And I can't help but quote the review from The A.V. Club:
Why is S.H.I.E.L.D. so wildly incompetent? Except for the plucky agents on The Bus, the rest of the spy organization has been portrayed as a group so obsessed with sticking to protocol that it rarely accomplishes whatever mission its engaged in, whether it’s obtaining the Overkill device or rescuing a captured Agent Coulson in “The Magical Place.” Victoria Hand (Saffron Burrows) has replaced Nick Fury and Maria Hill as the commanding S.H.I.E.L.D. officer on this series (until Cobie Smulders joins the cast after How I Met Your Mother ends), and her main role is to make sure everyone follows strict rules so that the core cast can succeed by breaking them. I understand the narrative purpose for why the writers have moved in that direction, but it also makes me wonder how the hell S.H.I.E.L.D. could become so powerful if its always fething up. Maybe there’s an unseen branch that is always making smart decisions off-screen; if that’s the case, can we follow them instead?
“The Magical Place” is an improvement over the last couple episodes, but it still falls flat in a lot of ways. If I had to pick one word to describe this series, it’s “bland,” which is most definitely not the description a spy series set in a superhero universe should garner. The relationships are bland. The dialogue is bland. The action sequences are bland. The special effects are bland. (However much it cost for that one scene of The Bus changing course, it could have been used better elsewhere.) S.H.I.E.L.D. is currently the Saltine of action adventure television, which is especially sad considering the show’s potential. It’s as if the writers are afraid of taking any chances whatsoever, which may very well be the case with a property as micromanaged as this one.
I thought Skye was great in this one. That's about it. This show needs to stop faffing about and start being good.
Can't disagree with any of that. This show has so much potential that is going to waste. I'm going to tune into the new episodes as an act of faith but if it doesn't up it's game soon I'm bowing out.
I read that AV Club review earlier to help decide if should continue to watch the show. I did not watch it. Unless something really changes with the series it is just to 'meh' to keep up with.
easysauce wrote: bowed out of this a bit ago... dont know how they managed to make this show soooo bad... it had so much potential...
take out the sapppy crapppy stuff, pour some serious sauce and good action/meaning full mysterys/drama/adventure....
as it is its all centered around the emotions of the muggles instead of the adventures they should have....
lamesauce...
I think you finally summed up how I felt about trying to watch the first season. I don't think I would have been surprised if they pulled characters aside for a "Real World"-esque monologue.
Watched the first couple of episodes yesterday. My main problem with it is... the cast is terrible, the two sciency people and the " new chick" are just annoying whenever they show their faces. The badass stereotype guy is less interesting then a suffocating goldfish.
And well, you make a series about SHIELD and then don't really add anything that would otherwise suggest it's connected to marvel.... doesn't help much. You could replace the name of this series and pretend it's just another lame sci-fi series and none would be the wiser.
My main issue with the cast is how they're mostly absurdly and unfittingly young to appeal to younger audiences, presumably. The scientists are the absolute worst case.
Coulson also sucks in this to the point that I can't spare the seconds it would take me to find out the name of the actor. Maybe the low quality expectation of the director meant he wasn't putting in his full and best effort, he's nowhere near as good as in the movies.
I just feel Extremis was the worst way to go, should have gone down the Hydra/Aim route... have the Agents revealing the forces have been rebuilding since WW2, and go from there. Hydra and Shield have a pretty good supporting cast.. I mean how are they ten or so episodes in and we've not had a Agent 13 cameo yet.
edit - its certainly not enough make mine Marvel for my tastes though.
The saddest part of this is because of weak viewing figures, Channel 4 may not take a chance on potentially good American shows in the future. So if something half decent comes along, we might miss out because channel 4 got their fingers burnt with SHIELD.
I started watching the first season and didnt finish it. I will probably catch up with it but honestly wouldn't if it didn't have the licence. If it was a generic sci fi show (Which it is) but without the marvel/shield licence I dont think people would have stuck with it for so long.
Characters need fleshing out and need to show off their qualities. By being actual people. Acting and doing what normal people do. The missions should be more dangerous and the baddies should be more numerous.
Most of SHIELD's problem is just that the writing is plain lazy. Like the people making the show don't give a gak and are just going through the motions.
Strangely the limit of agents of shield's interaction with the greater marvel universe (ignoring that one episode with an asgardian) seems to be awkwardly referencing the avengers.
