The premiere was watched by 5.98 million people, less than half the viewing total for the first season premiere, which was watched by 12.12 million people.[1] Despite this, the critical reception has been much more positive than that for the previous season, and the series was renewed for a third season on May 7, 2015.[2]
On May 8, 2014, the series was renewed for a second season[48] of 22 episodes,[49] with production beginning in late July 2014.[50]
Writing
In July 2014, Clark Gregg stated that the season resumes "months later" from the end of season one, adding, "The monumental nature of [rebuilding] is made very clear almost immediately, because you realize everyone – US government, US military and other wise – wants to arrest us. S.H.I.E.L.D.'s illegal. We have very few resources. Everything we're going to do involves dealing with, still, finding out who's Hydra and who's not amongst our friends. To rebuild S.H.I.E.L.D., we're going to need some old friends to prove themselves, some new friends, and we're going to have to do it in a way that's very back alley, old school."[51]
In September 2014, talking about whether the ending of the season would also be a satisfying end to the series, Jeffrey Bell said "You never want it to end sooner rather than later. We know how this season is going to end, and if we need to calibrate it... well, if it ends, that means people didn’t love the show, which is sad for many reasons. We’d have a satisfying end to the season but we could make it a satisfying end to the series as much as any series finale is satisfying. Honestly, though, we’re not thinking of it as a series finale as much as a season finale ... I think we have some momentum coming in [to season 2] and I think we pick up on it. I’m optimistic that we can keep the plane in the air a little longer." He also talked about whether the themes of family and connectedness from the first season would be re-explored in the second, saying "What we always look for are the human elements in the big story. That’s what television does well, it makes you care about people, and whether it’s literal family or anytime you have a team of people working together, it takes on some sort of family metaphor. Some of those teams are more dysfunctional than others, but it’s fun to explore."[52]
In December 2014, Jed Whedon explained the benefits of introducing a society of superhuman characters in the Inhumans, saying "One of the things that, early on was very important to us last season was, there were so few people in the Cinematic Universe who had powers. Really, only two humans had powers, Captain America and the Hulk. We had to be very responsible – we didn't want to dive into this show and have a new one every week, and have it feel like we disregarded everything that they spent so much money and time building in the films. Along those same lines, the origin of a power is always a complex thing – Marvel cares about it feeling grounded, it feeling scientific at some level. Even on Thor, he says, "In our world, magic and science are the same thing." So this is a way for us to sort of open up our world. It's a way to introduce, into the MCU, the idea that people can be born with a power. They don't have to be engineered in a lab, they don't need to have some freak accident with a vat of acid. They can be born with this. That's sort of a gamechanger, not just on our show, but in the cinematic universe".[53]
Discussing the reveal that Skye is actually Daisy Johnson, Maurissa Tancharoen explained that "Johnson is a character that we always liked. We always knew there was a potential to evolve Skye into something else. It took a little bit of time, but we were happy when we were able to land on Daisy Johnson, and actually have that work in our mythology. But as with everything that we do on the show, we pull from the properties, and we do our own spin to it. So we are kind of merging a few concepts and storylines. We've spent a season and a half with Skye. We've seen her evolve as a person, we've grown to like her as a person, we've seen her evolve as an agent. And now, finally bringing her to her origin story – I think there's just a lot more emotional weight to it, because you already know her as just Skye, and now she will have this ability that she may not understand, that she may not want ... We're going to focus on Skye, and how that affects the people around her, and how the relationships may shift. Because we've seen through the course of our series so far; we've spoken about how S.H.I.E.L.D. treats gifteds or views them, and they're categorized, things like