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

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D: Season 1, Episode 15 “Yes Men” (C+)

I’m not sure why this Asgardian episode was necessary since this show has been able to more than manage its weekly allotment of weird and unexplained phenomena without having to resort to pulling in the second tier characters from the Avengers universe. I didn’t remember Lady Sif from “Thor” at all (I never even saw the second film, for no particular reason other than that it wasn’t at the top of my list). Her purpose here was just to give the S.H.I.E.L.D. team a bit of home court advantage, with an alien on their side whose only truly superhuman feat was not dying when she was blown out of an airlock. Lorelei definitely seemed like she was going to be the victor considering her ability to reduce men to her eternally loyal servants, and Sif really just got lucky in being able to subdue her long enough to put the collar back on her. It would seem logical that Ward would realize that he was actually the most dangerous weapon he could use when approaching Lorelei, and instead he fell helpless under her spell and ended up nearly killing May before the spell conveniently wore off and he snapped out of it. Fitz was more entertaining as the excitedly devoted servant for the wonderful Lorelei, but I found the entire plot tiring, best summed up by lines like “I wanted gold, you bring me paper!” May and Ward fighting was also a bit excessively dramatic, and didn’t lead anywhere terribly compelling. As Coulson and a newly conscious Skye team up to hunt for answers together, we get a revelation that to me makes no sense: May is keeping tabs on Coulson for someone higher up. Let’s see how that gets explained.