Episode: Agents of SHIELD S03E01 - Laws of Nature

As a general review of Season 1 and 2, just to get it out of the way, I am of the opinion that Agents of SHIELD (AOS) had a slow start, and really only picked up toward the end of Season 1 upon the release Captain America: The Winter Soldier. The fact that SHIELD basically died in the movie was a great source of plot and character development - and the writers/producers/directors/etc of AOS took that and ran with it. Ward turning out to be Hydra was retrospectively the perfect plot twist, and was the catalyst in turning AOS into an exciting show that featured what everyone wanted it to be - a thrilling spy drama that gave you thrills both in terms of great action sequences, topsy-turvy plots, and subtle digs at the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe.

The first episode of season 3 continued to build on the solid foundation the past two seasons set up. At this point, AOS's priority seems to be developing whatever plot they had going on before - the pilot wastes no time reintroducing characters or the complicated plotlines, it just dives right into the meat of the story. I loved that about it, actually, because it gave me that feeling of continuity, which is arguably the appeal of the Marvel Universe in the first place. Tonally, as well, the episode was actually really good - it was full of suspense and plot development, introduced new characters, but always had little lighthearted moments in the middle - so basically the formula for any Marvel media.

Spoilers below!

I did miss seeing some characters, though I know it's impossible to have them all back given the amount of new characters that were introduced as well as the amount of plot the pilot had to set up. I missed seeing May and of course Simmons. The show feels strange without May, but not necessarily in a bad way - I was just eerily aware of the lack of her presence (that's probably just me being attached to her character though).

The plot thickens. And so does the Terrigen dispersal.

In terms of plot, like I said, this first episode had a lot to continue and establish. There's the continued quest to look for the Inhumans, led by Skye Daisy and company, which segues into the introduction of the Advanced Threat Containment Unit, which supposedly "replaces" SHIELD but seems to be framed as a villainous group, up until the end where they introduce Lash, the scary-looking Inhuman who will probably be featured in my nightmares for the next week. Also, Lincoln goes from friend to distant acquaintance working in a hospital to semi-friend again to wanted by the police. Fitz continues to be heartbreakingly in love with Simmons and does everything he can to rescue her but ends up getting a message that literally implied (how's that for an oxymoron?) that she's dead. It ends with her apparently being stuck in some alien(??) or imagined(??) landscape which reminds of where Firefly started. Also, Bobbi and Hunter are Plotting, and Coulson's (lack of) arm is highlighted habitually. Yeesh.

But to be honest, I'm really looking forward to this development of this series! At this point, it would be hard to catch up without having watched the first two seasons, but I don't think that really weakens the show in any way. If anything, loyal fans are sucked in more and feel more invested in it. The characters continue to tug at my heartstrings in a good way (oh Fitz my sweet summer child), the plot continues to thicken, and the production is really, really great on this! I'm looking forward to seeing May again, seeing what the hell Bobbi and Hunter are planning, where Ward is after all this, knowing wtf happened to Simmons, and what Lash is??? Yeah. Really good stuff. Adorable little references to the MCU as well which, like I said, provides that weirdly satisfying continuity in the Marvel Universe.

That's it! Looking forward to this coming week. I give the pilot an A-! (Are we doing grading now? Probably not, but I didn't know how else to end it.)