Got My Eye On You. Retrospective: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D - “Eye Spy”

Season 1, Episode 4

Air Date: Tuesday, October 15, 2013, 8/7c on ABC

Rating: ★★★★★

“You’re a robot, can you do that?” – Skye

Can Coulson bring Akela in?

While investigating a diamond heist, Coulson (Clark Gregg) and his team learn the person responsible not only used to be a S.H.I.E.L.D agent, but was Coulson’s protegé Akela Amadour (Pascale Armand)…a woman who, for years, was presumed dead. Will Coulson’s loyalty to Akela cloud his judgment, or will the team be able to uncover the truth behind the robberies, and bring the thief in.

“Eye Spy” starts off with a group of men dressed exactly the same, wearing red masks, and carrying silver briefcases walking through Stockholm, Sweden. Only one, however, is transporting the diamonds. While the opening scene is interesting visually, I found myself having flashbacks to Howie Mandel’s show Deal or No Deal, and wondering why the decoys are walking in a group, getting on the same train if the plan was to throw off a potential thief.

Talking about old times.

While the whole rogue-agent-thought-to-be-dead-comes-back-as-a-bad-guy set-up has been done a million times, the writers are able to put some interesting twists to the scenario that makes it more interesting for the audience. It also sets up the first real tension between the team and Coulson. May (Ming-Na Wen) questions Coulson’s judgment when it comes to Akela, and takes it upon herself to try to track her down.

Thought to be dead, the team has no way of knowing Akela now has a robotic eye, courtesy of the people who captured her following a mission gone wrong. The eye allows her captors to see what she sees, and to send her messages about missions she is to undertake. If she doesn’t do what they want, they will set off a device in the robotic eye that will kill her.

Skye (Chloe Bennett) is able to hijack the feed from Akela’s eye onto a pair of sunglasses Ward (Brett Dalton) is wearing to keep up the illusion that Akela is still doing as instructed. Meanwhile, Fitz (Ian De Caestecker) and Simmons (Elizabeth Henstridge) work at figuring out a way to remove the robotic eye without triggering the failsafe. Ward is able to stall long enough using the glasses, and Akela’s robotic eye is removed. The answer to who is behind capturing agents and implanting devices in their eyes, however, remains a mystery.

“Eye Spy” is the first Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D episode that, for the most part, fully stands on its own without relying on The Avengers or any of the other Marvel movies. As much as I enjoy the movies, I also want to see Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D have some of its own mythology.

Some of my favorite scenes in this series are the quiet moments between Skye and Coulson. There is almost a father-daughter relationship feel to them that I enjoy, and “Eye Spy is no exception.

Coulson: “You regret coming along?”

Skye: “It was pretty impulsive. Even for me. I still don’t know much about you. Except for you value really old stuff. And you value me. You’re the first person to do that in a long time. So I happen to believe you’re an excellent judge of character. If you think this woman deserves a second chance, we should give it to her. Even though she tried to kill me and I kind of hate her guts.”

I must commend the lighting department for the way both this scene and Coulson are lit. It gives the moment almost a somber tone to it. I also like that the writers did not elongate their conversation, or break up what Skye says. Rather, they let her statement stand on its own. In that one scene, I found myself finally caring about Skye.

May kicking ass.

The character development for both Ward and May is a welcome change. With Ward, Dalton is able to explore more of a comedic element, one which I actually found enjoyable to watch. May, on the other hand, finally gets to unleash the badass character we’ve heard so much about. I wonder how long Ming-Na had to practice those action scenes!

Sadly, the same can’t be said about Fitz and Simmons; it’s almost like the writers can’t seem to figure out what to do with them. After four episodes, we know nothing more about either of them than we learned in the first 30 seconds of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. In scenes when they happen to be in danger, I find myself simply not caring what happens to them.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D is still trying to find its footing and while it is making progress, the show still has a long way to go. One of the things I would like is for the writers to stop teasing us about Coulson’s death. When Akela confronts May about why Coulson is different, May explains he was almost killed, and Akela asks; “But what did they do to him?” Enough already! Tell us what happened!

Tweet me @staffaroadtrip or leave a comment below to let me know what you think about “Eye Spy.”

For more on the show, go to http://www.agentsofshield.com/.

Follow Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D on Twitter, as well as some of the cast: <Ward> Brett Dalton, <Coulson> Clark Gregg, <Simmons> Elizabeth Henstridge, and <May> Ming-Na Wen

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Greg Staffa

I provide testosterone to the site. You won’t be reading about how nice a actress looks in a dress or how much of a hunk Matt Bomer is in my reviews. I describe colors using words like brown, not taupe. My twitter name is @staffaroadtrip because I love road trips and have done two different 48-state road trips since 2008. My favorite show is White Collar.