Do you know who this is?
That’s Angar the fucking Screamer! Number one in obscure Marvel villains that I am SO happy to see. Shit like this hits me right in the fanboy and makes me mark out like crazy. All they need to do now is have an appearance by Armless Tiger Man and I might just ask Marvel's Agents of SHIELD to marry me.
Kidding aside this was an excellent episode, a damn near perfect one for me. We get more of Cal, whom I love. Kyle MacLachlan as Mr. Hyde has really transformed that character from some Z-Grade Hulk villain that I don’t care about into one of my favorite Marvel Cinematic Universe baddies. I’d love to see Cal make it into a movie or become a more permanent fixture in Agents of SHIELD. Mr. Hyde’s storyline gives me everything I really enjoy about Agents of SHIELD: dramatic monologues, bad bad guys, good good guys and dredging the obscure depths of the Marvel Universe for B-squaders and making them super badass. Scrubs like Angar or Ajax (called Francis Noche here, I’m calling it based on the fact they share a first name, some powers and some origin) or enhanced references like Carla Faye Gideon (you might remember her from Daredevil, here they pay off her origin with a twist) all have great moments and fantastic real world depictions. Add to that a movie worthy showdown between SHIELD and Cal’s group and you’ve got one of the better A-plots since before the break. Stuff like this is why I thought SHIELD was immediately better this season than last, each episode felt like a mini-movie and it captured that feeling here again.
The B-plot is about Skye getting a psych evaluation from Agent May’s ex-husband. It didn’t make me mark out like the A-plot did but it does a good job of exploring Skye’s new position within SHIELD and uses it as a platform to explore pretty much everyone else’s interpersonal relationships in the process. We see Simmons and Bobbi get a moment, Fitz and Simmons, May and Skye, Skye with May’s Ex and so on. We also get some closure on Mack choking out Hunter at the end of the last episode as he gets introduced to the ‘Real SHIELD’ which uses the old SSR logo. The final sting is Cal facing Inhuman justice.
I doubt Marvel would debut someone as powerful as Black Bolt, who may or may not be Vin Diesel, but who knows. With this show pretty much anything could go. If I were in charge every big name movie actor contract would come with mandatory appearances on Agents of SHIELD. You sign up for 3 movies you make 6 appearances on Agents of SHIELD, you appear every season. These people make enough money in their contracts you might as well get your money’s worth. Run the show at a loss and use it like a cool commercial for your movies. Seeing people like Chris Evans or Jeremy Renner or Scarlett Johansen would do wonders not only for the TV show but also as a way to promote your huge movies. Who knows maybe Black Bolt will be the first big reveal they do here.
I’m now really excited to see what happens with the series. With only a few episodes left, according to Wikipedia, I’m interested in seeing where it’s all going. Who is the real SHIELD? What will happen with Skye? Are they going to make her full Quake with gauntlets and everything? How will the Inhumans play a role in all of this? Will old Peggy Carter come back as the head of ‘real SHIELD’? I know she was kind of out of it in Winter Soldier but maybe they cured her of that. Maybe it’s Nick Fury. Maybe it’s Maria Hill or someone else entirely. How will it all go into Avengers 2? So many questions and I’m excited to get the answers.
Score: 4/5
Marvel’s Agents of Shield 2.13
New episodes of Marvel’s Agents of Shield – Tuesdays 9/8C