And, you know what? It didn't disappoint.
This week, we were introduced to a new baddie, an annoying boyfriend and several overarching plot elements. Oh, and the Bracelets of Shame, but I'll get to that later.
This week's episode followed the plot of the beautiful, sinister, mysterious, titular Girl in the Flower Dress. At the beginning of the episode, she approaches supernatural street magician Chan in Hong Kong and convinces him that he's special and should celebrate his powers. Then she kidnaps him, and takes him back to her lab. Because, of course she does.
Anyway, turns out that Chan was under SHIELD protection/surveillance, and Coulson & Pals have to save him. They take a looksee to see how the Girl in the Flower Dress found out about Chan and, lo and behold, RISING TIDE IS BEHIND THE HACK THAT REVEALED THE INFORMATION TO THE MYSTERIOUS EVIL PEOPLE! *cue gasps and icy stares at Skye*
It couldn't come at a worse time for Skye, either, because she is finally connecting with almost all of the SHIELD pals, even Grant (but not Melinda May, because she is super suspicious and about as cuddly as a hedgehog. That, in a nutshell, is why I love Melinda May. That, and her tendancy to kick an enormous amount of butt.). However, while Grant and Coulson are out on the streets, trying to get the hacker, Skye is in his apartment! Having the sex with him! Whaaaaa? I mean, he's not horrible looking - sort of like a poor man's Joe Manganiello, I thought - but he's also totally obnoxious. Like, I kind of wanted to punch him in the face every time he talked or appeared on screen.
Turns out that bad hacker is Skye's boyfriend, but she's uber-ticked because she's supposed to be infiltrating SHIELD, so they're supposed to be off limits. I mean, it's good that she's mad that he's messing with SHIELD, but ... don't infiltrate SHIELD! That is bad! And it makes Fitz almost cry! (Seriously, Fitz was getting teary because he thought that Skye was their friend but he DIDN'T! EVEN! KNOW! ABOUT! HER! BOYFRIEND! It was kind of adorable.)
Anyway, they find out that Skye's boyfriend, whose name I don't remember and I don't care to look up because I wanted to punch him in the face, got paid a million dollars to hack SHIELD and paid it to "some eco group that's studying centipedes." Except not really, because it's definitely Centipede, the evil corporation from episode one that's trying to make super-solider serum Extremis that was making people explode. Yeah, turns out that Centipede got Chan, who, BTW, has been nicknamed Scorch, in order to give him the serum and then drain him because his platlets are fire-resistant and he doesn't explode when he takes the drug.
Anyway, Coulson & Melinda go to try to save Scorch, but he kills the red-headed Centipede scientist gal from the pilot and uses his super-fire to block the tranquilizers. So, there's really no choice but to give him more Extremis and explode him. So they do, and he does (OR DOES HE!) and everything is great! They even leave Annoying Boyfriend in Hong Kong, give away his million bucks and fits him with a Bracelet of Shame that keeps track of him and makes it so that he can't use electronics unless SHIELD wants him to. See!? THINGS ARE GREAT!
Oh, except it's not, because nobody trusts Skye and Coulson is VERY DISAPPOINTED IN HER. (He is seriously like an angry, disappointed dad who's child did something very, very wrong.) Coulson asks Skye, point blank, what she's hiding, and she takes a little memory chip out of her bra. It's information about her parents, and the only information she can find is one document, redacted by SHIELD. While Coulson tells her that she might not like what she finds, he also tells her that he'll help her. But then, it's a Bracelet of Shame for Skye too. I would expect no less from SHIELD.
Aaaaand, at the end of the episode, Girl in the Flower Dress talks with Shady Mysterious Jailbird Man about "touching base with the clairvoyant" and some other shady stuff that adds up to MORE! OVERARCHING! PLOT!
Overall, I enjoyed this episode of "Agents of SHIELD." There were some really funny parts - I loved Melinda just standing right outside Annoying Boyfriend's apartment, looking distinctly disgusted with Skye. You could just tell she'd been standing out there a while with the same disgusted look on her face. In fact, I have to say that I love Melinda more and more every single time she appears on screen. She's a super tough, strong agent - definitely the best in the group - but she's also witty, and it's clear she and Coulson really respect and like each other. Their relationship is probably my favorite on the show, better even than Fitz & Simmons.
Speaking of FitzSimmons, while they didn't get a lot of play this week, I loved them again this week, too. They are also wonderful friends who respect each other, and I find it sweet how they lift each other up - like when Simmons was comforting Fitz when he was sad over Skye's betrayal. I also feel like they are developing as separate characters, which is important despite their adorable nicknames and Britishness.
I was pleased by the overarching plot development, too. I really liked getting some sort of assurance that Skye is not horribly screwing over SHIELD, like I feared she was - I like her way too much to have her being evil and shady - but trying to solve a personal mystery. I also like the idea that she and her family have more of a backstory. I like a good solid mythology in my shows, and at least having a hint of that intrigues me a lot more. Between that, Centipede and the eternal mystery of how Coulson lives and whether he's some sort of replicant or not (I am pretty sure he is, by the way), we've got a good solid footing for the rest of the season.
This episode showed, once again, just where this show is going. It's exciting, because it's getting there - hitting its true potential and living up to the incredibly high expectations that fans have. It's still not quite perfect, but I'm starting to feel the chemistry settle in, and the plots are getting better and better. I'd like to see more backstory of Melinda and FitzSimmons - a couple of flashback episodes wouldn't go amiss, although we'll probably have to wait until next season, or at least after the winter break - but considering that this is only the fifth episode, I'd say we're doing pretty darn well. It's just too bad that we have to wait two weeks to find out what happens next!
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