"My iron levels are a little high but don't start calling me Iron Man"
Frankly he's good in the movies because you don't get too much of him. Coulsen is like salt. You have to speckle him or you spoil the meal. Building a show around him was a bad idea. He's not that charming to begin with and they honestly seem like they expected Coulsen alone could carry this show.
Given that his death was one with meaning to it, bringing him back for this fiasco is a slap in the face.
Corpsesarefun wrote: Strangely the limit of agents of shield's interaction with the greater marvel universe (ignoring that one episode with an asgardian) seems to be awkwardly referencing the avengers.
That's its problem (well, one of them at least). It's only making references whilst skirting around the edges of the MCU rather than being part of the MCU. It's maddening.
Especially since they already know (presumably) the plots of the films being released in the next year or so. Would it kill them to use AoShield as a tie in? You're already spending who knows what on the show. Might as well factor it into your advertising campaign.
LordofHats wrote: Most of SHIELD's problem is just that the writing is plain lazy. Like the people making the show don't give a gak and are just going through the motions.
Honestly the writing is just Whedon by the numbers.
Seriously. You can figure out what the episode will have as a plot within the first five minutes, complete with twist and turns.
Honestly the writing is just Whedon by the numbers.
Joss Whedon by the numbers still manages to carry dramatic tension and charm, both of which are wholly lacking from AoShield so lets not pin this on Whedon. He has enough crap piled at his feet already he doesn't need to take the blame for something he talked about making while most of the show is cooked up in the back room.
EDIT: If we want to blame the show on a Whedon, its probably Jed Whedon who deserves the blame cause he's the one actually writing most of the series and unlike his brother is completely talentless. You'd think that after he managed to take something as interesting as Dollhouse and bury it into the crapper his brother would have realized that.
less of an F-lister than Graviton was? I'm not familiar with either character, but that's only particularly damning for Graviton, given that I was reading Thunderbolts at the time he was one of their villains and I apparently found him utterly forgettable. I mean, I still wish they'd taken the opportunity to introduce Luke Cage in the first episode instead of Mike Peterson, but maybe third time's the charm.
less of an F-lister than Graviton was? I'm not familiar with either character, but that's only particularly damning for Graviton, given that I was reading Thunderbolts at the time he was one of their villains and I apparently found him utterly forgettable. I mean, I still wish they'd taken the opportunity to introduce Luke Cage in the first episode instead of Mike Peterson, but maybe third time's the charm.
Yeah, he's pretty obscure, but Marvel attempted several times to make him more mainstream(like putting him in Maximum Carnage).
less of an F-lister than Graviton was? I'm not familiar with either character, but that's only particularly damning for Graviton, given that I was reading Thunderbolts at the time he was one of their villains and I apparently found him utterly forgettable. I mean, I still wish they'd taken the opportunity to introduce Luke Cage in the first episode instead of Mike Peterson, but maybe third time's the charm.
Yeah, he's pretty obscure, but Marvel attempted several times to make him more mainstream(like putting him in Maximum Carnage).
yeah, I consider myself to be fairly knowledgeable on the marvel universe, but I only know of Deathlok from a recent issue of Cable & X-Force where a Deathlok unit appeared for a couple of panels before teleporting out.
Should I bother watching past episode 8? I only got that far because it's been continually recommended to me by a close friend, who I normally share taste in TV with, but for the most part AoShield has bored me senseless.
The only episodes I enjoyed were the one with the electrostatic virus (the Fitz-Simmons thing got to me) and the first bit of the pilot (while I still thought the main character was going to be Luke Cage).
greenskin lynn wrote: well, i was about ready to give up on it, then ep 11 filled in more on what actually happened to colson, so now i kinda give a crap again
Yeah same here, mostly because it brought back a bit of connection again with the greater universe.
greenskin lynn wrote: well, i was about ready to give up on it, then ep 11 filled in more on what actually happened to colson, so now i kinda give a crap again
Yeah same here, mostly because it brought back a bit of connection again with the greater universe.
I was already enjoying it, but that episode definitely seemed better than those previous.
Was anyone else surprised by just how grisly the explanation was?
greenskin lynn wrote: well, i was about ready to give up on it, then ep 11 filled in more on what actually happened to colson, so now i kinda give a crap again
Yeah same here, mostly because it brought back a bit of connection again with the greater universe.
I was already enjoying it, but that episode definitely seemed better than those previous.
