The Hub (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.)

"The Hub" is the seventh episode of the first season of the American television series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., based on the Marvel Comics organization S.H.I.E.L.D. (Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division), revolving around the character of Phil Coulson and his team of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents as they work with "Big S.H.I.E.L.D." to take out a dangerous new weapon. It is set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), sharing continuity with the films of the franchise. The episode was written by Rafe Judkins and Lauren LeFranc, and directed by Bobby Roth.

Clark Gregg reprises his role as Coulson from the film series, and is joined by series regulars Ming-Na Wen, Brett Dalton, Chloe Bennet, Iain De Caestecker, and Elizabeth Henstridge. Maximiliano Hernández guest stars as Agent Jasper Sitwell, reprising his role from the films, while Saffron Burrows is introduced as high-ranking S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Victoria Hand. The episode explores the dynamic between Coulson's team and the larger S.H.I.E.L.D. organization (referred to as "Big S.H.I.E.L.D." by the producers); "Big S.H.I.E.L.D." received its own musical theme for the episode, to separate it from the main team.

"The Hub" originally aired on ABC on November 12, 2013, and according to Nielsen Media Research, was watched by 10.13 million viewers within a week of its release. The episode received a mostly positive critical response, with the character development and the moral ambiguity of the larger S.H.I.E.L.D. organization praised.

Plot

Agents Phil Coulson, Melinda May, and Grant Ward break an undercover agent out of a hostile base, receiving classified S.H.I.E.L.D. Level 8 intel. Trainee Skye is frustrated when Coulson refuses to tell the team what the information is, based on their clearance level. At The Hub, a S.H.I.E.L.D. facility run by Agent Victoria Hand, it is revealed that a South Ossetian separatist group has built a weapon called the Overkill device, which uses sonic vibrations to trigger other weapons from great distances. Ward, a field specialist, and Agent Leo Fitz, a weapons technology specialist, are tasked with finding and disabling the device within 24 hours, before the separatists use it to declare independence from Russia and Georgia.

In the Caucasus Mountains, Ward discovers his contact from a previous mission is dead, but Fitz uses his technology and engineering knowledge to win the support of locals, who smuggle them across a disputed border. At The Hub, Skye is determined to find out the status of Fitz' and Ward's mission despite her restricted access. She discovers that there is no extraction plan for Fitz and Ward, but when she confronts Coulson, he tells her to trust the system. Coulson then confronts Hand, as he himself had not been aware of this, though she tells him to trust the system. Fitz and Ward infiltrate a separatist base and find the device, and though Ward realizes that there is no extraction team, they carry on with their mission. Fitz disables the device, and they attempt to escape. The rest of the team arrives to rescue them, Coulson having disobeyed orders to save them.

Coulson reveals to Skye that he had found a document that she had been searching for regarding her history, and tells her that it contains information on a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent that dropped her at an orphanage when she was a baby. Later, May agrees to help Coulson find more information on the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent in question, who had been murdered. In an end tag, Coulson is denied access to his own death and recovery file.

Production

Development and writing

In October 2013, Marvel revealed that the seventh episode would be titled "The Hub", and would be written by Rafe Judkins and Lauren LeFranc, with Bobby Roth directing.^[1] Originally titled "The Sandwich Incident", "The Hub" was the eighth episode produced.^[2] Executive producer Jed Whedon discussed the writer's intentions to expand their depiction of S.H.I.E.L.D. with the episode, saying, "We're trying to flesh out the world of S.H.I.E.L.D. with the established characters and the characters we're introducing to build out the larger organization that we operate in." This includes the introduction of high-ranking S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Victoria Hand, who is shown lying to Coulson in the episode. Executive producer Maurissa Tancharoen called this "a very significant thing ... for him to deal with Victoria Hand lying to him and facing the fact that the organization that he's been dedicating his life to lied to his face about the people within his team ... that's significant in his journey."^[3]

Casting

In October 2013, Marvel revealed that main cast members Clark Gregg, Ming-Na Wen, Brett Dalton, Chloe Bennet, Iain De Caestecker, and Elizabeth Henstridge would star as Phil Coulson, Melinda May, Grant Ward, Skye, Leo Fitz, and Jemma Simmons, respectively.^[1] It was also revealed that Maximiliano Hernández would reprise his role of Jasper Sitwell from the Marvel Cinematic Universe films Thor and Marvel's The Avengers,^[4] and the Marvel One-Shots The Consultant and Item 47,^[5] in the episode.^[1] Additionally, the episode's guest cast includes Charles Halford as Agent Shaw, Alison White as Marta, and Ilia Volok as Vladimi.^[1] Halford did not receive guest star credit in the episode. In November, Victoria Hand was also announced to be a guest character, with Saffron Burrows cast in the role.^[6]

