Simmons' insistence. Skye erases the identities of everyone in the team, so that they can remain well and truly hidden. Coulson notices coordinates on his badge, and he believes that they're a message from Fury. Even though May and the rest of the team are skeptical, since Fury is supposed to be dead, Coulson insists on going to the coordinates. May tells Coulson that Fury wasn't the one in charge of the T.A.H.I.T.I. thing, and so maybe Coulson's brain has been altered by HYDRA. Coulson still insists that Fury is sending him a message.

When they get out into the middle of nowhere, it seems that there's nothing there for them to find. Just when it seems Coulson was wrong, they discover a hidden S.H.I.E.L.D. base, run by Agent Eric Koenig. He welcomes Coulson with open arms, but seems suspicious of the rest of the team. He tells Coulson that Fury is alive, but that he must not tell the rest of his team, no matter what. Turns out, this is a good thing... when Koenig tells them that the Fridge has been compromised, Skye rushes to call Ward. Skye tells Ward about the secret base (damn it) but at least she can't spill the beans about Fury, since she doesn't know.

Ward shows up, playing the part of the dutiful S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent once more, as he plans to get Skye to open up the files about the miracle drug. Dun dun dunnnn....

So. Any complaints? Uh... not really, actually. I suppose I still think that "gravitonium" is a stupid name and a stupid idea, but I sort of have to give it a pass, don't I? It's comic book mumbo jumbo.

Also, there were a few other spots where the cheesiness got to be a bit extreme. Coulson talking about how they have to "be the shield" for humanity. Please. I think when you're working within a superhero universe, you have to be very careful about the kind of tone you're setting. This show has had a lot of problems with the snappy sort of dialogue that they were obviously trying to model off of other Whedon shows. When you add in a healthy dose of comic book cheese, it gets a bit difficult to overlook.

Still, though... I was in awe of how much I enjoyed this episode. I kept thinking that there was no way they could beat all of the twists of last week, but they managed to keep up the high energy and exciting developments.

First of all, and most importantly... Ward seems to be actually evil! He's not an emotionless robot, or anything, and he does tell Raina that he thinks of Coulson as a good person. But, his loyalty to Garrett outstrips anything else. He's really loyal to HYDRA. Fully and completely. Thank God. This is so much more interesting than anything I could have hoped for with Ward. I used to think this guy was a bad actor, and now I'm realizing how wrong I was. He's playing a very interesting guy at the moment.

Ian Quinn is back. He was always the most delicious and interesting villain this show had to offer. Even though the gravitonium thing is silly, I'm still glad to see he'll be around.

Fitzsimmons adorableness! You can tell that Fitz feels very threatened by Simmons' friendship with Triplett, which I think is adorable. Also, in all this chaos, Fitz is worried that he'll lose Jemma. I loved it when he said he wouldn't want anything to change, and she said it was too late for that. It was sad, but also perfect, because Fitz needs to understand that the world is a different place now. That doesn't mean he'll have to lose his partner, but it does mean that they can't go back to how they were before.

Coulson's meltdown. Really nicely done. A man like Coulson, who has given his entire life to the cause of S.H.I.E.L.D., really needs a purpose. And when he feels like he's lost everything, he'll go a bit off the rails. It's all scary because it's impossible to tell if it's just Coulson freaking out like anyone would freak out, or if it has something to do with the secret of the T.A.H.I.T.I. project. May is really worried that it's the latter. For the first time, I'm really interested in this secret and what it could be building to.

Garrett is a great villain. This actor is doing a fantastic job of toeing the line between being too smarmy and being too cold and calculating. He's unsettling because he just seems so... normal. He's much more fascinating out in the open than he ever was as the Clairvoyant, hiding in the shadows.

After a few fantastic episodes, this show is starting to earn my trust a little bit. I can honestly say I have high hopes for the rest of the season. Although this isn't reaching the prime level of what I hoped it could be, I'm still enjoying myself quite a bit.

8.5/10