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