Was anyone else surprised by just how grisly the explanation was?
Not really, we have yet to get the full reason, or hell, a reason that they did it in the first place.
greenskin lynn wrote: well, i was about ready to give up on it, then ep 11 filled in more on what actually happened to colson, so now i kinda give a crap again
Yeah same here, mostly because it brought back a bit of connection again with the greater universe.
I was already enjoying it, but that episode definitely seemed better than those previous.
Was anyone else surprised by just how grisly the explanation was?
Not really, we have yet to get the full reason, or hell, a reason that they did it in the first place.
That's true, a reasoning behind exactly why would be nice.
I meant more that I was surprised, based on how little blood and guts there have been shown in the show previously (lots of enemies of the week 'fading away' or dying in explosions), that they went and showed the whole thing with
Honestly, America is so uptight about blood on TV. Switch to any documentary focussed channel here and there is a big risk of seeing an operation in full view etc.
Oh I agree that it wasn't at all grisly in the scheme of things, more that based on the level of 'grislyness' set by the other episodes, it was rather unexpected.
We have the same issues with documentaries over here; my parents seem to have an uncanny knack of only ever eating at times when the only things on tv are hospital documentaries
Soladrin wrote: Honestly, America is so uptight about blood on TV. Switch to any documentary focussed channel here and there is a big risk of seeing an operation in full view etc.
America, stop pretending your idea of pc is good.
Switch to any paid network and you'll see tons of blood, nudity, and violence. Look at Games of Thrones for example.
The issue with Agents of SHIELD is that it is at an 8pm timeslot(which is considered "family primetime") and that Marvel/ABC Studios don't want a bloody, violent show. They want something that can feasibly be watched as a family with children in the room.
Soladrin wrote: Honestly, America is so uptight about blood on TV. Switch to any documentary focussed channel here and there is a big risk of seeing an operation in full view etc.
America, stop pretending your idea of pc is good.
... what is this coming from?
Game of Thrones
Spoiler:
Walking Dead
Spoiler:
Breaking Bad
Spoiler:
Spartacus
Spoiler:
America has the most violent media on the planet, lol.
For the most part though violent media isn't aired on prime time channels. You need to pay extra for Starz and HBO, and AMC not only airs its more violent programming later at night, but they air them on off nights when there minimal competition on other channels and on non-TV nights, ie nights where the only reason someone might be watching TV is too specifically see that show.
You don't normally find that kind of stuff on ABC or during prime time except in crime dramas, and even then the violence is fairly reserved. ABC in particular isn't going to be showing that level of violence.
Yep, time of day has a lot of to do with the level of violence you'll see on TV. No one wants to show ultra-violence during primetime when all the kiddies are awake and watching it too.
... except for AMC, who just doesn't give a gak anymore. Lol 24-hour long Breaking Bad runs.
AMC I think knows their demographic well enough. They air adult programming, not family programming. They properly expect that the content of their programming is such that parents are aware of what is airing, and will exercise discretion.
Whether they do or not... I have doubts...
I'd actually argue there's more violence in books than TV. I mean, a little girl gets turned into a kebab in Hunger Games, literally in a book marketed to adolescent and teen readers (and thats not even getting into the gak storm of Mocking Jay). We let stuff slide in books and movies that would never fly on TV.
All cable shows where the broadcast standards basically don't apply. And in Breaking Bad they still cut the F-word.
Exactly, in it's coming from how America still tries it's best to appear like it's against it all. It's just funny. What you did there just help me prove my point. I just find it odd how you can't embrace it, America always appears so... prude.
Anyway, sorry for the derail.
I agree what this series needs isn't ultraviolence, it's a competent writer and some risk taking.
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LordofHats wrote: AMC I think knows their demographic well enough. They air adult programming, not family programming. They properly expect that the content of their programming is such that parents are aware of what is airing, and will exercise discretion.
Whether they do or not... I have doubts...
I'd actually argue there's more violence in books than TV. I mean, a little girl gets turned into a kebab in Hunger Games, literally in a book marketed to adolescent and teen readers (and thats not even getting into the gak storm of Mocking Jay). We let stuff slide in books and movies that would never fly on TV.
Because it's not real unless you can see it right? Otherwise you could argue music can also be worse.
Yeah, of all people. I'm as amazed as you are, given the last time I saw Blizzard (in the excellent Earth's Mightiest Heroes cartoon... damn you Marvel for cancelling it!) he was mostly a joke character.
