Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 1 Episode 18
Episode Title: “Providence”
Writer: Brent Fletcher
Director: Milan Cheylov
Previously on “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.”:
I have to give “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” credit for making me doubt my theory about Agent Grant Ward (Brett Dalton) as a double agent for S.H.I.E.L.D. within the ranks of Hydra. Seemingly killing Victoria Hand and a few random agents could have easily been faked. But the level of collateral damage that Ward is leaving behind seems too great to have been part of anyone’s plan but his own.
“Providence” openly depicts Ward as having been with Hydra all along, as he explains his affair with Melinda May (Ming-Na Wen) and his theatrics when saving Jemma Simmons (Elizabeth Henstridge) as necessary steps to build and maintain his cover. The idea that Ward is truly irredeemable and has been from the start is one of the most exciting aspects of the show. Before last week, Ward was one of the blandest characters of the series. Now he’s suddenly interesting.
I still have a nagging fear that the creative team will try to walk back these revelations and get Ward on the main team again… possibly by giving him a redemption arc through his feelings for Skye (Chloe Bennet). I think that would be a mistake. The creative team pulled the trigger on this plotline and it needs to stick if they expect us to take anything seriously on this show.
The first 13 episodes or so were creatively shaking, but it was satisfying to see the return of several items and tech from the early days of the show. Maybe “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” is finally building to something good.
There are full spoilers ahead for “Providence,” so you should probably skip this review if you missed last night’s “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” or else Coulson will fly off the handle and talk to his badge.
Raina (Ruth Negga) was definitely a character I didn’t want to see again, but I enjoyed her obvious disappointment that the Clairvoyant was just a front for John Garrett (Bill Paxton). The returning Ian Quinn (David Conrad) was similarly pissed to find out that his leader was just an ordinary man. Although we now have our first hint that Garrett is also a cyborg.
The barbershop as a front for a secret headquarters was a cool homage to the classic S.H.I.E.L.D. comics and it was very entertaining to see that the random items from the early episodes like the Berserker’s Staff and the 0-8-4 weapon from episode 2 may actually come into play again. The Gravitonium was also recovered by Ward and Hydra, which means that the return of Dr. Franklin Hall (Ian Hart) as Graviton may actually happen this season.
Ward’s total betrayal of Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) and his team was jarring, but Dalton had his best scene of the season while recounting how he snowed May, Skye and Simmons into trusting him completely. As a bland hero, I didn’t really like Ward. As a villain, Ward has a lot of potential.
Ward’s temporary replacement on the team appears to be Antoine Triplett (B.J. Britt). And while Triplett could do with some character development of his own, his bond with Simmons is fun. Last week’s episode suggested that Coulson or Hand might be the two highest remaining officers in S.H.I.E.L.D.; while Hand’s apparent demise signaled Coulson as the likely choice for the new director to replace Nick Fury.
Unfortunately, “Providence” runs away from that direction by sending Coulson and his team of misfits out into the wild ahead of Colonel Glenn Talbot (Adrian Pasdar) and the U.S. military. Marvel fans may recall Talbot as one of the Hulk’s primary adversaries, but it’s been years since Talbot was important in the comics. His appearance here is little more than a cameo. Supposedly Talbot will play a larger role down the line this season.
While it’s good to see the events of Captain America: The Winter Soldier shake up this show, “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” is already overplaying the paranoia angle with Coulson. Gregg’s performance of Coulson’s frustration and anger was so over the top that it was unintentionally comical. Coulson’s behavior felt forced and out of character. Gregg has always been good with making Coulson the everyman, but he needs better material to work with than he was given here.
While disposing of their S.H.I.E.L.D. badges, Coulson discovers an apparent message from the presumed dead Nick Fury. Over the objections of May and the rest of the team, Coulson orders the Bus to be taken to a remote location where he believes that Fury could be waiting for him.
The one good thing that Coulson’s private scene with May established is that Fury didn’t oversee Coulson’s resurrection and he may be unknowingly be under the control of Hydra as well. That’s an intriguing idea and I hope that the show actually goes somewhere with it.
At Coulson’s lowest point, his faith in Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D. itself are rewarded with the discovery of a hidden base maintained by Eric Koenig (Patton Oswalt). It’s funny how much better the episode was just for having Oswalt on the series for a few minutes near the end. If Coulson and his team move into the Providence base, it would be great if Oswalt became a recurring guest on the show. Koenig doesn’t get a lot of camera time in this episode, but he’s apparently in Fury’s inner circle and one of the few who knows that Fury is still alive. The catch is that Koenig won’t let Coulson share that info with the rest of the team.
Providence may already be compromised to Hydra since Coulson and Skye share the information with Ward, who shows up to extract some key intelligence from Skye. For the first time, there’s some genuine tension as Ward banters with Skye and he re -entrenches himself with the team that hasn’t realized he’s a traitor.
This was a pretty good setup episode, but “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” still has to plug all of the moving pieces into a coherent storyline to close out the season. At the very least, this was an encouraging step in the right direction.
