Episode Title: "Eye Spy"
Episode Grade: C
Well, that was boring.
Perhaps the most disappointing aspect of Agents of SHIELD, post-pilot, has been the show's unwillingness to explore and exploit the potential of its premise. This is a universe with a physical god (Thor), a super soldier unfrozen from the 40's (Captain America) and a mild-mannered scientist who transforms into a massive green monster when he's peeved (The Hulk).
And viewers accept this. We're down with it. We've spent a lot of money watching the movies that established this universe. We've made it pretty clear that we're OK with a healthy dose of crazy. That's a tremendous advantage for the show.
Unfortunately, Agents of SHIELD hasn't shown any inclination to indulge us in this. Instead, it has been content to poke at a few mildly interesting stories that don't come close to fully taking advantage of the Marvel universe.
As such, it's hard to find too much to say about "Eye Spy," beyond acknowledging the truly dire nature of that pun. It's a standalone procedural episode without much wit or energy or really anything to truly recommend it. It's never actively bad. But when the best word to describe your episode is "workmanlike," you have an issue.
To its credit, "Eye Spy" does begin with a nifty, creepy little set-piece in a square in Stockholm. A dozen men in suits and red masks carry briefcases through the square and into the local subway system, stalked by a mysterious woman. She follows them onto the subway, de-activates the lights and kills them all in about a minute, picking up one of the briefcases by removing the hand to which it is cuffed.
It's a really excellent opening sequence, bare and almost wordless but utterly effective at setting an intriguing mood. Unfortunately, "Eye Spy" isn't really interested in exploring that atmosphere.
There's some suspicion that the woman, quickly identified as former SHIELD agent Akela Amador, might actually be a telepath; that seems the only way to explain how she could have pulled off her heist (the briefcase she took contained a healthy load of diamonds, and there was no way of knowing which briefcase held the gems). Agent May is skeptical of this, pointing out that there's never been a proven case of telepathy or ESP, to which Skye quite reasonably points out, "Hey, Thor."
Unfortunately, May is right, and it turns out Amador's apparent ability to read minds is actually the product of a nifty little camera that's been implanted in her eye. She can use it to see through walls by closing her eyes.
Through the usual Bones/CSI-esque procedural tech wonders, Coulson's team is able to track Amador down and bring her in. Turns out she's being controlled by some mysterious organization she knows little about; text orders appear in her sight, and if she doesn't follow them her handlers will activate a kill-switch that...well, it's probably easy to guess what a kill-switch does.
Again, there's just not much here. There's some attempt to draw a theme out of the contrast between Amador's lengthily exposited backstory as an agent hostile to the team concept and the little squad Coulson is put together, but it's clumsy and uninteresting, and Pascale Armand, who plays Amador, doesn't do much with the little she's given.
Agent Beige Drywall is sent into the facility Amador was meant to rob (using a pair of glasses wired to convince Amador's handler that he's looking through her eyes), has a couple mild adventures that no more succeed in raising Drywall's heart rate than they do the viewers' and escapes with few problems. Meanwhile, the science team manages to complete a rather sensitive (and icky) operation on Amador that removes the kill switch lodged in her eye.
All of this ends with the death of Amador's handler and no particular advance in the larger story arc at which Agents of SHIELD is making a show of nodding. Amador knows nothing about the organization controlling her, and so neither does SHIELD. This means we're left with a standalone episode that's not nearly interesting enough to stand alone.
Notes
- Skye does get to be competent in a few scenes here, which is nice.
- Left alone in a surveillance van and told not to call unless there's an emergency, Skye, Fitz and Simmons call Agent Drywall to ask what to do if they have to pee. Drywall directs them to a water bottle. Skye points out she doesn't have a penis. It's juvenile, but I chuckled at it.
- Skye's also going through weapons training. Coulson's excited to learn that she's just about stopped saying "bang" every time she pulls the trigger.
- Agent Drywall's instructions once he finds Amador's target? "Seduce him." He beats the guy up instead.
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