Finally, we're getting some Marvel-style action (or are we?). When vehicles are attacked by an invisible force, it looks like we could have some non-realistic forces at work. Chances are, there'll be a more logical explanation.

The episode veers into more espionage areas when a S.H.I.E.L.D. operation is hijacked. We're getting to see more of the Cinematic Universe and some of the problems a top secret government agency has to deal with. With the possibility of traitors or inside agents, the suspense is increased a bit.

We've been seeing the tension build between Ward and Skye. He's stated his concerns over her lack of training and, carrying over from last episode, he's working to train her. Through this, we get to find out a little more about his past. It's good to flesh out the characters but this it makes you groan a little.

Of course there are some gripes. Agent Ward's hair is always perfectly styled. At least Skye's hair looked mussed up when she was in her training session with him. Things get a little too stylish when the team walks down the road to the scene of an incident. It comes across as a little cheesy. When FitzSimmons are talking all their technical speak, it's Skye's turn to try to get them to dumb it down. Last week we had to hear Ward say, "English please." This week Skye has to say,"High school dropout here," in order to get them to explain things in basic terminology.

The main problem is the show continues to try to keep things as grounded as possible. Even though we'll have moments like Coulson making a reference to the Avengers (there has to be at least one mention of the team or "Battle of New York."), we don't see anything that truly aligns to their world. We've seen characters with powers like Thor and Hulk but all the problems in this show seem to be based on some sort of advanced technology. There is one incident that gives us small hope to this possibly changing in a future episode.

A great thing is we are introduced to a a new threat (played by David Conrad). He's almost worthy of the being a Tony Stark nemesis. Hopefully we'll see more of him. What might be the coolest thing is the fact that they snuck in an actual Marvel character, sort of, with Dr. Franklin Hall.

This episode shows us once again that there is some promise. It's a little difficult to like some of the characters. As we find out more about Ward and Skye, we're supposed to feel sympathetic towards them because of their pasts. There's still a ways to go before I'll completely come around to fully liking them. There's also the overuse of jokes and humor. But at least we have a TV show based in the Marvel Universe.

Best one so far really hoping this show can get on a roll now.

This show sucks hard.

I gave up on it. Can't wait for Arrow tomorrow!

@g_man: I'm giving this episode a 2 or a 3. I really didn't like too much. All the talking kind of bored me a bit and I didn't get Mia whether she wanted to be the field or not. She kept contradicting herself. I thought the only good part was knowing Syke and Ward's background stories. But that was it.

So far I like it, but a little reluctantly.

I have 3 major issues:

1) We get it. I know they are in the MCU and that the Avengers and Thor and aliens and such exist but you name drop them an AWFUL lot. It's like there is a minimum quota for drops per episode. Doesn't break anything, this is my smallest issue.

2) The music. Knock it off. The music never stops and is constantly commanding the viewers emotions. I do not like this at all. This pulls me out a bit. I can make up my own mind on how something makes me feel, I don't need a Danny Elfman stand in giving me over the top superhero music (and for the record, I do like Danny Elfman. Just saying)

3) The humor in Iron Man or Avengers tends to work because of the lulls, tension or conflict between. All humor all the time means I can NEVER take anything seriously, which sort of gets exacerbated by the fact that the entire team is like 25 years old and pretty (even the nerds). It's just hard for me to buy-in right now.

At the very least I find it entertaining, but as of right now I think Arrow is the better show because it has the better balance of humor/drama/tension (though certainly is not without its faults!)

Agents of SHIELD would be a cool opportunity to use the Punisher.

Boring

I liked the first two episodes, but I thought this one was pretty darn bad.

Now this was more like it. Bit of 4% searalization crap while still playing into the case of the week tropes but subverting the actual movements a bit. Chloe Bennet continues to be a bit of a loose end but hey it's slowly moving to correct that hopefully. Also Grant Ward showing a bit of improvement which is all I can ask for.

cheap plug to user review and longer from thoughts

who ever did the was DP and used Go Pro's and editted in that footage made things look cheap. Like bad homage to an Ozu Pillow Shot.

I seriously wish I could sit through more than 15 minutes of any of this show's episodes without dozing off. I tried, I really did.

