Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Review: 3×02 “Purpose in the Machine”

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. didn’t pull off episodes with this complexity at the start. This show is hitting its stride and we’re all lucky enough to be along for the ride.

CAUTION: SPOILERS AHEAD IN OUR DETAILED REVIEW

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. — With Fitz’s (Iain De Caestecker) desperation to save Simmons (Elizabeth Henstridge) hitting a fever pitch during his emotional plea for the monolith to respond, proof emerges that the silent menace is a portal to another world. For the first time in months, there is hope that Simmons is alive. Elsewhere, a frustrated Daisy (Chloe Bennet) struggles with reality laid out by Dr. Andrew Garner (Blair Underwood) in her attempt to form a team of Inhumans to oppose emerging threats like the ATCU and the mysterious Lash. In addition to the threats they know, Grant Ward (Brett Dalton) has also been busy gathering the scattered remnants of Hydra to return the defunct organization to glory.

RELATED | Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Review: 3×01 “Laws of Nature”

Meanwhile, May (Ming-Na Wen), still struggling between the life she left and the one she’d like to have, is approached by Hunter (Nick Blood) to help him with a dangerous plan to put a painful end to Ward once and for all. Wasting little time to save Simmons, Coulson (Clark Gregg) turns to the reluctant Asgardian Elliot Randolph (Peter MacNicol) for help, who points the team to England and a castle designed to control the monolith’s power. With just a small hope that Simmons is alive, Fitz risks everything in one last desperate attempt to bring her home in this week’s emotional Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.!

You’re different now. You know that?

The larger than life, alien and superhuman elements aid in telling the character stories instead of being the stories themselves. That’s a dramatic shift in tone from MacNicol’s first appearance early in Season One. With a more mature, sophisticated mythology established since then, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has seemingly grown up and blossomed into the full-fledged drama we expected from the start. Quips and one-liners have more depth and the emotional tone is decidedly more mature. Case in point was Daisy’s quick-witted conversation with Coulson and Bobbi (Adrianne Palicki) about very real issues facing them all.

“[Dr. Andrew Garner] Says I’m reckless.” ~ Daisy

“Don’t take it personally. He probably just meant that-“ ~ Coulson

“He said you’re desperate.” ~ Daisy

“What? He didn’t say that. Did he say that? “ ~ Coulson

“Let me guess. I’m struggling to come to terms with physical limitations and losing my sense of self instead of redefining it.” ~ Bobbi

“No, he didn’t mention you.” ~ Daisy

“Oh.” ~ Bobbi

“Oh, he did. That’s what he said.” ~ Daisy

“Oh, good.” ~ Bobbi

Small conversations like this just show us how well the fantastical elements of this show effortlessly took a back seat to the banter and interactions where personalities were truly able to shine. That doesn’t always happen in larger than life stories and when it does it’s a gratifying feeling.

We’ve seen these characters and these actors mature through two seasons and this show is the richer for it. The stories truly revolve around the characters instead of the other way around. That’s a welcome change that’s evolved over time and we hope that philosophy will become the rudder that guides this show from here on out. There will always be aliens, powers and superhuman struggles, but at its core, today’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is very much about the moments between characters and that’s exactly the way it should be.

My daughter always got back up. Apparently so does Ward.

There were three key elements missing from the season opener and two of those were addressed in spades in this episode. We’ll have to wait a bit longer to learn more about Lash, but as an audience we were dying to know about May and Ward. Both stepped into the light this week with good performances from Ming-Na Wen and Brett Dalton. We got to see one character we love and one we love to hate take their first steps in new directions as Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. spun its early season arcs into full gear.

It’s fitting that both of these characters were spotlighted together. Yes, both represented the B and C stories of this episode, but it says a lot that those two threads were much more connected than we first thought and that they will be so impactful for the series going forward. Just one good narrative doesn’t make for an effective show and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. now has multiple threads they can draw from at a will involving a stable of well-rounded characters—all with their own unique lives and problems.

Seeing May with her father was an absolute treat. James Hong is one of our favorite actors and aside from the slight forced feel of the ice skating story, we loved what came from it and the warm banter between these two that was, for the most part, done very well. May is struggling with direction for her life. As is so often the case, father knows best.

