Agents of SHIELD 'Frenemy of My Enemy' Review- The Calm Before the Storm

Agents of SHIELD was turned upside down after HYDRA overtook SHIELD during Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Coulson was appointed the new director of SHIELD and had to rebuild the organization from the ground up. He has since been overthrown and possibly lost the trust of his agents trying to rescue Skye.

***** SPOILERS for EP 2.18 "Frenemy of My Enemy to follow *****

The eyes of the Marvel universe are focused on the upcoming release of Avengers: Age of Ultron but there is always more happening in the MCU. Daredevil just got picked up for a second season on Netflix and now Agents of SHIELD has started building towards their season 2 finale.

In "Frenemy of My Enemy," written by Monica Owusu-Breen and Paul Zbyszewski and directed by Karen Gaviola, Coulson (Clark Gregg) realizes that his team of Deathlok (J. August Richards), Lance Hunter (Nick Blood), and Fitz (Iain De Caestecker) will not be enough to rescue Skye, who spends some quality time with her father.

Coulson has to make the difficult decision to ask Grant Ward (Brett Dalton) and Agent 33 (Maya Stojan) for their help to infiltrate HYDRA. Coulson proposes wiping Ward's memories after he complies but they instead settle on giving Ward a clean slate so he and Agent 33 can be together.

Meanwhile back in Afterlife, Jiaying (Dichen Lachman) decides it is time to split of the family and send Cal (Kyle MacLachlan) away from the rest of the Inhumans. Skye (Chlose Bennet) is not a fan about this plan so she decides to spend a day with him to try and ease the pain.

Back at the SHIELD headquarters Melinda May (Ming-Na Wen) is testing relationships by trying to get to the truth of Coulson's actions. She orders Simmons (Elizabeth Henstridge) to hack Deathlok and Mockingbird (Adrianne Palicki) and Mack (Henry Simmons) go to track Coulson's team down.

HYDRA, Coulson's team, Skye, Cal, and Lincoln Campbell (Luke Mitchell) all collide in an epic showdown. The battle ends with Gordon (Jamie Harris) taking Cal and Skye away just as she realizes Coulson and Ward are there and working together. Mockingbird and Mack arrive soon after everyone has cleared out to find Coulson ready to surrender after Ward points out they do not have the necessary man power for this mission.

Kyle MacLachlan is the standout in this week's episode thanks to the wide range of his abilities, both as an actor and as Cal. He gets super emotional talking about the life and family he dreamed he would have had and shows the rage multiple times whenever Skye, who now knows her full name is Daisy Johnson, is put in harms way.

Agents of SHIELD returns next week with "The Dirty Half Dozen" as they prepare to take down HYDRA once and for all. Check out a promo for next week's episode below!

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Agents of SHIELD EP 2.18 Synopsis Released

Now that there are two different factions of SHIELD, Coulson (Clark Gregg)'s team has been split up as they try and take down the "Real SHIELD" lead by Roberto Gonzalez (Edward James Olmos).

Spoiler TV has released the synopsis for episode 18, "The Frenemy of My Enemy."

A dangerous new alliance is formed as Coulson and Hunter turn to the last person anyone would expect – Grant Ward! As the war between S.H.I.E.L.D. factions continues, Skye and Lincoln will find themselves drawn into this conflict, on “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.,” TUESDAY, APRIL 21 (9:00-10:00 p.m., ET) on the ABC Television Network.

"Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD" stars Clark Gregg as Agent Phil Coulson, Ming-Na Wen as Agent Melinda May, Brett Dalton as Grant Ward, Chloe Bennet as Skye, Iain De Caestecker as Agent Leo Fitz, Elizabeth Henstridge as Agent Jemma Simmons, Nick Blood as Lance Hunter, and Adrianne Palicki as Bobbi Morse.

Guest starring are Henry Simmons as Alphonso "Mack" Mackenzie, Henry Goodman as Dr. List, Kyle MacLachlan as Cal, Jamie Harris as Gordon, Maya Stojan as Kara, Dichen Lachman as Jiaying, Luke Mitchell as Lincoln Campbell, Kris Lemche as Ethan, Staci Roberts as Paula, and Trenton Rostedt as Hoodie Guy.

"The Frenemy of My Enemy" was written by Monica Owusu-Breen and directed by Karen Gaviola.

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Agents of SHIELD Season 2 EP 14 Review

After weeks of inhuman and alien plots, Agents of SHIELD took a turn back to its roots of secret missions featuring the return of many recognizable faces. We also met a new enemy for the team as we get closer to finding out where Bobbi (Adrianne Palicki) and Mack (Henry Simmons) place their allegiance.

