Agents of Shield: T.R.A.C.K.S.
by J.D. Cook
I have been a fairly staunch defender of Agents of Shield in its first season. Many of my friends have already abandoned ship but I stayed on deck as it took a hiatus, returned for two episodes, and then went on another hiatus. I even stood by it through the episodes where the team stayed on the plane for the full 40 minutes of the show. So I find it kind of frustrating when the show wastes my time like it did in the most recent episode.
Spoilers
One of the worst things about Comic Books is that no character ever dies. I mean they might be killed off for a short amount of time but they always come back. Television shows also do this quite often. It’s an annoying thing the two mediums share in common. What made Agents of Shield seem like it could break this trend was that it was introducing mostly new characters that were not established enough to be deemed immortal. Plus Game of Thrones has been proving repeatedly, that if you kill characters in a way that is meaningful to the narrative it does nothing but improve your show.
So I found it fairly annoying that the writers of Agents of Shield decided that the main character Skye (Chloe Bennet), should be shot in this episode. It was of course intended to make viewers believe that she was dead but because she is literally the main character it was completely ineffective. I was hoping that her near death would trigger some kind of secret super power, since we know Skye has mysterious origins. Unfortunately the other Agents just showed up and tossed her in a Deus Ex Machina called a Hyperbolic chamber, not to be confused with the Hyperbolic Time Chamber Goku occasionally trains in. It keeps Skye alive but doesn’t save her so that viewers’ time can be wasted in another episode devoted to finding a way to save her life; even though we know she won’t die.
The highlight of this episode was Stan Lee’s cameo but I thought it was supposed to be much longer and more important to the story. The episode also disappointed me by using the same format as the film Vantage Point, where the same event is examined multiple times from different character’s perspectives. The episode ended with the revelation that Mike Peterson (J. August Richards) is the cyborg Deathlok, but that was leaked a few weeks ago so the revelation wasn’t very exciting.
Next week Bill Paxton has his first appearance so I can only hope that improves the show. It seems to be at its best when it puts its characters in unfamiliar situations, like Coulson (Clark Gregg) and Ward (Brett Dalton) trying to figure out how to work Fitz-Simmons’ holographic table. So in that vein I hope the writers give us new and exciting situations moving forward. I also hope Deathlok is made to look more interesting because as of now you could just call him RoboLeg!
Check in next week for another blog on the show!
Previous Episodes of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Episode 12: Seeds
Episode 11: The Magical Place
Episode 10: The Bridge
Episode 9: Repairs
Episode 8: The Well
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