Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. - Season 2, Episode 7 Review

The writing on the wall...
While I stand by my statement from previous weeks that there is way too much going on this season in Agents of SHIELD (hence why I'm still preferring Season 1), I'm glad SHIELD hasn't gone down the Doctor Who: Series Six route, where it just can't be bothered to tie-up any of the lose ends and just builds and builds to nothing. That being said, we could still get a cop-out conclusion to all of these arcs.
Its nice that the characters actually acknowledge how convenient it is that all of the dangling plot threads connect in some way, shape or form, even if it doesn't actually give a proper explanation as to why they all are, other than convenience.
The writing on the wall is the main focus of this episode, with the writers at long last giving us some answers. Its great to see more from the TAHITI project from last season, although I do feel this plot thread should have been cleared up much earlier on when we didn't have the addition of Whitehall and our additional characters for this season, as it feels like clunky story pacing on the part of the writers. That being said, its not going down the Doctor Who: Series Six route of bad pacing. Perhaps the reason it took so long will be made clear soon, but its not something I'm too fussed on.
I loved the parallels of all of the different characters having had their memories wiped by TAHITI, but still carving or painting the marks, and the final revelation that they had all in fact been searching for a 3D map of some kind of city brings to light an intriguing premise, which from the synopsis of the next episodes, will be getting some kind of resolution.
My problem with this is that it is yet another arc added to an already story-heavy series. The great focus on the actual Agents of SHIELD promised by Joss Whedon last season seems to have been lost among all of the mysteries in the series, and the characters seem to just solve the mysteries, or have mysteries around them. There is no longer an audience's guide into the series. Both Skye and Coulson were our access points last season, but with all of the mysteries surrounding them we no longer have that access, which is a shame. Then again, the audience should have already been invested in the series before most of these mysteries started.
There were some creepy elements throughout this episode, although I do miss the wonderful cheesy and fun-loving nature of Season 1.
Again, with all of the characters and plot threads, many characters were forgotten about and Ward seemed to just about squeeze his way into the episode along with his character arc.
Overall, its another great episode, even if I'm still not entirely convinced by some elements of this season. 9/10

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