Something to note is that whilst Agents of SHIELD is consistently being referred to as a Joss Whedon show it really isn't. He might have been involved with the writing and directing of the pilot and probably helped plot out the log lines for the future episodes to a certain degree, but he has been deep into pre-production and writing on Avengers 2. So saying that the writing misses his usual deftness or it feels out of place is a bit like saying last weeks episode of Supernatural wasn't one of Kripke's best. The dude is barely involved right now.
Not to say it was an amazing episode. They are slowly settling into their stride after having some more referential episodes - "Hey guys remember HYDRA" and "Hey guys this guy is Graviton in the comics" - and we will probably see a gradual rise in quality from this point on. Or not you never know.
Something to note is that whilst Agents of SHIELD is consistently being referred to as a Joss Whedon show it really isn't. He might have been involved with the writing and directing of the pilot and probably helped plot out the log lines for the future episodes to a certain degree, but he has been deep into pre-production and writing on Avengers 2. So saying that the writing misses his usual deftness or it feels out of place is a bit like saying last weeks episode of Supernatural wasn't one of Kripke's best. The dude is barely involved right now.
Not to say it was an amazing episode. They are slowly settling into their stride after having some more referential episodes - "Hey guys remember HYDRA" and "Hey guys this guy is Graviton in the comics" - and we will probably see a gradual rise in quality from this point on. Or not you never know.