This first half of the season for the new ABC drama has been interesting, with its share of ups and downs. There were a lot of things packed in this episode with several returning characters from previous episodes, as well as the Centipede group. So did “The Bridge” live up to the big expectations for part 1 of this 2-parter? The best way to sum it up is with a simple yes, but there were a few flaws for sure.
The biggest highlight of this episode was without doubt the return of Mike Peterson, played by the outstanding J. August Richards. He was such a joy to watch throughout the whole episode whether it was a comedic scene with Simmons or a dramatic scene when he had to give up Coulson to the enemies in exchange for his son. A really nice pay-off was to find out where he had been this whole time since the pilot and that it was thanks to the Night-Night gun that he had been stabilized.
Despite what was seen at the end of the episode, this is a comic book influenced show and the number one rule with these scenarios is that if there is not a body, the person isn’t’t necessarily dead. It would be a huge disappointment if he did die though because looking at the fan reaction and from a critical point, August Richards and his character has been the best character that they have introduced, aside from the main characters. Hopefully it will be revealed that he did survive when the show comes back and it can’t be stressed enough that the producers should really consider making him a regular character.
One of the flaws with this episode is that the pacing was a bit slow in the beginning and it took a bit until they got to the higher beats. It did lower the quality a little bit because of that, but it was still a very enjoyable episode. There was a bit of character development though which could be the reason why it had the pacing that it had.
Another flaw though is that there weren’t really any big revelations aside from Raina’s true goal at the end. There have been major speculations that Centipede is somehow part of A.I.M. which could still be possible, but one had hoped that it would have been revealed in this episode. It would have been a great thing if they had revealed who this mysterious “Clairvoyant” is, but perhaps that is being saved for Part 2?
It’s hard to say who was right and who was wrong between Skye and Melinda because on one hand, Melinda does make a point that their mission isn’t about finding Skye’s parents. But at the same time, Skye didn’t really deserve to get slammed that hard by Melinda.
Now it should be pointed out that Melinda is rough in general so it wasn’t exactly personal when she went on Skye’s back, but maybe she could had been a little bit softer, just a tiny bit. It’s obvious at this point that Melinda definitely is involved with Skye’s past as she is most likely the agent that dropped her off at the orphanage, while still not being the mother.
The cliffhanger was bigger than expected with Coulson being kidnapped, Ward getting shot and Mike’s status being left a mystery for now. In those five last minutes, the show gave some big jaw-droppers and it will be incredibly intriguing to see what the result will be in 2014.
Overall, “The Bridge” did a solid job as a part 1, but it should have been a bit bigger though. There were great performances by the cast especially from August Richards and this episode had some of the best action scenes that the series has had so far.
Hopefully, the second part of season 1 will be a bit of a step up for the show because while it has been a great run so far, it can’t be denied that there are still things that they need to improve on. The characters has been fleshed out a lot more if one would compare to where they were in the first couple of episodes to where they have gotten for the past 3-4 weeks.
The show is starting to connect a few threads and that is a positive thing. But they need to start getting a bit clearer on what the overall arc for the season is. It has been said once and it’s worth mentioning again that they have to start looking a bit deeper into using their Marvel library. The show is seriously wasting a huge opportunity by not using some great characters that would fit on the show.
Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. returns with new episodes on January 7, 2014, 8/7c on ABC
[Photo via Justin Lubin/ABC]
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