Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Review – “The Dirty Half Dozen”

The season has three more episodes, but they all air after the release of Avengers: Age of Ultron, so this review is going up now.

Cast and Crew Information

Clark Gregg as Phil Coulson
Ming-Na Wen as Melinda May
Brett Dalton as Grant Ward
Chloe Bennet as Skye
Iain De Caestecker as Leo Fitz
Elizabeth Henstridge as Jemma Simmons
Henry Goodman as Dr. List
Christine Adams as Agent Weaver
Nick Blood as Lance Hunter
Jamie Harris as Gordon
Dichen Lachman as Jiaying
Kyle MacLachlan as Calvin Zabo
Luke Mitchell as Lincoln Campbell
Ruth Negga as Raina
Edward James Olmos as Robert Gonzales
Adrianne Palicki as Bobbi Morse
J. August Richards as Mike Peterson / Deathlok
Henry Simmons as Alphonso ‘Mack’ Mackenzie
Maya Stojan as Agent 33

Written by Brett Fletcher and Drew Z. Greenberg
Directed by Kevin Tancharoen

Premise

Lincoln and Deathlok are in the custody of Hydra, and Coulson is in custody of the other S.H.I.E.L.D.

High Point

“That’s the first item on a long, long list…”

Low Point

The last scene was a little heavy handed.

The Review

The lack of status quo means the stories feel original with every episode. I give it 5 out of 6.

The effects are effective. We have a new effect with the representation of Skye’s abilities, and the rest are familiar. I give it 5 out of 6.

The story was well structured. It ties in to this week’s major movie release in two conversations, and the first one felt natural. I give it 5 out of 6.

The acting is strong from the leads. Bringing Ward back in changes the dynamic enough to give them new places to go, which is always a nice touch. I give it 5 out of 6.

The production is the usual Mutant Enemy work. 6 out of 6.

The emotional response is strong, with questions about how Jiaying is leading the Inhumans, and the connections to the imminent (on this continent, anyway) release of the movie. I give it 5 out of 6.

Overall, it’s a strong episode, and as with Captain America: Winter Soldier last year, it’s clear that those who are following the series should check out the new movie opening weekend. I give it 5 out of 6.

In total, The Dirty Half Dozen receives 36 out of 42.

11 replies on “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Review – “The Dirty Half Dozen””

  1. T-11 hours and change until A:AoU this evening here. I managed to re-watch all of the Phase 1 and Phase 2 movies so far. The bit at the end of this week’s Agents of SHIELD episode made a lot more sense after re-watching the end of Cap 2, because I did not remember that Loki’s scepter was being analyzed in the same facility where Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch were being held in the post-credits scene of Winter Soldier. It still seemed forced, but at least it wasn’t the only connection. And anything is a better tie-in than them picking up debris after Thor 2.

    High Point was definitely Coulson schooling Gonzales at the end, “Spoiler alert” and whatnot.

    And is it me, or is Skye mastering her powers a little too fast? She seemed to get pretty precise control over them in a far-too-short period of time.

  2. I don’t think Skye is mastering her powers too fast. I mean she barely really used the thing and it was NOT subtle.

    How do you guys feel about the long one-shot Skye fight scene? I mean Skye’s face looked CGIed on (I didn’t rewatch)…

    Also anyone else think the woman who plays Bobbi is magnificent? I just got to watch her Wonder Woman pilot.

    • I’d call going from accidentally knocking down a half acre of trees to pulling off what amounted to a force push of a couple guys without damaging what was around them “mastering” at least faster than I had expected.

      Rumor has is there is going to be a spin-off with Bobbi in the lead. Every week she’s on there she proves that she was definitely not the problem with that failed Wonder Woman pilot. Everything else about it may have been crap, but she would have done well.

      • I thought she did damage what was around them…

        Yeah, there were… various problems with the Wonder Woman pilot, but considering it was a pilot and not meant to air at all I can’t imagine any of them were show-stoppers. I think WB (or whoever) just didn’t want to pick it up.

        On a sidenote, it was kinda fun watching an unaired/unfinished/not-even-supposed-to-air pilot. They had VFX instructions and you could still see the cables used in the stunts/fight scenes.

  3. She would’ve made a great wonder-woman, to be sure.

    Did they explain what happened to Ethan? did Hydra kill him?

    as for Skye “mastering her powers” – WTH? did she somehow use electrical powers? what happened there?

    anyone else think Ward is setting 33 up for a double-cross within SHIELD?

    I think the setup for Avengers 2 was weak and a bit forced. last season it was a multi-episode lead-up that kicked off a major plot arc. This season they teased out code names that could’ve meant anything, and then it’s all “oh hey, we were talking about the avengers all along and looking for this thing from the first avengers movie! cool, right?!” oh, and raina’s going to summarize it for you!. um…yeah, that’s great…but kind of a let-down, all things considered. hopefully the next episode uses this stuff a little better.

    • I’m guessing somehow her powers interacted with his, he’s done the spark thing before, perhaps she drew it out of him somehow? It was odd, perhaps they’ll explain it away later…

      Re: Ward, that’s almost certainly the case, I’d be shocked if that didn’t happen, though it is a (remote) possibility that it’s innocent.

      • I thought Ethan was the dead guy on the table last ep.

        I honestly thought Skye just kickstarted his heart with her abilities, and when he came back to life his own abilities fired up for a second, creating the burst of static electricity.

        I think Ward was actually doing exactly what he said, for a change. It’s weird, but I think he’s actually trying to make up for his mistakes in the past. We’ll see…

        And I don’t think Theta Protocol actually is the Avengers. I think they were saying it’s time to call in the Avengers because Theta Protocol (whatever it is) is ready. It might be that Theta Protocol is setting up places to put the people they expect to free from Hydra’s research facility, once the Avengers go in and clean it out? Something like that. That’s my guess, anyway.

        I suppose I’ll find out on Sunday, when I see the movie! :-D

  4. I like the appearance with Maria Hill but thought the smack down with Gonzales should have had Fury in it. Also where did SHIELD get the heli carrier from for Ultron?

Comments are closed.