***** SPOILERS for "Love in the Time of Hydra" to follow *****

"Love in the Time of Hydra," written by Brent Fletcher and directed by Jesse Bochno, sent the characters we have grown to love in three separate directions.

The first was Coulson (Clark Gregg), May (Ming-Na Wen), Skye/Daisy (Chloe Bennet), Fitz (Iain De Caestecker), and Simmons (Elizabeth Henstridge) on the mission of helping Skye understand and control her powers while also deciding what her role should now be within SHIELD. May convinced Coulson to pull Skye off of active duty, which did not go over well her.

Simmons developed new gloves for Skye to wear that are meant to diminish the strength of her powers. This seems to be just the beginning of the transformation that Skye will undergo, which hopefully ends with her looking something like the image on the left.

Speaking of transformations, emotions of the audience went through the roof during a straight to the point confrontation between FitzSimmons. It has been great to see these two come back together and hopefully this conversation will bring them back together and give us more of the witty banter the pair had in Season 1.

The other members of Coulson's team were unable to be apart of these events due to them being with the "Real SHIELD." This version of SHIELD is run by Robert Gonzales (Edward James Olmos) and features one familiar face among their leaders in Agent Weaver (Christine Adams). Their leaders plus Mack and Bobbi try and convince Lance Hunter (Nick Blood) that, just like every evil organization, they are not the enemy.

The "Real SHIELD" is convinced that Coulson is the real problem and he should be the one to blame for the deaths of Isabelle Hartley (Lucy Lawless) and Agent Triplett (B.J. Britt), the transformations of Skye and Raina (Ruth Negga), and much more. Thankfully, Hunter does not agree with them and even hijacks one of the many vehicles on-board their helicarrier to escape.

This episode also featured the return of Grant Ward (Brett Dalton) and Agent 33 (Maya Stojan). Last time we saw the two of them they each had a number of things that needed to heal. Ward was shot three times and Agent 33 had part of her mask and face destroyed so they needed some obvious time to get back to being themselves. They set on a mission to fix Agent 33's face and then kidnap and start to brainwash Sunil Bakshi (Simon Kassianides). The kidnapping means an encounter with General Talbot (Adrian Pasdar) which ends up being quite comical thanks to the inability of Talbot in distinguishing who people really are.

Dalton was a welcome edition to the show after a few weeks of being away and getting to see Grant Ward back in action was a highlight of the episode. Nick Blood also gave a memorable performance as he continued to thwart the attempts of the "Real SHIELD" recruiting him. Hunter has become an increasingly likable the past few weeks which I find to be fascinating given his cold shoulder approach at the beginning of the season.

As the writers make the likes of Hunter and Fitz more likable, they have turned Bobbi and Mack into characters that are hard to be a fan of. Their characters are still interesting but I could not imagine them keeping an actress as high profiled as Adrianne Palicki and have her turn evil, especially given her character's history.

Another highlight recently has been the ability of the writers to find time for the fun and heartfelt conversations between Coulson and Skye. Whether it was Coulson comparing Skye to his beloved car Lola or Skye pleading with Coulson to just be her friend and not a SHIELD Agent during this difficult time in her life, the interactions between the shows main characters are something that the show is based on and needs more of.

A quick shout out is also well deserved for Ming-Na Wen who had to display the regular stone cold perception of May but then also convey the emotion felt by Agent 33 after being "taken in" by Ward.

Agents of SHIELD returns next week with "One Door Closes." Check out the promo for the episode below as the two SHIELDs come face to face!

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8 Questions Season 2 of Agents of SHIELD Still Needs to Answer

Agents of SHIELD has turned itself into a strong Marvel property halfway through its second season. The first season was filled with one off stories and events that seemed to have no real purpose to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, that is, until Captain America: The Winter Soldier. The show is now 10 episodes into its second season and has taken a break so Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell) can star in Agent Carter. When Agents of SHIELD returns in March, there are still some questions that need to be answered. Below are 8 questions we want answered before season 2 of Agents of SHIELD ends.

How will Skye's Transformation Affect the Team?
Ever since we first met Skye, it was clear she was special. She erased her real identity and was labeled an 0-8-4 by SHIELD as a child. Thanks to the mid-season finale, we know that Skye's real name is Daisy Johnson and will become a version of Quake during the rest of the season. 


