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TV REVIEWS: FTN Reviews Agents of Shield Season 02 Episode 18: The Frenemy of my Enemy

April 22nd, 2015 by Todd Black Comments

Frenemies

It’s episodes like “Melinda” and “Frenemy of my Enemy” that prove that Agents of Shield is quite capable of being both a compelling narrative and a great action show. Cause when they drop the whole “we need to go big with every episode” ideal (which plagued some of season 01) and focus in on the characters (which they didn’t do enough of in season 01), they get great results.

It’s almost tough to know where to begin with it all to be honest. So I guess I’ll start with the fun one. After a great escape scene by Fitz, Coulson and crew went to go find Ward. Who, if you had forgotten, is my favorite AOS character, and this episode showed exactly why. He’s capable, cunning, ruthless, and you never exactly know who’s he playing. In other words? A very compelling character.

Seeing the conversation between Coulson and Ward (given what happened last go round) was awesome, and though you knew something was going to go wrong, you didn’t exactly know how it would all play out. Also, on a side, note, it was fun to see him and Cara’s relationship again play out, as we not only saw their affection for each other, but heard whispers of their “endgame”.

Which brings us to Hydra, who I’ll admit was kind of a confusing element for a little bit, as I didn’t understand how it would tie into everything Coulson was trying to do. But seeing the new Hydra leader (with numerous references to Strucker…) being obsessed with powers, and apparently following Gordon was a nice twist. The battle in the office building was nice, as you had numerous forces on all sides going at it for reasons they probably didn’t all understand.

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Oh, and Ward not only saving Coulson, but then calling him “boss” and willing to follow his orders? Boss. And Coulson willingly giving himself up and saying “take me to your leader?” Double Boss.

Skye had a great storyline here, as her new feelings about Cal brought some very touching scenes. It’s difficult to juggle a character like Cal, as he’s very evil in some ways…but his reasons for being so are totally believable. Seeing him with Skye all calm and rational and fun was great! Cause beneath everything he has done is a father who just loves his daughter. And though probably still small, I think Skye loves him too.

Which made her “betrayal” of him all the more intense, but true to form Cal but that aside to save her from Hydra. It’ll be interesting to see how things happen when they all return to the Inhuman colony now that things are known.

Speaking of things being known…May and Simmons! I honestly don’t understand May’s 180. Yes, Coulson has lied to them, but does she really think he’s doing something truly wrong? And why is she the one taken offense to secrets, when her role on the team was at one time a major secret? For once this back half, Simmons is the one acting rationally! Irony.

In the end though, “Frenemy of my Enemy” did many things well on all fronts. Some small bumps and hiccups aside, this was another solid episode.

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Todd Black is reader of comics, a watch of TV (a LOT of TV), and a writer of many different mediums. He's written teleplays, fan-fictions, and currently writes a comic book called Guardians (guardians-comic.com). He dreams of working at Nintendo, writing a SHAZAM! TV series, and working on Guardians for a very long time!