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

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For the title character, see Melinda May.

"Melinda"
The Art of Evolution" poster for the episode.
Episode no.Season 2
Episode 17
Directed byGarry A. Brown
Written byDJ Doyle
Produced by
Editing by
  • David Crabtree
  • Paul C. Domick
Original air dateApril 14, 2015 (2015-04-14)
Running time43 minutes
Guest appearances
  • Calvin Zabo
  • Alphonso "Mack" Mackenzie
  • Jiaying
  • Gordon
  • Lincoln Campbell
  • Raina
  • Anne Weaver
  • O'Brien
  • Terrell Tilford as Hart
  • Eva Belyakov
  • Kris Lemche as Ethan Johnston
  • Andrew Garner
  • Katya Belyakov
Episode chronology
← Previous
"Afterlife" 		Next →
"The Frenemy of My Enemy"
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. season 2
List of episodes

"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) and acknowledges the franchise's films. The episode was written by DJ Doyle, and directed by Garry A. Brown.

Andrew Garner
.

"Melinda" originally aired on

Nielsen Media Research
, was watched by 4.04 million viewers.

Plot

In flashbacks to 2008,

Andrew Garner
also suffers, eventually leading to divorce.

In the present May, now in command of the Playground, is shocked to learn that Coulson has been moving alarming amounts of assets and manpower across the world as part of a secret project, "Theta Protocol", and has been meeting with Andrew in secret. Theta Protocol is the main reason

Robert Gonzales' faction instigated their coup, fearing Coulson is building a secret army of superhumans. Determined to find the truth, May orders Jemma Simmons to open the toolbox, unaware Simmons has secretly duplicated it so Leo Fitz
could take the real one to Coulson.

At Afterlife,

Inhuman
should not undergo Terrigenesis, and reveals to her that Eva and Katya were Inhumans, and that Eva disobeyed this rule and stole Terrigen crystals to bring about Katya's Terrigenesis, which drove her insane.

Jiaying convinces Skye to visit Cal, and the family surprisingly enjoy their evening together, but Lincoln witnesses them together and realizes Raina's nightmares may be prophetic visions. In an end tag, Fitz uses the toolbox to contact Coulson and

Lance Hunter
, asking them to help him escape Gonzales' agents, who are following him.

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

Further information: List of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. characters

In March 2015, Marvel revealed that main cast members

Katya Belyakov, 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]

Accolades

Wen was named TVLine's "Performer of the Week" for the week of April 12, 2015, for her performance in this episode, specifically her portrayal of May in the flashback sequences.[11]

References

  1. ^
    Marvel.com. Archived from the original
    on March 29, 2015. Retrieved March 28, 2015.
  2. ^
    ComicBook.com. Archived
    from the original on June 23, 2015. Retrieved September 5, 2015.
  3. ^ a b 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 11, 2015. Retrieved April 9, 2015.
  4. Marvel.com. Archived
    from the original on March 25, 2015. Retrieved February 27, 2014.
  5. Marvel.com. Archived from the original
    on March 24, 2015. Retrieved March 21, 2015.
  6. ^ THESWEETESTLOU (April 22, 2015). "Agents of SHIELD: Melinda Review". Geekiverse. Archived from the original on May 23, 2015. Retrieved April 30, 2015.
  7. ^ a b 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. Archived from the original on April 18, 2015. 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 28, 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 23, 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 21, 2015. Retrieved July 16, 2015.
  11. ^ "Performer of the Week: Ming-Na Wen". TVLine. April 18, 2015. Archived from the original on March 23, 2016. Retrieved May 2, 2016.

External links

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