Some exciting Agents of SHIELD news came out this weekend when it was announced that Adrianne Palicki, who has been recurring throughout the show’s second season as Bobbi Morse, a.k.a. Mockingbird, has been promoted to a series regular on the ABC Marvel drama. And while I’m pretty sure this is widely accepted as great news by most Agents of SHIELD fans, I would take it one step further than just calling it great and say that, as the title of this article obviously suggests, Palicki’s promotion to regular status is the best thing to ever happen to the series.
I can understand why some people would think that’s a hyperbolic statement, but it’s not. Sure, it’s true that Agents of SHIELD begun to improve during its first season, right after the release of Captain America: The Winter Soldier blew up our previous ideas about what SHIELD really was and who was working for it by revealing that many of the organization’s agents, including the show’s own Grant Ward (Brett Dalton), had been secretly working for Hydra. However, that improvement became solidified in Season 2, as the first half of the season, which came to a close back in December, gave us a string of good-to-great episodes that were elevated by the new, revitalized cast that the series had brought on, and no new cast member has had as big of an impact as Palicki.
The incredibly positive effect that Palciki has had on Agents of SHIELD is more than the fact that she’s just playing a recognizable character from the Marvel comics. While it’s certainly true that the announcement that she was playing Bobbi Morse gave her entrance a little extra boost, Palicki has been such an asset to the series not because of her character’s comic book ties, but because the show’s writers have given her the best female role on SHIELD, one that she has acted the heck out of.
Yes, while Skye has certainly come into her own here in Season 2, Simmons is still as lovable as ever, and May has soften up just a bit, there’s no arguing with the fact that Bobbi has outshone the rest of the female members of our favorite SHIELD team in her first few episodes, and it’s because she’s a perfect blend of everything that’s great about the other ladies on the show. Bobbi has Skye’s laid-back personality, Simmons’ intelligence (although Bobbi’s smarts are more suited for tactical operations than scientific experiments), and May’s combat skills and toughness.
Skye, Simmons, and May are continuing to grow as characters, and all three of them feel much more defined this season than they ever did last year; however, there was never any need to wait with Bobbi, who really, in some ways, represents the reason why the second season of Agents of SHIELD has been so successful: the series has emphasized what worked in the past and double-downed on it in order to get off to a quicker and better start. By writing Bobbi as full-fledged, multi-layered person to begin with (instead of the boring, cardboard stereotypes we were saddled with to begin the series) and recruiting Palicki, who brings so much charisma to the role, to play her, the Agents of SHIELD team instantly made Bobbi the best female character on the show.
And Palicki hasn’t been just a nonstop action star; she’s also brought some actual enjoyable romance to SHIELD. While I have always supported a possible Fitz/Simmons relationship, that appears to be on the back-burner for the show right now, and if Skye shooting Ward is any indication about how she feels about her former flame, there’s no more love between those, too. And maybe that’s why I’ve found Bobbi and Lance’s (Nick Blood) back-and-forth such a treat; it’s simple, charming (Palicki and Blood have very good chemistry), and it brings some nice levity to a show that has gotten very serious very quickly.
So, yes, while it’s been cool to have a deeper look into the dark history of Hydra, meet Skye’s father, and witness the reveal of the Inhumans (and thereby discover Skye’s true identity: Daisy Johnson), the biggest success for Agents of SHIELD so far in Season 2 has been its ability to introduce fun new characters like Palicki’s Bobbi More and make them feel instantly integrated with the rest of the team. We were only given a taste of what Palicki could do in her first few episodes in the fall, and I can’t imagine what she and the writers have up their sleeves for this spring. However, there’s one thing I know for sure: with Palicki on screen, it’s guaranteed to be a whole lot of fun.
[Photos via ABC]
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All things marvel sucks. This show sucks. Their movies suck. And all their over the top female leads suck.
Someone needs a hug, lol.
Hugs are always acceptable too.
Yeah she’s a cool character, but it’s a far cry from saying she’s the “best thing on the show”. She didn’t do anything last season…..She was barely involved in anything important that was going on. Lots of amazing things happened this season, and her character was not a part of any of it.
The best thing that happened to this show was that they switched to more serial storytelling, instead of the episodic format where they solve the “case of the week”. The villain of the week format gets boring. This season finally focused on ONE main plotline, and focused on two great villains over the entire first 10 episodes. It built up great momentum and never slowed down one bit. THAT’S what improved this show so immensely. Adrianne Palicki is great, but so far she has not done much in terms of the plot. Maybe the next half of the season she’ll become more important.
Quite agree Skye/Daisy, May and Simmons have not all been outshone by Bobbi at this point, I do look forward to how all four women will develop on this second half.