There was some freshness to this week’s Agents of SHIELD, as "Eye Spy" offered us a glimpse into pre-cinematic Coulson via the form of Akela Amador, his first protege.

Or, rather, a very brief compare and contrast of Coulson now and then.

While I was thrilled to learn that Coulson has mellowed a bit and was more willing to give someone a second chance, I was actually a little disappointed that we didn't get more of Amador's observed changes in Coulson. It also seemed like she was overly willing to drop the subject when Melinda offered an explanation.

Of course, that also makes me wonder why Melinda hasn't noticed more since she has known Coulson a long time as well. Then again, what if she actually knows what happened in “Tahiti” and was actually there to help keep Coulson from figuring it out? So she is specifically is not asking him about the differences?

For this week, I was thrilled we got to see Melinda in action (however brief it was). The way she dodged the steak knife that Amador threw at here was down right cheer worthy. 

On the flip side, we had the groan-worthy gag with Skye not being able to tell the difference between the safety and clip release on a hand gun. Here is a hint Skye: the safety is a flip lever, the magazine release is a push button. I know it was added for humor, but seriously, there are other ways to be funny.

For example, take later in the hour when Skye was trying to get Ward to “bromance” the guard because he was supposed to be Amador and seduce the him. That had me laughing well enough that I had to do a quick rewind to catch all of the dialog. 

Additionally, Fitz and Simmons needing to do eye surgery on Amador while she was awake for the procedure - and watching Amador help Simmons do the injection into her eye - wasn't funny at all; in fact, it was actually kind of horrifying. Let’s move on.

Overall, I loved that the tone, tempo and pace of the episode. It was more spy-vs-spy and even with the expected humor quips that we get each week, it felt a little tense throughout. 

So, I’m giving this episode 4.5 bionic exploding eyes in honor of Coulson’s cycloptic first protege. I hope she makes a full recovery.

Jim G. is a TV Fanatic Staff Writer. Follow him on Twitter.