Episode Title: “Yes Men”
Writer: Shalisha Francis
Director: John Terlesky
Previously on “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.”:
One of the stated reasons for withholding major Marvel heroes and villains from “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” was that the show and its characters needed time to grow and develop before they could share the stage with established creations.
The problem is that both the show and its characters have been largely stagnant over the course of the first season. “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” has shown some promising signs in the last few episodes, but it’s not a surprise that a single appearance by Lady Sif (Jaimie Alexander) easily outshinned the entire cast except for Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg). In the two Thor films, Alexander barely had any significant screen time and yet she still seems more fully realized than any of the characters on Coulson’s team.
Fortunately, Sif’s appearance added a lot of life to “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” and it even brought out some intriguing aspects of the main characters. There is a sense of momentum that had been missing from the show. But in terms of the episode’s final twist, we’ve already been down this road with disappointing results.
From this point on, there are full spoilers for “Yes Men,” so if you missed last night’s episode of “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” then you should probably skip this review or else Director Fury will duck your phone calls.
Following up on last week’s episode, the Asgardian sorceress, Lorelei (Elena Satine) is on Earth and Sif quickly follows her. Sif’s entrance via the Bifrost teleport was a standout moment worthy of Sif’s larger than life persona. And in a nice nod to continuity, both Sif and Coulson remember each other from the first Thor movie.
Lorelei felt very Enchantress-lite, although Satine was fine in the role. I was bothered by the way that the show underplayed the consequences of Lorelei’s presence on Earth. In the opening scene, Lorelei either cripples or seriously wounds the poor guy who abandoned his wife for her after Lorelei enslaved him. Later, Lorelei compels one of her bikers to murder his wife, and we never follow up on that. To top things off, Lorelei basically rapes Grant Ward (Brett Dalton) after bending him to her will.
I’m sure that there are some who will argue that Ward wanted to be with Lorelei, but it’s not like he had free will there. If a female character had been in Ward’s position with a male villain, it would have been called the rape that it was. Instead, it’s kind of glossed over like it’s not a big deal for Ward. That aspect of the episode reminded me of “Smallville,” another comic book TV series that didn’t always follow through on the implications of its onscreen actions.
Under Lorelei’s command, Ward sets a trap for Sif on the Bus and he even helps her enslave Leo Fitz (Ian De Caestecker) while trapping Jemma Simmons (Elizabeth Henstridge) and Skye (Chloe Bennet) in the med bay. The mesmerized Fitz was actually very funny as he gushed over Lorelei and as he mistakenly assumed that Coulson had also been enslaved. Alexander also had some great moments as Sif survived being sucked out of the aircraft and subsequently fought Lorelei one-on-one.
That left Ward to take on Melinda May (Ming-Na Wen), his sometimes lover. And it was one of the better fights on this show to date, with some good intensity between them. The one complaint I have about that is that this is yet another episode that spent roughly half of its screentime on the Bus as opposed to another location. The constant reuse of the Bus for climactic action sequences is really making this show seem cheap.
In the midst of her confrontation with Ward, Lorelei goads May with the knowledge that Ward is actually lusting after Skye. That’s a pretty obvious turn that seems to signal the end of the interesting Ward and May hookups. May’s cold rejection of Ward in the cockpit seemed very in character for her, but I did like them together. It’s still a better pairing than Skye and Ward.
During the subplot of the episode, Coulson attempted to track down the MIA Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), whose absence may or may not be tied to the upcoming Captain America: The Winter Soldier film. It was also cool to see Agent Sitwell (Maximiliano Hernandez) briefly show up as a reminder that there are more S.H.I.E.L.D. agents out there than just Coulson’s band of misfits.
The final reveal that May is spying on Coulson for someone who is probably higher up in S.H.I.E.L.D. would have had more impact if we hadn’t already seen a similar twist for Skye earlier in the season. Remember when Skye was supposedly inside of S.H.I.E.L.D. and reporting back to Rising Tide as a mole? The show quickly whitewashed Skye’s betrayal and she was back in Coulson’s good graces within a few episodes. I expect that the same will happen with May when her true allegiance is revealed. The more logical response would be for Coulson to kick May off of his team, but I have no faith in the creative team’s willingness to actually follow through with that.
It should also be said that this was a much stronger tie in to Thor: The Dark World than the episode that aired last fall. Again, having Siff around went a long way towards making Thor and this series feel connected. That was a much better choice than simply inventing a low level Asgardian for Peter MacNicol to play. A small scene between Coulson and Sif may also have implications for Guardians of the Galaxy and this show as Sif listed several blue aliens who might have been the same species that Coulson saw in the last episode. But the smart money is still on the Kree, which were name-checked here.
“Yes Men” also created some intrigue for the eventual Thor 3. “Odin” ordered Sif to retrieve Lorelei after her breakout during the events of The Dark World. So the lingering question is what does the new ruler of Asgard want with Lorelei? And will Lorelei show up in Thor 3 or will she make a return appearance on this show? That’s the kind of connectivity between the Marvel movies and TV that was promised from the beginning of “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.;” which again begs the question of how the writers managed to so badly screw up the last Thor tie-in.
“Yes Men” was one of the more enjoyable episodes of the season. “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” still has a long way to go before it can be called a consistently good show. But this is encouraging as long as the remaining episodes of the season can build on this momentum.
