Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Review – “Providence”
This week, we get guest star Patton Oswalt and Clark Gregg continuing to pull at everyone’s heart strings. Also, Ward is actually a character I’m enjoying?! More to follow…
Not-So-Short Summary: After last week’s absolutely crazy events that took place during The Winter Soldier, we get a wonderful look at the aftermath once the dust has settled. It’s not very pretty. Since Black Widow leaked all of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s secrets onto the internet (and they’re trending!), they have been labeled a terrorist organization.
We get a look at Colonel Talbot, from the Hulk comics, who is sending in a squad to “ask questions” at the Hub. Coulson gets warning bells from this and takes off with his crew in the barely-working Bus (it seems to function a lot like MJN Air). On board (Agent Triplett among them, still seeming a little mysterious), he has Skye collect everyone’s badges. As he’s putting them in the safe, Skye notices his badge is glowing. They’re mysterious coordinates.
Apparently sent by Nick Fury. Or so Coulson thinks. Because of this, he leads his group on a wild goose chase into the Canadian wilderness. In the meantime, he explains this to his crew and May tries to intervene. She gives the big reveal that Nick Fury wasn’t in charge of Project T.A.H.I.T.I.–it was other S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. Agents that could have been HYDRA. So Coulson may be infiltrated by HYDRA and not even know it.
But if no one knows the cure for Coulson yet May thinks they could have been HYDRA, why is Garrett is so desperate to find the cure? Wouldn’t he somehow have HYDRA connections to it and be able to find out? He was high up in S.H.I.E.L.D., he should be equally as high up in HYDRA–or at least in a high-ish echelon in HYDRA. (Thanks to “Agent Shappey” for this point.)
But we make it to “Providence” and are introduced to Agent Eric Koenig, played by Patton Oswalt. He informs Coulson & Co. that Fury didn’t make it out of DC, then pulls only Coulson to the side and basically says “LOL JK! Fury’s alive!” He doesn’t know the rest of Coulson’s team, so he can’t trust them. Patton Oswalt plays this part perfectly–aloof and slightly likeable, enough to lighten the mood and make us believe he’s been stuck in this underground place since 2012.
Onto the HYDRA-side of things! Garrett is going full baddie now and has his targets set on the Fridge where S.H.I.E.L.D. has put away all of their prisoners and cool gadgets. This includes rescuing Rayna, who is surprised to find that Ward has come to her rescue with a flower dress. Rayna is needed to continue trying to find the “Coulson cure” because Garrett managed to swipe a couple of the blue vials from the Bunker.
Garrett and Ward release all of the prisoners from the Fridge, claiming it will keep Coulson busy for a while (so potentially be prepared for lots of lesser-known comic book baddies next week), and also take as many goodies as they can.
Rayna can’t do anything because the hard drive with all of Simmons’ research is encrypted so only Skye can access it. Cue Ward needing to meet up with his old crew. And of course Skye tells him exactly where they are. He arrives, beaten and bloodied by Garrett to make his story look believable.
Episode artwork Created by Paolo Rivera. Copyright MARVEL STUDIOS and ABC STUDIOS ENTERTAINMENT
The episode ends with Garrett talking to Ian Quinn and giving him a “present,” which turns out to be the Gravitonium from one of those episodes way back when. All of these tie-ins from the earlier, not-so-spectacular episodes is very cool on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s part.
Badass Moment Of The Week: There wasn’t much this week, so I’m going to go with Clark Gregg’s performance as Agent Coulson. I mean, seriously. When they made it to the clearing where the coordinates were and he completely loses it on his team… damn, man. He’s been doing this quite a bit in recent episodes, too, so it shouldn’t come as much of a shock. Yet this week’s monologue had me tearing up because you could see the pain and frustration and desperate hope in his eyes.
Or as “Agent Shappey” said to me: “Show Coulson a crisis and he becomes cool.”
Best One-Liner: Coulson: “Skye, give me some good news.”
Skye: “We have internet!”
Coulson: “(deadpanned) Yaaaaaaaay. …Boy, have I lowered my expectations.”
Apparently to be evil, you have to stop shaving, so Ward’s totally evil. But to his credit, I have to say this new Ward is so much better than that wooden portrayal. When Rayna tries to “get into his mind,” he explains how he played his bland character and neutralized every threat to him and gained their trust. He has a swagger in his walk and in his voice and it is such a breath of fresh air for his character. Please don’t give him a redemption arc. Please keep him evil. He works so much better like this!
I will say that the show is giving some romantic tension between Simmons and Triplett and I like it because Fitz being jealous is adorable and funny. I also never paid much attention to Patton Oswalt before his guest appearance on Parks and Recreation. The citizen filibuster he does about what Star Wars: Episode VII should entail won me over.
Two side-note: 1) Whatever happened to The Rising Tide? They kind of faded out when Skye joined S.H.I.E.L.D. 2) Who else wants to play Call of Duty with Coulson?
If you missed the “sneak peek” for Guardians of the Galaxy during one of the commercial breaks, you didn’t miss much. It was more of interviews with cast members talking about the movie. Still no Rocket Raccoon talking.
We have two episodes left and the preview for next week looks like it’s ramping things up again. Prepare for lots of baddies we saw in earlier episodes. Maybe even Graviton?! How will Coulson’s team react to Ward being a double agent this entire time? Will they ever stop with the romantic tension between Ward and Skye? Will Skye kill Ward?! That would be a twist.
Two episodes left. Will they leave us with a cliffhanger or try to wrap everything up in a neat little package?