“I just want to have a normal life, dad, away from S.H.I.E.L.D. I want to see if I can.” ~ Melinda

“Normal? With a handgun in your golf bag? Trying to protect me from some unfinished business that follows you like a shadow? You remember the pain when you hit the ice, but I always remember how quickly you would get up.” ~ William

That unfinished business was Grant Ward and Hunter may provide her the key for ending that problem once and for all. Hunter has been the fodder of jokes and the means for other characters, namely Bobbi, to grow so we were excited to see Nick Blood stretch himself and set out to establish his own arc with someone new. This show is full of talented actors and the May and Hunter combination already gave us a glimpse of both warmth and determination. We’ve learned not to underestimate May and we’re excited to see the bit of chemistry between her and Hunter we glimpsed in this episode develop as we see what he’s made of as well.

While a hit and run that leaves Mr. May alive doesn’t sound like Ward’s style, his list of offenses against May and Hunter that we do know about have grown long and weary. We’re taking bets on whether or not Ward lives to the end of this show’s run—and if not, who gets to kill him. Right now, May is slightly in the lead, but the line is getting long. Before it’s over, they may all just spread out and take a shot. But until then, what’s keeping Ward alive on screen is a guile that we’ve seen spill out from his frustrations of Season Two. That and he’s just so much fun to despise.

He’s got an axe to grind with May and Hunter over Agent 33/Kara (Maya Stojan). Ward doesn’t care about much outside of himself, but it would seem he gets supremely pissed when he does and is exposed for it. We’re pretty sure that deep in his warped brain, Ward did care for Kara in his own strange way and that kind of normal just doesn’t set well with Grant Ward. Someone will pay for that weakness and it appears a leaner and meaner Hydra will help him do it. Isn’t he just gloriously messed up?

A larger than life show tethered to elements of realism will find ways to challenge its own sage advice.

Chloe Bennet is stepping up this season. Daisy has moved to front and center of the S.H.I.E.L.D. team and it’s changed the shape of this show. We seriously like that move and applaud her efforts to build something out of the ashes of a mess she had a hand in making. She didn’t start the conflict between the Inhumans and S.H.I.E.L.D., but she certainly feels heavily responsible. Since she’s a take-action kinda girl, it seems fitting that putting her at the head of her own team would help her mend fences and build something better out of the shambles left by her mother.

“My mother created a halfway house for Inhumans, and it was not enough. I want Inhumans taking action with S.H.I.E.L.D. to see that being different can mean making a difference.” ~ Daisy

That’s a noble direction for Daisy to take. That is if she can find a group of people who both have powers and have come to terms with what to do with them. It’s also a responsible direction for the writing team to take. For all the larger than life elements of this show, they do find ways when they can to ground things in a realism that fosters genuine character development. It would be irresponsible to put people in the field that aren’t ready. Daisy knows it first hand. She just needed someone to give that advice to her straight.

Dr. Andew Garner seems to be that anchor of realism for her. Blair Underwood was both calming and the person to give everyone pause to think in this episode. We enjoyed his measured responses and sneaky wit. He made for a nice addition to the cast last season, giving us both a new perspective and valuable history for May. It would seem that he may play a bigger role this year given the teaser at the end. Ward already has a long list of grievances from May, but that list looks like it may get just a bit longer before things are over. In the mean time, Garner’s the voice of reason.

“Everywhere you turn, fires are burning. Coulson’s desperate to win on any front. But desperation leads to mistakes. Giving Hunter carte blanche to get payback, letting Fitz try to open a portal to save one life these are questionable decisions.” ~ Dr. Garner

If we had to guess, that statement is what we’d call classic foreshadowing. Bad juju is coming and the voice of reason sees it. Of course it could also be misleading us. That’s the awesome part of great writing. We just have to wait and see if Garner’s wisdom is prophetic or not. Regardless of the role Underwood plays, he’s been a refreshing perspective to the cast and we hope that role can continue. He’s yet another element on display of how this Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has matured into a more complex, character-driven show than it started.

