The Well

I haven't seen Thor 2 (yet, at least), so I was a touch nervous about last night's episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., which was widely advertised as a follow-up to events of that film. One of my biggest criticisms of most comic book films (the bad ones, anyway), is that they're often crafted too much at the people already "in the tent," so filled with in-jokes and cross-references that they crowd out the entertainment value for the rest of the audience.

That said, I was quite doubtful this episode of S.H.I.E.L.D. would actually make "required reading" of Thor 2. And I was tantalized by the other piece of the advanced hype on the episode -- that it was directed by Jonathan Frakes, who cut his directorial teeth on some of the best episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation before embarking on a very successful 20-year career directing television.

I'm pleased to say that all the ingredients came together well. As far as I could tell from last night's episode, the only thing I needed to know about Thor 2 was that, at some point, London University gets trashed. And even that tidbit seemed to be just played for mild comedy in an early scene; the rest of the episode, while involving plenty of Asgardian material, seemed to have no real relation to the plot of the movie at all. If it did, it was completely transparent to me, just the way I'd hoped for.

Moreover, it was actually a good episode! I might say the best so far, in fact. This makes three installments in a row where the machinations of the external storyline were inextricably intertwined with personal drama and stakes for at least one of the main characters. This time, the episode served to pull back the curtain on Agent Ward, giving us insight into what makes him tick. We learned why he's such a devoted do-gooder and hard-ass, and it humanized him a great deal to see it. It's telling that despite all the Asgard-flavored shenanigans, the episode title, "The Well," was not a reference to any of that, but to this very importance piece of Ward's past. (And, as an added bonus, we even got a tantalizing brush against May's inner workings, too.)

Not that the Asgard stuff wasn't fun. I thought it was helped along a great deal by the presence of fun guest star Peter MacNicol. He was perfectly cast in a role that called for his two signature trademarks as an actor, oddbeat quirkiness and soft introspection.

It seems Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is losing viewers with each passing week, but in November, the show really is starting to move in the right direction creatively. Here's hoping they can stop the slide, because the show really is, bit by bit, transforming into something to look forward to.