Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. - Season 2 Premiere - Recap: Believe In the SHIELD

Naturally, because the show is still transitioning into the next phase of its narrative, the story itself is somewhat ill-defined. S.H.I.E.L.D. is not only tasked with hunting down the remnants of Hydra, they must also continue to hide from the American government, since it's still assumed that our S.H.I.E.L.D. agents are Hydra as well. This keeps the S.H.I.E.L.D. team in a precarious position, as they must act in the name of the law while operating outside of it. If nothing else, this makes for an interesting narrative in the sense that S.H.I.E.L.D. is facing threats from good guys and bad guys alike, lending an extra element of danger to every risk they take in the pursuit of justice. It's almost inevitable that S.H.I.E.L.D. will be brought to its knees, but it's only a matter of figuring out which entity will ultimately prove responsible, Hydra or the U.S. government. Yet, much like with Hydra, compromising S.H.I.E.L.D. doesn't necessarily mean it will go away, which is what makes S.H.I.E.L.D., Hydra, and the U.S. government such interesting thematic parallels, beyond the fact that their origins are all intertwined. The three organizations have soldiers who are loyal to a fault, and all three are extremely principled, operating on their own "By any means necessary" code. The organizations also have their own subjective view on not only what is right, but what constitutes justice.

Credit: ABC/Kelsey McNeal

And so it is here, as Hydra is on the hunt for a mysterious obelisk of unknown power dating back to at least the end of World War II, as we open with the object being confiscated by Agent Carter (Hayley Atwell) and her team from a Nazi scientist by the name of Dr. Daniel Whitehall (Reed Diamond). Flash-forward to present day, and Whitehall is seemingly alive and well, and still hunting for the object with the help of a powerful superhuman, nicknamed The Crusher, who can absorb the physical properties of objects into his own body. Want to be bulletproof? Touch a diamond! Want to be invisible? Touch the transparent walls of your holding cell! Want to touch the obelisk without having it nearly kill you the way it nearly killed Agent Hartly (Lucy Lawless)? Just touch a tire to coat your hands in rubber! It's a pretty cool visual effect, and this crazed killer makes for an interesting villain, particularly since we're given no indication that The Crusher is going to be a one-off character, meaning he could be a major thorn in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s side for weeks to come. He should be a formidable foe for the team -- every bit as much as General Talbot (Adrian Pasdar) and the rest of the U.S. government are proving to be, as Director Coulson (Clark Gregg) is unable to convince the newly-promoted Brigadier General that this new version of S.H.I.E.L.D. is not the same as Hydra. This speaks to an overall theme in the premiere that centers on the inability to force people to see you the way you want to be seen.

Credit: ABC

Coulson fails to make Talbot see that S.H.I.E.L.D. and Hydra are no longer one in the same, whereas the incarcerated Ward (Brett Dalton), who is feeling penitent for his mistakes to the point of several suicide attempts, ultimately proves incapable of making Skye (Chloe Bennet) see how badly he wants to win her back. Skye has had her trust completely obliterated, and now must work her way back into a position where she can actually believe in other people again. To this end, she's seemingly shut herself down emotionally and committed herself fully to her training with May (Ming-Na Wen). Gone is the joking, sarcastic Skye of season one, replaced by a more business-oriented version that has her coming across as a sort of mini-May. Meanwhile, Fitz (Iain De Caestecker) is finding it hard to get his colleagues to stop pitying him. He's still yet to recover from his injury at the end of season one, as his plan to save Simmons (Elizabeth Henstridge) and himself following Ward's attempt on their lives left his brain deprived of oxygen for a significant amount of time. He survived the incident, but he hasn't been the same since. Fitz is noticeably slower and less sharp, to such an extent that the newest Agent Koenig (Patton Oswalt) -- who may or may not be a clone of the last one, depending on whether or not you believe Agent Tripp (B.J. Britt) -- is running analysis in his place. Fitz attempts is working on a cloaking device for the S.H.I.E.L.D. plane, but his condition is making it difficult, and his colleagues handling him with kid gloves and walking on eggshells around him isn't helping. Only Simmons is supportive and encouraging, and only with Simmons is Fitz close to being his old self. However, at the end of the episode, we discover the heartbreaking truth that Coulson and co. were right to be careful around Fitz: he's apparently been hallucinating the presence of Simmons, who has been gone from the team for months after choosing to depart as a way to give Fitz a chance at recovering. She supposedly felt her presence would hinder his recovery, but it's actually had the opposite effect, rendering him far less effective than he once was.

Credit: ABC

It's a tragic reveal, and one of the more immediately resonant elements of the episode, as it ties into Coulson's and Ward's respective failures to be seen in the ways they wish to be seen. In fact, this theme actually has a bit of a spiritual parallel with the show itself. Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has always had trouble being seen the way ABC Studios and Marvel have wanted it to be seen. When the show premiered last year, many were upset that the show wasn't basically a Marvel movie in primetime. There was this pervasive feeling that Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. promised to be a series it never became. Yet this premiere is more in line with what I think the show wants to be, and it's presenting a story that essentially says, "This is what our show is, this is its mythology, its characters, and its action. It's not a Marvel movie, and we're sorry about that, but this is what it is. Take it or leave it." And I respect that, even if the show might ultimately fail to get people to accept the show on its own terms.

Credit: ABC/Kelsey McNeal

At the very least, stories like this have more of a lasting, resonant effect than many of the action setpieces which, while not badly done, feel somewhat empty. But this is only because we're given no indication why the obelisk is so important, since we have only a vague notion of what the object even does. It's more of a "Well, we don't know what this thing is, we just know we can't let the bad guys have it" kind of mission, and that's too vague of a story to really drive viewer investment. Also, Coulson's secondary mission to have the team steal a Quinjet doesn't really carry all that much dramatic weight, since we only learn about it at the last minute. However, the show does succeed in reframing the overarching mission of S.H.I.E.L.D. as one that privileges hope in the face of despair. As Coulson declares, they need to fight on so that the sacrifices of those they've lost will not be in vain. But that's a job that's easier said than done: Talbot and the army are still after S.H.I.E.L.D., The Crusher has the obelisk, Agent Hartly appears to be dead from the car crash The Crusher caused after necessitating having her arm amputated to prevent the deadly spread of the obelisk's effects, and the team is at half the strength it once had.

"Shadows" is a worthy premiere for Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., as the show looks to find new footing as a darker, more serialized show. It'll be interesting to see its development along these lines, since the ensemble is strong enough that the series should be able to benefit from telling more character-centric stories that link into the overarching plot of the season, as opposed to one-off adventures with a Villain of the Week. Here's hoping the show maintains the considerable standard of the final episodes of Season 1.