+++Warning, this contains spoilers from season one, but no major season two spoilers+++
The second season of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has a lot going on. One of the main arcs is the fallout from the reveal (In Captain America: The Winter Soldier, which occurred at the end of the first season) that HYDRA had infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D. and that Ward was a double agent. There are a bunch of really good recurring characters in the Hydra storyline including Reed Diamond (playing Werner Reinhardt / Daniel Whitehall) and Adrian Pasdar (from the series Heroes) as major Glenn Talbot.
Then, there is a major story arc involving Skye and her father (played by Twin Peaks' Kyle MacLachlan), which ties into the Inhumans storyline (and brings in many great recurring actors such as Dichen Lachman and Luke Mitchell. Then, there are the tie-ins to the movies that were released during the second season, primarily, Avenger's Age of Ultron, and a loose tie-in with Guardians of the Galaxy, which reveals the race of the blue-skinned alien that we saw in season one and again in season two. Jamie Alexander makes another appearance as Lady Sif, and Cobie Smulders makes an appearance as Maria Hill. The two main additions to the regular cast are Nick Blood as Lance Hunter and Adrianne Palicki as Bobbi Morse. Hailey Atwell also reprises her role as Agent Carter for a cameo in the season premiere.
As far as the blu-ray set goes, it is a MOD set that is an Amazon exclusive. Thankfully, it is still priced reasonably well, so if you prefer physical media to streaming, you can get it on blu-ray. Just be aware, that after the second season, Amazon stopped the exclusive manufacturing, and to get the show on blu-ray you have to find an imported version. The final two seasons were not released on blu-ray or DVD in any mass format and so the only way to get them is to find a bootleg version (if you want one of those). So, it is not easy to keep a collection together, so if that is a big deal to you, then you may want to just stream it. The second-season blu-ray set is very light on extras. Just deleted scenes and a blooper reel.
Overall, the season is very good. While it does still have tie-ins to the MCU movies, the show really does start to stand on its own this season. Of course, as the seasons go on the show becomes less tied in with the movie, and is not "filler" to get from movie to movie as it seemed to be in season one. The acting and writing are both very good, and even though many of the cast members like Chloe Bennet, Iain De Caestecker, and Elizabeth Henstridge were still relatively new (at least in major TV roles), they do some of the best work in the show. And, Ming-Na Wen is always awesome. Of course, the Marvel Universe is basically one long (and large) intertwined story, and the show very much fits into that, but it also tells a good stand-alone story that is definitely worth watching.
The second season of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has a lot going on. One of the main arcs is the fallout from the reveal (In Captain America: The Winter Soldier, which occurred at the end of the first season) that HYDRA had infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D. and that Ward was a double agent. There are a bunch of really good recurring characters in the Hydra storyline including Reed Diamond (playing Werner Reinhardt / Daniel Whitehall) and Adrian Pasdar (from the series Heroes) as major Glenn Talbot.
Then, there is a major story arc involving Skye and her father (played by Twin Peaks' Kyle MacLachlan), which ties into the Inhumans storyline (and brings in many great recurring actors such as Dichen Lachman and Luke Mitchell. Then, there are the tie-ins to the movies that were released during the second season, primarily, Avenger's Age of Ultron, and a loose tie-in with Guardians of the Galaxy, which reveals the race of the blue-skinned alien that we saw in season one and again in season two. Jamie Alexander makes another appearance as Lady Sif, and Cobie Smulders makes an appearance as Maria Hill. The two main additions to the regular cast are Nick Blood as Lance Hunter and Adrianne Palicki as Bobbi Morse. Hailey Atwell also reprises her role as Agent Carter for a cameo in the season premiere.
As far as the blu-ray set goes, it is a MOD set that is an Amazon exclusive. Thankfully, it is still priced reasonably well, so if you prefer physical media to streaming, you can get it on blu-ray. Just be aware, that after the second season, Amazon stopped the exclusive manufacturing, and to get the show on blu-ray you have to find an imported version. The final two seasons were not released on blu-ray or DVD in any mass format and so the only way to get them is to find a bootleg version (if you want one of those). So, it is not easy to keep a collection together, so if that is a big deal to you, then you may want to just stream it. The second-season blu-ray set is very light on extras. Just deleted scenes and a blooper reel.
Overall, the season is very good. While it does still have tie-ins to the MCU movies, the show really does start to stand on its own this season. Of course, as the seasons go on the show becomes less tied in with the movie, and is not "filler" to get from movie to movie as it seemed to be in season one. The acting and writing are both very good, and even though many of the cast members like Chloe Bennet, Iain De Caestecker, and Elizabeth Henstridge were still relatively new (at least in major TV roles), they do some of the best work in the show. And, Ming-Na Wen is always awesome. Of course, the Marvel Universe is basically one long (and large) intertwined story, and the show very much fits into that, but it also tells a good stand-alone story that is definitely worth watching.
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