Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. - Season 3, Episode 2 Review

Hmmm. That was good.
So, this week's Agents of SHIELD saw the return of Grant Ward, now the new head of Hydra. I can't deny that actor Brett Dalton seems to be loving and savoring every second of screen time, and while he makes for a great villain, I'm pretty bored of the whole Hydra thing. Maybe if the show hadn't handled them so badly last season, I could invest in a former friend turned nemesis now being head of SHIELD's evil counterpart, but for now I'll wait to see where that goes. I'm not sure who said "let's have Baron von Strucker's son in this" but maybe it'll go somewhere interesting...
Meanwhile, we had Hunter trying to convince an in-hiding May to join him on a hunt for Ward, which gave us some time to look into May as a character. Nothing particularly earth-shattering was learned, but it actually helped to make her seem more like a three-dimensional character.
The main focus of the episode was the team's efforts to bring back Simmons from the Monolith, with help from an old Asgardian friend 90% of the audience completely forgot about after his brief cameo in Season 1. They did some fun jokes with him, and while it seems odd to have an American Asgardian (aren't they all Brits and Australians there?), it made sense to include him. It was interesting to see that the portal could be opened through super-sonic sound, thus making Daisy key in saving Simmons and also opening up interesting questions about the Monolith. The final moments with Fitz trying to save Simmons and Daisy being gradually killed by the effort was actually a pretty tense sequence, aided by Bear McCreary's ever-great score.
I actually managed to invest a bit more into the whole team as opposed to just Coulson, Fitz or Daisy, making me wonder if the characters are either becoming more likable or the show just has a better writer this week.
So, yeah. Episode 2 was a definite step-up from Episode 1. It had a good pace, some great characterization and all of the various plot threads felt relevant and well-woven into a cohesive and enjoyable script. If the next few weeks continue with this quality, I might well get into Agents of SHIELD again. 8/10

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