Review: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. ‘Repairs’

Last week’s episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. was a pretty solid entry into the season.  This week follows up on that, bringing a darker tone to the show and pushing the goofiness that has characterized much of the dialogue into the background (gratefully).  With ‘Repairs’, we get a ghost story of sorts along with a look into the background of one previously unexplored character - Melinda May.  And while the ghost story is fun, the look at May is a little less than it could have been, though I suspect they only want to give us a small tease for now.

When the team is called out to check on a mysterious explosion and some strange happenings revolving around one of the people near the explosion, they discover a girl that apparently has telekinetic powers.  Things around her fly about and cause all sorts of problems, even (supposedly) resulting in the death of one of her co-workers.  So in comes the crew to knock her out and carry her away on the big S.H.I.E.L.D. jet.

Unfortunately for our team, the telekinetic events aren’t contained within the super prison they stick the girl into.  In fact, they quickly discover that she’s not the cause of all the strangeness.  There is a guy that got himself mixed up in the explosion that is caught between two worlds, thus phasing in and out and being able to appear as if he were a ghost.  The research going on at the company wasn’t quite what it appeared and the end result was ghost-man.

As all this unfolds, May and Skye are pitted against each other in the way they choose to address the situation.  May seems to have a “shoot first, ask questions later” approach while Skye gets warm and cuddly.  Needless to say, they have a few personality conflicts.  In the end, we discover a bit of why May is the way she is and the events in her past that led to her  current incarnation.

This week’s episode was put together quite well.  The pacing was spot-on, the humor low-key enough to allow the characters’ personalities to shine through and the episode focused primarily on May with some development of Skye.  Thus, we were not overwhelmed with what they were trying to show us while everyone else still had a role to play, albeit a minor one.  The ghost-man was one of the more interesting baddies the show has produced so far and the way they left it makes it possible for the writers to bring him back if they see a chance to use him again.

To me, this is the type of show that Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. should have been from the get-go.  They’ve done a decent job with the season, though have rarely pushed beyond the mediocre barrier.  If they could offer up more episodes like this one and last week’s, we would see a much better show overall.

Next episode should prove to be just as interesting, as the team gets its first super hero member.  They’re bringing back muscle-guy Mike from the pilot episode to help them on their next adventure.  If the writers decide to keep him around, it could be a good twist for a show that previously has only used super heroes as plot elements.  It could also appease the many fans that have been upset that the show isn’t more like The Avengers and less like a cop show with a twist.  Plus, Mike was a pretty cool character and I, for one, would love to see more of him.

For a sneak peek at the next one, head to this site and check out the trailer.  And no S.H.I.E.L.D. review next week, as they’re taken a week off.  We’ll just have to wait for our season finale, or mid-season finale or whatever episode 10 properly is.

Photo Credits -

Repairs courtesy of screencrave.com