Her transformation gave her powers to make her "inhuman" but it did come at a price. Agent Triplett died trying to stop the transformation from happening. The loss of a close friend along with another team member gaining super powers will certainly change the dynamics within the team. Will Daisy feel responsible for the death of Triplett? Will the team blame her for his death and as a result fear for their own lives? These are just a few interesting scenarios that could happen. My theory is the team will distance themselves from Daisy only pushing her to her father, Mr. Hyde. Once that happens, the team will go after her to save her from her very dangerous and angry father.

What has Raina Become?
Daisy was not the only one to experience a transformation when the Terrigen Crystals were triggered. Raina also changed into something unknown. Her eyes changed slightly during the transformation to look almost cat like. The spikes coming out around her face is where things get confusing. Some people believe she will be Tigra but I am just not sure. Who or what Raina will become the rest of the season should be very interesting to discover. Will she use her new powers for good and potentially become an ally for SHIELD or will she continue to help Mr. Hyde and Ward? Only time will tell.

What are Ward's Motives?
Ward has become the most interesting character on Agents of SHIELD for most people. One week he seems hell bent on destroying his family and the next he is a puppy dog trying to do whatever he can to earn Daisy's trust and affection. Daisy is not easily fooled however and last time we saw Ward, he had a gunshot wound courtesy of her. He got help from Agent 33 (Maya Stojan) and is now on his own. What will Ward do the rest of the season? Will he try and help Mr. Hyde and Daisy bond together? Is there a chance at redemption in his future? It seems like no one knows what Ward is going to do next; maybe he doesn't even know himself.

What are Bobbi and Mack planning?
In "Ye Who Enter Here," episode 9, it is revealed that Bobbi Morse (Adrianne Palicki) and Mack (Henry Simmons) have another agenda that is a mystery to the rest of team and the audience. Whatever they are planning, they want it to be just the two of them. Lance Hunter (Nick Blood) knows that something is going on with Bobbi so there is a chance he will try and find out what is really going on.

Is Koenig a L.M.D?
Ever since we met the first Agent Koenig in season 1, it has been unclear how it is possible for there to be so many Koenig's. So far one has died but two more have popped up this season. The recurring joke is that they are all brothers and that there are many more, leading myself and many others to believe that Koenig is actually a Life Model Decoy. Agents of SHIELD just introduced the first Inhumans to the Marvel universe so could they also already have established L.M.D.s? It could prove pivotal to storylines down the road in the cinematic universe.

How Many Diviners Are There?

It was assumed that the Diviner that Coulson, Dr. Whitehall, and Mr. Hyde were all after was the only one in existence. In the mid-season finale, we caught a glimpse of another Diviner that lit up when Raina activated their Diviner. There are at least one more of these devices but probably many more. How many Diviners truly are out there and who has possession of them? 

Who is the Man without Eyes?
Speaking of the second Diviner, we know that it is in possession of the man pictured above. Who is this man? That is a true mystery. It appears that this man will cause some trouble for the team, especially Daisy.

What has happened to Season 1 Characters?
Season 2 of Agents of SHIELD has been much improved in comparison to season 1. The journey of the team has drastically changed since the beginning of the show, the collapse of SHIELD, and now dealing with Inhumans. The first season did bring along many characters that seemed to have a future with the show. The likes of Ian Quinn (David Conrad), Mike Peterson (J. August Richards), and Franklin Hall (Ian Hart) looked like no brainers to pop up again in the second season but have so far been no shows. I like the direction that Agents of SHIELD is going and it is connecting itself more to the movies. Characters like these had a future with show it appeared and now are nowhere to be seen or heard from. Getting clarity on what has happened to them would be a good way to truly close out the first season.

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Agents of SHIELD Season 2 EP 8 Review

Last week Agents of SHIELD delivered what was possibly the shows best episode ever. Knowing Marvel, we should have expected greatness from "The Things We Bury," and that's what we got.

***** SPOILERS for "The Things We Bury" to follow *****

While Grant Ward sets out to find and terrorize his older brother Senator Christian Ward (Tim DeKay), Coulson and his team hunt down the mysterious city with HYDRA closing in on the trail.

It initially seems like the Ward brother duel is simply a way to flesh out Grant's past and how he became the man he is today, it leads to something much more. After Grant burns down his old home, with Christian and his parents inside, he decides to team up with Whitehall and Skye's dad. His motive behind joining the evil duo is not apparent so far, but it won't be surprising if it's a chance at redemption.