that. What does that mean when one of your own is now considered someone with an ability? How do you categorize her?". Whedon elaborated that "One of the things that we're focused on doing is treating it realistically in terms of, yes, this is an organization of people who have dealt with people like this for a long time, but this is personal. What does it mean when one of your own turns? And not only that, because it's an emotional situation for her, and she doesn't totally understand what's going on, and because it was tied to all this dark, Hydra stuff, and stuff with her father, and Raina – it might not sit well. We're going to walk her through the steps of discovering what this really means, and coming to terms with it. All that stuff is really interesting to us, and in television, because we have time to explore, we can take her origin on all sorts of different paths. We're excited about it. But we aren't going to turn into a show where there's a new person with powers every week."[53] Additionally, Whedon talked about how the character would be referred to on the show after the reveal, saying, "She's still Skye, because she thinks she's Skye. I think her dad thinks she's Daisy, and we'll see if she ever gets to the point where she believes that that's something that she would want to call herself. But right now, she has her own identity. Now, that will change over time, but she's definitely still Skye, and everybody still sees her that way. For now."[54]
Design
During the season, the producers worked with Glenn Hetrick of Optic Nerve Studios to help create Raina's Inhuman look, and introduce the Inhumans to the MCU. To get to the final look, the writers spent a lot of time discussing what her transformed look would entail, such as if she would have a nose, or a tail, with series writer Drew Greenberg eventually suggesting thorns. With the design idea in hand, Hetrick and his team began compiling potential designs for the character, looking to the Cliver Barker film Nightbreed, specifically the character Shuna Sassi, because "She’s a creature covered in porcupine quills and that image is so strong — it creates such a striking silhouette". Since Hetrick and his team did not have source material to pull from in the comics, he wanted to "make her feel like the first real Inhuman" and give her face a level of symmetry. When creating the prosthetic makeup, which was done in two weeks, the producers wanted to still be able to see Negga's eyes, with Bell saying, "Ruth Negga has amazingly expressive eyes and eyebrows. And she gets so much of who Raina is through the eyes. We wanted her to still be able to communicate, we still wanted you to feel her expressions through all of [the makeup]."[55]
Casting
Series main character Skye, portrayed by Chloe Bennet, was revealed to be a version of Daisy Johnson in the season.
To reflect the darker tone of the second season, the standard orchestra was changed from season one, with the low brass and strings expanded, and the woodwind section reduced, "giving [the orchestra] added punch and menace." Composer Bear McCreary's use of the electric guitar was also reduced for the second season, while his general synth programming was changed from "warm, round tones" to "mangled under heavy distortion" sound.[63]
McCreary introduced a new Hydra theme for the season, explaining that "Last season got pretty musically complicated. I had a theme that associated itself with Centipede, The Clairvoyant, John Garrett and Raina. That theme ultimately functioned like a Hydra Theme. I had a theme for Victoria Hand that, while the audience briefly suspected her, also functioned as the Hydra Theme. I had a[nother] theme for Garrett that also acted like the theme for Hydra. It got so complicated ... The answer was obvious: I needed to write a new Hydra Theme, one that could be associated with Dr. Whitehall."[63] For Hayley Atwell's appearances as Peggy Carter, McCreary decided to quote the Agent Carter theme composed by Christopher Lennertz for the Agent Carter short film. On using Lennertz's theme, McCreary said, "I was excited for the opportunity to incorporate his music into my S.H.I.E.L.D. score, because it further cements the Marvel [Cinematic] Universe together as a coherent whole ... Chris was thrilled and sent me his scores for reference."[63]
Marvel Cinematic Universe tie-ins
