Agent Coulson still lives, but there’s a lingering sense audiences might have had their Phil. Agents of SHIELD was one of the most eagerly awaited shows of the last TV season; an unprecedented attempt to expand Marvel’s wildly successful movie universe to the small screen. After an impressive launch, SHIELD’s shine rapidly came off after a lukewarm critical reception and the dawning realisation that Iron Man was unlikely to do even a flyby, let alone mingle.

Surprisingly, it was brand synergy that revitalised the show. A violent restructuring of SHIELD in Captain America: the Winter Soldier had a seismic effect on Coulson’s world, but also gave Agents of SHIELD a new sense of purpose. It became leaner, meaner and cut back on the goofy one-liners. Now it’s back, trying to carve out some space in a TV marketplace suddenly super-crowded with superhero shows such as The Flash, Gotham, and the returning Arrow. Things don’t look good for Coulson. But here are five reasons to tune in when Agents of SHIELD returns to Channel 4 on Friday.



1. It’s gone full Blake’s 7

Just before he legged it at the end of season one, Nick Fury (Samuel L Jackson) appointed Coulson (Clark Gregg) as the new director of SHIELD. Essentially, this means Coulson is in charge of a handful of shellshocked agents and a lot of smoking rubble. Hydra, the insidious organisation that turned SHIELD inside out to advance their aim of world domination, has more agents, more resources and much nicer offices. Coulson and his team are outnumbered and outgunned, and – crucially – they’re also outlaws being hunted by the US government in the dogged form of Colonel Talbot (Adrian Pasdar from Heroes with a magnificent moustache). It’s much easier to root for weary, desperate underdogs than lanyard-wearing paper-shufflers.

2. Kyle MacLachlan is in it

The late appearance of Bill Paxton in season one gave Agents of SHIELD a welcome jolt of gonzo energy. Kyle MacLachlan appears to have picked up the gurn-baton in season two, imbuing his mysterious character, the Doctor, with a larger-than-life intensity that feels comicbook-ey in all the right ways. Cult favourite Lucy Lawless also stars as a capable mercenary, while Adrianne Palicki (who was almost the new TV Wonder Woman in 2011) will appear as Bobbi Morse, a long-standing agent of SHIELD from the comics.

3. All of the unlikeable characters have been horribly traumatised

Coulson previously inspired the Avengers to team up to fight an alien invasion but assembling an instant ensemble for Agents of SHIELD proved to be far trickier. The core team – two frowning special-ops soldiers, a pair of British lab geeks and a snarky hacker – rubbed a lot of potential fans up the wrong way: there was no chemistry, the banter seemed forced, they triumphed too easily. Season two is good news for Agents of SHIELD hate-watchers, as every member of the original squad has been put through the wringer physically and emotionally. One’s a traitor, one has permanent brain damage and two have been infected with mysterious alien goo.

4. They’ve sorted out the stop-start broadcast

It used to be a superhero show would be on the same Bat-time, same Bat-channel every week. But planned production breaks – allowing the writers and crew to catch up with a hefty 22-episode season order – meant new episodes of Agents of SHIELD was often AWOL from the schedules. The show lost momentum, particularly in the UK. This time round, ABC has committed to screening the season in two blocks, with the eight-episode spin-off Agent Carter – starring Hayley Atwell as a proto-SHIELD agent in the 1940s – plugging the gap during a longer mid-season break. If Channel 4 opts to pick up Agent Carter, the same relatively uninterrupted SHIELD sandwich could happen in the UK.

5. There’s a touch of Strictly

Season two might be a consciously darker and grittier spin on the SHIELD formula, but you’d have to a Hydra-loving mega-grump not to want to see veteran agents Coulson and May (Ming-Na Wen) perform a tango while undercover as part of an elaborate Mission: Impossible-style heist.

Will you be watching season two? Let us know in the comments below