FZZT

"FZZT" is the sixth 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 investigate a series of deaths caused by an alien virus. It is set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), sharing continuity with the films of the franchise. The episode was written by Paul Zbyszewski, and directed by Vincent Misiano.

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.

"FZZT" originally aired on ABC on November 5, 2013, and according to Nielsen Media Research, was watched by 7.15 million viewers in its original airing. The episode received a positive critical response, with the character development praised, especially that of the characters Fitz and Simmons.

Plot

In Pennsylvania, a boy scout leader is killed in an apparent freak lightning incident after investigating a mysterious humming sound. His body is found floating above the ground, warranting the intervention of Agent Phil Coulson and his team of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. At first glance, agents Leo Fitz and Jemma Simmons are unable to determine the cause of death, and as Simmons is analyzing the body, satellites pick up another lightning event not far from the first. Coulson and agents Melinda May and Grant Ward arrive at the source to find a second body, floating like the first. Civilian hacker and S.H.I.E.L.D. trainee Skye discovers that the two victims were both volunteer firefighters from the same station who responded to the Battle of New York.

At the firehouse, Coulson notices that another firefighter, Tony Diaz, is acting strangely. As Diaz hears a strange humming sound, the satellites pick up a third electrical event building up at the firehouse. As objects around Diaz begin to levitate, May discovers a Chitauri helmet in his possession, a souvenir from the Battle of New York. Diaz reveals that he and the other victims had been cleaning 'rust' from it a couple of nights previously, leading Simmons to deduce that they were all actually infected with an alien virus, causing electrical energy to build up within them, killing them, and leaving the bodies floating. Coulson helps Diaz come to terms with his situation, before leaving him to die.

Aboard the Bus (the plane that serves as the agents' mobile base) the team are transporting the helmet to the S.H.I.E.L.D. facility the Sandbox, when Coulson realizes that Simmons has been infected as well. She gives herself only 2 hours to live, but the plane is above the Atlantic Ocean and at least 3 hours from land. Agent Felix Blake at S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters orders Coulson to dump her off the plane rather than risk the safety of the rest of the team, but Coulson refuses. Fitz and Simmons desperately try to find a cure for the virus, but all of their tests seemingly fail. Rather than let the rest of the team die, Simmons jumps out of the plane, but moments later Fitz realizes that one of the anti-serums they produced actually worked. Ward takes the cure and a parachute and follows Simmons, saving her life. Later, Coulson berates her for acting so rashly, noting that the team would hate to lose her.

Afterwards, May confronts Coulson about a physical assessment he had requested earlier, and he reveals that though it found him to be completely normal, he feels different. May points out that anyone would feel different after dying, as Coulson did in The Avengers, and that he shouldn't worry about it.

In an end tag, Blake confronts Coulson about his insubordination, warning him that he could lose his team if he is not careful. Coulson makes it clear that that would not be happening, accepting that he is a changed person since his death.

Production

Development

In October 2013, Marvel revealed that the sixth episode would be titled "FZZT", and would be written by Paul Zbyszewski, with Vincent Misiano directing.^[1]

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 Titus Welliver would be reprising his role of Agent Blake from the Marvel One-Shot Item 47. Apart from Welliver and Vincent Laresca, who is cast as Tony Diaz, Robert Maffia, David Michael Paul, Rick Gifford, Thomas Robie, Trevor Larcom, Caleb Burgess, Jake Brennan, and Troy Glass were also announced as guest stars, however they were not credited as such in the episode.^[1]

Visual effects

Brett Dalton's digital double in the skydiving scene, with performance by stunt man Greg Rementer (insert).

Mark Kolpack, visual effects supervisor for the series, talked about how the skydiving sequence was created. Multiple techniques were used to create the effects, with Henstridge and Dalton filmed in front of green screen on wires and/or a turntable, with the sky, clouds, and ocean added with computer-generated imagery. The two actors were also digitally scanned to produce digital stunt doubles for use in "larger scope shots that were not possible with the real actors." For these shots, skydiver Hannah Betts and stuntman Greg Rementer performed on the Sony Motion Capture Stage, with the movements captured through performance-capture technology and used to drive the digital double performances.^[2]

Music

For the scene where Coulson talks to the dying Diaz, composer Bear McCreary revealed that he and the producers "chose to play the scene without music for as long as possible. Clark Gregg’s performance carries the scene beautifully. Finally, at the moment when he confesses that he once died, the orchestral strings sneak in with an elegant adagio. The strings are playing ‘con sord,’ with mutes, providing a dark, more blended sound. Gentle phrases in the harp and vibraphone offer brief commentary between the sighing string phrases. The low strings and low brass eventually enter and add gravitas to the moment when they see the floating knife, indicating that Tony will die within minutes. Here, Coulson knows he must leave and Tony agrees. A solitary flugel horn solo offers a touching statement of the Coulson Theme ... The solo flugel horn (a slightly larger and warmer sounding version of a trumpet) immediately brings to mind a military funeral, highlighting Coulson’s sense of honor. He leaves the firehouse and allows Diaz to die with dignity".^[3]

