F.Z.Z.T.

I'm getting to this week's new Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. episode a day late, which has been enough time for the internet critic consensus to emerge. Many are proclaiming the second half of this episode the best the series has ever been. I'm not sure I'd go that far, but the prevailing opinion in my house certainly was that the second half of the episode was stronger than the first.

The first half was a rather rote procedural, investigating a mystery of the week and discovering what the victims had in common. Things took a turn with Coulson's revelation that he himself is aware something isn't right with his surviving his encounter with Loki in The Avengers. It would have been more plausible if he hadn't been telling his story to a virtual stranger, but it was still a strong moment, and well acted by Clark Gregg.

That scene served as the bridge to a more character-centric story exploring the relationship between Fitz and Simmons. Curing an incurable disease in 40 minutes is a staple of staple of television drama (in fact, this week's episode of The Blacklist featured that plot line too), but the episode rightly put as much emphasis on Simmons as the puzzle she was trying to solve. It put possibly even more emphasis on Fitz's reaction to the situation. It was good to see an episode feature these two characters more, as they're easily the least developed characters in the cast.

This all likely points towhat Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. needs to do to transform into a more reliably good show. Raise the emphasis on character. Cut back on the "investigation of the week" stories, or make sure that any such stories have a personal stake with one of the main characters. Let the more stone-faced characters -- May and Ward -- show some emotion, as they did this week.

We'll see. I'd say for now, this episode (like most before it) continues to linger in B, B+ territory. Not bad, and yet you sense that the show could be much more.