Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Face My Enemies Review

Episode 4 of Season 2, "Face My Enemies" Proves This Show Can Be Good

Spoilers ahead. Stop now if you haven't watched yet!

My Tuesday afternoons are getting a bit difficult for decision making. Before the Fall TV season began, I would just turn on Chopped re-runs and zone out. But with Agents of SHIELD and The Flash both airing at the same time in my market, I'm having a hard time choosing what to watch. After The Flash premiered, I was hooked. I thought, "Sorry, Marvel, but DC wins this one." Then I watch episode 4 of Agents and I almost changed my mind... (not quite though).



This week's episode brought A LOT of ass whooping, and it was truly great. Director Coulson has been drawing crazy alien (presumed Kree) writings. We don't know why he is doing this, but apparently he can't help himself. At the top of the episode we learn of a prized painting that was the one remaining item that survived a burning church. The painting also happens to have this alien writing on the back. So, of course, the Agents of SHIELD are on a mission to scoop it. A nice little spy caper kicks off the first part of the episode. The team works together to get Coulson and May access to a fancy charity event where the painting is being auctioned. They run into General Talbot pretty quickly, blowing their cover. And then they find out that he's not actually Garrett at all, but a Hydra stand-in. Here's where the "face" my enemies part comes into play. The Hydra agents have some unexplained tech that they stick to their face and take on the identities of Garrett and later Agent May. The special effects are pretty decent this episode. Especially the climatic fight scene between May and her doppelganger. Who am I kidding, that shit was AWESOME. This fight scene has really raised the bar for this show. As you might guess, after a lot of ass kicking, the Agents recover the painting and some team bonding ensues in the final piece of the episode. Fitz, who has been struggling with brain damage and seeing hallucinations of Simmons, finally comes around and has a beer with the guys. It was pretty touching.

The character development on Agents has really come a long way. I'm actually starting to care about these characters as people. And with special effects and fight choreography that went into this episode, Agents of SHIELD is looking a real winner for the first time. I have to admit, The Flash will get my viewership in Tuesday nights, but I'm going to be damn sure to watch Agents on Demand as soon as possible on Wednesday.

GOTHAM Arkham Review

War Is Just Politicians By Other Means

Gotham picks up right where it left off from last weeks episode with Cobblepot at the front door step of Jim and Barbara's home. Jim decides not to offer Cobblepot a drink and it cuts quickly to the back allies of Gotham. Jim has to do everything in his power to keep calm knowing that if Falcone sees the two together, it will be the end of their lives. After convincing Jim that he is a good man and that there is going to be a war coming to Gotham, Cobblepot walks off unharmed. Cutting to our villain for the week, we see a man approach two councilmen in the street. He tells them he is a supporter of their work and asked them to take look into this flute like scope. One councilman looks into the object and it quickly shoots a spike out, killing the councilman. The villain is a new character named Gladwell that was hired to take out the Councilman who are in the pockets of Falcone and Maroni.



Every Batman fan geeks out about Arkham, not just because it is the home of our favorite villains in Gotham, but because we don't know how it came to be... until this episode. Gotham did a great job with keeping the Arkham sign and gates old and creepy much like in the comics. Respect. The focus of the episode is, naturally, what to do with the Arkham section of Gotham. Falcone wants to build low-cost housing and retrofit the asylum into a state-of-the-art mental health facility. Incidentally, this was what the Waynes had been working towards. Maroni wants to use it as a dump. It is a huge chunk of property, and would be a huge win for whichever gang gets the bid.

Back to our creepy friend Oswald, he is gaining trust in the Maroni organization. He stages a robbery in the restaurant he works in, which is owned by Maroni. The robbers kill Lou (restaurant manager) and steal one of two sacks of money Maroni’s men are counting in the back room. Oswald sets it up so that Maroni’s goons find him hiding in the refrigerator, clutching the remaining sack of money. Maroni is so grateful he promotes Oswald to restaurant manager.



Fish auditions a couple of stage singers for her club, but really wants them as some kind of secret weapon, the details of which she does not elaborate on. She can’t decide between the two, so she lets them fight it out. Liza is the winner. And Barbara finally comes clean to Jim the relationship she had with Montoya. He is pissed, but not about the lesbianism; but because she kept the relationship a secret for so long. She, in turn, is pissed that he won’t be honest with her about who Oswald is. “Let me in or let me go,” she implores. Jim says nothing so I assume they are broken up (at least temporarily). Finally, Bruce, having nightmare about his parents death, starts to go through their old files, thinking that their murders are related to the war brewing over Arkham.

Jim cracks the case and knows that the next target for Gladwell's killing is the Mayor. Gladwell is then shot down by Jim and Bullock in the Mayor's house. Jim and Bullock are working better as a team but still clash from time to time. Oswald Cobblepot ends the episode by going to the robbers house and thanking them with a poisoned cannoli.