‘Agents of SHIELD’ season 2, episode 15 preview: Coulson questions Mack

On Tuesday night’s new episode of Marvel’s “Agents of SHIELD,” Coulson has to realize that he is starting to navigate into dangerous waters. Led in part by Bobbi, Mack, and Edward James Olmos’ Gonzales, his organization is being threatened by the Real SHIELD, a rival branch that could cause everything the group has worked for to splinter into pieces. To us, this is not as life-or-death a situation as HYDRA, mostly given that we don’t feel like Real SHIELD is operating with a motive nearly as sinister. However, at the same time it’s pretty darn problematic having the resources to stop the bad guys when you can’t even get yourself together.

The first sneak peek below is very significant, mostly in watching the way that Coulson confronts Mack about his duplicity. Notice that he is not looking to cause a violent altercation, or to even view him as an adversary. Instead, he wants the honest truth about who he is working for, mostly to see if there is something that can be done about it.

This is what makes Coulson great; he’s a hero, but also a tactician. He recognizes that violence and warfare is the last course of action rather than the first.

Now that we’ve said this, how about a little violence and warfare? The second sneak peek has the word “the Real SHIELD” enter Coulson’s ear for the first time, and we flash back to the day the organization fell in the HYDRA kerfuffle. Bobbi and Mack meet up with Gonzales, and the rest is (sort of) history. Visually, seeing the flashbacks play out largely in black and white is a cool touch, since it differentiates itself from other scenes and adds to the gritty feel.

With that being said, we don’t exactly learn a whole lot about the characters while watching it.

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