FAN SUBMITTED REVIEW
Note: Spoilers for Thor: The Dark World
Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has been teasing us that one of the upcoming episodes will be a tie-in with the new Thor: The Dark World movie. Well, that night is come and gone. I happen to enjoy mythology of all kinds and am interested in the MCU take on Thor and Norse myths. The end of the Thor movie took place in Greenwich, England, where Thor and his human associates battle the Dark Elf Malekith. Like all good villains, Malekith wants to destroy the world (s) with a deadly energy called the Aether. Dimensional rifts, battling aliens, flying rubble—this will certainly cause some major damage to a property. Loki, Thor, and Jane Foster work together to help save both Asgard and Earth. In the movie, the only time S.H.I.E.L.D. was mentioned was because Darcy couldn’t contact them and in association with cover-ups.
The only part of the S.H.I.E.L.D. episode that deals with Thor is in the beginning when our team is cleaning up after him. It wasn’t really a tie-in as much as it deals with the ramifications of alien weapons on Earth. The start of the show has Simmons regaling us with the known facts of the Marvel Cinematic Universe:
That Asgardians were actually aliens that came to the earth and were thought to be gods. Gods like Loki, Odin and of course, Thor. Thor is mentioned throughout the episode and is currently MIA on Earth with Jane Foster. And that was kind of it, and I wanted more, considering the Thor movie was so good and full of possible plot points for the TV show.
But this particular S.H.I.E.L.D. episode primarily focuses on a Norwegian couple who find a staff in an ancient tree. Unfortunately, this couple is part of a Norwegian/Pagan Hate Group that wants to be Gods—for reasons that aren’t really explained. This staff, when touched, lets loose your anger and gives you superhuman strength and rage.
Thanks to my own mythological studies (done far ahead of the viewing of said episode, thank you very much), this is indicative of a Berserker. Berserkers were Norse warriors who would (like Wolverine or Conan) fly into a rage in battle and become virtually unstoppable. According to the show, this done with something called the Berserker Staff.
It brings to the forefront of your mind your darkest moment, when you become really angry. It was broken up into three parts and hidden in various places on Earth. The Staff was brought to earth by an Asgardian warrior—we later learn that this warrior is none other than Coulson’s expert, Numbers’ Professor Larry Flinehart. An immortal alien, I would love to see him later on in the show.
Our Asgardian shows the team where the rest of the staff is in order to get to it before our Pagan friends. Chaos ensues, Ward gets very angry. May wields the staff and just kicks butt.
The episode leaves a few unanswered questions: would the couple have found the staff if Thor hadn’t come to earth in The Avengers? How did the leader sense the staff, to know where it was hidden?
Two Final Things:
One final plot point from Thor is at the end, after the credits are done and over with has to do with a giant Jotunheim monster (seen in the first movie, bounding upside-down rocks to get our heroes in the beginning of the film). Thanks to a dimensional portal, it’s now trapped in our world. It’s shown trampling over shipping containers, acting like a big dog, chasing birds. On the loose in Greenwich, England. Does it become an urban legend, or does S.H.I.E.L.D. go after a rogue monster from another planet?
The second point has to do with the end of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. episode with a dream/flashback of Coulson getting a massage in Tahiti. We get a little Joss Whedon Dollhouse Easter egg:
[Dialogue whenever an Active is restored to "tabula rasa"]
Echo: Did I fall asleep?
Topher: For a little while.
Echo: Shall I go now?
Topher: If you like.
Sound familiar?
Join the forum discussion on this post
