5 Reasons You Should Give Season 2 Of ‘Marvel’s Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.’ A Try

We’re not going to lie: Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. was not necessarily our favorite new show of the 2013-2014 television season. It got bogged down by overly complicated MacGuffins and slow character development. Still, the loyal fans who stuck through the series for the entire season were rewarded when the show zipped into life following the massive revelations of Captain America: The Winter Soldier. HYDRA is secretly hiding S.H.I.E.L.D.? Whoa! Agent Ward isn’t boring, but a sleeper HYDRA agent? Radical! The Clairvoyant was just Bill Paxton using Project Insight for his own devices so that he could track down the alien blood that saved Coulson and inject it into himself to save his own lousy life? I’M STILL NOT SURE I GOT ALL THAT RIGHT, BUT THAT’S MAJOR GAME-CHANGING STUFF!!!

Anyway, what we’re saying is that we don’t blame you if you checked out on Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. after you found out what they did with Deathlok’s costume. We get it. The show kind of dragged there for a while. What we are trying to tell you is that you should give it one last try. Here are five reasons why you might want to tune in tonight:

1) The Show Got Significantly Better After Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. may have gotten off to a slow start last season, but like we said, the story amped up considerably after Captain America: The Winter Soldier came out in theaters last spring. See, the film revealed that HYDRA (aka a group of crazy science Nazis) had been secretly hiding within S.H.I.E.L.D. since the 1940s. The agency collapsed in on itself. It turned out that stoic Agent Ward was a secret bad guy. Agent Coulson took over for Nick Fury and became Director Coulson. The show got fun! So, hopefully, Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. will continue to be badass in season 2. If nothing else, the group gets to be a little dirtier now. It’s going to be less bureaucracy and more busting skulls.

 

2) The Team Is Going To Be A Bit More Interesting This Year

Last season, Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. struggled to connect with audiences. Agent Ward was too stuffy, there was too much mystery surrounding Skye, and there wasn’t quite enough romantic friction within the group. Now, Ward has been revealed as a scoundrel, we know that Skye might be a monster, and there’s a love triangle brewing between nerdy Fitz, high strung Simmons, and sexy newbie Trip. Coulson no longer has to be a boy scout, either. He’s now in command of S.H.I.E.L.D., and um, dealing with some mysterious side effects of the alien serum that brought him back from the dead. We’ll also get a bevy of cool guest stars ranging from Patton Oswalt to Lucy Lawless.

3) We’ll Get To Meet Mockingbird

For some Marvel fans, it’s enough to watch a weekly series that takes place in the same universe as The Avengers. For others, it’s not so exciting spending week after week with the JV crew. Jokes ran rampant last year that Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. was a show about the guys doing extra work in the background of Marvel movies, but that might start to change in season two. Marvel announced at San Diego Comic-Con that Bobbi Morse, aka Mockingbird, will be appearing on the show for a least a few episodes (in the guise of Friday Night Lights’ Adrianne Palicki).

So who is that? And why is that exciting? In the comics, she’s a super spy with a cool bow staff. She later joins the Avengers and is Hawkeye’s wife. Her comic book history suggests that we might see some actual crossover between Avengers: Age of Ultron and Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. And don’t tell Black Widow/Hawkeye shippers, but there’s always the chance that she could be Hawkeye’s squeeze in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Speaking of the Avengers’ love interests…

4) Three Words: Agent Peggy Carter

Captain America’s one true love, Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell), is getting her own midseason series that will tell the origin story of S.H.I.E.L.D. Not only is that cause for celebration, but it’s been revealed that Peggy will guest star on Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. later this season. If you can’t get behind the adventures of Skye and FitzSimmons, you’ve got to at least admit that you’re madly in love with Agent Peggy Carter.

5) They’re Going To Finally Resolve Skye’s Backstory

Well, we hope they are. Kyle MacLachlan is set to guest star as her father, so we’re assuming we’ll finally get some more answers.

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. returns to ABC tonight at 9/8 C.

Stream the season finale of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. on Hulu Plus.

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Photos: ABC/Marvel & The Everett Collection