What I’m Watching: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D: Season 1, Episode 10 “The Bridge” (B-)

This episode didn’t do much for me, and I’m not sure exactly why. Maybe that’s because the villainy on this show is far too cartoonish, and that mixed with Skye whining about wanting to find her parents is becoming grating. This show has proven that it knows how to handle solid action plotlines, and bringing a character back from its pilot episode just didn’t do the trick. He was much more charismatic than I had expected, relatively evolved from the “I want to be a hero” sensibility yet still tethered to the notion that he should be doing good things for people and atoning for his past sins. He didn’t mesh all that well with the team, received positively only by Coulson and by Skye. An enhanced, non-exploding team breaking Po out of prison was a worrisome start, and things only got worse when the Po pulled a kill switch on one of his men when he was about to be interrogated by Coulson about who was pulling the strings. Mike making a deal to get his son back which involved turning Coulson in rather than himself ups the ante considerably, and he did try to be heroic after getting to his son to safety by running back to save Coulson. Unfortunately, I suspect that Coulson is in for a dangerous ride, and let’s hope that whatever answers Raina is seeking about the details of his resurrection aren’t going to be used in the service of harming him or anyone else.