Agents of Shield returns and it comes back with a new tone, some new cast, familiar faces and a new threat. And for the most part, it works.
Let's start with the new tone in the show. Shield basically doesn't exist anymore so they operate in the shadows and its even more intriguing because they don't have the money and manpower available to them in the first season. I also love how Skye is an actual field agent rather than a hacker.
With a new season, comes some new cast members. We have Agent Mack, an engineer who's built like a tank, Hunter, a merc with a mouth yet not Deadpool, Hartley, played by Lucy fricking Lawless, and Idaho, who is there. Half of these don't make it through the first episode, and while I'm not surprised or sad that Idaho is gone, I am sad that Hartley is because Lawless brings something great to anything she is in like Xena, Spartacus or Parks and Rec.
We also get familiar faces from a Marvel movie, The First Avenger, as Agent Carter, Dumb Dumb Dugan and Jim Morita make a cameo that is very welcome and reveals something cool about a villain in this season. A head of Hydra has been around since the 1940s and not only that, but he hasn't aged, which is a great twist and mystery to be explored.
This episode's villain was Carl "Crusher" Creel. While this is a great nod to Daredevil, where Creel was involved in one of Daredevil's pivotal moments, this is where we actually see him. While his personality wasn't anything new or interesting, his powers sure were. And it was really well done for a TV show to show him change his body into any substance.
The humor and writing were also on pace with the last third of the first season, which I enjoy as it is already starting to feel different and better than the first season.
+ Carter and the Commandos + Tone, writing and humor +/- Creel + New Cast - Some gone though
Final Score: 8.7/10