Executive producer Maurissa Tancharoen stated the production team was not ruling out creating crossover episodes with Agent Carter or Guardians of the Galaxy during the season, with executive producer Jed Whedon adding that any such episodes would not equal the scale seen in the Captain America: The Winter Soldier crossover from the first season, saying, "In terms of game-changers, [those episodes are] hard to beat."[50] Bell later said Avengers: Age of Ultron "is coming up and we know what’s going on with that and look forward to seeing it, but it’s pretty cool to find ways to tie-in stuff and connect things."[52] In December 2014, ABC confirmed the series would tie-in with Avengers: Age of Ultron, with Whedon saying, "You should expect something. The Avengers is the big tent that all the franchises play under. Obviously, we’re included in that."[64] The episodes "The Frenemy of My Enemy" and "The Dirty Half Dozen" feature "Easter eggs, plot threads and other connective tissue leading into the opening scene of Avengers: Age of Ultron" while "Scars" explores the aftermath of the film.[45]
Talking on how the season would interact with Agent Carter, Bell said, "Here’s what I think is interesting. Agent Carter seems to be about S.S.R. pre-S.H.I.E.L.D., but about the beginnings of something, and the basic values of that. S.H.I.E.L.D. got blown up last year and what Coulson always wanted was a return to basics, and it gives us an opportunity to return to some of those core values and even physically, some of that S.S.R. stuff has a way of finding its way into our show that could be cool. Anyway we can tie things together, we’re going to try to do it, but it is hard when the stories are 60 years apart."[52] Several scenes in "Shadows" and "The Things We Bury" are flashbacks featuring Peggy Carter which serve as an introduction to the world of Agent Carter, setting up characters and ideas for that series, including Carter's belief in the need for "a permanent unit during peacetime", which will lead to the creation of S.H.I.E.L.D.[65][66]
The season confirms that the blue alien seen in the first season, and a recurring plot point this season, was a member of the Kree race, who play a significant role in Guardians of the Galaxy.[67] Whedon explained that "We obviously showed this body a year ago at around this time. When we were breaking that and sussing out what this arc would be, we had to have a lot of the pieces in place from the get go ... we had to talk to features about what their plans were and where they were going." When asked whether this counts as the series tie-in to Guardians of the Galaxy, Whedon said "It is a very far away other galaxy, so it’s a little bit harder to have one of them walk into our set, so a direct tie-in is a little bit more challenging, but it’s all one universe, so there’s always opportunity for more. ... In Guardians, we saw parts in our universe that we hadn’t explored yet, so it shows we’re a part of that too."[68] This storyline also introduces the Inhumans to the MCU.[56]
Release
Broadcast
In June 2014, Clark Gregg stated he believed the season would be shown in a block of 10 episodes, then breaking for Agent Carter, before airing the remaining 12.[69] Explaining this decision, Bell said,
One of our challenges last year was to produce 22 episodes that aired over, what, 40 weeks? 36 weeks? Something like that. And the age of re-runs is dead. Re-runs are death, and so you’re trying to commit to the habit of the show and [viewers] tune in to something else or a re-run and they’ll get pissed off. They’ll go away. What this allows us to do is minimize repeats. We’re showing ten episodes, and there has to be a gap or two because it’s physically impossible to produce ten shows and get through post production in time, we can’t do that so there’s going to be a Marvel special at some point. But pretty much every week you’re showing up and we’re there, and then instead of a repeat showing up mid-run and losing momentum, Agent Carter comes in and has its own cool stuff, and they’re running eight weeks in a row, then we can come back and run twelve in a row with no interruptions. We’re still producing our show every week but it just gives us time, barely, to finish 22 on schedule. It takes out the need for repeats in the back half.[52]
The season began airing on September 23, 2014, on ABC in the United States,[3] and on CTV in Canada.[70] The season is expected to end in the US and Canada on May 12, 2015.[23] In Australia, the season debuted on September 29, 2014, on Seven Network,[71] while Channel 4 in the United Kingdom premiered the season on October 24, 2014.[72]
Marketing
In December 2014, an updated motion poster for the season was released. It was intended to show the shift in focus of the season; from Hydra in the first half to the Inhumans in the second.