Yeah, of all people. I'm as amazed as you are, given the last time I saw Blizzard (in the excellent Earth's Mightiest Heroes cartoon... damn you Marvel for cancelling it!) he was mostly a joke character.
Yeah, I marathoned the first season while revising yesterday and the day before (due to someone's comment in the Hank Pym thread about his portrayal), and Blizzard turned up twice: once during a mass break-out, and once again so they could go "look at how scary this thing is! It's made Blizzard act all pathetic!"
You'd think that if they wanted to boost ratings by bringing in another side character from the films they'd pick someone who appeared for more than a grand total of 15 minutes (or maybe they'd just fix their bad writing).
LordofHats wrote: You'd think that if they wanted to boost ratings by bringing in another side character from the films they'd pick someone who appeared for more than a grand total of 15 minutes (or maybe they'd just fix their bad writing).
That depends. If they want to boost their ratings among women, they'd have Chris Hemsworth shirtless. If they want to boost their ratings among men, they'd have Jaimie Alexander shirtless.
I'd argue, as far as Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D is concerned, the whole point of the show should be its guest stars.
In my view, SHIELD should be the thing that keeps Marvel in peoples minds between films, there should be direct relationships between SHIELD and the films. Not just random tangent episodes like the Dark World one. SHIELD should act as the prologue and the aftermath of the big films.
So, yeah, Sif should pop up on the show, come tell us how Thor's coping with Loki's 'death,' give us hints and tips on what Asgards new management is doing...
Maybe a plot device found in SHIELD ends up being used by The Cap in The Winter Soldier?
Or perhaps, if after they had finished filming Iron Man 3, they got Gwyneth Paltrow or Robert Downey Junior to film a series of 'Stark Industries' adverts that they can pepper around scenes in the background of SHIELD episodes?
An example of the sort of thing I'm trying to get at is how SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis crossed over when both shows were running. Items would travel across, people would chat with each other, it felt like the same world.
On the other hand, SHIELD before Christmas, quite often felt like it had as much in common with The Marvel Action Hour as the films 'universe.'
Compel wrote: I'd argue, as far as Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D is concerned, the whole point of the show should be its guest stars.
It isn't the point of Arrow and they have "guests" all the time. When they brought in Barry Allen to set up the spin-off, they used him well and were true to the character he was before he got his powers. He was a guest. He was part of the story in an non-intrusive way. He even had a valid reason to be there as part of the narrative. Samuel Jackson was just eye candy at the end to remind people, "Hey! This is part of Marvel and we're tied into the movies we want to to go see."
Compel wrote: In my view, SHIELD should be the thing that keeps Marvel in peoples minds between films
I didn't go to Thor 2 because there was a tie-in to S.H.I.E.L.D. In fact, I don't know anyone who did. If this is a real reason for the show then it is failing horribly.
Compel wrote: So, yeah, Sif should pop up on the show, come tell us how Thor's coping with Loki's 'death,' give us hints and tips on what Asgards new management is doing...
Maybe but I don't see them handling it like that. I don't see the story even mattering in the long run because it certainly won't tie into Thor 3 or the Avengers 2. I expect it to be a filler episode where we watch the agents do the obligatory hero worship and then move on to an unrelated story.
Compel wrote: Maybe a plot device found in SHIELD ends up being used by The Cap in The Winter Soldier?
That would at least be interesting but again, not likely to ever happen given how the show has been run so far.
Compel wrote: An example of the sort of thing I'm trying to get at is how SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis crossed over when both shows were running. Items would travel across, people would chat with each other, it felt like the same world.
I expect more like how Bones and The Finder were mishandled. The Finder's pilot was shoehorned into an episode of Bones and they had a couple of secondary characters from Bones show up in The Finder. Other than that the two shows had nothing at all to do with each other and the tie-ins felt forced and contrived.
I'd love it if they would do what you suggest, I've just seen too many Joss Whedon series to believe it will.
Not all shows with guest stars do so because they're about to die . Psych has had regular guest star appearances from its third season (its ratings were at its highest after the second) onward and they're now on their 8th season. In this case though they're brining in a character from elsewhere in a franchise, usually only done out of nostalgia (Scotty on TNG) or boost ratings (Worf on DS9). This series hasn't been around long enough to have any nostalgia.
