s01e04
Eye Spy
To date, this is my favorite episode. Why? I felt that this episode had a bit more shine to it than the previous three episodes did. As viewers we have gotten past the initial "getting to know the characters" episodes, those massive doses of who-these-people-are-and-why-we-should-care dance steps. In the world of Whedon, gradually building up the main characters and their backstories is usually done in doses throughout the first season so that by the end we are left with fairly complete histories (unless you bring up Firefly, in which case a lot was left undone) to guide the viewer into the second season.
We have been introduced to the after The War of New York version of Agent Coulson, Agent Melinda "The Calvery" May, Agent Jemma Simmons, Agent Leo Fitz, Agent Grant Ward, and Skye. It would seem that this season the mysteries are going to be revolving around Agent Coulson, and Skye while snippets of infer will be dropped about the rest of they gang as we progress forward.
This episode opens with mysterious red masked men wearing suits and carrying briefcases walking through a square and entering an underground station. They are being followed by a mysterious girl, our protagonist for this episode. We see her scoping out the masked men on her subway car and they creepily turn to look at her one-by-one. She closes her eyes and jumps into motion. After the train comes to a stop and the camera comes to focus on a red masked body on the floor, we see that his hand has been removed at the wrist and his handcuffed briefcase is missing. We also learn that the briefcase carried a container of diamonds, and that the rest of the men were decoys with only one brief case congaing the precious cargo. Now how did she do it? My brain went straight to some sort of telepathic skills, this is after all Marvel's playground and it is riddled with telepaths.
After the teaser, we met up with our agents. Inside the planes cockpit, Coulson pops in to chat with Agent May and basically gets kicked out because May likes the solitude of flying. Next up, we are taken into the lab where Agents Ward, Fitz, and Simmons are talking about a new knock out bullet and the gun that fires it, dubbed the "Nightlight" pistol by Fitz. To which Ward tells him that it will not be called that. A little told you so by Simmons to Fitz who then sulks that is what they will be calling the new gun.
Phil runs into Agent Ward as he exits the lab and asks if he has seen Skye. We learn that she has mostly stopped saying "bang" when she fires the gun,during weapons training but she'll be doing better once she can tell the difference between the gun's safety and magazine release mechanisms.
Now, to me these little interactions have been dropping relevant information, or a bit of "burying the gun" , for later use in the season or later in the episode.
Skye is the first, and possibly only, character to run with the psychic angle. Phil says he likes to think outside the box, he knows a whole lot more than anybody else at this time due to his clearance level and personal experiences so even though he doesn't vocalize his opinion, he also doesn't vocally discount Skye's theory. We also learn that the thief is a former protege of Agent Coulson.
Another endearing interaction takes place inside the teams surveillance van once they are on ground and heading toward Zloda, Belarus ( the birth place of a Noble prize wining Physicist. Thank you Simmons and your fangirl moment) when Agent May radios the surveillance van, "Bus to short bus." Coulson leans towards Ward and says, "Next time, I decide what we call ourselves, okay." From Wards reaction, I would say that May came up with the call sign, it is her dry wit expressing her opinion of the van full of non-field worthy agents out and about. Phil is fond of his group of agents despite the jabs he has been receiving about their worthiness since episode one.
In a brief exchange between Coulson and Ward we learn something useful about each man. Firstly, Ward would feel betrayed by someone he trained and trusted, and would assume the worst about them. Whereas, Coulson is waiting for the facts before assuming anything. Hmm, foreshadowing since we know Ward is training Skye, and we know that Skye is hiding something shady from the agents.
After being left behind in the surveillance van by Coulson and Ward, the rest of the group begins to talk about finding Akela Amador, the rouge agent. Skye brings up the possibility that Amador already knows that they are in town. Simmons, being a scientist, seems to poopoo the idea of any precognitive or telepathic ability (She must not have a very high clearance level at S.H.I.E.L.D.). In response Skye comes back with not long ago she too would have "dumped ESP into the 'aliens-and-portals-are-for-crazy-people' pile." As the informed viewer, we are well-aware that these three have just begun their fall down the rabbit-hole and haven't even landed in Wonderland yet.
This episode is so chock full of wonderful quips between characters, and revealing insights done in a subtle manner that I could write pages. I am going to only hit on the highlights.
Next up, Skye calls Ward to ask him about the toilet situation after being told only to call in an emergency. Ward directs Skye to a blue cooler, Simmons digs in it, pulls out a gun and sets it aside before diving back in and producing an empty water bottle.
Skye asks, "Not the water bottle?"
"That's the one." replies Ward.
"Did you never learn the thing where girl parts and boy parts are different and girl parts aren't penises?" quips Skye.
Full on laugh out loud moment for me. Skye's character is emerging as the snarky, quippy character ala Buffy that Whedon fans love. It just remains to be seen if she can pull it off.
Quick on the heels of that, Simmons is able to tap into a video feed. We learn pretty soon that boring Russian tv turns out to be Amadore driving towards the "short bus" before she t-bones it. Skye, now in the drivers seat, tries to shoot at the driver. She ejects the magazine cartridge into her lap, and whispers, "Bang."
Okay. This time, it is not telepathic powers. Akela has a camera for an eye. I would say it is still more plausible to have powers than a camera eye that realistically convincing. Oh well. As we watch the gang watching Akela insert something into her eye we see the non-reactions of Coulson, Ward, and May, the hardened field agents. Simmons makes an appreciative face of the technology being used. Skye's face is a slight negative reaction cringe, while Fitz squints, hunches up his shoulders and slightly turns away from the sight. Again, interesting insights into each character.
The second biggest thing we learn from this episode is that Phil really is willing to withhold judgement until he has all the facts and can fairly and accurately assess a situation. Very good information to file away for further reference.
The biggest thing that we learn from this episode is that Coulson is not the same as he was before the Battle of New York. Akela, Coulson's protege, asks May what happened to him. May tells her that he has loosened up a bit, and that he nearly died. Akela clarifies her question, "What did they do to him?" Where is the dramatic lemur when you need him? Bombshell. It is going to be an interesting reveal when we learn just what exactly did happened to Phil after he died. I am sensing season finale cliff hanger with more clues doled out like bread crumb up until then.
Overall, great episode. Snappy dialoguing. The pacing was just right, with action and comedy balancing just right. And all of this from an episode written by just one fella, Jeffrey Bell, he also wrote for Angel. It will be interesting how the next few episodes stack up to this one since the next few are also credited to single writers.
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