Review: Avengers Assemble "In Deep"

I honestly thought that this season had hit its high point earlier, but that apparently wasn't the case.

Can this please be the new "It's a trap!"?

I really did like this episode. But before I can talk about the stuff I like, I need to address a couple of my pet peeves. Just the big ones; I know I have a few. I'll leave the lack of a theme song out of this.

First of all, Black Widow gets marginalized again. But in this specific instance, I'm going to forgive it. This is a story about Cap and Tony. Complaining about Black Widow not having a larger role is like complaining that you didn't get to see more of Captain America in Thor: The Dark World. (Though that didn't stop a lot of people.) All the other Avengers were marginalized, too, and that's just because of the nature of the story.

Second of all, this is yet another story where Tony Stark gets to learn a lesson about technology.

Whoop.

De-freakin'.

Doo.

I am getting sick to death of this repeated story element.

Having said that, I'm going to be cutting this episode a modicum of slack for this, too. At least the story isn't about Tony Stark's over-reliance on tech. ...Okay, it kind of is, but only because this is a further exploration of the difference between Captain America and Iron Man. Cap's the Star-Spangled Man with the plan, and Iron Man is the hothead who rushes in and improvises.

Yes, that dynamic had been explored earlier in "Super-Adaptoid," but it actually comes front and center here. Though there is the unfortunate side effect of having the lesson Iron Man learned in that episode be completely forgotten by the time this episode airs.

But having said that, I kind of like the fact that the lesson isn't suddenly learned in a single episode. Real life doesn't work that way. It takes seven weeks to form or break a habit, and Tony's struggle to not rely on his technology wouldn't be something he could abandon overnight.

But then again, that clashes with the tone of these episodes as "lesson" episodes.

But ultimately, this is a good episode. The plot works, the characters are consistent, there's some snappy dialogue, and the Avengers are finally making pre-emptive moves against the Cabal.

This episode probably works better in hindsight, though. In a few episodes' time, Red Skull will finally do something about the lack of teamwork. I think his efforts to get the Cabal to work together was made more urgent by the debacle in this episode.

Uh, speaking of which... I think the destruction of the trident might have destabilized the oceans. Permanently. A sudden enormous whirlpool? That's going to raise Hell with the oceanic currents, raise tides, and probably mess up pretty much literally everything. But I've seen worse from this show, so I guess a wizard fixed everything. Thanks, Doctor Strange.

All in all, a solid installment in the series. Certainly better than when Iron Man learned the lesson in Iron Man and Captain America: Heroes United. Next time...

Best. Episode. Ever.

At least, a really good one. See you then.