‘SHIELD’ finally realizes its potential

DOUBLE agent Ward (Brett Dalton) and SHIELD agent Skye (Chloe Bennet)

Two seasons into it, the action-drama series “Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD” has become what it set out to be, realizing at long last its potential.

While it started as an overly glossy, somewhat clunky spinoff of the first “Avengers” movie, “SHIELD” more than capably stands on its own now, a sturdy, compelling scifi-espionage show that gives further shape to Marvel Studios’ live-action “Cinematic Universe.”

Creating a broader world, it introduces concepts and smartly fleshes them out; details that aren’t fully elaborated on in the related movies, it’s likely that “SHIELD” has the answers. The beauty of the show is, aside from backing the big-screen epics with depictions of their consequences, it creates new concepts and conflicts that make that world a wildly dangerous, more mysterious place.

Giving the resurrected Agent Coulson (Clark Gregg) his own series continues to pay off. Slain in 2012’s “Avengers,” he has become leader of SHIELD (Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division) after its collapse. The organization, severely damaged by the collective outing of Hydra infiltrators in “Captain America 2,” is left in the hands of Coulson by his old boss, former director Nick Fury (Samuel Jackson Jr.).

Experimentation

The Hydra event isn’t without intriguing complications. Agent Ward (Brett Dalton), revealed to be a mole, has become a recurring thorn. And Coulson’s resuscitation, the result of SHIELD experimentation with alien physiology, has altered him in ways that he’s still figuring out.

Season Two’s more crowded atmosphere, brought about by the addition of three new members, nonetheless adds to the more complex storylines being introduced. Another SHIELD team that survived Hydra is claiming that Coulson’s group isn’t legit, that his transformation may herald an alien invasion—which leads to more conflicts, especially since this other group intends to round up powered or altered humans.

That bodes ill for Agent Skye (Chloe Bennet), who has long been hinted at as someone special, with the potential to be powerful. Recently revealed as an Inhuman—an Earthling that was designed to be a weapon by an alien race—Skye is now a super-powered being, a character inspired all along by a heroine in the comic books.

Worthy antagonists

As for villains, Ward, Dr. Zabo (Kyle MacLachlan) and others provide the team worthy antagonists. Keeping the agents on their toes as well are double-crossing allies, who have a variety of excuses for doing so, some of them legitimate.

Fan-favorites like the geek tandem FitzSimmons (Iain De Caestecker and Elizabeth Henstridge) and Agent May (Ming-Na Wen) continue to be wisely developed, despite the repeated focus on newer agent characters.

Inevitably changed by forces within and out of its control, “Agents of SHIELD” both progresses and adapts, and does so well, most of the time. There are episodes that are languidly paced, filled with typical set-up scenarios, but these are often sandwiched between more riveting ones. A spinoff series is being developed that will hopefully maximize the characters, effects and clashes, just like its predecessor.

(“Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD” airs Wednesday, 8:55 p.m. and Tuesdays, 8 p.m. on Fox)