REVIEW -- Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. - Episode 2: 0-8-4

Yeah, I know I'm behind on my writing for this show. I watched this episode (again) and Episode 3 today back-to-back since I was attempting to take it a bit easy today since I keep feeling like I'm getting a cold with the weather alternating between hot and cold.

Let's get this out of the way as I'm looking forward to writing about Dr. Franklin Hall's origin story in the next episode.

Episode Synopsis: (Spoilers Ahead)

Skye is now integrated into Coulson's team as a consultant. Their next assignment is in Peru, tracking a "0-8-4", a S.H.I.E.L.D. prefix for "an object of unknown origin". Once there, the team quickly realizes that the object is actually a piece of forgotten HYDRA technology powered by Tesseract energy. Coulson meets with a former ally, Camilla Reyes (Leonor Varela) and brings her unit on board the team plane. Later, Reyes betrays Coulson and plans to take the HYDRA weapon for herself so she can take over Peru. The squabbling team members band together, utilizing each of their talents, and save the day. Skye receives a text message from another member of the Rising Tide and confirms her allegiance to them. Afterwards, Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) scolds Coulson for the damage to the plane.

The Verdict:

Starting off, I am glad to see that this episode was definite breath of fresh air compared to the pilot. Everyone on Coulsen's team got their chance to shine and I don't have any issues with that in the least.

This episode served as this series' moment, much like Marvel's Avengers, where a crisis forces the team to come together for the greater good. Once again, Coulsen is used as ploy to get everyone on the same page. I personally thought that was rather cliched here, but the end result is what made this episode shine. Each one of Coulsen's specialized team members proved their worth. Melinda May and Agent Ward showcased their individual combat expertise, Team Science 2.0 (Agents Fitz and Simmons) devised the strategy, and Skye read the instructions... Trust me, that joke is more funny in context if you have already seen the episode. I'm still pretty bummed that we don't get much more information about why Melinda May does not like to be referred to as "The Calvary" and stepped down from being in action in the field, despite her vast degree of combat experience, but I guess I'll take what few bones they toss her on character development.

I'm rather confused on who Camilla Reyes is supposed to be in this version of the Marvel Universe. For X-Men fans, Dr. Cecilia Reyes was a mutant who was an off-and-on again member of the X-Men. Her mutant power was the ability to generate protective fields around her body. During the X-Men's post-Onslaught aftermath period, Reyes was a vital member with her medical expertise in the field. In this series, Camilla Reyes is merely a former love interest of Agent Coulsen and has no signs of mutant powers, thus establishing that she has no relation to that comic book character previously mentioned. Reyes proved to be merely a military figure merely wanting to use the HYDRA technology for her own benefit. That was a bit of an underwhelming plot twist to say the least. I thought they were going to reveal that she was working for HYDRA or A.I.M. but I guess I'm allowing my vast knowledge for Marvel Comics to govern my high expectations for this show.

One major gripe that I have for the show is that they are name-dropping and referring to a lot of Marvel Comics and Cinematic Universe terms and characters that possibly went over the vast popularity of people viewing this show. I found myself doing a rather lengthy write-up explaining terminology for my friends who aren't too savvy on the comics and source material on Facebook this past weekend. I know that I'm in the minority of hardcore Marvel fans that know this stuff like a textbook and know what they are talking about and referring to. Everyone else doesn't have that much of geekdom in Marvel Universe's lore. I think Josh Whedon's writers could benefit in future episodes in slowing down a bit and allowing viewers to digest and process what they have just witnessed instead of bombarding term and reference back-to-back. For example, for those that don't know, the Tesseract is the cube that Loki used as the "infinite power source" in his plot to conquer the Earth during the attack on New York City in Marvel's Avengers. The Tesseract is based loosely off the Cosmic Cube found in Marvel Comics' lore.

One thing I have to definitely comment on is the cameo appearance of Nick Fury (reprised by Samuel L. Jackson) at the end of this episode. If his appearance does not solidify and remove any (if not all) doubt that the Avengers' cast will make cameo appearances in this show, then Fury's appearance was the moneymaker that sealed the deal. Sure, it was short and sweet, but short appearances like these don't deter away from this series' principal cast and does not leave audiences expecting that they are series regulars. They can pop in and out as the writers see fit, but appear periodically enough to build into future solo and group Avengers-related films.

As for Skye's association with The Rising Tide, I'm not buying it. On one hand, this series did a bad job establishing what The Rising Tide is on the pilot episode. I was under the impression that it was merely a propaganda group that Skye was merely contributing to on her website. If the group is more than that, this series should have established that on the first episode instead of just simply leaving up in the air and speculation. On the other hand, I could see her ratting out S.H.I.E.L.D. to benefit herself somehow, but she has to be stupid to believe everything that Coulsen and Ward are spoon feeding her throughout the course of her stay with their group. She is even more clueless if she doesn't know that S.H.I.E.L.D. has several surveillance outlets and if they weren't tipped off by any means of communication she has incoming or outgoing of their networks in their vicinity. My guess is that Coulsen is simply playing stupid to her actions and waiting for real "head cheese" behind The Rising Tide to come to the surface.

Agent Coulsen's team finally found the means to coexist with each other and work together as a cohesive unit and as a result, "0-8-4" provided more action and stronger narrative than the series' pilot gave viewers during the premiere. I'm giving this episode a 3 out of 5.