Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D Recap: Gravity

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, Episode 3: "The Asset"

When Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D was first announced, one of the things that Marvel fans, myself included, were looking forward to, were seeing Marvel characters that maybe weren't big enough to be in a movie make their debut.  Now, I certainly wasn't expecting the Wasp to be flying around by episode three, but I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't a little disappointed that after two episodes we still weren't seeing anything familiar.  Well, that changed slightly with this episode, where the series introduced the man who would be the villain Graviton.  So, what went down?  Hit the jump to find out.

So, one thing that the show really excels at so far is the cold open or the tease before the main titles.  This episode kept it up.  We were treated to a convoy of semis that are set upon by an invisible force.  This is not the convo that was sang about in the seventies, it's a SHIELD convoy.  A convoy that is carrying some very important cargo: an asset by the name of Dr. Franklin Hall, who is absconded with.

Coulson's team is called in to investigate.  Fitz and Simmons have a personal connection to the good doctor.  He was their advisor in university.  While they are investigating, Simmons discovers a tiny ball of a mercury looking substance that creates a gravity field and they deduce that is what put the semi in the tree and the other anamolies.  

Ward has been trying to whip Skye into shape (figuratively speaking) as her commanding officer, but it isn't really working.  Skye doesn't want to work out.  Skye doesn't want to listen to Ward giving her orders.  I know that the writers want us to like Skye and relate to her, but it's difficult because she is really annoying.  Also, they are setting up a romance between her and Ward, which is fine, but Ward is super boring.  He's like cardboard.  It's fine to be the straight man and be stoic, but you can still be engaging, which he is not.  The episode spends so much time building the Ward/Skye relationship and a lot of it just falls flat.  Maybe once their characters have grown more, a few episodes in, it would resonate more, but right now, every time they have a heart to heart, the episode drags or comes to a screeching halt.

Who took Dr. Hall?  Well, he has been kidnapped by a former colleague, Ian Quinn.  Quinn is your typical businessman/terrorist type.  He just wants money, but he disguises it behind creative freedome and how evil the world's governments and agencies i.e. S.H.I.E.L.D are.  Since he is a wanted man, Quinn is hiding out in Malta.  It turns out that Quinn and Hall used to work together and Hall discovered gravitionium, a substance that istorts gravity causing an undulating, amorphous shape.  If an electric current is applied to gravitonium it solidifies and causes things to erupt.  Quinn has built a generator that looks ike the larger version of what Simmons found at the crime scene.

The agents are trying to figure out a plan.  Skye suggests that she sneak in.  There is a lot of hemming and hawing but that stops when Skye uses her Rising Sun connections to snag an e-vite.  An e-vite?  Seriously?  OK.  Skye ends up going in with some gadgets from Fitz and Simmons.  It's Skye's job to distract Quinn and take down a force field around the compound so Ward and Coulson can sneak in and rescue Hall.  

Since Skye has zero training and doesn't have any interest in listening to Ward things go sideways quickly.  Skye reveals herself to be S.H.I.E.L.D. and tries to seduce Quinn, deploying the compact/force field disruptor that FitzSimmons gave her.  Quinn isn't stupid though, so he confronts her.  Skye is able to remember one lesson from Ward and disarms Quinn.  She can't pull the trigger so she jumps off the balcony and into the pool.

While Ward rescues his protégé, Coulson goes after Dr. Hall, who it turns out doesn't want to be rescued.  He's planning on overloading the machine and using the gravitonium to blow everything up.  As you can imagine, Coulson is not cool with this.  This leads to some cool scenes with Coulson and Hall dancing fighting on the ceiling.  In a last ditch effort, Coulson shoots the ground and sends Hall plummeting into the heart of the machine, stopping the device and seemingly killing Hall.

There is some clean up to be done.  Coulson orders the generator to go into the freezer.  Skye gives Ward a sad foster home story, but is it true?  Melinda signs back up for combat duty.  And in the freezer, Hall's hand reaches out from the midst of the swirling gravitionium and it seems as if Graviton is born.

So, what did you guys think?  Are you disappointed?  If you are, what do you think the show can do to improve?  Did you know who Graviton was?  Let me hear it.