Review: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. ‘F.Z.Z.T.’

Last week saw a departure from the usual Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. schedule for whatever reason (I never understand why they do these things), but now it is back.  And though I was hoping it might come back with a bang, apparently one week was not enough time for the pressure to build.  This week, ‘F.Z.Z.T.’ brings us a mostly mediocre episode that manages to at least peak at the end and redeem itself for the most part.

The team finds themselves tracking yet another strange anomaly, this time in the form of an electrical something-or-other that kills people and causes them to float after they die.  So off they go to find out what’s going on, only to discover that there’s a piece of Chitauri technology at work.  Some silly firefighters snatched it up while they were cleaning up after the mess in New York (ala The Avengers) and it happened to have an alien virus on it.  Unfortunately, the team is too late to save anyone.

What’s more, poor Simmons catches the virus as well.  So it’s a race against time for her and Fitz to find a cure before her head explodes in a giant electrical discharge.  In the meanwhile, Coulson is dealing with figuring out why he feels so odd since his death event (because he’s a clone maybe?!) and Ward is dealing with the fact that he can’t always save everyone just because he’s good with a gun.

This episode attempted to focus a bit more on humanity, dealing with the subjects of life, death and individuality as it pertains to some of the characters.  The actors did a pretty decent job of it and the show is finally starting to put forth more human elements to the characters.  My main gripe was with the episode’s beginning and ending.  They brought back the poorly written wisecracks and the grand finale consisted of a ridiculous stunt that was there only to jump up the adrenaline level in an episode that was mostly without action.  The best thing I see coming out of this one is the deeper look at the characters and how that will affect the series as it develops toward the end of the season.

All-in-all, not the strongest show of writing but I do have to give the actors their accolades for deftly fleshing out the emotional depth of their characters.

For a sneak look at what they plan on doing with Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. next week, head to this site and watch a video.

Photo Credits -

F.Z.Z.T. courtesy of dontforgetatowel.com