TV Review No. 17 Marvel: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Closure (S2, Ep9)

Strong points:

Unpredictable 

Great acting

Characters coming out of their shells

Well choreographed action 

All plots are coming together

Not seeing is sometimes more tense

Ward's weak spot

Original team members being interrogated 
Impressive use of sound

Weak points:

More stone collecting

May have been overkill 
Grunts never get the job done
Ward changing

Spoilers ahead:

In-depth Review:

Well this was a good episode through and through. From the sudden exit of Rosalind's character to Coulson skydiving to another world, there were so many great moments. Talking about Rosalind, it was quite clever how they killed her off before the opening credits as it first, made everyone focus on the episode and secondly, not leaving it till just after the opening credits kept the tension and pace ongoing as well as showing us straight away what had happened and allowing the episode to focus on the consequences of this action instead of the action itself.

Coulson and Ward definitely have an interesting relationship to say the least, and it was great to see a verbal sparring match between them both before Ward did what every self-respecting villain would do. Set his grunts on Coulson, only for him to escape, instead of just finishing Coulson off himself. That always works so well doesn't it?

Talking about random people dying, Banks goes bankrupt (get it?!) by a certain telekinetic Inhuman. While I do like the pacing of these episodes (nothing's dragged out), it does feel a bit of an overkill to kill off the only other ATCU member we know of, especially in the same episode. The ATCU may be the red shirts of this series me thinks. 

One thing that was nice to see was the side characters coming out of their skins (even Banks did for a while). The one that did the most was Mack, a character who seemed to just be there so that characters wouldn't just monologue all the time. He is now the acting director of S.H.I.E.L.D. and does a great job of it I must say, with the difficulty of making the 'right choice' giving some real gravitas to the character.

Another character that has changed this episode is Ward, with him getting a conversion to the Hydra philosophy (a philosophy that involves more stone collecting) and ending up actually going through the portal with Fitz to find Maveth, the Inhuman of death. I'm not sure I particularly like how Malick was able to change Ward's goals from closure to Hydra like that, it doesn't really seem like something Ward would go along with as he has no weaknesses to prey on. Or so we thought...

Wards weakness in his brother in actual fact and not the one he killed last season. Oh no. This one's his younger brother, the one he has sworn to protect ever since he was made to hurt him as a child (the infamous 'well story'), although this 'protection' has made Ward's brother go into hiding. It was great to see a weakness of Ward's and again, a verbal sparring match on the phone worked great here, as did the stakes which were raised when Coulson threatened Ward's brother. The tension was growing and...

Well that was quite an ending wasn't it? Phew... The tension in the room when I watched it was palpable and when Coulson suddenly fell through the portal there was a massive gasp from everyone. I can't finish this review without mentioning the torture scene though, with masterful use of sound again raising the emotion in the room without the characters actually watching what was happening. 

Conclusion: overall it was a great, fast paced episode and easily the best of the series so far. The original team members being interrogated for information on Ward was a nice touch as well, showing that the show hasn't forgotten it's roots.

Rating: 89%

Thanks for reading, Satamer.