I’m not a fan of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. I gave up shortly after the return from the
midseason finale, and even had to stop reviewing these series for All Comic.
But when Captain America: Winter Soldier hit,
I knew this was one show I had to jump back on board and try and catch up to
see what the fallout was, because they couldn’t screw up something this big,
could they?
However, first I had to get through a
couple of episodes. Thankfully – this one was also one that I happened to be
looking forward to for a while, entitled “Yes
Men”, featuring one of my favourite characters from the Marvel Cinematic
Universe, Lady Sif (Jamie Alexander) and using this as proof that the show was
starting to include more comic book elements that was largely absent from the
rest of the season. This allows Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D to show where it’s
at its strongest, and why there should be more comic book characters cropping
up every now and again, much like Arrow isn’t
afraid to include elements important to DC canon as the Birds of Prey and the
Suicide Squad – as well as even a brief, blink and you’ll miss it cameo by Harley
Quinn, who doesn’t appear in person but gets one line.
I can safely say then, that Yes Men is the best episode in the
series yet. It had to be, with its US release tying into the release date of Thor: The Dark World on DVD. Yes Men knocks everything else out of the
water and may be the first Agents of
S.H.I.E.L.D episode that I’ve actually liked as opposed to not hated, which
is always a good thing.
Lady Sif is ordered to Earth by Odin
following the escape of Asgardian Lorelei , who escaped from Asgard’s
cells following Malekith’s attack in the movie. The show for once wasn’t packed
to the brim with the Agents running around at random, ignoring orders from
S.H.I.E.L.D and practically making only the last few minutes worth watching at
all.
The biggest strength of Yes Men is Lady Sif, who was played by
Jamie Alexander, who is a great actress and has already proven to be one of the
best to appear on the show. Her
inclusion signifies that Agents of
S.H.I.E.L.D should have been doing this since Day One, not since episode fifteen. It’s great seeing her appear on
the show, even if by having someone as good as Jamie Alexander exposes the
weaknesses in just how boring the rest of the cast still is. They have improved
since the early episodes, but several interactions, most specifically the Ward
and May ones – fell flat, whereas Lady Sif’s battles with Lorelai proved that
maybe this show should have been about Sif all along.
Something that was also good about this
episode was that Jamie Alexander had more to do in Yes Men then she ever did in Thor:
The Dark World, which was great to see, and hopefully this won’t be the
last time we’ll see her on the show.
However, there are still a few problems in
this episode though. The show continues to refuse to accept that the Skye
Mystery is just simply dull and uninteresting, which is a real shame because as
Yes Men proves, the main strength
should be in utilising secondary characters in the Marvel films.
There’s also a post-credits scene which
reveals that May is in fact a mole, and given what we’ve seen in Captain America: The Winter Soldier it’ll
be very interesting to see how this affects the rest of the team. Aside from
the problem that reverts back to the Sky Mystery – here’s a hint, writers – if you’re
going to have our characters involved in any mystery, make sure we care about them first, this is the best
episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D yet,
and for the first time in a while, I’m actually looking forward to next week.
Bring it on.
VERDICT:
4/5
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