Review: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. ‘T.R.A.C.K.S.’

After a couple of weeks on vacation, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has returned, although only for a brief moment. For while the latest episode, ‘T.R.A.C.K.S.’ brings the show back this week, the Winter Olympics is grounding it yet again until March 4^th. No offense to the network, but seriously guys? This has to be the most ridiculously stupid thing you could ever do to a show that has the majority of its viewers sitting on the fence about whether or not to tune in each week. Still, this week ends on enough of a tense note that likely people will be coming back in March.

We begin with the S.H.I.E.L.D. team setting out to intercept the transfer of a potentially dangerous object. Though they have no idea what it is, they do know that the Clairvoyant is behind it and that their nemesis Ian Quinn is on the receiving end. So they go undercover to try to grab up both the package and Quinn. Naturally, things don’t go as smoothly as they’d like.

The team gets attacked, the team gets separated and some of the team end up getting the crap beat out of them. Eventually, they come back together (most of them) and set out to find Quinn, the package, and the wayward Skye and Fitz. But Skye has decided to try to stop Quinn on her own and ends up paying the price for her courage. We also get to see Mike come back and begin his transformation into the classic Marvel villain Deathlok.

This was actually one of the more interesting episodes so far, with plenty of character development despite the actiony feel to it. We get a look into the minds of some of the characters through subtle means and they’ve begun to take on a stronger life as far as their place is concerned overall. Unfortunately, what could have been the best episode yet suffers due to a silly editing gimmick.

In an effort to keep the audience guessing, the writers use a series of flashbacks. They only do this for the events on the train. And in the end, none of it really matters. It was more distracting than compelling. If it had boiled down to the enemy using some sort of time device or messing with people’s memories or somesuch, it might have worked. But that was not the case.

So Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. moves forward, leaving us on a cliffhanger so that we’ll wait another month to see one more episode. Whether they’ll make us wait yet another month after that remains to be seen. Personally, I’d rather they just finish up the damn season already. On March 4^th, we get the ominously titled ‘TAHITI’. You can head to this site to learn a little more about what to expect.

Photo Credits -

T.R.A.C.K.S. courtesy of comicbook.com