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Agents of SHIELD, Ep. 2.21-22, “SOS Part 1 and 2”: Goodbye, Cal

Audiences should consider themselves warned that “SOS”, the two-part season 2 finale of Agents of SHIELD, does not mess around. Five named characters (plus two very unlucky SHIELD redshirts) die, Coulson loses his forearm like Ash from Evil Dead, and Simmons is dragged off Drag Me to Hell-style by that mysterious Kree stone. (Did the writers have a Sam Raimi marathon just before writing this episode?) A few storylines get resolution, like the May-Dr. Garner relationship and Cal protecting Skye, but there is also a lot of set-up for season 3 in the midst of this epic showdown between SHIELD and Jiaying. For everything it is setting up, however, the episode never loses steam for an exposition dump, nor does it rush to resolve season 2’s story arcs. It easily tops the season 1 finale “Beginning of the End”, and really, “SOS Part 1 & 2” are the best two episodes that Agents of SHIELD has produced so far.

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Agents of SHIELD, Ep. 2.20, “Scars”: This Means War

In Avengers: Age of Ultron, Captain America talks about how SHIELD is about saving people and that’s “how SHIELD should work.” While the Avengers are waxing nostalgic about their days at Nick Fury’s SHIELD, remembering the super-cool heli-carrier while forgetting Fury’s secret alien weaponry, present-day SHIELD is not really all that pretty and shiny. If anything, they are dealing with the exact same problems that Tony Stark is struggling with in Age of Ultron and that Nick Fury struggled with before him in Winter Soldier. Plot-wise, “Scars” only ties in loosely with Age of Ultron, but thematically, they should really both be seen to fully appreciate the other.

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Agents of SHIELD, Ep. 2.19, “The Dirty Half Dozen”: Together Again

After an overloaded plot in “The Frenemy of My Enemy”, nitpicky writing inconsistencies in “Melinda”, and Lincoln’s exposition dump in “Afterlife”, Agents of SHIELD delivers one of the best episodes of the show so far with “The Dirty Half Dozen”. Picking up right where “The Frenemy of My Enemy” leaves off, Gordon rescues Skye and Calvin and brings them back to Afterlife. When he returns for Lincoln, however, he is injured and narrowly escapes being captured by Hydra. Skye is determined to rescue Lincoln despite Jiaying’s objections, and she returns to SHIELD to save Deathlok and Lincoln. As always, other characters including Coulson and Gonzales have hidden agendas and their own reasons for agreeing to the mission.

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Agents of SHIELD, Ep. 2.18, “The Frenemy of My Enemy”: Ice Cream With Dad

“The Frenemy of My Enemy” is an episode with a whole lot going on, probably a little too much going on. The return of Ward, Hydra seeking out super-humans, and Cal’s day out with Skye all come to a head in a big showdown in Milwaukee. Plus, Simmons and May are clashing over Gonzalez’s SHIELD, and one of Jiaying’s super-humans goes missing on a camping trip. As a result, everything except for Skye and Cal’s father-daughter date feels rushed, but thanks mostly in part to Kyle Maclachlan’s performance, the episode is still very entertaining despite its minor flaws.

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Agents of SHIELD, Ep. 2.17, “Melinda”: That One Time In Bahrain

Despite teasing the return of Ward in “Afterlife”, Agents of SHIELD delays the return of SHIELD’s favorite double-agent with a flashback episode. “Melinda” takes a trip back in time to seven years ago and recounts the origin of May’s nickname “the Cavalry.” Predictably, this is not a happy story, and it involves a young woman whose superpowers are a danger to the people around her, drawing obvious parallels to Skye. It also sheds some light on why May is so protective of Skye now that she is super-powered and why failing to keep Skye safe could devastate her.

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Agents of SHIELD, Ep. 2.16, “Afterlife”: The Dead Live Again

After Bobbi and Gonzalez’s big hero moment and Skye’s escape in “One Door Closes”, “Afterlife” is set up to be a bit of a let-down, or at least a slowdown by comparison. There are plenty of good hero moments like the return of Deathlok and Fitz-Simmons pulling the wool over Bobbi’s eyes. Even with these moments, the episode’s focus on Skye slows everything down to introduce Afterlife and fit in lots of exposition from Lincoln, played by guest star Luke Mitchell (The Tomorrow People).

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Agents of SHIELD, Ep. 2.15, “One Door Closes”, Another Blows Wide Open

The episode title “One Door Closes” is a play on the old saying, “When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us.” Agents of SHIELD is focused almost exclusively on Agent-now-Director Coulson and his team, even more so after the fall of SHIELD. In “One Door Closes”, the writers of Agents of SHIELD ask the audience of SHIELD a lot of important questions. Are Coulson and his team in charge because they are the best people for the job, or does the audience want Coulson in charge because it is the only possibility they have been presented with? Is he only the director of SHIELD because Fury wanted him in charge and knew that Coulson would continue Fury’s style of leadership? If that is all true, is that really for the best?