Music

To highlight the differences between Coulson's small S.H.I.E.L.D. team and the larger S.H.I.E.L.D. organization, represented in this episode by Victoria Hand and the Hub base, composer Bear McCreary introduced a theme for "Big S.H.I.E.L.D." which is meant to feel "imposing and new". For the major scenes in the episode when Skye distrusts the "system" and takes matters into her own hands, McCreary used her own personal theme in a pulsing, swirling way, juxtaposed against the same theme in "a warm variation ... filled with emotion" for when Skye and Coulson discuss her parents.^[7]

Release

Broadcast

"The Hub" was aired in the United States on ABC on November 12, 2013.^[8] It was aired alongside the US broadcast in Canada on CTV,^[9] while it was first aired in the United Kingdom on Channel 4 on November 15, 2013.^[10] It premiered on the Seven Network in Australia on November 13, 2013.^[11]

Home media

The episode, along with the rest of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s first season, was released on Blu-ray and DVD on September 9, 2014. Bonus features include behind-the-scenes featurettes, audio commentary, deleted scenes, and a blooper reel.^[12] On November 20, 2014, the episode became available for streaming on Netflix.^[13]

Reception

Ratings

In the United States the episode received a 2.2/6 percent share among adults between the ages of 18 and 49, meaning that it was seen by 2.2 percent of all households, and 6 percent of all of those watching television at the time of the broadcast. It was watched by 6.67 million viewers.^[8] The Canadian broadcast gained 1.47 million viewers, the fourth highest for that day and the twentieth highest for the week.^[9] The United Kingdom premiere had 2.19 million viewers^[10] and in Australia, the premiere had 1.4 million viewers, including 0.6 million timeshifted viewers.^[11] Within a week of its release, the episode was watched by 10.13 million U.S. viewers,^[14] above the season average of 8.31.^[15]

Critical response

Oliver Sava and David Sims of The A.V. Club graded the episode a 'B-'. Sava called the episode "a mixed bag. The positives include mixing up the character combinations to complicate the interpersonal dynamics, building up the duplicitous nature of S.H.I.E.L.D., and instilling a sense of brevity in increasingly dire circumstances, but the negatives continue to prevent the series from becoming more than middle-of-the-road action adventure television. The long-term plots aren't as captivating as the writers think they are, the central mission is formulaic, even with a solid mid-episode twist, and Skye is becoming an increasingly problematic character." Sims felt "There’s potential ... I don’t know if humor, a change in stakes, or some dramatic shake-up, like having the team detach from the infrastructure of S.H.I.E.L.D. in some way, will prove to be the answer. But as it is, I don’t know how I could ever recommend this show to anyone but a Marvel completest."^[16] Eric Goldman of IGN scored the episode 7.7 out of 10, praising the world building and character development of Fitz, but criticizing the "slapstick" humor of the character early on, and questioning some of the character's actions ("It just seemed like too much for Hand, Sitwell and S.H.I.E.L.D. in general to let go [of the team] without consequences").^[17] Marc Buxton at Den of Geek scored the episode 3 stars out 5, praising the character development and introduction of comic book characters Hand and Sitwell, but criticizing the lack of a real villain, for both the episode and the series in general.^[18]

Dave Bradley of SFX also scored the episode 3 stars out of 5, feeling "The mission itself is fairly forgettable, a fetch quest that enables Ward and Fitz to have some alone time – but everybody emerges a little more credible." He was pleased with the developments of the overarching subplots, and praised the scale of the episode, noting that it felt big, with "huge indoor and outdoor locations."^[19] Bob Chipman, writing for Escapist Magazine found it "disappointing that the whole point of this episode was to establish what the relationships between Ward/Fitz and Skye/Simmons are" but that "the pairings don't really pan out to be that interesting."^[20] He did find that the episode made "a canny, dramatic shift in theme: After 7 episodes of The Agents methodically winning Skye over to the side of "espionage and secret-keeping are for your protection," now even quintessential company-man Coulson is feeling like maybe the rest of S.H.I.E.L.D. isn't to be trusted ... it suddenly makes a lot more sense why our focus has been on a rogue sub-team rather than the bigger Agency."^[21] Chipmin surmised that the series was improving in a way that could retroactively improve the earlier episodes.^[22] Kaitlin Thomas at TV.com felt that" "The Hub" was a good—but not necessarily great— episode that acted mainly as a humorous standalone installment intended to switch up some character pairs." She specifically praised Fitz' character development, but criticized the lack of tension, negatively comparing the stakes of the episode to those of "FZZT".^[23] Jim Steranko, known for his work on Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., criticized the lack of focus of the series, feeling at this point it was moving in "a multitude of directions that lack conceptual unity". He felt that the episodes were failing to integrate their dramatic agendas (or making "Converging Plotlines"), and that "The result is choppy and unsatisfying at best, downright irritating at worst."^[24]

References

External links

• "The Hub" at ABC
• "The Hub" at the Internet Movie Database
• "The Hub" at TV.com