Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. - "FZZT" - Review

Intro

Okay, I'm just gonna stop apologizing for late posts. This is, after all, the era of watching TV whenever we want so... if you're reading this review, I'll assume you're interested in my views and we'll just forget the fact that I'm really behind and getting even more behind as I type.

Life sucks, people.

SPOILER WARNING

The following review is for Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Season 1, Episode 6: "FZZT." If you have not seen this episode, I highly recommend doing so before reading this review. Spoilers are imminent.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. - "FZZT" - Review

Characters:

• Agent Phil Coulson - Played by Clark Gregg. Not dead. Leader of Level 7.
• Agent Melinda May - Played by Ming-Na Wen. Pilot of the Bus. "The Cavalry."
• Agent Grant Ward - Played by Brett Dalton. Black Ops Specialist.
• Skye - Played by Chloe Bennet. Computer hacker. Member of Rising Tide.
• Agent Leo Fitz - Played by Iain De Caestecker. Engineering.
• Agent Jemma Simmons - Played by Elizabeth Henstridge. Biochem.
• Tony Diaz - Played by Vincent Laresca. Victim of the Chitauri virus.
• Agent Blake - Played by Titus Welliver. S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent.

Review:

Although I hadn't yet gotten around to reviewing this episode, I listened to some podcasts about it. I mention this because I was somewhat amused by the inability of people to pronounce this episode's title. I was less amused when I went on IMDB today and found the title included periods between the letters, like it was an acronym... which it's not. "FZZT" is a visual sound effect like the ones used in the comics. This particular sound effect describes the sound electricity makes when moving from one object to another. I thought this was obvious, but apparently I was wrong.

Now that the title's been discussed/explained in entirely too much detail, we can get into the meat of "FZZT." We got a very interesting Avengers tie-in via the Chitauri helmet and virus. While I didn't know about the virus at first, I quickly figured out that whatever was going on with the floating guys was going to affect Simmons. After all, there was obviously something wrong with her in the previews and she got obviously shocked by the first floating guy. I'd originally suspected mind control of some sort, but AoS continues to disappoint on that front. I did, however, enjoy the virus aspect. To make matters worse, we had the added tension of Joss Whedon's tendency to kill off characters so there was no guarantee Simmons was going to live through this.

That said, I had a lot of fun watching Fitz and Simmons struggle working apart and then excel working together. I thought how they dealt with Simmons' possible death was pretty realistic. It was also heartbreaking to watch. I cried. It was also touching to see the rest of the team caring for Simmons in their own ways. Their relief after Ward saved Simmons was pretty darn awesome.

I thought the parts with Coulson were interesting. He's really not feeling himself and feeling the weight of his death. I'm happy he's trying to figure out what's wrong with himself, even if it didn't yield the results anyone was expecting. I especially enjoyed the scene between Coulson and May at the end of the episode. Her advice to him was incredibly poignant.

Miscellaneous Notes:

• Making fun of ward is hilarious.
• The Dwarf drones are back!
• Damn you, Whedon! You can't kill her off now!
• Was not expecting Ward to make fun of Gemma making fun of him.
• That's a pretty awesome scar there, Coulson.

Favorite Lines:

"I don't sweat. I glisten." - Coulson

"Whether it was eight seconds or forty, you can't go through a trauma like that and not come out changed." - May

Housekeeping

I've got my review of last week's Supernatural ready to go next to me so... I'll be posting that very soon after posting this.

Love ya, Jessie

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. - "Eye-Spy" - Review

Intro

This will probably be the only review I get out on time this week, unless I write up a few this evening and put them on a posting schedule. This, my dears, is what happens when you get a job and have to work two days in a row.

SPOILER WARNING

The following review is for Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Season 1, Episode 4: "Eye-Spy." If you have not seen this episode, or the previous ones, be aware that I spoil the entire episode just within the character list at the start of the review. So, do yourself a favor and head over to watchabc.go.com to watch the episodes before reading this review.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. - "Eye-Spy" - Review

Characters:

• Agent Phil Coulson - Played by Clark Gregg. Not dead. Leader of Level 7.
• Agent Melinda May - Played by Ming-Na Wen. Pilot of the Bus. "The Cavalry."
• Agent Grant Ward - Played by Brett Dalton. Black Ops Specialist.
• Skye - Played by Chloe Bennet. Computer hacker. Member of Rising Tide.
• Agent Leo Fitz - Played by Iain De Caestecker. Engineering.
• Agent Jemma Simmons - Played by Elizabeth Henstridge. Biochem.
• Akela Amador - Played by Pascale Armand. Previous protoge of Coulson's.

Review:

Personally, I was really disappointed to find out that Akela wasn't telepathic. However, that didn't subtract anything from my enjoyment of "Eye-Spy." On the contrary, I very much enjoyed what they did without the use of telepathy. The in-eye camera was a really cool concept. Although it turned out fairly badly for Akela and "The Englishman," I look forward to the technology possibly be used in the future.

I'm not sure how I feel about the red-masked people turning out to be not at all creepy or cult-ish. I think, though, that I'm going to chalk that up to being Marketing's fault and move on.

