Making Friends and Influencing People
Clark Gregg reprises his role as Coulson from the film series, and is joined by principal cast members Ming-Na Wen, Brett Dalton, Chloe Bennet, Iain De Caestecker, Elizabeth Henstridge, and Nick Blood.
The episode received a positive critical response, with the performance of De Caestecker praised, and the rom-com sequence featuring the character of Simmons also highlighted.
In September 2014, Marvel announced that the third episode of the season would be titled "Making Friends and Influencing People", to be written by Monica Owusu-Breen, with Bobby Roth directing.
[1] In September 2014, Marvel revealed that main cast members Clark Gregg, Ming-Na Wen, Chloe Bennet, Iain De Caestecker, Elizabeth Henstridge, and Nick Blood would star as Phil Coulson, Melinda May, Skye, Leo Fitz, Jemma Simmons, and Lance Hunter, respectively.
[1] It was also revealed that the guest cast for the episode would include Henry Simmons as Alphonso "Mack" Mackenzie, Reed Diamond as Daniel Whitehall, Dylan Minnette as Donnie Gill, Simon Kassianides as Sunil Bakshi, Adam Kulbersh as Kenneth Turgeon, Maya Stojan as Agent 33, David Diaan as Elias, Jarrod Crawford as Lead Hydra Agent, Nicholas Roth as Second Hydra Agent, Mo Darwiche as Ship's Captain, and Jesse D. Goins as Theo.
[3][4] Hydra's ability to brainwash people, referred to in this episode as the Faustus Method, was first introduced to the MCU in the film Captain America: The Winter Soldier,[5][6] and foreshadowed the character's appearance, as Johann Fennhoff, in the first season of Agent Carter, played by Ralph Brown.
[9] The episode began streaming on Netflix on June 11, 2015,[10] and was released along with the rest of the second season on September 18, 2015, on Blu-ray and DVD.
[9] Eric Goldman of IGN scored the episode an 8.5 out of 10, indicating a "Great" episode, and praised continued improvements over the first season, including the quality of visual effects, and the changes in the main characters, particularly Fitz, with Goldman saying "Fitz was the character I had the toughest time with in S.H.I.E.L.D.
's initial episodes – the joke of him and Simmons being so similar wore thin very quickly and I had trouble seeing the point of the character.
Goldman did criticize the character of Whitehall though, feeling that his casually evil manner didn't resonate as it was intended.
Club, graded the episode a "B+", and positively compared the "breezy montage of Simmons' morning routine" to Alias, calling it "a bold stylistic choice [that] could help Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.
He praised the separation and subsequent development of the characters of Fitz and Simmons, and highlighted De Caestecker's performance as the former.
[15] Rob Leane of Den of Geek summarized the episode by saying "a good fun super-powered romp was played, plot points were moved forward, and characters were developed."
