And so, Thor: Dark World came and went, and Whedon
with his cohorts decided to incorporate it into “Agents”, since it is the same
universe. Sadly, this was one place where tonight’s episode has failed.
Here is the basic outline of this episode: a radical group
had sought out and eventually acquired the parts of a ‘berserker staff’, an
Asgard (alien) artefact that gave superhuman strength and rage to whoever touched
it, human or Asgard (or any other race, possibly). Sadly, to do that the staff
had to reveal a person’s darkest secret to them – and in agent Ward’s case was
when he was little and failed to save his friend because a bully prevented him
from doing that. This event initiated the path that led agent Ward to where he
was now, a crack agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. Only by reliving this event was agent
Ward able to shake free of the staff’s influence. The other agents helped too.
So far so good.
But the Asgard tie-in was not the best part of this episode.
In this episode, the titular agents were involved with a professor Randall, who
was an Asgard mason turned warrior turned deserter...or at least he stayed
behind after the initial Asgard force went back home. Again, this works, but
the opening scenes, when the agents are in Britain and they are cleaning up
after the villains’ invasion, it does not work. It stands out and appears to be
rather redundant: the Norse – pardon me, the Norwegian fragment, when the
latest villains are cutting down the tree to bring forth the first part of the
staff – is when the episode really begins, at least in my opinion, but anyways.
The staff’s effects, BTW, were probably based on real-life berserkers, who
probably were not as formidable as the Marvel™ version, but were still quite dangerous and
formidable...and possibly gave rise, at least partly, to the werewolf legend of
Middle Ages.
Back to “The Well”. The problem is that the episode’s plot
was better designed for a full-length film, not a short episode. As a
consequence, it felt rushed and not quite there, as if there were two plotlines
(there were) that tried to fit together, but did not quite succeed. (Also, it
felt as if the hate group of “The Well” was slightly based on the pack of
hyena-possessed teenagers from BtVS S1 episode, but that is neither here nor
there.)
The episode was centered mainly on Ward; we - the audience –
learned how he became the man that he currently is. It shows his growing
relationship and bonds with Skye, but also Fitz and Simmons, and it also ties
rather neatly with “F.Z.Z.T.”, as Simmons obviously hasn’t gotten over her
Chitauri infestation or her almost suicide.
We also get a look inside agent May’s head – or not. Basically,
it is implied that she had similar experiences to Ward, but they were also worse,
so her self-control is even stronger than his is. Skye, admittedly, is getting
her to warm-up, as does Coulson, but apparently she still tends to end up
blotto at night every once in a while, as the penultimate scene of “The Well”
indicates.
Agent Coulson, on the other hand, still has issues about his
supposed stay on Tahiti when he – supposedly – was recuperating after being
stabbed by an alien staff, as pleasant dreams become nightmares in his head. Judging
by the indications of this episode and the previous one, his problems in
dealing with the largest island of the French Polynesia will only become
stronger. Well, as long as he does not end up being possessed by Loki or a
similar villain his team should be able to help him without a particularly
large loss of human lives, right?
So: a very intense, very personal episode that also tried to
be a short, 50-60 minute movie. That is why I give it only a B.
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