Agents of SHIELD has, thus far, not delved into the bad guy’s backgrounds too much. We know Whitehall was a Nazi, and that Skye’s Dad is, well… Skye’s dad, but that’s basically it. Now, at last, we’ve taken the time to flesh out not only their backgrounds, but to a certain extent Bakshi’s as well, and the whole show benefits from it. We also have to deal with this tease that “someone’s going to die” which has been running all week. Thanks, Sweeps.

Read more

With Ward having escaped in the last episode, the team has their hands full. Also, Coulson’s reaching Garrett levels of alien-crazy and we really gotta do something about that. But he’s not the only one having visions of alien writing, and the others are somehow handling it even worse.

Read more

With the Avengers: Age of Ultron scenes and trailer attached, I think we all expected something special in this episode to hook new viewers. And it’s a great episode still, I just can’t help but wonder if last week’s might have been better suited for gaining new viewers.

Read more

This week’s episode kept the streak going, while addressing some of the lingering mysteries, introducing a highly anticipated new character, and confirming a ton of fan theories. Plus, the reunion we’ve all been waiting for, even if it was a bit short. Read more

I’ve talked a lot here about franchises, the advantages that they offer to fans and the reasons they are so appealing to the studios. But the reality of the franchise phenomenon has a lot of downsides, too, and as the size of moviegoing audiences shrinks and the number of live TV viewers dwindles, these downsides have only become more prevalent. Today, let’s delve into the dark side of franchises, and explore why giant franchises aren’t always a good thing.

Read more

This week’s episode is one that’s practically made for the shippers, featuring May and Coulson going undercover and posing as a couple. I can almost hear the fangirl (and boy) squeals now. But there’s seasonal arc relevance, too, so read on for more.

Read more

With the threat from the premiere dealt with last week, Agents of SHIELD settles in as both SHIELD and HYDRA compete for the loyalties of returning character Donnie Gill, AKA “Blizzard.” Things are just as dark as the previous 2 episodes, though, and even the appearance (at last) of the real Simmons can’t shake that.

Read more

Watching TV can be a very enjoyable experience, but have you ever considered what it would be like to live a life like your favorite character’s? While we tend to look up to our heroes and hope to emulate them, if most people really thought about it very few would want to be them. The kind of world that TV protagonists live in is often an awful one full of crime, corruption, enormous alien threats and facing death on a daily basis. Take Agent Coulson, for example–he got stabbed by a Norse god and forcibly brought back to life, forever changing who he is. The organization he dedicated his life to is in shambles, and now all the responsibility for trying to rebuild it is on him, including the lives of both the people under his command and of the innocents caught up in the crossfire. But it wouldn’t just suck to be Coulson, or part of SHIELD; imagine being an ordinary Joe in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, left powerless while gods and supersoldiers do battle for the fate of the planet. It’s downright horrifying, when you think about it.

And while there are some exceptions (I think we all want to live in the Star Trek Federation. Replicators and holodecks, anyone?) TV is littered with these kinds of unpleasant worlds. So here are 4 of the worst universes to live in that have ever been shot on camera.

Read more

Picking up exactly where last week’s episode ended, we get an interesting setup for Lance Hunter’s character, a returning character from last season, and a step forward in the season’s story arc with the (real) first-time appearance of someone that we’ve heard quite a bit about. It also has a really, really appropriate title. Read more

Season 1 of Agents of SHIELD didn’t exactly end on a cliffhanger. There were plenty of plot threads left hanging, but all in all it wrapped up the main plot dealing with the Clairvoyant and gave the show a new direction moving forward–rebuild the agency and strike back against the newly emerged HYDRA. The show picks up with almost all of these, showing us what became of Fitz, Coulson, Ward, and wasting no time introducing a plethora of new characters.

Read more