REVIEW: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. "Meet the New Boss"
It’s only be two episodes, but I can honestly say that moving the time this late is probably the worst decision this show has made. Not because it changed the scope of the show, because it hasn’t. Not because it significantly lost all its viewers, because it hasn’t. No, the reason is because by the time the episode ends live, I’m up to nearly midnight trying to come up with what to say. The fact that I had to think long and hard on this episode is probably the biggest problem.
On the one hand, it’s significantly and noticeably duller than the season opener. Normally, I’d expect the season opener to be a high point, but SHIELD tends to have exciting follow-ups, even in the previous season. While we got a lot of necessary exposition, which other follow-up episodes have done, this one felt slower and, because of that, less interesting. That becomes an even worse criticism when that exposition comes from a super-powered new Director, a room full of literal ghosts, and Ghost Rider himself. Learning more about them should be the best part of the season. Instead, they felt like watching an episode of Law & Order.
On the other hand, the developments have been more promising barring the clunky exposition and pronoun games with have to play to get there. The show has officially decided to embrace the mystical angle by introducing the Darkhold in the universe. In a world chocked full with science more than the movies, it’s going to be interesting how they develop a book of black magic. Sure, it could have been a throwaway line, but if the ghosts will return with Ghost Rider at the center, this is sure to come back eventually if they won’t to explain anything.
I will also say this: I did not expect the new director to have super-powers. It is a known fact that superpowers increase interest in a character by a good forty percent no matter how common or grating they might be. Giving him powers significantly decreases his odds of becoming the big bad, if he will at all, but it does add a good edge to his too-smooth politician behavior. They probably should have thought of that attitude before putting it on television in 2016.
Another thing that surprised me was the fact that this was the second time in two episodes we saw a full-blown Ghost Rider. I don’t know if this means that there will be a drought of sightings in the future or if the show actually has the budget for these, but I’m impressed. Also, they’ve yet to really explain Robbie’s origins, but beyond the vague iterations, it appears to be different from the comics. I can’t tell if I’m really interested in the fact that it involves ghost characters we just met, but so far it’s not promising. I’m sorry, but they’ll have to be weirder than that if they want me to care.
Weird is wondering what exactly happens when the ghosts touch people and they go insane. See, that’s enough to carry a story-line, though it’s destiny is to be forgotten by episode 12. It’s still the general way to present a new aspect: introduce it, personalize it by affecting a main character, and elaborate on it as the show continues. It worked with superpowers, and they’re trying to do it here. Granted, the mystical is a lot harder to pin down than science fiction, and this could very well go without any explanation. I don’t have a defense for that. I’m just pointing that out at this point.
In the end, everything is moving in the same direction as decreed in episode one. Fortunately, that includes the continuation of Ghost Rider as a character with or without his flaming skull head. Unfortunately, that means we still have to wade through the inevitable FitzSimmons drama, made especially true since they didn’t talk about it here. Not to mention, they still haven’t gotten a clear villain beyond vague instances of characters who barely interact with half of the cast. I have to say those things kind of outweigh the good.
Then again, after just two episodes, most of my predictions are out the window. Daisy and Robbie are working together after their milder interpretation of Daredevil meets the Punisher (seriously, Daisy’s tied up while Robbie explains his reasons at one point). May is insane because of a ghost. The new Director has superpowers which is fitting since he’s revealed to be named after the third man to become Captain America. It’d be too easy to label the ghosts or the Director as the villain, so I’ll just hold out on the simple explanation from an evil book of evil.
So, my end response is that this episode was…a little boring, and that’s not the message you should give on the second episode of the season. It has its upsides in brief moments like Ghost Rider and its few surprises, but the episode’s bogged down by trying to get exposition out for the season. Now that we have that, the ball should start rolling, but I can’t trust that will happen if they can’t give anything exciting now. At least I’ll have more than a week to change my mind.
