The Only Light in the Darkness

"The Only Light in the Darkness" is the nineteenth 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., it follows Phil Coulson and his team of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents as they face an escaped convict with enhanced abilities. It is set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and acknowledges the franchise's films. The episode was written by Monica Owusu-Breen, and directed by Vincent Misiano.

In March 2014, Marvel revealed that the nineteenth episode would be titled "The Only Light in the Darkness", and would be written by Monica Owusu-Breen, with Vincent Misiano directing.^[1]

Writing

Executive producer Jeffrey Bell, on the decision to introduce the character known previously in the MCU only as "the cellist" here, said, "there's that one line and suddenly it's who is this person? And what is this person? And when are we going to see this person? And we talked about it a number of times over the season, and we had different versions and different ideas how to get there....at a time when [Coulson]'s at his most vulnerable, it seemed to be a good choice for us."^[2] Owusu-Breen added that the writing staff had a desire to find "something that anchored" Coulson, and a former lover was interesting to the writers.^[3]: 177

Concerning the character of Blackout, Bell stated that "He's the antagonist, in the same way we've used other Marvel characters as antagonists in the episodes. At the same time, we're dealing with the fall-out of what happened with S.H.I.E.L.D., and the viewers finding out about Ward and what's going on over there, so there's a lot going on. Emotionally, he's perfect. Here's a character who absorbs light, and one of the things he says to Audrey – which is the title of the episode – he refers to her as "the only light in the darkness." And his obsession with the cellist is a beautiful metaphor, I think, for who Coulson is to her, who she is to Coulson, who S.H.I.E.L.D. is to the world...and the idea of S.H.I.E.L.D. falling apart, and Hydra coming out and darkness speaking, the idea of having Blackout as an antagonist seemed perfect."^[2]

Casting

In March 2014, Marvel revealed that main cast members

Filming occurred from February 24 to March 5, 2014.[3]^: 175 Acker, who was filming Person of Interest at the time, was able to fly to Los Angeles for three days to film her scenes.^[3]: 179

Music

With the introduction of Acker as Audrey, "the cellist", in this episode, composer Bear McCreary was able to bring back the Cellist Theme he composed for a brief moment in "The Magical Place" where the character was mentioned. For the sequence in the episode where the character plays cello, McCreary "wrote a collection of three short, repetitive musical figures set to various tempos" for Acker to learn and mimic with a cello coach, before performing the scene. Once the scene had been cut together, McCreary wrote a piece of music that "97%" matched Acker's visible movements, including timing and pitch. Eric Byers of the Calder Quartet performed the solo piece, working closely with McCreary to again mimic Acker's performance. A particularly tricky moment had the character suddenly stop playing on the arrival of Brennan's Daniels, with Byers trying "a dozen different versions" before he and McCreary were satisfied. McCreary stated that the biggest challenge "was to take all those constraints and compose a piece of music that satisfied them all and yet felt soaring and lyrical. After all that, I had to write orchestral score around the cello performance to help sell the tension, emotion, horror and triumph."^[6]

Marvel Cinematic Universe tie-ins

The character of Audrey was first mentioned as "the cellist" in The Avengers as a love interest for Coulson.^[2]

Release

Broadcast

"The Only Light in the Darkness" was first aired in the United States on ABC on April 22, 2014.^[7]

Marketing

For the final six episodes, Marvel began the "

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 1.9/6 percent share among adults between the ages of 18 and 49, meaning that it was seen by 1.9 percent of all households, and 6 percent of all of those watching television at the time of the broadcast. It was watched by 5.37 million viewers.^[7]

References