The writers have even found it in themselves to poke fun at their own world which helps maintain a healthy balance of realism and fun. We’ve been jumping up and down from day one pointing out that all the logos everywhere made the super secret organizations not so secret. Seems like someone listened. We’ll be curious to see if Garner listens to his own advice when he’s in deep trouble of his own. That would be a nice wrinkle of realism to challenge the man dishing out the quiet wisdom from behind a desk. Will he throw caution to the wind when he’s the one in the crosshairs? Fires are burning everywhere Dr. Garner and desperation leads to mistakes.

FINAL VERDICT: The depth of writing, darkness and subtle nuanced character moments of this episode show just how MUCH Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has grown.

It took the return of a character from early in the first season to show us just how far Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has come since then. With Peter MacNicol reprising his role as Elliot Randolph, a refugee from Asgard wishing to remain peacefully on Earth, we see just how much the show has shifted dramatically from an episodic villain or artifact of the week to a much more complex, serialized drama. In fact, the entire creative team behind this series achieved exactly what they set out to do in the beginning—these completely actualized characters matter to us now and we’re invested in what happens to them.

In short, the training wheels have been off for a long time now and like proud parents we are all watching this show ride confidently on its own. Writer DJ Doyle had far more tools in his toolbox than in the early days of Season One and he used every one of them to pull off a detailed, nuanced and emotional script that succeeded on every level. Inside jokes, small emotional lifts or falls and essential character development all came together in what was superb script end to end.

But it takes more than just a great script. This entire cast has grown so much since the beginning and new additions have improved the dynamics exponentially. New mixes like Hunter and May, Bobbi and Fitz or even Andrew and Daisy show us a world that is so much more rich than where we started. Veteran Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Kevin Tancharoen took all those pieces and did a masterful job of capturing all the small elements that make a show work. Of course it didn’t hurt that he got outstanding performances from the likes of Ming-Na Wen and Iain De Caestecker as well. De Caestecker alone is crushing the emotional delivery this season. Was there a more satisfying scene than seeing him emerge with a rescued Simmons? Someone needs to start an #IainEmmy campaign. They’ll have our support. He’s earned it.

This was a densely packed episode with layer upon layer of emotional complexity and Tancharoen made it all work exceptionally well. An Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. episode isn’t standard fair to direct and the finished episode felt much longer than an hour without being overburdened with more than we could digest. Everything we felt was missing from the first episode regarding Ward and May was spun into high gear and if the polish and maturity of the first two episodes is an indication, this season is going to be one to remember. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is setting the bar high for the season ahead and we couldn’t be more excited to see it.

Questions, Comments, Concerns and My Reaction on Twitter…

• I’m guessing the white stone isn’t such a good thing?
• No one has ever returned. That was BEFORE FitzSimmons!!
• Coulson was late. He’s become a hands off leader. 😉
• That face makes an impression. The rest of you makes a statement. We agree Bobbi.
• Well yeah. I guess I am. That’s a threat. I like sassy/brassy Coulson.
• I gotta say, I do like Ward’s new “drive for success” initiation methods.
• There’s nothing natural to this game. I’ve chased the little white ball from hell. May’s right.
• I smell a rat. Oh wait, that’s Ward.
• I’m an exterminator. I can see @IMBrettDalton giddy in the read through for that line. A pun! A pun!
• Somebody noticed all the damned logos!!!
• Sometimes I can’t help myself with the cool. YES! YES! YES! A logo joke! HA!
• Desperation leads to mistakes. He’s right Daisy.
• He said #SecretWarriors! It’s official if @BlairUnderwood says it right?
• Neighborhood watch? Mental note. Don’t knock on May’s door unannounced. o.O
• I love the dynamic of characters that didn’t interact much in S2. That scene with Hunter & May was brilliant.
• Was this Dr. Frankenstein’s lab?
• My daughter ALWAYS got back up. That gave May something to think about.
• Speaker. Amplifier. Open Sesame. Freakin brilliant. Wow.
• The worlds largest sub-woofer. Yeeeaaaahhhhhh. Anybody hear the base in that voice? lol
• Oh Fitzy you lovestruck man. That was brave, stupid and the most romantic thing you could have done. Hold on @ChloeBennet4
• I have not heard that word in a very long time. There’s a history there I think. Wow.
• The depth of writing, darkness and subtle nuanced character moments of this episode show just how MUCH #AgentsofSHIELD has grown. #Bravo