04th Dec2014

‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. 2×06: A Fractured House’ Review

by ApolloXL5

Written by Rafe Judkins, Lauren LeFranc | Directed by Ron Underwood

Fractured-House

PLOT:

HYDRA frames SHIELD by assassinating a large number of UN dignitaries, thus threatening to bring the rest of the World down upon our Heroes. Meanwhile Ward continues to try and get under Skye’s skin, but has his time run out?

VERDICT:

Wow, the tension and action doesn’t seem to be slowing (though the humor balances it out well) as Agents of Shield continues with it’s impressive run of episodes. And this instalment had Hydra finally taking action against their rivals…well, framing Shield with an attack against the UN (killing several dignitaries with a weapons that mimicked the Obelisk’s power, looks like the Doctor quickly weaponised it) and in front of General Talbot who I am surprised did not immediately suspect them (considering how gung-ho he has been toward them so far this season).

I liked the little humorous moment straight after this between all Shield’s characters with their surprise about the attack (“this wasn’t us was it?”) as well as Coulson spotting the cat mug (“Someone bring this from home?”, then he even uses it. lol), as well as both Bobbi and Hunter’s reactions to having to work together again.

This episode finally had us meet Ward’s older brother (this time not in a flashback) and the scenes that jumped back and forth between Christian and Coulson’s meeting and Skye and Ward’s talk was a very tense moment, making me wonder if anything the Hydra traitor has said about his past (yet alone the flashbacks we saw last season) are true. And the latter of the two came (we also got more information about Skye’s family) across a little similar to how Black Widow got one over Loki in Avengers (well to me anyway). I have watched Ward continually claim to be remorseful and wanting redemption this season, so (thankfully) I am glad to see with his escape that Ward will still be an enemy (his character is certainly more interesting this way).

And with what I said earlier about Hydra simply framing Shield, I was pleasantly surprised (though the main characters were far more shocked) to see that their old enemy had actually played them (with an intelligent plan to kill a large number of their agents in one fell swoop, though that number would have been much higher had Coulson and co not realised it in time). It was a very interesting turn and it made their on-going conflict that more exciting to watch, as well as enhancing the show’s spy-angle more (which the series has been doing well lately).

It is also interesting to note that while Hydra took a far more involving role this week, we actually did not see Daniel Whitehall, Bakshi or even the Doctor ( it shows that Hydra are big enough to not need their leaders in every episode they play a part in). The main enemy we were given was in fact just another assassin by the name of Marcus Scarlotti (who in the comics was the original Whiplash), he even had an fun fight with May that underlined that little fact. I also enjoyed watching the Hunter and Bobbi team-up, which started off slightly annoying but got better throughout the episode (though my favourite moment was when they both shot that guy casually whilst they continued to argue).

Also after having most of this opening half of the season focusing on Shield being against the world (while trying to save it, evidently), that they were suddenly , but then are publicly vindicated (I was hoping that we were going to get the ‘rogues on the run’ story throughout this season at least). And I am not entirely sure if I buy Talbot’s handshake at the episode’s end (like I said earlier, he doesn’t seem the type to let go of a grudge, even if he does know they are not the same as Hydra), it will be interesting to see where his character is going to go from here.

We also had some interesting scenes between Fitz and Simmons as well as a cliff-hanger scene showing that someone else knows about the alien writing (as well as using it as body art), but whose side is he on. I guess I will have to keep watching to find out, not that I have a reason not too (this show is really good right now).

****½  4.5/5

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