Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 2 Episode 1: Shadows -Review

The new season is here. I'm so excited I'm quite literally bouncing. I love all things Marvel, so I am most likely biased, but AoS is definitely my favorite show on TV right now. The first season was a slow build, and they were obviously finding their footing, but I still loved every single episode. And I've been impatiently waiting for the new season, and it's here!

This episode is really gripping. Has some humor, but mostly is a serious hard nosed set up for what is to come this season. Absorbing Man is epic...they do his powers and motivations amazingly well for the show, though he is underpowered considerably from the comic version, but then that's true of most of the Marvel Cinematic Universe characters, They're going for a more realistic and limited power level than the comics. Seeing Lucy Lawless in anything puts a smile on my face, an even wider smile because she is now a part of my favorite Universe. I dislike Talbot in the comics and show both, but the actor who plays him does a phenomenal job at it. Coulson's shift into a hard-ass Director is very well written and performed, and I enjoy every moment of it. Ward is far more interesting as a damaged and defeated bad guy (ex bad guy?). May is as wonderful and bad-ass as ever. Skye is coming into her own, and actually being a believable agent, which most of the first season wasn't the case. She was unbelievably automatically good at everything she did after joining S.H.I.E.L.D. Tripp is awesome, and a welcome addition for the second half of last season, and now into this one. The new mercs they bring in in this episode are an interesting change from the loyal S.H.I.E.L.D. agent types. I feel so sad for Fritz. He is still the smartest guy in the room, but the brain damage he sustained thanks to Ward last season, is making it hard for him to function at even half capacity. The reveal about Simmons in this episode was both a jaw dropper, and kind of guessed all along. This episode was thrilling, and I'm clenching up waiting for the next one.

Humor: 5 Drama: 8 Action: 9 Acting: 8 Plot: 9 Dialog: 8 Overall: 8