REVIEW: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. "Failed Experiments"
- May 5, 2016
- 3 min read
I have a brief temptation to connect the title of this episode with something about the Marvel television department, the plot so far, or this connected universe idea. They shouldn’t have titled this “Failed Experiments.” It’s more their fault than mine. Anyway, onto my thoughts on the episode.
Rest assured, SHIELD still has plenty of money in its budget to create gross effects such as stabbing eyes or melting the flesh of human beings. I sometimes wonder why it struggles with super-powered people yet seem so fascinated with torturing people in new ways. Then again, when the show’s not torturing random characters on the show, they’re torturing me by still forcing Daisy and Ward to share scenes together. So far, every episode now is just me counting down to when this particular plot is over.
Unfortunately, it’s not over. In fact, it just gets ten times worse. SHIELD’s taken steps behind in losing before, but not when it literally has you questioning how people can win. From the fact that the question literally comes out of my mouth means that they either come up with some convoluted way of winning or they don’t win at all. This is Marvel, so I’m betting on the former, though that does not mean good. There is nothing good that can come from this with so many new things coming into play this season.
One of the downsides in general actually is the lack of care I have for many of these new characters or plots. I think season two benefited from tying it to Coulson’s writing and Skye’s origins since those were about characters that we did care about with issues that were important. These issues with Hive and the swayed Inhumans feels a little hollow, especially since we know none of these characters really want to fight anyone. Heck, even the ones just introduced to us didn’t want to hurt anyone. Bottom line is, if they’re hurt they don’t deserve it, but otherwise they cause trouble. That doesn’t scream likable to me.
I do want a quick shout-out to the one bright spot of this episode which is that Fitz and Simmons stay together despite actually having a minor disagreement! Shocker! I wouldn’t be using exclamation points if this weren’t one of the few times I’ve seen it on TV, Marvel or otherwise. I hate the fact that one thing they seemed to fail at last season is looking to be the only thing to work now, but that’s the way things are working.
Since this is episode nineteen out of twenty-two episodes, I’m almost curious as to what’s the worst they can get to before this season ends. It’s one of those morbid things that you pay attention to like watching a train wreck happen live or the 2016 presidential elections. Half the team is injured, Daisy’s still worse, and they don’t even have a cure. This whole situation is making less sense by the second.
There’s always the brief minute we get of Civil War in the end. It gives you a taste of what good Marvel is or could have been. At least it gives people hope that good guys can win through ingenuity, people can still stand by what’s right, and heroes only fight against people good or bad who have actual character differences rather than friends being brainwashed. I can buy Steve and Tony beating the crap out of each other. I can’t buy Daisy trying to break Mack’s collarbone for any reason other than being brainwashed. And they’re still working on that as conflict.
The worst part of this all is that it will get resolved somehow. They will stop Hive eventually, but the show apparently doesn’t have any qualms about taking apart literally every remaining structure before they miraculously fix it. It’s making the team lose miserably today just so they can successfully win late. It’s making Daisy beat Mack to a pulp just to have her come back to the team after the drama that wasn’t her fault caused. It’s the fact that none of these things seem to have any other purpose except kicking the characters when they’re down. When they actually win, it probably won’t be worth it.
If you couldn’t tell, I didn’t care for this episode. I don’t care for this arc at all really. I can’t even argue for it building up to a climax since that would give these characters some dignity. Hopefully, as we get closer to the end of the season, we might actually get a win or at least a scene that doesn’t make me queasy. One decent start was ignoring the primary elections for once.
Comments