MARVEL’S AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D. Ep. 2.04: I Will Face My Enemy (TV review)

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The title of this week’s episode, I Will Face My Enemy, takes on double meaning with the emphasis on “double.” And “face.”

Director Coulson assumes agent duties once more by going undercover with Agent May in a two-to-tango team-up for old time’s sake. They’re also seeking to steal a “miracle painting” before rival Hydra agents nab it, the culmination of which results in the ol’ television trope that, for brevity’s sake, I’ll name:

The Hero-and-villain-disguised-as-hero-are-played-by-the-same-actor-so-ain’t-it-cool-to-watch-them-duke-it-out trope.

(You should’ve seen the long version.)

You can’t throw a rock at the sci-fi/fantasy/soap opera genres without hitting an evil twin or shape-shifter. Hundreds of shows have done it, from Smallville (Clark vs. Bizarro) to Seinfeld (Jerry vs. Bizarro Jerry). It’s a fun, but tired gimmick. And now it’s Coulson and company’s turn.

However, unlike most other series, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. does it so well that it feels brand new.

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I Will Face My Enemy continues season 2’s improvement over season 1.

Brain-damaged Fitz overcomes his feelings of inadequacy by bonding with new teammates over beer and saving the Bus from explosive sabotage. Hydra discovers that the new head of S.H.I.E.L.D. is Coulson. Son of Coul asks May to do the right thing, i.e. kill him, should he slip into madness due to the alien tech in his system. Most importantly, May gets in touch with her feminine side, which leads to the impressive doppelganger scenes.

Bakshi and a Hydra henchwoman infiltrate a grand gala disguised as General Talbot and Agent May, but the word “disguise” doesn’t do their ruse justice. The baddies assume their respective marks’ identities with ingenious masking technology last seen in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, though this time we see how it works. The facial netting, with its digital electrode thingies, puts Mission: Impossible masks to shame.

Aside from top-notch special effects, what makes the Melinda May doubleheader so great? Believability.

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Typically these fight scenes have a “tell” that gives away the illusion. For example, a lack of shared screen time between the two characters. Or one too many over-the-shoulder shots of an actor’s lookalike who doesn’t quite look alike.

Flaws like these are overcome in I Will Face My Enemy by creative blocking, skillful stuntwork, and tight editing. This includes a Zack Snyder-like speed-up/slow-down final blow that even looks good in unforgiving no-better-way-to-make-big-budget-productions–look-like-no-budget High Def.

Yet believability comes in more forms than the technical.

Unless it’s part of a show’s mythology from the start (re: Ali Larter in Heroes; everyone in Fringe), the genesis for these imposter plots is commonly a lead actor’s longing to play something different after so many seasons playing the same earnest, clean-cut hero.

This is why most clones are the polar opposite of their source. Just ask goatee Spock from Mirror, Mirror. (Pssst. He’s evil ‘cause of the goatee.)

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This might be fun for the actor, but it’s not real life. Or at least it’s not an approximation of real life as represented in genres overflowing with things we’d never see in reality.

Ming-Na Wen isn’t playing an extreme opposite like Tom Welling did. Her character isn’t a righteous Girl Scout who never lies, but is instead a shade of gray — logical given that she’s a spy. Her duplicate in turn is also a shade. It just so happens to be a different shade, one leaning more toward black, unlike May who leans toward white. Perhaps this realism in character adds to the realism of the battle.

And then there’s reliable slight of hand distraction, not that this episode needs it.

With a storyline that calls for not one but two scantily-clad Mings — one in a high-cut dress, the other in sexy lingerie — it’s as if the showrunners are paraphrasing that Oz wizard by saying, “Pay no attention to the visible matte line and instead focus on this Asian sexual fantasy!” Even Phil has trouble prying his eyes off of the May-on-May action:

COULSON: “I can’t believe I’m the only one seeing this.”

I might not have been the only one seeing it, but I couldn’t believe it either. And by “it,” I of course mean the deftly executed doppelganger scenario. Not the double fantasy of Asian persuasion.

Ahem.


NEXT MISSION: Bobbi Morse, A.K.A. Mockingbird!

 

 

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