VOD TV review: Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.LD (Episode 3, The Asset)
Review Overview
Constant references to Marvel movies
4Surprise ending
8Neil Brazier | On 15, Oct 2013
Photo: Walt Disney, All rights reserved.
Taking a more supernatural turn this week, a S.H.I.E.L.D outrigger is transporting precious cargo to a more secure location when the entire lorry and its convoy protection are lifted off the ground and thrown around the road. The cargo is Dr. Franklin Hall, former tutor to Fitzsimmons, and his captor, Ian Quinn. It is up to the agents to sneak into Quinn’s Maltese compound where traditional infiltration tactics can’t be used because, you know, it’s Malta.
Wrestling with her loyalties at the end of Episode 2, Skye seems to put her cards firmly on the table and state her allegiances very early on (for her fluctuation between the two factions to continue now would only serve to detriment the story). Having struggled to find her place in the team, she’s now the titular asset they need. What drives her to make that choice couldn’t be more clichéd, but the cheese element seems to work in Marvel’s witty environment.
Again, Agents follows a villain-of-the-week format, but while Ian Quinn is a general bad guy, it is not until after the credits that we see the making of what could be a proper super villain. Fans of the Marvel comic universe will know who Dr. Hall becomes, which means this glimpse might just be another all-too-familiar nod to the studio’s cinematic universe (“AVENGERS!” cries Agent Coulson – we get it).
With the continual references to other Marvel heroes looking like it could outstay its welcome, it’s time that Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D focused on its own characters. It is understandable that the team needs to learn from each other to become an effective unit, but the constant bickering and overused story narratives need to become a little more super. Perhaps this post-credit sting is the seed the show requires to grow.