TV Month - Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. episodes 6-7 + The Flash episode 5 reviews - A fractured house/The writing on the wall + Plastique

With 2 reviews due up today, I thought I'd put them both up in one long post, so let's start by digging into the latest episodes of season 2 of Marvel's agents of SHIELD

Episode 6 – A fractured house

Well, this episode has certainly fractured my opinion – I have one particular problem. They introduced S.H.I.E.L.D. agents we'd never heard of and they're dead by the end of the episode so we’ll never hear from them again.

Minus that though, this was another fantastic episode. I do recommend anyone who wrote off this show after the first episodes to give this show another chance. It really has upped its game since the HYDRA revelations.

So this week, HYDRA impersonates S.H.I.E.L.D. and attacks the UN, and use an infiltrator to offer the only safe haven for them. S.H.I.E.L.D.'s only option: negotiating with Ward, and not the Ward you’re thinking of.

Grant Ward has been a character that has largely been there to serve the purpose of giving information and occasionally flirting with Skye. This week his possible redemption plot begins.

Whether or not you believe Senator Christian Ward or Grant Ward (Frankly, I think the truth is somewhere between their tales, although the flashback does sort of side with Grant's story) the contrast between their version of events is quite astounding.

And tough times call for tough choices as Coulson agrees to hand over Grant Ward to Christian in exchange for him telling the world the truth about HYDRA and S.H.I.E.L.D.

But this episode is much more a character episode than many would think given how much plot we had. We see Skye playing Ward pretty much the entire episode, the sort-of reconciliation between Fitz and Simmons (which I'll address in a moment) and the reunification between Hunter and Bobby.

Fitz and Simmons reconciliation was the meat for me of the character development, seeing how Fitz clearly missed her, it's interesting to see that unlike her fake-counterpart Simmons clearly struggles to communicate with Fitz.

Mack's talk with Simmons reveals their sides to it, I've pointed out before that Mack only knew Fitz post brain damage and accepts him the way he is, the confrontation lead to an interesting revelation that Simmons left thinking (or knowing, who’s to tell) that her presence was in fact making Fitz worse (wasn't it getting worse since Simmons left, that's what Coulson said in episode 1)

My biggest concern is the one weak link we have in the roster. Agent Triplett is still about as bland as a loaf of bread, and his character is about as interesting as watching paint dry. He was present in a few season 1 episodes, but he lacked character development, and they've practically ignored his character this season. This has to be corrected so S.H.I.E.L.D. can reach the level of greatness than would allow it to compete with its DC counterparts.

Rating 8.5/10

Episode 7 - The Writing on the Wall

S.H.I.E.L.D. has really done great things this season, and this episode pushes forward on an element that’s been present since the end of season 1 and probably before that. Who was that alien? And why is its blood forcing people to carve on the walls?

Coulson had some of the answers, he had more carving drawings than anyone else alive, our villain of the week had some of the answers, a key to making the carvings deeper, but in a surprise twist, it turns out the final victim who was saved had discovered the true answer without even knowing it.

In our quite prominent subplot, we see Ward use his skills to evade capture, capture a HYDRA agent, and finally have a shave (we all knew this was coming) this is his path to redemption, and let's be honest, it probably won't be pretty. Especially now he's after his brother (although finding out who's the bigger liar, that's an interesting idea)

Coulson and Skye dominate this episode, both keen to find answers about the writing Coulson's been doing. This episode balanced characters quite well, giving pretty much everyone a moment to shine from Mack and Fitz on the games console, Hunter hiding from Ward, Mockingbird not hiding from Ward, Simmons analysing the body. May and Tripp get the least development, which is a pity since Tripplett is still the least developed character on the show

But I digress. One thing show has is a lack of secret identities, and it works in the show's favour over Arrow and the Flash, they have more time to establish villains (which they do better in some 40 minute episodes than in some of their 2-hour movies) and they develop their characters in an environment where they can interact whilst being themselves, something that’s more difficult in Arrow and the Flash because of the lives they lead.

S.H.I.E.L.D. has absolutely blown me away thus far, and in fact I've been rating it higher than arrow season 3, and I may do again

Rating: 8.5/10

So, that's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., so no we're done with that, let's dig into the 5th episode of the Flash and see what good comes of that 

Episode 5 – Plastique

Well, there's a lot to say about this episode, and I stopped trying not to give spoilers a long time ago, so let’s take a look at Plastique and see exactly where everything fell into place

So we start with the irritating C-plot. Iris is looking into the Flash, or whatever name he’s calling himself this week and using her blog to post about it. Barry and her father both think this is a bad idea, and after several sets of lies don't work, another lie does and it's all sorted now.

So, with that out of the way, let's move to the interesting stuff. Plastique, General Eiling (still pronounced wrong, guys, the character was co-created by Greg Weisman, so when they pronounce his name Eel-ing on a show he produces, that's a clear message) nitpick aside, Eiling is played by Clancy brown who has previously voiced Lex Luthor, Captain Stacy, Faraday, Rhino, Odin, Praxus from the Jak series, Savage Opress in the Clone Wars series and sadly the Red Hulk in agents of S.H.*.T (I mean SMASH)

And of course he brings his charm and demeanour to the role perfectly, seemingly remaining one step ahead, even as Harrison Wells begins to move forward with his own plans. In the middle of this is one Sans Souci (which is ironically French for care free) aka Plastique. She's the latest of the meta-humans who can create explosives by touching things, quite why her clothes, the protective gloves, and just about anything else she touched right now haven't exploded is beyond, but I suspect it's because of plot convenience.

I'm being harsh, but I really liked this episode, even as far as liking the Flash having the ability to not get drunk (just saying, we had this joke in Captain America first) and him running on water and up a building. Plastique also poses quite a dilemma for him and his team, as she has little interest in becoming a criminal, but she is pursued by Eiling every step of the way.

The end result is an interesting one, they have her be manipulated by Wells rather than Eiling, and set out to kill, only for Barry to stop her, before she's shot and explodes. Well's story also unfolds as we see the project they split up upon involving a potential super-intelligent Gorilla that escaped during the explosion.

Rating 7/10

For more reviews click here

Images used in this review are from Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and The Flash and belong to their respective owners. All images in this review are subject to fair use.