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Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. Review: “Love In The Time Of HYDRA” (Season 2, Episode 14)

Here's something I thought I'd never say: what ever happened to that Agent Grant Ward? Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s man of action was as bland as Melba toast, that is until it suddenly turned out that he was HYDRA-ish affiliated, an apprentice of the evil John Garrett. Then, all of the sudden, Ward was complex and driven. He was a character we wanted to learn more about because it turned out there was more to learn. And then he started out the second season as a kind of hunky Hannibal but with less eating people, gently telling S.H.I.E.L.D. everything they wanted to know about HYDRA, but not everything he knew. But after being shot by Skye and left for dead in Puetro Rico, it's time to ask the question, what the heck happened to Ward?

CLARK GREGG, IAIN DE CAESTECKER

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Also, what was going on with regular S.H.I.E.L.D. this week? Which one? That’s the real question. We learned that Bobbi and Mack are undercover in S.H.I.E.L.D. for S.H.I.E.L.D., which means that the Avengers aren’t the only ones due for a civil war in the near future it looks like. Of course, the former is a bit closer now than the latter, but while the teaser for next week implied that a “mutiny” was coming, how much of what’s going is already made aware to S.H.I.E.L.D.’s (Fury picked) Director?

Like poor old Lance Hunter, we too are caught by the idea that Coulson’s been a tangled knot of his own secrets concerning alien cities, technology and powers, but how does that jibe with the man we’ve come to know as the seriously dedicated S.H.I.E.L.D. agent who, if not above reproach, usually has his reasons for doing things? On the other hand, it’s really easy not to trust these new S.H.I.E.L.D. agents with their suits, and their protocols, and the fact that they’re seemingly based on the Helicarrier? Smooth move bringing back FitzSimmons’ S.H.I.E.L.D. science center mentor Agent Weaver to shade whether or not this new S.H.I.E.L.D. can be trusted.

Trust is relative, but when you have Edward James Olmos being all gruff and commanding as the other head of S.H.I.E.L.D., the Battlestar Galactica flashbacks kick in and you think, “So say we all!” when he asks for your loyalty. Hunter has clearly never seen Battlestar because he breaks out the first chance he gets after a verbal dance with Bobbi in trying to suss out whether or not her feelings for him were legit or part of the game. I think it’s pretty safe to say that Hunter is going to try and warn Coulson, if for no other reason than Coulson is the one that hasn’t betrayed him.

Doesn’t Coulson get any points though for his tenure as Director? Did he not eliminate almost the entire leadership of HYDRA and sink an alien city that HYDRA was investing huge manpower and resources into finding? Isn’t the cost of one man’s life, even Trip’s, worth that in comparison? Apparently not. At least Coulson and May prove shrewd enough to know that something is amiss with Mack and Bobbi, but it remains to be seen just how much they know. I hope this all doesn’t end up with Coulson and the gang being fugitives again, because as much as that worked at the end of season one and turned the concept of the show inside out with new vigor, I hope that the writers aren’t going back to that well.

Elsewhere, in Skye news, Coulson decides to take the advice of May’s ex and bench her for now in Nick Fury’s beautifully furnished cabin in the middle of nowhere meant as a way-station for people with powers. Skye also gets some fancy gloves from Simmons, a TV version of the gauntlets that Daisy Johnson wears in the comic books. Skye better get a hold of her powers pretty quick because it seems that her sudden removal from the board is pushing certain players to make moves before they’re ready. Now we wait and see which Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. team will prevail.