@misternefarious: I agree with everything you said 100 percent especially with the music. It just doesn't fit at all. It goes "dutah" as the bad guy rows off the dirt and getting ass kicked by Ward. It just sounds too cheesy. I don't think we see Green Arrow have cheesy music every time he throws an arrow and knocks the guy down. lol

I think it's sad people hate this so much.

Shield with Nick Fury aint that cool to begin with let alone without him. They thought they could throw some discount Glee look-a-likes on a discount helicarrier with some discount World dangers, and skate by until the next Avengers movie came out. Wrong.

And we get it, "it was a magical place." Its a hint its a hint its a hint. Message received.

@iceslick: I'd argue the music helps SHIELD live into the inherint camp value it has thanks to the production cost and overall presentation. Which isn't a knock against the show, Whedon can make low budget work really well. The music is just a way to further contextualize the shows tone. Sure it's a bit annoying but the purpose is served.

At the sametime Arrow has some equally cheesy wana be Hanz Zimmer scoring that gives it the feel of Batman Begins but more Green than brown.

@mrmazz: Well I'm sorry I rather hear wannabe "Hanz Zimmer" music than "inherent camp value".

I loved the episode.

My gripe with this series had thus far been the lack of Marvel characters in it, its awesome to see the origin of Graviton, a lot different from the comics, but its still pretty good.

Its awesome to see how they take it from here, because Graviton is awesome as a character but a little too powerful for this team to handle. I think this was good.

@iceslick: I agree, I'll take the less obtrusive Hanz Zimmer wannabe over the Danny Elfman wannabe.

@mrmazz: It serves its purpose, sure, but in my opinion it's hurting the presentation particularly when combined with the non-stop joking. It may make it more on the camp side, but it's like it is camp that is aching to be taken more seriously...

I'll keep watching, but they haven't hooked me as a fanboy just yet

First of all, if you guys like the show, don't let me distract you from that, but for me, its really meh.

I even have to go that far and say that this show is everything I dislike about the Marvel movies brought together. I at least liked all of the marvel movies, so far, but I hate the overtly jokey tone of most of them (like Iron Man 3 for example) and this show does just that, but like under a magnifying glas. So, yeah, its really not for me.

As much as I dislike some of the casting on Arrow... from tone to story to characters, I like Oliver Queens show muuuuuuuuuuuuuch more. I hope DC is clever enough and link Arrow to the movie universe, because thats the reason that Agents of SHIELD has the better ratings.

I really felt like this episode storyline has been really played out in a bunch of other tv shows.

Why introduce the relationship between Fitz, simmons, and Hall if you don't even really play it out? They care a lot about him but the only mention Hall even gets of them is Coulson saying how they're listening to the conversation.

The will the main character with a shady past betray the team for the bad guys plot is really played out in my opinion. Did anyone really believe their was a chance Skye was gonna betray everyone?

i dont get how this got a 4 star this was a 3 star show this week

so sky gets some character development not a lot but some, the story wasnt boring and was mildly enjoyable and you get teased with a villain that you know you will never see in the show at the end and all this some how makes this a 4 star episode? what!?

i know this looks like im hating on the show but im not im just very disappointed with it (i really wonted to like this show when i heard about it) so where 3 episodes in and only one character has gotten some form of development (very little minded you) while coulson is still coulson, the girl with the mysterious past is a bore to watch (when she isnt fighting someone), agent grinch with his heart 3 sizes too small is still unlikable, and then theirs not scotty and not female scotty yeah theirs them

The first episode was good because I was a little surprised.I was really sceptical about this and after trying to watch last episode and just being just too bored I can't continue trying to watch this show.

Coulson doesn't have muscle memory...

Thus why i followed you. Spot on man spot on.

Generally,Spider-Man,Punisher,Wolverine,ALL of those TV rights belong to Dysney,so......practically,they can use them....

Its an alright show. I knew I would have a meh reaction for awhile because I want to see supers. As others have said though, just happy to have a show set in the MU.

@gotham331: Arrow baby!!! Yeah!!!

the wait is almost over :)

I really like the show. The first episode was pretty lame but, every show since has improved.

This was actually my favorite episode so far! The shift to espionage was a great breathing room point that gave this show a new life. I was planning on dropping it after that episode, but now I have faith in it!! I just wish we had more Marvel characters in it... And Coulson basically just confirmed he is a LMD, because he doesn't have muscle memory.

Wow, a lot of disapproval in the comments. I thought the episode was fairly good. somewhat cheesy and predictable but still entertaining.

