Agents of SHIELD - A Fractured House

"This is serious; we're going to need to use the big TV..."

Hey hey! The gang's all here (maybe.) At episode six Agents of SHIELD seems to have completed its ensemble at last, the current roll call stands at:

• Phil Coulson, Director; stoic badass, ill-suited to desk work.
• Melina May, Deputy Director; very stoic and very badass, but very ill-suited to desk work.
• Barbara 'Bobbi' Morse, field agent; also very badass, but sassy and personable.
• Lance Hunter, field agent;token white male and exotic cockney.
• Skye, trainee/rookie field agent; perpetual mystery whose story we are supposed to care about.
• Antoine Triplett, field agent; perpetual ninth wheel.
• Leo Fitz, physicist; damaged genius.
• Mack, mechanic; Fitz's best buddy.
• Jemma Simmons, biologist; genius and Fitz's former best buddy.
• Grant Ward; poor lost psycho.

And outside the group:

• Glenn Talbot; teflon-coated supporting character.
• Christian Ward; smooth politician.
• Daniel Whitehall; apparently immortal HYDRA boss.
• Skye's Father; referred to only as 'the Doctor', which... okay, I just blew my own mind with that one.

Holy shit that's a lot of characters. Isn't that a lot of characters? No wonder poor Triplett never has anything to do.

"Fear my flying MacGuffin!"

In 'A Fractured House' a HYDRA assassination team wearing SHIELD colours provokes Ward's politician brother to escalate his anti-SHIELD agenda. The team try to get leverage on Christian from Ward before a global hunt destroys the fragile recovering SHIELD network, and at the same time to protect a potentially friendly Belgian minister from the assassins.

Good stuff in the episode includes Coulson's diplomacy and getting to watch Ward beg fruitlessly, and the triple threat of May, Morse and Hunter (who sound like a firm of solicitors) kicking in HYDRA agents. Morse and Hunter's bickering is... I think it's okay, but that might just be because at least it isn't Ward trying to be soulful and the show trying to sell me Skye as the team's answer to Black Widow, at least in the interrogation room.

And Fitz basically blows Simmons off to hang out with Mac. This makes me both happy and sad; happy because that bromance is forever, but sad because Simmons is currently struggling for a plot. I really want her and Triplett to get an episode with an epic undercover roadtrip or something.

Bad stuff... Well, there's a lot of Ward and Skye, and I struggle to care which, if not both, of the Ward brothers is the sociopathic liar. I think what I liked about Coulson's dealing with them is that essentially he chooses the path that profits him, since neither Ward can actually be trusted. We also have another potentially interesting SHIELD agent killed off - along with her entire team - for pathos. Given how much bigger HYDRA is to start with, this rate of attrition surely can not stand.

Season 2 is muddling along, but is honestly wobbling under the weight of its own cast. It's lost a lot of momentum in rebuilding its team and needs some really punchy episodes to get it back. 'A Fractured House' has some punchy scenes, but it isn't overall a punchy episode.