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

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D: Season 1, Episode 18 “Providence” (C+)

It’s going to be hard for me to find this show compelling for the foreseeable future, mainly because I still don’t buy the fact that Ward has been a traitor all along. It’s also extremely disappointing to have continued confirmation that Garrett was in fact the Clairvoyant, and that he had no powers but simply used his status as a high-ranking S.H.I.E.L.D. agent to convince others that he was all-knowing. I’m never pleased when shows pull game-changing twists that redefine characters completely and the characters respond by changing entirely in unbelievable ways. Garrett does seem like a self-obsessed king, while Ward seems a little too eager and suave. I’m still concerned that, despite the fact that we saw him kill a number of people in this episode, he’s not going to turn out to actually be a bad guy, which would be hard to explain. I do wonder if the creators of this show knew the direction in which S.H.I.E.L.D. would be headed as dictated by the Marvel movie universe when they started, and I would hope that it’s all part of a grander plan. The notion of the group arriving to a secret base in Canada with Ward continuing to act as a sleeper agent among them is somewhat intriguing, and I hope that it will play out productively. I was delighted to see the always excellent Patton Oswalt as the sole staffer of the secret base, completely casual and chatting Coulson up about lanyards, parking spaces, and Call of Duty while far more serious things are going on outside in the real world.