Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Review – “Face My Enemy”

Did anyone else keep expecting Lalo Schifrin music to kick in this week?

Cast and Crew Information

Clark Gregg as Phil Coulson
Ming-Na Wen as Melinda May
Chloe Bennet as Skye
Iain De Caestecker as Leo Fitz
Elizabeth Henstridge as Jemma Simmons
BJ Britt as Agent Triplett
Nick Blood as Lance Hunter
Adrian Pasdar as Glenn Talbot
Henry Simmons as Alphonso ‘Mac’ Mackenzie

Written by Drew Z. Greenberg
Directed by Kevin Tancharoen

Premise

A painting with strange writing survives a church fire, and the team goes to retrieve it. Unfortunately, there are other entities with the same goals.

High Point

Fitz gets a chance to shine.

Low Point

It’s really hard to pick on this week. This episode is one of the strongest of the series, if not the strongest. If anything, it would be something not specific to this episode, but something that’s been an issue all season: they did a great job of integrating Tripp onto the team near the end of last year, but he’s felt a bit marginalized this year.

The Review

This is an original concept for this series, but not for TV. This really feels like an episode of Mission: Impossible, and in a very good way. I give it 4 out of 6.

The effects were fairly well done. A few quick shots exposed stunt doubles for what they really were, but it still wasn’t as obvious as it was on most other shows, and stunt doulbes are necessary when you have a knock-down, drag-out fight amongst performers in their 50s. I give it 4 out of 6.

The story was excellent. Funny, charming, filled with tension, twisty and genuinely suprising. I give it 6 out of 6.

The acting was well done all around. I’ve been a fan of Adrian Pasdar since Profit, and this is a great role for him. Gregg and Wen both have excellent moments here, but as with every other episode this season, it’s de Caestecker that steals the show. I give it 6 out of 6.

The production is spot on. The Mutant Enemy team puts great TV together. I give it 6 out of 6.

The emotional response is fantastic this week, right across the board. I give it 6 out of 6.

Overall, this is my pick for the best episode of the season to date, and possibly the best of the series. Highly recommended. I give it 6 out of 6.

In total, Face My Enemy receives 38 out of 42.

5 replies on “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Review – “Face My Enemy””

  1. While it was strong overall, my low points are:
    1. Coulson should have known it wasn’t May a lot sooner, before he started talking about the contingency plan.
    2. They didn’t take the face mask or capture/rescue agent 33. Now Hydra will know something is off with Coulson.
    3. For the amount of sparks/fire/explosions that happened, they sure fixed the plane easily, but Fitz is just that good so I’ll forgive this one.

    • 1. How was he supposed to figure it out? Even accounting for the existence of mutants and fancy-tech I can see a lot of people not considering that they’re talking to a double agent and not just a friend having a weird day.

      2. Yeah, Hydra just got a big intel dump (though it’s impressive that Coulson’s role has been concealed until now).

  2. They also now know who the SHIELD Director is and that May is next in line if Coulson bites it…they didn’t know before.

    After next week’s teaser, I’m curious how the Flower Girl’s situation is going to turn out.

    • Didn’t May kill her? How would they know if she hadn’t had a chance to communicate that info…

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