Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 1 Episode 20
Episode Title: “Nothing Personal”
Writers: Paul Zbyszewski & DJ Doyle
Director: Billy Gierhart
Previously on “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.”:
It is kind of amazing to see how much life that the guest stars from the Marvel Cinematic Universe manage to inject into “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” when they appear on the show. Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders) is onscreen for barely a minute when she gets the best line of the episode (I loved that reference to Man-Thing) and there’s some actual tension when Hill notices that all of the people following her have been knocked out.
Of course, it turns out to just be Melinda May (Ming-Na Wen) arranging a private chat between them. But just prior to that moment, Hill actually seemed like she was in danger and I cared about her because she’s a more fully realized character than most of Coulson’s team. Smulders was so much fun here that it’s too bad that this is just a one-off appearance as opposed to a recurring role.
From this point on, there are full spoilers ahead for “Nothing Personal,” so if you missed last night’s “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” then you should probably skip this review or else you’ll have to dig up Coulson’s grave.
As much as I’ve been disappointed with Skye (Chloe Bennet) since her betrayal of the team fizzled out, “Nothing Personal” gave Bennet her best chance yet to demonstrate why Skye can be a viable lead on this show. A good deal of time is spent on Skye trying to fool Grant Ward (Brett Dalton) and get away from him. Skye actually manages to pull it off until Deathlok (J. August Richards) ruins her escape plan. But it was more impressive to see Skye stand up to Ward and call him out on his betrayal.
Strangely enough, Ward’s actions towards Skye made him seem more pathetic than anything else. Ward seems to think that Skye will come around to his way of thinking and that they can have a future together. What this says to me is that Ward isn’t really in love with Skye as much as he’s in love with the idea of Skye. Ward is clinging to the hope of a relationship with her because it’s the closest thing to a human connection that he has.
That would be great if it was all one sided. But the episode backslides a bit when Deathlok threatens Ward’s life (at the command of Garrett) and Skye gives in and decodes her encrypted files to save Ward. In theory, it was supposed to be heroic of Skye to save Ward. But I didn’t buy that Skye would be so worried about the man who just betrayed everything and everyone she values.
Leo Fitz (Ian De Caestecker) actually had a much more believable reaction to Ward’s betrayal. He didn’t want to believe it and he lashed out. When undeniable proof of Ward’s betrayal was found, Fitz tried to explain it away as brainwashing by Hydra. Unless all of the people whom Ward has murdered were Life Model Decoys and this was an elaborate ruse, then there really isn’t any redemption for Ward that the audience could accept. I hope the same is true for the rest of his former team.
That said, I think that a hero turn for Deathlok might be in the cards. Skye keeps trying to reach Mike Peterson’s humanity. Between Ward and Deathlok, the former Mike Peterson is a much more tragic villain who isn’t actually evil. Deathlok is compelled to serve Garrett, but he doesn’t admire him the way that Ward does. Even Ward may have reason to question Garrett after his own life was placed in jeopardy.
The other half of the episode revolved around Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) and his team reuniting with Hill after she leads Glenn Talbot (Adrian Pasdar) and his special forces to Providence base. This is actually only the third time that Coulson and Hill have had any screentime together, but it gave us the best indication of their relationship. Hill cut a deal with Talbot that would have protected Coulson. And when that deal wasn’t good enough for Coulson, Hill sided with him and helped his team escape to track down Ward and Skye.
It was a little cheap that Hill won’t have to deal with the repercussions of assaulting Talbot. But I really enjoyed Hill’s verbal takedown of Ward while Coulson rescued Skye from the Bus. I didn’t even mind that the FX wasn’t quite up to par during Coulson and Skye’s descent in Lola. Not everything has to be perfect. It’s the story that counts.
Throughout the episode, May conducted her own investigation into the truth behind Coulson’s resurrection before rejoining his team. And the truth is that Coulson himself was once in charge of the T.A.H.I.T.I. project. Coulson is so stunned by this revelation that he barely reacts. But the recording of Coulson hints that people who underwent the same procedure had serious mental side effects unless their memories were wiped. Consider this: Coulson’s memory was wiped, but Skye’s memory was not. Perhaps that means that she’ll feel the brunt of those side effects going forward.
The new dynamic of the show has been working well, but I wonder how long “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” can sustain itself as the team tries to fight Hydra while attempting to outrun Talbot and his U.S. special forces. There are only two episodes left this season, so that problem may be left for a potential second season. And I have to admit that I’m warming up to this show again. It’s far from perfect, but the pieces are starting to fall in place.