I like this episode a lot, more so than last weeks. I love the subtle clues towards Coulson and Hall's "introduction" was awesome! Perhaps we can see his origin transfer over to the rest of the MCU!

Ok, I give up! This show is boring... I was super exited for this show and after listening to the first three episodes I'm really disappointed.

Can't wait for Arrow!!!!! :D This is going to be epic!

This show if pretty entertaining in my opinion.

I liked this episode a lot better than last week, but I still have my concerns. I liked how the guest characters actually looked believeable this time, meaning Hall really looked like a scientist, and Quinn really looked like a snooty millionaire. The Hispanic supermodel last week did not look like a soldier who scours the jungles of Peru.

But still, this show has a lt of work ahead of it. I was certain this would be my favorite new show of the fall, but right now I'd say it's about on par with Sleepy Hollow, and no where near as good as The Blacklist. Now that show is awesome.

Does Marvel have the TV rights to X-Men and Mutants? I thought I read somewhere they had that but obviously don't have the Film rights so they don't want to do anything with them yet.....even though every time the inHumans come up everyone is like so knock off mutants....from space.

I won't lie, I want to like this show and I do like characters such as Ward and Skye, but I honestly found this episode boring. I was glad to see them bring in an actual Marvel villain and hopefully we'll see him become a bigger threat in the future. Overall, I'm afraid this show may not get another season if it keeps at the rate it's going.

I agree with most things that are being said about this show. I will watch this show for the rest of the season because it is better than most television programming out there like reality shows and other network dramas. That being said, I am a little disappointed in the lack of Marvel characters and aspects. Arrow does a decent job bringing in DC references. The first episode was cool with the link to Extremis. I have a feeling we will end up not liking Coulson after this show and his appearances in the movies will be watered down. Overall, I don't think that we, as comic fans, can afford to be incredibly picky, at least we have a Marvel live-action show.

Nice.

LOL! These posts are hilarious...

This seems like the biggest. Always trying to shoehorn the Avengers into everything. it's like how Marvel Comics is kinda trying to make 616 more and more like the movies.

So far I only liked the pilot episode. The only thing I liked about that new episode was that Skye looked smoking on that dress of hers , other then that I didn't really care about this episode so much:P The draw for me of this show is Colseon and skye , I hope that superhero characters from the first episode will return. it needs him.

I like this show less and less every week. It went from really good but could use improvement, to at least it's better than Arrow, to dangerously close to being Arrow, very quickly. It definitely needs to shake the CW feel immediately.

Also, Coulson was fine in a supporting role, but is proving to not to have the presence to work as a lead character. To be fair, Coulson is probably an LMD now, so maybe Clark Gregg is really going out of his way to act robotic.

Fell asleep during the first two, hahaha.

I don't mind the show, but three episodes in, still nothing has really happened. I was expecting a few more links to other MU characters, or at least mentions other than "the battle of New York". I doubt it will get a second series unless Marvel are going to keep using it for a plug for other films, in which case, it might be a bit dull. I wonder if they may be better off with doing something like Warehouse 13. You get to see other agencies, and varying levels of threat. There are plenty of low level villains that are available for hire, and just over street level abilities that would not call for the use of the avengers. Look as Superior Foes of Spider-Man, it seems to be doing ok as book?

If I'd worked at all with the Avengers, like Coulson, you'd better believe I'd be super annoying about it. I think I'd take literally every opportunity to bring it up. "You know, this is just like the time Thor and I were hanging out". "This reminds me of when Captain America and I were shooting the breeze about cards". "You think you intimidate me? I've been around the Hulk!". Etc.

The show is boring so far. I wouldn't be still watching this if there was no MARVEL logo.

It beat NCIS in the ratings last night.... stop thinking the internet is real world....you have people online that hate everything.....the show is awesome if nitpick everything of course you wont like it.....

Can you explain how it has better ratings? Just curious because the premiere for Arrow starts tonight, so are you comparing it to last seasons ratings?

Also, Being that SHIELD is on a huge NBC network compared to the CW....I'm not sure how much weight the argument would hold anyways.

I'm really excited for this season of Arrow. I haven't even bothered to watch SHIELD as it doesn't interest me in the least, so I can't comment on how good it is.

This show has one ASSet, if you catch my drift, and all the other characters except Coulson suck imo. This show is pretty boring to me.