Gamersledge Reviews – Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. – Ep 106 “FZZT”

“Have a cookie.” I don’t know why but that line from last week’s episode really got me. Anyway, welcome to a look at the last episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. S per our normal format, the first part of the article reviews aspects of the show, and the second is a spoiler section with thoughts about the episode and where they may tie into the larger universe or story arc.

This episode has the team investigating a mysterious death and trying to figure out what the cause of it is. A body is found, with obvious electricity damage and is floating. Is it a new weapon, some sort of natural event or something else? There are also a couple of subplots focusing on character development, one specifically building Fitz and Simmons and their odd relationship. The other is kinda spoilery so I am not going to go into it much here.

Storywise we got an interesting story, but primarily this was about relationships, and character building. The second half of the episode is pretty suspenseful, especially with the Whedon reputation. The pacing is pretty good, though this was a slower episode overall. The acting, I think, was spot on again. Fitz’s awkwardness seemed genuine to his character. Simmons, as a highlighted character, finally gets the screen time to prove that the actress has a grasp of the character. Sky and Ward continue to work well together, and of course Coulson is Coulson. May is still somewhat relegated to the role of Yoda like lines of wisdom and a sounding board for Coulson, and she is long overdue for some development. I would give the story on this ep and 8.5. Since this is such a character based show I am going to give the pacing/acting score here too. I give this episode a 9.0 on that.

As for visuals, audio and other ambient effects, the show continues to impress. The mixture of onscreen and off screen effects works well. The little Iron Man colored ornithopters returned, floating dead guys and a fair number of other effects. This is an area that the show continues to shine. I don’t think anyone can argue that regardless of their feelings on other aspects of the show. While I did think the effects were great, I am docking them a half point just for it being a fairly tame effect ep overall, 9.5.

I liked this ep more on the second viewing, though it still wasn’t as good at the previous episode. This episode still rates out at a 9.0 Chitauri helmets out of 10. I am still very much liking the show and am incredibly interested to see how the Thor tie-in will be done in two episodes.
*******************SPOILERS – LEVEL 7 ACCESS ONLY***********************
[spoiler]
Gonna be kinda lazy on this one, it’s late and I haven’t left any time. Coulson’s iron is high, foreshadowing? Coulson’s quest to figure out what is different seems to be sated for now. It was also interesting the May is the one to defuse him especially since she KNOWS that there is something different with him. After that reveal is when she really started hanging out with him.

If Fitz could just scan the team, why not the firefighters? Part of the reason I docked the plot.

The reveal that the culprit was a virus on a Chitauri helmet that was recovered after the Battle of New York was an interesting one. The implication that there are second level implications to Earth being a part of a bigger universe of events was one of the premises of the show, and it is nice to see a return to that.
[/spoiler]