What’s all the hubbub about The Hub… bub?  Aside from being the title of this week’s episode, it’s also S.H.I.E.L.D.’s headquarters.  One of them anyway.  Agent Simmons tells an awestruck Skye that as impressive as the Hub is, it’s nothing compared to the Triskelion, S.H.I.E.L.D.’s cracker of choice for wine tasting social events.  Oh wait, that’s Triscuit.  My bad.

The Triskelion is actually S.H.I.E.L.D.’s main H.Q. that will make its live-action debut in next year’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier.  But for now the action is focused on the Hub, a high-tech installation — location classified – where agents can come in from the cold, debrief, and enjoy a Triscuit-stocked kitchen.  Hey, Director Fury, be sure to try the Rosemary & Olive Oil flavor.  It’s delish.

Chances are if you’re reading this review, then you’ve already seen the episode.  Otherwise why read the review?  So let’s skip the customary recap and get right to the nitty.

THE GOOD

• We finally see the Night-Night gun in action, a weapon that’s been teased in prior episodes.

• You thought Level 7 was hush hush?  Welcome to Level 8, a designation of security clearance that not even Coulson has access to.  He may think he does, but he learns otherwise when denied files regarding his resurrection recovery in Tahiti, “a magical place.”
  

  Guys night out.

• Nice bonding moments between the guys (Fitz/Ward) and the girls  (Simmons/Skye) as they embark on separate but related missions.

THE NOT-SO-GOOD

• Superhuman shenanigans take a back seat this time around so that the team can enjoy a more traditional spy escapade, complete with 007 gadgetry and Alias intrigue.  This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but the James Bond-like opening mini-adventure (with an apparent mini-budget) sure is.  Check out that unconvincing snowbound set.

THE MARVEL EASTER EGGS

• The aforementioned Triscuit Triskelion.

• Dialog referencing “Barton and Romanoff,” A.K.A. Hawkeye and Black Widow.

• Agent Sitwell, a blonde caucasian guy in Marvel comics who’s a bald Hispanic guy in Marvel movies (and now television).

• Victoria Hand, another comic book agent translated to the small screen.

• Skye describes Agent Coulson as “acting like a robot version of himself,” which teases the theory that the resurrected Coulson is an L.M.D. (Life-Model Decoy), a S.H.I.E.L.D. comics staple since the ‘60s.

• After 11 years, the Marvel Studios logo is updated with 3D page flipping and a heroic musical theme (which is only heard at the start of Thor: The Dark World).
  

  Victoria Hand: Comic book and T.V. versions.

THE PLEA TO THE SHOWRUNNERS

This is an interesting companion piece to last week’s Fzzt.  That episode explored the Fitz-Simmons relationship by putting Simmons in jeopardy and having Fitz come to her rescue.  The Hub does the opposite by having Simmons rescue Fitz (and make him a sandwich).  It’s reminiscent of the back-to-back scenes in Act III of The Abyss where Ed Harris and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio take turns dying for each other.

Ed and Mary portrayed a romantic couple and it worked.  Fitz and Simmons make it work as platonic colleagues.  Dear showrunners, as suggested in last week’s review, please keep the Fitz-Simmons relationship on par with that of unofficial siblings.  It’s more interesting.  More unique.  For a while it looked as if Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin would get it on in 30 Rock.  Luckily they always kept it at the mentor/mantee level — a more challenging and therefore more rewarding dynamic to portray.  And most of those rewards were primetime Emmys.  I’m just saying.

NEXT UP: The Well