Melinda (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.)

"Melinda"
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. episode

"The Art of Evolution" poster for the episode.
Episode no. Season 2
Episode 17
Directed by Gary A. Brown
Written by DJ Doyle
Produced by
Editing by
  • David Crabtree
  • Paul C. Domick
Original air date April 14, 2015 (2015-04-14)
Running time 43 minutes
Guest actors

"Melinda" is the seventeenth episode of the second 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 Skye as she learns about her abilities, her parents, and her titular S.H.I.E.L.D. mentor Melinda May, whose dark past is explored through flashbacks. It is set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), sharing continuity with the films of the franchise. The episode was written by DJ Doyle, and directed by Gary A. Brown.

Clark Gregg reprises his role as Phil Coulson from the film series, and is joined by Chloe Bennet as Skye and Ming-Na Wen as May. Recurring guest stars Kyle MacLachlan and Dichen Lachman portray Skye's parents, while series regulars Iain De Caestecker, Elizabeth Henstridge, Nick Blood, and Adrianne Palicki also star. This episode reveals May's history, which had been teased since the beginning of the series, and which not even Wen had known about before reading the episode's script. Efforts were made to differentiate the younger May shown in flashbacks to the present day version of the character, and Blair Underwood guest stars as May's then husband Andrew Garner.

"Melinda" originally aired on ABC on April 14, 2015, and according to Nielsen Media Research, was watched by 4.04 million viewers.

Plot

Now in charge of Coulson's base, May agrees to look into his actions since he became Director, finding that Coulson has been secretly building another base and consulting with Garner, which Mack believes is because he is creating a gifted army. Skye is training with Jiaying, and begins to focus her abilities to manipulate objects' natural frequencies. Jiaying soon reveals that she is Skye's mother – Cal had pieced her back together, her healing factor revived her, and they searched for Skye, who S.H.I.E.L.D. had taken, until Jiaying realized what monsters they had become, and left Cal to build a new and peaceful life. Their relationship must remain a secret because once a member of their group stole Terrigen crystals for her daughter, who then forced her mother to hurt others to feed on their pain. They were stopped when May killed them both, scarring her for life. However, Jiaying and Skye do agree to join Cal for dinner, a moment that Raina apparently foresaw in a dream. Fitz opens the toolbox, and uses it to contact Coulson.

Production

Development

In March 2015, Marvel announced that the seventeenth episode of the season would be titled "Melinda", to be written by DJ Doyle, with Garry A. Brown directing.[1]

Writing

Ming-Na Wen was not told of her character Melinda May's backstory in the series until she read the script for this episode.[2] Executive producer Jeffrey Bell talked about exploring May's backstory in the episode after it being teased since the start of the series, saying "she’s a very different May in this episode. This is the May before this incident happened. And so there are qualities that Ming[-Na Wen] brings to the role. Seeing her married back in the day… we’ve already met Andrew (Blair Underwood), but to sort of see what May was like back at that time is a different color". On balancing this backstory with the series' present day story, and integrating the two, Bell said "We have a backstory, but the backstory needs to be compelling enough so that you don’t mind it being a backstory, so that when you come back to the present story, you’re equally interested. Anytime you’re telling two or three stories, you’re always worried about one being more interesting than the other. And I think this episode does a very nice job in that you’re happy to be in any of them."[3]

Casting

In March 2015, Marvel revealed that main cast members Clark Gregg, Wen, Chloe Bennet, Iain De Caestecker, Elizabeth Henstridge, Nick Blood, and Adrianne Palicki would star as Phil Coulson, Melinda May, Skye, Leo Fitz, Jemma Simmons, Lance Hunter, and Bobbi Morse, respectively.[1] It was also revealed that the guest cast for the episode would include Henry Simmons as Alphonso “Mack” Mackenzie, Ruth Negga as Raina, Kyle MacLachlan as Calvin Zabo, Jamie Harris as Gordon, Christine Adams as Weaver, Blair Underwood as Andrew Garner, Dichen Lachman as Jiaying, Luke Mitchell as Lincoln Campbell, Kris Lemche as Ethan, Terrell Tilford as Agent Hart, Derek Phillips as Agent O’Brien, Winter Ave Zoli as Eva Belyakov, Ava Acres as Little Girl/Katya, Brendan Wayne as Assistant, Ben Wise as Blue Jacket, Omid Zader as Burly Gangster, Hani Al Naimi as Fiasal El-Hashem, Houshang Touzie as Colonel, Branden Morgan as Tac Agent #1, Alex Paez as Tac Agent #2, and Antonio Leon as Bahranian Soldier.[1] Acres, Wayne, Wise, Zader, Al Naimi, Touzie, Morgan, Paez, and Leon did not receive guest star credit in the episode. Simmons, Negga, MacLachlan, Harris, Adams, Underwood, Lachman, and Mitchell reprise their roles from earlier in the series.[4][5] Main cast member Brett Dalton, who portrays Grant Ward in the series,[1] does not appear in the episode.[6]