At the 2014 San Diego Comic-Con, ahead of the premiere of the season, Marvel Custom Solutions and Lexus released a limited single-issue comic tie-in titled Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: The Chase,[73] set between the Season 1 episodes "Seeds" and "T.R.A.C.K.S.",[74] written by George Kitson, and with art by Mirko Colak, Neil Edwards, and Mirco Pierfederici.[75] On October 10, 2014, "Face My Enemy" was screened at New York Comic Con.[76]
"The Art of Evolution"
For the final twelve episodes of the season, Marvel once again ran the "Art of..." initiative, in which a different image was released each Thursday before a new episode, depicting a first look at a key event from the upcoming episode, with the season's title being "The Art of Evolution". The different artists were once again chosen to create the teaser posters, based on their previous work and how it connected to the themes and emotion of the intended episode. On how what is shown on each poster is chosen, Bell said, "maybe we’ll show [the artist] the script or let them watch the episode and let them respond to it emotionally and see what’s interesting to them. And then we have a conversation with them about how we’d like to portray that, and then we try to lean into the strengths that they have. Some are more graphic, some are more character based, some are more composite, and some are cleaner. And that’s one of the things [the producers] really look forward to each week, getting the initial sketches back from the artists and seeing their interpretation."[77] The art will once again appear as variant covers to select titles published by Marvel Comics in June 2015.[78]
The poster for "Aftershocks", created by Gabriele Dell'Otto, the co-creator of Daisy Johnson, depicts Skye twice, as she is transforming from the Terrigen mist and as the person dealing with her powers, as well as a transformed Raina, Coulson and the S.H.I.E.L.D. logo in the background.[77] For "Who You Really Are", the producers enlisted Marcos Martín to create the poster, which highlighted Sif's (Jaimie Alexander) return to the show, as well as an "inside look" at S.H.I.E.L.D. as the logo crumbles, with Skye in the center of it, ambiguously leaving the viewer questioning if the logo was crumbling due to Sif's sword, or Skye's powers.[79] The third poster, for "One of Us", was created by Declan Shalvey and Jordie Bellaire. It features muted colors and shows "Coulson surrounded by villains [from the S.H.I.E.L.D. index], and the giant Cal looming over, and [a bird and] S.H.I.E.L.D. behind him."[80] Annie Wu was brought on for the "Love in the Time of Hydra" poster, which shows Grant Ward holding a woman, though depicts her as two; one drawn in red, the other in blue – "half of that goes to Agent 33, who has two faces... And it also goes to the fact that she’s been imitating other people as she did with Agent May."[81]
"One Door Closes", an episode focused on Bobbi Morse's history, received a poster of her with the "real S.H.I.E.L.D." logo, that "embraced the basics" of four-color printing, utilizing magenta, cyan, black and yellow, while still having layers and complications, much like the character of Morse. The poster was designed by Delicious Design League.[82] The poster for "Afterlife" by Dave Johnson, highlights the divide within S.H.I.E.L.D. and the alliances on each side. With Coulson in the middle, Agents Gonzales, Morse, Mackenzie and Weaver stem from the "real S.H.I.E.L.D.", while Hunter, Fitz and Simmons stem from the other.[83] "Melinda"'s poster, by Jenny Frison, mirrored the focus of the episode by prominently featuring an image of May, highlighting her backstory and why she is called "the Cavalry".[84] Marvel teamed with Nathan Fox on the poster for "The Frenemy of My Enemy", which depicts Ward, Kara, and Bakshi in "Hydra red"; Coulson, Hunter, and Fitz in "S.H.I.E.L.D. blue"; and Deathlok neutral. They are all featured together, just as the season is "starting to put [all of its plotlines] together in new combinations in new ways, [to] propel us into the last four episodes."[85]
As alluded to by the episode title, the poster for "The Dirty Half Dozen", with art by Jake Wyatt, sees the original recruits to Coulson's S.H.I.E.L.D. team from the first season (May, Ward, Fitz, Simmons and Skye), along with Coulson, together once again, suiting up for a mission together; it is also the first poster of the "Art of..." series to feature the episode title on the poster.[86]
The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 94% approval rating with an average rating of 7.2/10 based on 17 reviews. The website's consensus reads, "Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. relaxes into itself during its sophomore season, mitigating the show's growing pains by focusing on characters while amping up narrative thrills."[105]
^George Kitson (w), Mirko Colak, Neil Edwards and Mirco Pierfederici (p), Frank D'Armata, Vero Gandini, and John Rauch (i). Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: The Chase, no. 1 (July 24, 2014). Marvel Comics.
^"Nominees & Winners". People's Choice Awards. Archived from the original on January 8, 2015. Retrieved January 8, 2015. ((cite web)): Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
