Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. - Season 2, Episode 11 Review

Is Agents of SHIELD improving?

Agents of SHIELD is becoming increasingly difficult to review. The series seems to have lost the character focus that Joss Whedon had emhasised when the series started in 2013, and be focused more so on plot and Marvel Cinematic Universe references and build-up. In interviews about the show, the actors seem to be talking about quite a lot that isn't in the show. The parental relationship between Skye and Coulson? That has barely been referenced to in Season 2. Skye and Ward's relationship-gone-wrong? That's got a few lines and little else. The truth about Skye? Hints about her father, a transformation at the end of Episode 10, but nothing otherwise.
Last time on SHIELD we saw Skye revealed as Daisy Johnson, who along with Raina and Triplett found an old Kree device hidden in an ancient city - the text on the wall Coulson had been carving that only got revealed a couple of episodes before after lots of waiting around for answers and no actual build-up. Anyway, the device opened, transformed Raina, gave Skye powers and killed Triplett - only a couple of episodes after his almost death (which, incidentally would have been much more dramatic and was better executed than the end of Episode 10, but ho-hum).
We pick up shortly after, with Skye locked in quarantine for further studying, Raina  now lose and the ancient city being drowned. Aftershocks is a suitably small episode of Agents of SHIELD, tying up lose ends from last episode and at long last focusing on the actual agents of SHIELD! Simmons is no intent on wiping out any kind of extraterrestrial life or technology, Fitz is trying to keep everyone together and keep a terrified Skye safe from everyone else, Mack is furious with Coulson after Triplett's death (and incidentally spying on Coulson with Bobbi), Hunter and Bobbi used Bakshi to kill most of HYDRA's main forces and Coulson and May are trying to keep everything together.
This episode was a definite step-up. While yes, the wiping out HYDRA seemed a little to easy after so much "HYDRA is everywhere and everyone" that plagued the rushed and unfocused first half, the focus can now be on...Inhumans! Whatever happened to monster-of-the-week stories? Why do we need a lot of Inhuman stuff? Who knows, but at least its all focused on Skye, Raina and Cal...except there's another guy, and probably more. Hmmm. Well, at least this episode has focus. The Inhumans subplot could work, but we'll have to see. Maybe if Skye gets something to do next episode, it might go somewhere. Skye has had barely anything to do over the course of Season 2 and her Season 1 arc has been almost forgotten, so hopefully some improvement will come soon. Chloe Bennet is great in the role, but she seems incredibly underused. Once again the more boring, underdeveloped supporting characters who didn't get a proper introduction need focus on their lack of development.
You know what though? That scene where Bobbi explains to Hunter that she and Mack are part of a support group was great. It made sense, even if it was built up weirdly, and gave the characters an extra dimension. Alas no! We can't have normal human beings as characters! We have to have spying and lying and stuff! Seriously? Mack and Bobbi may be spying on Coulson, but that's not important. It doesn't add to their characters - it adds to an already bloated plot!
Like I said though, as a standalone episode, Aftershocks works very well. It could all go pear-shaped after this (like with most of Season 2 so far), but I hope I'm surprised. Season 2 has been a mess so far, and despite Season 1 being split into three sections, it all worked well. Season 2 might well be improving - it hasn't been bad, but has been very disappointing for me, lacking the humour and fun of before, and focusing on more plot than is really needed, but Aftershocks was a brilliant step in the right direction. 9/10