I thought Akela was an interesting character. I didn't get an exact read on her personality, but she seemed alright, as far as that goes. I liked how she attempted to protect May and Coulson by either not looking at them or at least not doing so directly. I also liked that she noticed something was up with Coulson. I very much wonder what exactly it was that made her notice it.

I really love the different team dynamics we got here. First Coulson and Ward splitting off and leaving Fitz-Simmons and Skye together. Coulson and Ward make an interesting little duo, though I was much more interested in the nerd-trio we got. Fitz is adorable. There are not two ways around that. I like that Simmons mothers him and Skye treats him as a sort of younger brother. At least, that's what I gleaned from their interactions. The scene at the very end with Fitz cheating at poker through Skye's use of the eye-tech was very cute. It made me laugh. Skye and Ward working together more now was fun. The best part of that was, of course, the argument over seducing the guard.

I want to touch a little bit on May. I thought it was interesting the way she was placed standing over the loading bay of the Bus when the team came straggling in. She obviously has some authority issues where Couslon comes in. It makes me wonder about their history. That said, I enjoyed their chemistry.

But uh... yeah... that's pretty much all I've got for "Eye-Spy." Another solid AoS episode and next week looks extremely interesting. I figured they'd let that particular plot thread go for a while longer, but I guess not.

Miscellaneous Notes:

• Fitz sucks at naming stuff. It's awesomely adorable.
• I love watching Chloe. Her expressions in the background of shots are just great.
• I like that Coulson doesn't appreciate Ward's "humor" at naming the van.
• Can't wait to see if we see the organization behind Akela's eye-camera.

Favorite Lines:

"You're a robot. Can you do that?" - Skye

"Seduce him." - The Englishman

Housekeeping

See the Sleepy Hollow review for the housekeeping section. I'm not retyping that.

Love ya, Jessie.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. - "Pilot" - Review

Characters:

• Agent Phil Coulson - Played by Clark Gregg. Not dead. Leader of Level 7.
• Agent Melinda May - Played by Ming-Na Wen. Pilot.
• Agent Grant Ward - Played by Brett Dalton. Black Ops Specialist.
• Skye - Played by Chloe Bennet. Computer hacker. Member of Rising Tide.
• Agent Leo Fitz - Played by Iain De Caestecker. Engineering.
• Agent Jemma Simmons - Played by Elizabeth Henstridge. Biochem.
• Michael "Mike" Peterson - Played by J. August Richards. Main antagonist in the Pilot.
• Agent Maria Hill - Played by Cobie Smulders. Agent Nick Fury's right hand gal.

Review:

In my humble opinion as an avid TV watcher and reviewer, the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. "Pilot" was stellar. Random dangling plot threads from The Avengers were tied up nicely, though with a bit of mystery. The characters were set up well, both those who appeared in the Marvel movies and those who didn't. The world around them was fleshed out well. Overall, we got a very solid "Pilot."

First and foremost, I have to talk about Coulson. I thought Clark Gregg did a great job reprising the roll. I liked the way Coulson's reappearance was explained, though I wonder what Hill was talking about and hope that gets explained at some point. It makes a very nice little mystery that I sincerely hope doesn't get dropped. I also really liked the way Coulson was portrayed. He's a nice mix of "secret agent" and caring human being. I like that he cares more about helping people than collecting them.

So far I like the team of Fitz and Simmons. They're wonderfully quirky and nerdy. Yes, those are two separate things. The way the pair interact with each other amuses me. I'm not entirely sure where I stand on Ward and May. They're cool, but I don't quite have a handle on them yet.

Skye kind of reminded me of a cooler, hacker-y version of Gwen Cooper from Torchwood... kind of. I just mean Skye is both in her element and out of her depth. She's different from Gwen in that she's full of that classic Whedon-y spunk. She's definitely got a lot more heart than Ward seems to. I really loved how she interacted with Coulson, Ward, and Mike. The bubbly nerdy-ness was awesome. I'm also intrigued by the fact that Skye seems to have deleted herself from a technology standpoint.

Last on my list of people to talk about is our antagonist for the episode, Mike Peterson. I thought J.August Richards really brought out the emotions of the character. Mike entered into the study-thing for all the right reasons, the effects of the study-thing just made him send up making the wrong decisions. He was extremely relatable in a way characters like Tony Stark and Thor just aren't. I'm glad he didn't end up dying at the end of the episode, though I totally fell for that fake out.

Miscellaneous Notes:

• S.H.I.E.L.D's tech was awesome and imaginative.
• Loved the nerd references. I caught Terminator and Snow White on first watch and a Harry Potter reference on the second.
• I love that Ftiz named his droids after the Snow White characters. It's cute.
• I was surprised and pleased that Lola flew.

Extras:

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Official Website - I know some people are probably wondering where they can get a S.H.I.E.L.D. badge like the one at the top of this post. Well look no further than the official site. I had a poke around and it's pretty cool. You will definitely need a computer or other device that can keep up with a lot of moving images and sound. I'm pretty sure the site runs on Flash so... make sure your device can handle that, too.

Favorite Lines:

"With great power comes... a ton of weird crap that you are not prepared to handle." - Skye

"Whedon-verse" Alumns:

Actor	AoS Character	"Whedon-verse"
J. August Richards	Mike Peterson	Charles Gunn
Ron Glass	Dr. Streiten	Shepherd Derrial Book

Love ya, Jessie