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Agents of SHIELD, Ep. 2.14, “Love in the Time of Hydra”: An Edward James Olmos Appears!

“Love in the Time of Hydra” is an episode that is over quickly and leaves me wanting more in the best way. Give me more Ward/Agent 33 Pulp Fiction tributes, more Fitz calling out Simmons, and especially more Edward James Olmos. Always give me more Edward James Olmos.

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Agents of SHIELD, Ep. 2.13, “One Of Us”: Kyle Maclachlan’s Super-Villain Squad

“One Of Us” is an episode that improves on repeat viewings. Like “Who You Really Are”, this is not a perfect episode, and has one really bothersome plot hole, but some enjoyable characters get a chance to shine. May gets substantial back-story with her ex-husband Dr. Andrew Garner, played by Blair Underwood. Cal is back with a vengeance, and some powerful psychos at his side. Bobbi kicks butt all over the place. Plot hole or not, “One Of Us” is still a really fun episode, with a lot to recommend.

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Agents of SHIELD, Ep. 2.12, “Who You Really Are”: Sif Returns To A Fractured SHIELD

Sif’s first appearance on Agents of SHIELD in “Yes Men” is a highlight in an otherwise uneven first season. It is strange then that in season two, Sif’s big return in “Who You Really Are” is a bit of a letdown.

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Agents of SHIELD, Ep. 2.11, “Aftershocks”: Human Inhuman Drama

The season two midseason finale “What They Become” is a bombshell in Agents of SHIELD. Triplett and Whitehall are dead. Skye and Raina have transformed into super-powered Inhumans. Bobbi and Mac are not being completely honest with Coulson and the rest of the team. In “Aftershocks,” SHIELD and Hydra are both hurting. Hydra has a power vacuum with Whitehall gone, and SHIELD is fractured, fighting over Coulson’s decisions from their last mission. Even characters like Raina or Skye’s father who are only looking out for themselves are having a rough go of it, especially Raina post-transformation.

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30 Best TV Series of 2014

2014 has been yet another fantastic year for television, one that continued the nichification of the medium, with highly specific and underrepresented voices breaking through in every genre. There was a comedy explosion, particularly on cable, with dozens of new series presenting confident first seasons and several returning shows reaching new heights. The dramas didn’t disappoint either, with visionary creators bringing new life to familiar settings and taking greater risks with their returning series, deepening their worlds. Throughout the year, directors and cinematographers brought lush visuals, composers pushed the auditory envelope, and an astonishing number of actors gave fantastic, memorable performances. More than a few shows delivered spectacle on a weekly basis, while others went small, deriving incredible power out of stillness and self-reflection. Some series swept the audience up, week in and week out, and others built subtly, only showing their hand in their season’s final episodes. There truly was too much great television this year for any one person to see it all (95 separate series were nominated by our contributors!), so limiting the discussion to 10 or even 20 series would be ridiculous. Instead, here is Sound on Sight’s list of the 30 best series of what has been another wonderful year for television.

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30 Best TV Series of 2014

2014 has been yet another fantastic year for television, one that continued the nichification of the medium, with highly specific and underrepresented voices breaking through in every genre. There was a comedy explosion, particularly on cable, with dozens of new series presenting confident first seasons and several returning shows reaching new heights. The dramas didn’t disappoint either, with visionary creators bringing new life to familiar settings and taking greater risks with their returning series, deepening their worlds. Throughout the year, directors and cinematographers brought lush visuals, composers pushed the auditory envelope, and an astonishing number of actors gave fantastic, memorable performances. More than a few shows delivered spectacle on a weekly basis, while others went small, deriving incredible power out of stillness and self-reflection. Some series swept the audience up, week in and week out, and others built subtly, only showing their hand in their season’s final episodes. There truly was too much great television this year for any one person to see it all (95 separate series were nominated by our contributors!), so limiting the discussion to 10 or even 20 series would be ridiculous. Instead, here is Sound on Sight’s list of the 30 best series of what has been another wonderful year for television.

Read More about 30 Best TV Series of 2014

30 Best TV Series of 2014

2014 has been yet another fantastic year for television, one that continued the nichification of the medium, with highly specific and underrepresented voices breaking through in every genre. There was a comedy explosion, particularly on cable, with dozens of new series presenting confident first seasons and several returning shows reaching new heights. The dramas didn’t …

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Agents of SHIELD, Ep. 2.10, “What They Become”: Best Day Ever?

In season one, the midseason finale of Agents of SHIELD is the lackluster, frustrating cliffhanger, “The Bridge,” an episode with very little guts and the nerve to pretend like the season thus far was building up to that point. In season two, Agents of SHIELD shows just how much has changed in its midseason finale, “What They Become.” Nearly everything set up gets a proper payoff, and the action hardly slows down except for a few brief moments between Skye and her father. A character thought dead in “Ye Who Enter Here” is revealed to be alive, but the celebration is short-lived as another beloved member of the team is killed off in a brutally fast, Whedon-esque manner. Skye’s dad predicts that today will be the “best day ever,” but by the time “What They Become” is over, no one walks away as the winner. Not SHIELD, not Hydra, not Ward or Skye’s dad, nobody.