Later, when it is revealed that Simmons is infected with the virus, McCreary realized that "the most important relationship at stake is between Fitz and Simmons. Until this point in the series, they’ve been a single unit, always facing every situation from the same perspective. Now, they are driven apart and it is up to Fitz to make the sacrifice to join her and risk getting infected himself ... The Fitz Simmons Theme is first heard at the top of Act 4, as they are sitting back to back against the glass. Here, it is simply a handful of chords that are so sparse you wouldn’t think they have thematic meaning. As the act builds, the chords pick up energy and gradually weave into a truly memorable theme. The real theme kicks in at the moment when they realize that the Chitauri wearing the helmet must have been immune to the virus. They have a starting point for a cure. Here, the bpm (beats per minute) start ticking up rapidly. The cue accelerates from a slow dirge into a driving scherzo, underscoring Fitz’s excitement. As we transition into the montage of Fitz and Simmons working in the lab, the strings sneak in again, with an even faster version of their theme. Beneath the weaving string lines, the French horns and low brass offer elegant counter lines, while undulating synthesizers and Steve Bartek’s electric guitars add momentum. I was very inspired by this sequence. Yes, its a montage and could have easily been scored with ‘montage music.’ Instead, I wanted to focus on the emotion between these two characters."^[3]

Marvel Cinematic Universe tie-ins

The alien helmet that is carrying the virus in the episode belonged to a Chitauri, the alien race that fought for Loki in Marvel's The Avengers.^[4]

Release

Broadcast

"FZZT" was first aired in the United States on ABC on November 5, 2013.^[5] It was aired alongside the US broadcast in Canada on CTV,^[6] while it was first aired in the United Kingdom on Channel 4 on November 8, 2013.^[7] It premiered on the Seven Network in Australia on November 15, 2013.^[8]

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.^[9] On November 20, 2014, the episode became available for streaming on Netflix.^[10]

Reception

Ratings

In the United States the episode received a 2.5/7 percent share among adults between the ages of 18 and 49, meaning that it was seen by 2.5 percent of all households, and 7 percent of all of those watching television at the time of the broadcast. It was watched by 7.15 million viewers.^[5] The Canadian broadcast gained 1.60 million viewers, the third highest for that day and the twelfth highest for the week.^[6] The United Kingdom premiere had 2.23 million viewers^[7] and in Australia, the premiere had 1.5 million viewers, including 0.7 million timeshifted viewers.^[8]

Critical response

Eric Goldman of IGN scored the episode an 8 out of 10, praising "well-needed" development of Fitz and Simmons, the skydiving scene (despite what he calls "the less than stellar FX"), and the fact that Coulson could not save Diaz, while criticizing the amount of MCU connections, stating that the series is "Still too tied to prior Marvel movie MacGuffins."^[4] Oliver Sava of The A.V. Club graded the episode a 'B', saying "Despite my problems with the series, I still look forward to watching S.H.I.E.L.D. every week. It does a good job capturing the thrill of the big screen on a TV budget ... the dialogue is breezy, and the cast becomes more appealing with each new episode. There’s plenty of room for this show to grow, but I’m not ready to write it off yet."^[11] Alan Sepinwall at HitFix called "FZZT" "the first installment of S.H.I.E.L.D. to suggest the creative team was aware of what's not working, even if they couldn't solve every problem in a single installment", feeling that the episode made several positive steps forward in terms of character development.^[12] Will Salmon gave the episode 3.5 stars out of 5 for SFX, praising the performances of Henstridge and Gregg, but calling the episode clichéd, and concluding that "by fleshing out the characters, it does feel like Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is now more than just a flashy brand extension."^[13]

Dan Casey writing for Nerdist felt the episode was "the most dramatic, tense hour of television we’ve seen from" the series, stating that "One of the show’s biggest problems has been its general lack of depth, particularly in terms of the characters and making them feel like real people rather than glossy superspies with a seemingly endless wellspring of one-liners" and decided that the episode "made significant steps towards fixing this problem, thanks to some wonderful character interactions and an exploration of Fitz/Simmons’ past".^[14] James Hunt of Den of Geek said "whether this episode continues the show's upwards trend, that's debatable. It could've been worse, but there wasn't the leap forward that we saw from episode three to four, or four to five. I'll say this for an episode: it was better than I thought a Fitz & Simmons episode would be. That's progress, of a sort."^[15] Jim Steranko, known for his work on Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., criticized the scope and scale of the episode, but praised the character development for Coulson, feeling it brought his character closer to the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents of the comics.^[16]

Analysis

While talking about the score of the episode, composer McCreary noted the parallels between the firefighter victims "who went to New York to help people and ended up contracting an incurable illness that will kill [them]" and the plight of the first responders to the September 11 attacks.^[3] Kevin Garcia, while writing for the Observation Deck at io9 noted that "Marvel does have a few significant firefighters. Most notably, although not well-remembered, are the heroes from Call of Duty", who were themselves inspired by the real-world heroes who responded to the September 11 attacks.^[17]

References

External links

• "FZZT" at ABC
• "FZZT" at the Internet Movie Database
• "FZZT" at TV.com