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

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D: Season 1, Episode 13 “T.R.A.C.K.S.” (B-)

This was an interestingly sewn-together episode, mainly because I don’t quite know why it was structured in the way it was. In theory, hearing that announcement about the view every time might have been a cue to explain the passage of time that had to do with the super grenade, but that wasn’t it. Instead, it was just a bit more information each time to tell us how each player figured into what was essentially just a very normative instance of someone betraying the good guys for a payday. That someone was the Italian commander Russo, played by Carlo Rota, who, among other roles, portrayed Chloe’s husband Morris on “24.” Another alum of FOX’s thriller and “NCIS,” T.J. Ramini, was the ominous head of security for Cybertek, but the signature guest spot of the hour went to someone we hadn’t yet seen but who was bound to make an appearance eventually: none other than Stan Lee, who got to chastise Coulson for the things that Simmons said that he did as part of her elaborately-prepared back story. Mike not having orders to kill Skye but her getting shot at point blank-range twice anyway was unfortunate, mainly because there’s no way that she’s going to die, but instead it’s going to be a long journey until someone finds a miracle cure, or, more excitingly, it’s revealed that she has healing powers. Keeping a main character’s status at bay for such a long time isn’t all that interesting, and it’s a shame when this show could be featuring more action than sentiment.