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Agents of SHIELD, Ep. 2.09, “Ye Who Enter Here”: Accio Hidden Temple!

Agents of SHIELD takes a heavy influence from the Harry Potter series, especially Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, in “Ye Who Enter Here”. Skye, a character orphaned long ago, has a special destiny. Billy Koenig returns to save Raina with SHIELD’s very own Invisibility Cloak. There is a hidden place that can only be found and entered by someone who is worthy. Fitz-Simmons are the team’s Ron and Hermione, getting the team into a hidden city while playing out their will-they-won’t-they interpersonal drama. I suppose, in this example, Mac is the team’s Dumbledore, with his secret ulterior motives and sudden death in the episode’s climax, taking a long fall down. If that isn’t obvious enough, Raina mentions alien technology being mistaken for magic on numerous occasions. “Sounds a bit Harry Potter to me.” “It’s alien technology.” Like The Half-Blood Prince, the story also feels incomplete, leaving the audience on a cliffhanger until the mid-season finale.

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Agents of SHIELD, Ep. 2.08, “The Things We Bury”: That escalated quickly

The best way to sum up “The Things We Bury” is Grant’s observation that, “Nothing stays buried forever,” and wow, this episode finds some dark stuff buried in the past. Hydra’s human experimentation in Nazi Germany, Grant’s troubled family history, and what exactly happened to Skye’s mother is all revealed in full, gory detail. Agents of SHIELD is generally a family-friendly show, but “The Things We Bury” is violent and disturbing in a way that audiences have not seen before. It also might be the best episode of season two.

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Agents of SHIELD, Ep. 2.07, “The Writing on the Wall”: Murder, Mystery, And Missing Pieces

“The Writing on the Wall” is season 2’s first major call-back to the TAHITI Project and Coulson’s big mystery in season 1. As Skye says, the show is starting to collect all these stray pieces of the puzzle and fit them together into a larger picture. Ward, Skye’s father, TAHITI, and the pattern that Coulson keeps drawing are all connected, but the team needs more time to figure it out. Unfortunately, Coulson is running out of time with his compulsions driving him to sleepless nights and madness. The clue that they need to solve his madness is found in the mystery of the week, a former SHIELD agent found murdered with Coulson’s pattern carved into her flesh.

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Agents of SHIELD, Ep. 2.06, “A Fractured House”: Everybody Hates Ward

For the first time in season two, “A Fractured House” focuses most of an episode on Ward, and he is an effective catalyst for the action despite being locked in a basement for most of the episode. The show takes a darker turn with an attack on the United Nations and throwing discs that disintegrate their victims, but thanks to a new team pairing, there is plenty of good humor to prevent the episode from getting too bleak.

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First ‘Agent Carter’ TV Spot Puts Hayley Atwell In The Spotlight

Following a massive announcement by Warner Bros. regarding their slate of DC superhero films out through the end of the decade, Marvel, released their own lineup in a press event today. And now they’ve just released the first TV spot for Agent Carter, a new series inspired by the feature films Captain America: The First Avenger and …

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Agents of SHIELD, Ep. 2.04, “A Hen in the Wolfhouse”: Enter the Mockingbird

“A Hen in the Wolf House” steps back the amount of action from “Face My Enemy” but makes up for it with more Kyle MacLachlan, Simmons’ undercover work at Hydra, and the reveal of Mockingbird. The writers also squeeze in Skye discovering Coulson’s two big secrets, Fitz and Simmons reuniting, and another Skye-Ward interrogation scene. With so much going on, “A Hen in the Wolf House” should feel rushed and over-stuffed, but everything dovetails so neatly that none of the action or plot points feel forced.

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Agents of SHIELD, Ep. 2.04, “I Will Face My Enemy”: Always kill your double

There is nothing quite like a good art heist adventure, and Agents of SHIELD tries its hand at it in “I Will Face My Enemy.” Coulson and May attend a gala in order to steal a painting with valuable information written on the back. Before they can recover the painting, however, their cover is compromised by General Glenn Talbot, and someone else snatches up the painting first. The resulting episode is a loving tribute to the art heist sub-genre in the vein of James Bond and The Thomas Crown Affair with a big party, sexy ballroom dancing, and tricky laser alarms.

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Agents of SHIELD, Ep. 2.03, “Making Friends and Influencing People”: Simmons Makes New Friends Undercover at Hydra

To quote Bill Hader’s beloved SNL character Stefon, “Making Friends and Influencing People” is an episode of Agents of SHIELD that has everything: Double-agents! Hypnotism! Nazis making The Sound of Music jokes! A male version of Queen Elsa from Frozen (minus the singing) freezing a ship! Underneath all of these borderline silly moments, however, is one of the best episodes of Agents of SHIELD yet, not just for season two but season one as well.

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