Joss Whedon’s Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. debuted last year with “must see live” hyperbole sprinkled all over it. After some lackluster episodes, the hype devolved into “must see days later via D.V.R.”, followed by “If you have nothing else to do, you may as well watch S.H.I.E.L.D.” Several juvenile episodes later and Marvel Entertainment’s first foray into T.V. had seemingly bottomed out at “save your D.V.R. space for Wipeout” status.

That all changed, however, with the spring release of Captain America: The Winter Soldier. The film’s twisty S.H.I.E.L.D.-centric plot had serious repercussions throughout the M.C.U., nowhere more so than in the lives of Agent Coulson and his team. Suddenly the series had again become the topic of water cooler talk, but not in a “can you believe how sucky last night’s show was” manner. By the time the game-changing season finale rolled around, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. had finally lived up to all of the “must see” hype, and then some.

Now the show is back for its sophomore season.

Going commando with the Howling Commandos.

Will it continue evolving into what fanboys and girls have been craving? Or, without the help of a major movie tie-in, will it stumble back into ho-hum terrain? If this week’s premiere episode is any indication, the answer is more the latter than the former.

Or is it the former over the latter? I always get those two confused, just like stalagtites/stalagmites or David Keith/Keith David. Regardless, Coulson and company are back with a bang.

After a prolog set in Austria, 1945, that reveals the apparent end of HYDRA, the first rumblings of S.H.I.E.L.D., and the world’s very first O-8-4 (object of unknown origin), the storyline shifts to present day.

Up for sale is the O-8-4 in question — a silver Obelisk with mysterious symbols that match symbols researched by Skye for Coulson (the ones that zombie-like Phil covered a chalkboard with in the first season’s finale). A former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent is selling it to mercenaries, led by Lucy Lawless, who are secretly testing the loyalties of the agent for Coulson who, as newly-appointed director, is having trouble recruiting a few good (wo)men for his all-new, all-different S.H.I.E.L.D. agency. The former agent turns out to be another bad seed, but his amorality is the least of the team’s concerns as the Obelisk is stolen by Carl “Absorbing Man” Creel, a supervillain hired by another new villain introduced in the prolog — 7 decades prior — who doesn’t like to age.

Melinda May, Koenig, and a bunch of newbies.

The plot for the rest of the episode is fairly straight forward, what with the team tracking down Creel in a futile attempt to retrieve the Obelisk. Along the way, we’re brought up to speed on what our cast of characters has been up to for the past several months. Think of it as a “What I did on my summer vacation” school report, but reword it as “What I did after learning that my entire career has been a sham due to HYDRA’s infiltration of S.H.I.E.L.D.“

• Coulson, having assumed director duties from Nick “everyone thinks I’m dead” Fury, has been flying all around the globe, in coach no less, enlisting new agents. In a surprising yet logical development, he appears to be adopting Fury’s penchant for keeping secrets and playing people, a hypocritical action given that Phil spent the majority of season #1 denouncing Fury for doing likewise.
• Skye is now a full-fledged spy (as evident by her serious-minded haircut) and embarking on field missions with new B.F.F. Melinda May, who no longer treats her like a child.
  

  General Glenn Talbot is back.

• Ward, the third corner in the Skye/May love triangle, is in lock-down where he answers Skye’s questions about Creel a la Silence of the Lambs. While not as creepy as Hannibal, Ward does seem remorseful over last season’s traitorous turn, but is it sincerity or another charade? Also, he grew a beard and knows stuff about Skye’s mystery dad.

• After selfishly sacrificing himself to save Simmons from a watery grave inflicted upon them by Ward, Fitz survived but suffers from brain damage. A shadow of his former super-genius self, Fitz struggles to repair a cloaking device for the Bus so that the fugitive team can travel without the notice of hot-on-their-heels General Talbot. It’s good to have Fitz-Simmons back, though it’s not in the way it first appears, which is heartbreaking.

Shadows is a fanboy’s wet dream. In addition to the regular cast, we get an Avengers Quinjet, Absorbing Man (with extra absorbency), and cameos from Agent Carter and 2 Howling Commandos who will hopefully join Carter in her own series next year. There are also some high-quality visual effects on display, particularly in the prison scene featuring A-Man (Brian Patrick Wade) and a soldier (Rich Ceraulo).

The Absorbing Man in comic book and live-action form.

Whedon alum Reed Diamond (Doll House) plays the ageless HYDRA agent who refers to the Red Skull as the Red Skull, a welcome change after no one did this in Captain America’s first film. Also, there’s the semi-meta casting of Lawless whose signature character, warrior princess Xena, was referenced in the first Thor movie by agents who thought Lady Sif resembled her. Sif later guest-starred on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., bringing the meta full circle.

It’s always fun to catch up with a new season of a series after a hiatus, not just for the audience, but for the characters as well. It’s like the opening of Return of the Jedi where the heroes reunite in unexpected ways, which fill us in on their time away — “Luke became a Jedi knight!” “Lando works for Jabba!!” “Leia looks like those golden bikini chicks at Comic-Con!”

Hopefully the rest of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s new season will be just as fun.

NEXT UP: The name of a T.I. album and a S.H.I.E.L.D. episode — Heavy is the Head.