Meanwhile, Coulson, Fitz, and Triplett break into an Australian base to track down the mystery city. Things go south as HYDRA has beat them to the place and shoots Trip in the shoulder. Luckily for Trip, a doctor comes to the rescue. Just not a doctor they can trust.

One of the most interesting aspects of the episode and possibly of the season were the multiple flashbacks to give us backstory on Dr. Whitehall. A devote follower of the Red Skull led Whitehall, formerly known as Rinehart, into the custody of Agent Carter and SHIELD. 

A much older Whitehall was broken out of prison under the orders of Alexander Pierce to meet a familiar face from his past. That familiar face turns out to be Skye's mom, who Whitehall met years ago when experimenting with the Diviner. He killed her and used some of her body parts to permanently regain his younger form.

We do not see much from May, Simmons, or Mack but do get plenty of Bobbi Morse and Lance Hunter dialogue and more. Morse interrogates Bakshi to a near death, fights with Hunter about their trust issues, and ultimately make up, make out, and more.

Agents of SHIELD will now be on a two week hiatus before the team searches high and low for the mystery city. Check out the promo below for "... Ye Who Enter Here."

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Agents of SHIELD Season 2 EP 7 Review

Season 2 has been drastically different than season 1 of Agents of SHIELD. It not only moved back an hour, but also has added a gritty tone, added new cast members, and turned one of the fan favorite characters into a villain. All these changes have benefited the show greatly.

***** SPOILERS for "The Writing on the Wall" to follow *****

In this week's episode "The Writing on the Wall," Coulson and Skye hunt down a crazy killer connected to Coulson's past while the rest of the team tracks down Grant Ward.

Coulson's journey since he died in Avengers has been a wild ride but as Agents of SHIELD progresses, we are getting closer and closer to discovering the permanent effects the GH325 serum will have. In this episode, Coulson goes back into the memory machine to uncover who else might have been injected.

We find out that before the TAHITI Project was shut down, Coulson experimented with the alien DNA, which is over 1,000 years old, on 6 volunteers. When Coulson chases down one of the lone members of the program still alive, he gets into a situation that proves to be painful but worth the pain.

During the fight with the Sebastian Derrick, they both realize what the markings finally are. It's a city. Now the team will look for the mystery city and see what awaits them there.

As Coulson discovered the meaning behind the markings, Grant Ward delivered Dr. Whitehall's right hand man Bakshi to his former team. Now, a clean shaven Ward is on a mission to track down his brother.

"The Writing on the Wall" continued strong elements that season 2 of Agents of SHIELD has been demonstrating. This episode gave each character a direct purpose and did a great job balancing who got screen time. All the characters felt necessary to the story at hand and the continued bromance between Mack and Fitz is excellent. 

Agents of SHIELD returns next week at 9 pm EST on ABC for episode 8 of season 2 "The Things We Bury." Watch the preview for next week's episode below as the team comes face to face with HYDRA.

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Agents of SHIELD Season 2 EP 6 Review

Marvel's Agents of SHIELD has flipped the script so far in season 2. Instead of light episodes stuffed with one-liners, the shows sophomore season is darker and more serious. Coulson and his team have been tasked with rebuilding SHIELD, stopping HYDRA, hiding from Talbot, finding the Obelisk, and figuring out what those mysterious markings are.

***** SPOILERS for "A Fractured House" to follow *****

This week in "A Fractured House," the team takes a break from those tasks to maintain the reputation of SHIELD. Thanks to HYDRA poising as SHIELD, they attacked Talbot and Senator Christian Ward. His trustworthiness is immediately put into question as he sends out a message to SHIELD that his men will find them, shut them down, and kill them.

When Grant Ward is asked about his brother, he tells Skye just how untrustworthy his brother is. Coulson is already past that point and discussing what he could do for the senator to not get that act passed. They come to an agreement on sending Grant Ward into his brother's custody for a few weeks.

While all of this is going on, Fitz and Simmons relationship continues to be tested. Fitz is still scarred by the accident and that Simmons left him when he needed her. Simmons cannot seem to accept the fact that he is different. Thanks to Fitz's new best friend Mack, he tells it how it is to Simmons. Fitz is only worse when she is around and their relationship will never be the same.

Now that relationships have been changed between Fitz and Simmons and Ward and Skye, the show introduces an old flame. Bobbi Morse, aka Mockingbird, and Lance Hunter have been revealed to at one time being married.  The current relationship is definitely one filled with awkwardness but also underlying trust and care for one another.