Wen explained the differences in portraying the younger, pre-incident May in flashbacks, saying "we got to part her hair in the middle with a little bit of fluff. We were trying to find a subtle way to distinguish her from the May that has been established besides her personality, which was still very much May, in that she’s not this outgoing, boisterous clown and then turned into this diehard killing machine. She always had a scary side to her, but at the same time there was a lightness, and a lot of love, and she was able to show her sexiness with Andrew, and her playfulness with Coulson in her earlier part of her life, before this event happened. ... It brought a little bit of Ming into May".[2]

Release

Broadcast

"Melinda" was first aired in the United States on ABC on April 14, 2015.[7]

Marketing

For the final twelve episodes of the season Marvel once again ran the "Art of..." initiative, in which an image was released the Thursday before the episode aired, 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.[8] "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".[3]

Home media

The episode began streaming on Netflix on June 11, 2015,[9] and will be released along with the rest of the second season on September 18, 2015, on Blu-ray and DVD.[10]

Reception

Ratings

In the United States the episode received a 1.6/5 percent share among adults between the ages of 18 and 49, meaning that it was seen by 1.6 percent of all households, and 5 percent of all of those watching television at the time of the broadcast. It was watched by 4.04 million viewers.[7]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Cavanaugh, Patrick (March 27, 2015). "Declassifying 'Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.': Melinda". Marvel.com. Archived from the original on March 28, 2015. Retrieved March 28, 2015.
  2. 1 2 Lovett, Jamie (April 14, 2015). "EXCLUSIVE: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Ming-Na Wen Talks Melinda, The Cavalry, And Mulan". ComicBook.com. Archived from the original on September 5, 2015. Retrieved September 5, 2015.
  3. 1 2 Towers, Andrea (April 9, 2015). "Enter 'The Cavalry': Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Art of Evolution spotlights Agent May -- exclusive". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on April 9, 2015. Retrieved April 9, 2015.
  4. ↑ Cavanaugh, Patrick (February 26, 2014). "Declassifying Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: One of Us". Marvel.com. Archived from the original on March 22, 2015. Retrieved February 27, 2014.
  5. ↑ Cavanaugh, Patrick (March 20, 2015). "Declassifying 'Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.': Afterlife". Marvel.com. Archived from the original on March 21, 2015. Retrieved March 21, 2015.
  6. ↑ THESWEETESTLOU (April 22, 2015). "Agents of SHIELD: Melinda Review". Geekiverse. Archived from the original on April 30, 2015. Retrieved April 30, 2015.
  7. 1 2 Bibel, Sara (April 15, 2015). "Tuesday Final Ratings: 'The Flash', 'NCIS', 'The Voice', 'Fresh Off The Boat', 'Hell's Kitchen' & 'Person of Interest' Adjusted Up". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved April 15, 2015.
  8. ↑ Towers, Andrea (February 26, 2015). "Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. launches second year of art campaign, The Art of Evolution -- exclusive". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on February 26, 2015. Retrieved February 26, 2015.
  9. ↑ Jones, Nate (May 21, 2015). "What’s New on Netflix: June 2015". Vulture. New York. Archived from the original on May 21, 2015. Retrieved May 21, 2015.
  10. ↑ Damore, Meagan (July 10, 2015). "SDCC: Jeph Loeb Unveils The Future Of "Agents Of SHIELD," "Agent Carter" & More". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on July 17, 2015. Retrieved July 16, 2015.

External links

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