Most
critics heaped lavish praise upon the March 22nd episode of Agents of
S.H.I.E.L.D., in which (SPOILERS!) the team was torn asunder as Hunter
and Bobbi were disavowed and forced to leave the team. Much as I want to
agree with the critical mass, I find I just can't do it -- my main
thought, watching the episode, was how it all just didn't make any
sense.
First
of all, it's worth noting that removing these two characters from the
team was not an internal creative decision made by the show's writers.
Instead, a spinoff series is being setup for Bobbi and Lance, a "Mr. and
Mrs. Smith" style globe-trotting adventure called Marvel's Most Wanted.
Were it not for the spinoff, and the need to write the two characters
off of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., this story line would never have come to
pass.
And
that's the problem. Hunter and Morse have been nothing but fantastic
for the series. The play well both off each other and off the other
characters. They are the most consistent and successful source of comic
relief (particularly Hunter). They're best with the fight choreography
(outside of Ming-Na Wen as May). Season 2 marked a sudden and sharp
improvement over season 1 -- for several reasons, but in large part
because of the addition of these two characters. Most Wanted may well be
a great show (if it even gets picked up), but I can't help but feel
like Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is going to be worse for not having these
two around.
But
fine, let's just accept the scenario, that these two had to go. Even
then, I just can't buy into the particular way it all went down, on any
level. It feels like Bobbi and Hunter have gotten out of worse scrapes,
and that Coulson has extracted his agents from tighter traps, than this
one. This is what takes these two down? And even accepting that Coulson
had no choice but to disavow the two as agents, how does that actually help them? Does it seem credible to you that the Russians would just let them go after everything that went down?
The
nonsensical character behavior, the feeling that these stakes weren't
high enough, and the lack of a clear A to B to C in the plot -- all
proved too big an obstacle to me getting pulled into the episode. No
question, everyone was acting their asses off, especially in the "Spies'
Goodbye" scene near the end of the episode. But it felt like they were
manufacturing emotion that hadn't been earned.
No comments:
Post a Comment