What does the senator plan to do with his brother? Well, Ward has broken out of transport and now on the loose, but it seems like he will team up with his brother no matter what. The final scene showed the senator with full body tattoos of the mysterious alien markings floating around in Coulson's head. 

We will start to get answers to what exactly the alien markings are in two weeks when Agents of SHIELD returns for episode 7 "The Writing On The Wall." Check out the promo for next week's episode below! Also be sure to tune in to Marvel's 75th anniversary special next week at 9 pm EST on ABC for a look back at Marvel as well as a sneak peak into their future! 

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Marvel Weekly News #6

This was a busy week for Marvel news. We got new casting news for Agent Carter and Agents of SHIELD. There were also casting rumors for Luke Cage and Doctor Strange. We also got news about some possible cameos in Agents of SHIELD, Mockingbird being promoted, and a look at Hank Pym's company.

Agent Carter Now Filming

The highly anticipated eight episode Agent Carter series started filming early this week. Hayley Atwell will star in the series but we also got news of another familiar face returning to the show. Marvel announced that Dominic Cooper will reprise his role as Howard Stark in the Agent Carter television series.

New Characters Coming to Agent of SHIELD?

Marvel is trying to drive up viewership for Agents of SHIELD and one of the best ways to do it is to incorporate more Marvel characters. This week speculation that characters like Speedball and Hercules could make an appearance in the show. Fran Kranz, who has worked with Whedon on many projects, tweeted (and then deleted) this week that Robbie Baldwin is coming to Agents of SHIELD. Marvel has also added Maya Stojan as Agent 33 in the show. In the comics Agent 33 is the one who recruits Hercules to join the Avengers.

Ant-Man has Lots of Grey

An interview done by Corey Stoll became popular this week in which he talked about the grey areas of Ant-Man. Stoll told Clevver Movies that everyone in the movie is in shades of grey. He also said that Yellowjacket is not the traditional villain and that he does not really know that he is a villain. Could this mean that Yellowjacket could turn into a hero down the road?

Pym Technologies Logo

This week an extra on Ant-Man decided to post a picture of him in costume on Instagram. Unfortunately for him, he has been fired. The picture was a bit revealing. As you can see, the picture revealed the name and logo of Hank Pym's company, Pym Technologies. This is the first look we have gotten for anything from the set of Ant-Man.

Episode 2 of Agents of SHIELD

Agents of SHIELD continues to push forward in its second season. This week gave us "Heavy Is The Head", where we saw the team hunt down the Absorbing Man. You can read our full review of the episode here which also includes a preview for next week's episode.

Tim DeKay Joins Agents of SHIELD

Marvel continues to add to the Agents of SHIELD season 2 cast this week by adding the brother of ex-HYDRA agent Grant Ward. Tim DeKay will join the show in episode 6 as Senator Christian Ward. Do you think he will be a friend or foe of SHIELD?

Mockingbird Moving to Big Screen?

Adrianne Palicki's Agents of SHIELD debut is quickly approaching. She has been asked many questions about what exactly her role will be and while we know she will start off as a member of HYDRA, many of us want the folks at Marvel to move her to the big screen. According to Palicki, that has been discussed and continues to be discussed. I would love Palicki to be in Avengers: Age of Ultron or Captain America 3, what would you like?

Dule Hill as Luke Cage?

One of the weirdest rumors of the week came courtesy of a user on ComicBookMovie.com. The user "rageduck" claimed to have inside sources who told him that the star of Psych, Dule Hill, had been cast as Luke Cage for Marvel's upcoming Netflix series. The casting seemed strange at the time and within 12 hours that report was proven to be false. Dule Hill himself tweeted that he has not been cast in the role and the article that started it all was removed from comicbookmovie.com.

Phoenix Out as Strange

Earlier this week, Collider.com reported that Joaquin Phoenix was going to be our Doctor Strange and it was just a matter of time before Marvel made the announcement. A few days later though, Joaquin Phoenix and Marvel decided to part ways after not being able to agree to a deal. Marvel had been looking at Phoenix since Comic-Con but his unwillingness to sign a long-term deal and weariness about doing a movie involving a lot of green screen and special effects ultimately was too much to overcome. Marvel will likely look back to previously rumored actors like Benedict Cumberbatch, Tom Hardy, Jared Leto, and more to fill the role.

Daredevil Logo

Marvel announced a while back that the Daredevil cast would be present at New York Comic Con. They revealed this week that the cast will be doing a meet and great and signing autographs when the convention kicks off next week. With that announcement, they revealed the official logo for the Daredevil Netflix series, which you can see on the left.

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