Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. 'Heavy Is The Head' Review: Setting Up The Game

We're just two episodes into Season 2 of Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and we're already off to a much better start than through the first dozen or so episodes of Season 1. This is the show Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. should have been from the beginning, though we needed to tear S.H.I.E.L.D. down to get there.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is so much more focused now than it ever could have been in Season 1. The large, sprawling spy agency from last season is gone, which means we have less room for distractions in Season 2. We're free to get more character development from Coulson, Skye and the rest with a smaller S.H.I.E.L.D., and we've already seen this new approach bear fruit in just two episodes this season. Skye is no longer a rebel hacker, but a capable field agent. Coulson is not worried about his resurrection, but is instead dealing with his new duty as Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. and dealing with the crazy alien scribbles he doodles from time to time.

"Heavy Is The Head" dealt with the aftermath of the Season 2 premiere. Isabelle Hartley is dead, and her fellow mercenary Lance Hunter has been captured by the military. This episode set up the numerous warring factions for this season, but the players kept moving places around the board by the episode's end.

General Glenn Talbot is still after Coulson and S.H.I.E.L.D., but the new director seemed to intimidate him somewhat with the two Quinjets in the tag at the end of the episode. We'll have to wait and see if Coulson's bluff worked, as he humorously noted they needed to flee the scene before the jet ran out of fuel.

Hydra is still out there and is after the obelisk and the power it contains. The organization wants to rule the world, which Raina remarked is "so 1945." And speaking of Raina, she got back into the game this week, though she is no longer working for Hydra. Instead, she has aligned herself with Skye's father, and the two are now in possession of the obelisk. Raina was able to touch the object without dying, and Skye's father told her to bring his daughter to him so he can show her all about it.

Raina also dropped the ominous clue to Coulson that Garrett, who went crazy in the Season 1 finale, had seen their fate when he was injected with the same drug that saved Coulson's life. It seems a safe bet that Coulson's scribbles are somehow connected to this. And speaking of Coulson, the director is not well, and Skye knows something is wrong. Unfortunately, May lied right to her face and told her that he's fine, when in reality she is helping him document his episodes.

So we've got S.H.I.E.L.D. vs. the military vs. Raina and Skye's father vs. Hydra. That's a lot of players on the board, but it's a much better situation than the aimlessness that hampered much of Season 1. S.H.I.E.L.D. is trying to rebuild, but it has all these different factions to handle as it does so. These first two episodes have set up plenty of intriguing mysteries for this season, and we're sure to get plenty of action each week. It looks like Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has finally found a formula that works.

Notes:

-       No Ward this week, but you know the monster is going pop out of the box at some point.

-       Fitz has found someone he can talk to (other than imaginary Simmons) in Mack, which is an interesting pairing and one that hopefully continues for the next several episodes until Simmons inevitably returns.

-       Coulson isn't flexible enough for yoga.

-       Much of this episode focused on Hunter and his allegiance, and it seems like he's now a full-fledged S.H.I.E.L.D. member. Nick Blood does a great job at bringing sarcasm and heart to the character, so hopefully he features prominently in future episodes.

What did you think of "Heavy Is The Head?" Let us know in the comments section.