LordofHats wrote: Not all shows with guest stars do so because they're about to die . Psych has had regular guest star appearances from its third season (its ratings were at its highest after the second) onward and they're now on their 8th season. In this case though they're brining in a character from elsewhere in a franchise, usually only done out of nostalgia (Scotty on TNG) or boost ratings (Worf on DS9). This series hasn't been around long enough to have any nostalgia.
In Psych's case, they make their guest stars a big selling point.
In fact this season has Bruce Campbell making an appearance, fresh off Burn Notice's fantastic ending.
LordofHats wrote: Not all shows with guest stars do so because they're about to die . Psych has had regular guest star appearances from its third season (its ratings were at its highest after the second) onward and they're now on their 8th season. In this case though they're brining in a character from elsewhere in a franchise, usually only done out of nostalgia (Scotty on TNG) or boost ratings (Worf on DS9). This series hasn't been around long enough to have any nostalgia.
In Psych's case, they make their guest stars a big selling point.
So did Love Boat. Every week was another Hollywood B-lister. Well, C-lister more frequently as the B-listers all went to Fantasy Island.
I watched the episode that aired on 1/15. The show does seem to be getting consistantly better. Two weeks in a row I didn't roll my eyes more than once. I'll watch this weeks tomorrow morning, maybe, if I manage to get thru Justified and Arrow before the wife wakes up
Centipede is a front for Cybertek, meaning we're about to see J August Richards become Deathlok. Further, I predict that while Harlan Ryker will play a role, the real big bad is someone up the food chain at the Roxxon Corporation. (Who's logo we have seen in the background in several eps and is Cybertek's parent company) Most likely this will turn out to be Hugh Jones, CEO of Roxxon, longtime dabbler in creating supersoldiers, and sometime owner of another Cosmic Cube level pan-dimensional artifact, the Serpent Crown.
However, just to twist things a little further, and more or less bring the whole deal full circle, there's one more player in this: Jones was being manipulated not only by the power behind the crown, but also by another person.
Everytime I catch a bit of this show it just bores me to tears within about 18 seconds and I move on. Its like the Society of Bad Actors joined up with the Organization of Boring Writers, took a bag of valium, and filmed it.
Consider this Roxxon connection too: Aleksander Lukin, owner of Roxxon is not only the Winter Soldier's former handler, but has a connection to the Red Skull.
Which is one of my biggest annoyances at the moment. How the hell did Fox put Madam Hydra/Viper into Wolverine when although she's been in a bare handful of his comics, she is strongly linked and considered a main villian of the Avengers/Shield and we already have Hydra in the Avengers continuity.
How does Fox use her, but Marvel can't use the Skrull, or the word Mutant. It doesn't make any sense, unless she's a character who can be in both?
Towards the end the episode got a lot of momentum.
Earlier on though it felt very...silly. The continual backtracking was very annoying to me.
Also: Agreed. Stupid Winter Olympics pushing new episodes of pretty much everything(not "Almost Human" though as they have a new episode next Monday, apparently!) back.
I thought Almost Human (super legit show by the way, you should all check it out) had a month delay as well that I cursed given the To Be Continued nature of the latest episode.
Very legit episode. I wonder if it's too late to save the series though. What was that at the end? Actual character/plot development? Say it isn't so! I'm happy with the direction this is going.
I think 4-5 episodes in was a little early to be calling the series a dud. Quite a few series sometimes need time to find their feet. This one seems to be now which is could be good. Haven't seen the newest one yet but if it's as good as the last two then they are definitely headed in the right direction.
agnosto wrote: I wonder if it's too late to save the series though.
I doubt it's too late. The negative reactions to SHIELD have been fairly consistent in their criticisms, so much so that it would be hard for the writers to ignore the fact that many different places are all pointing out the same flaws. In the past two weeks alone I've read articles on Blastr, IGN, TV.com and The A.V. Club that all talked about what SHIELD was getting right and what SHIELD was getting wrong. They pretty much all said the same thing, and it appears that there's been enough of a shift in the way they tell stories between the first half and the second half of the season that you could almost hear the "clunk" as they shifted gears. And that's a good thing.
And lots of shows have rough first seasons. My fav show of all time, Stargate SG-1, had a pretty horrendous set of initial episodes. Spartacus was almost offensively bad for its first 3-4 episodes, and the suddenly became amazing and never stopped being good. Arrow, my current fav TV show, had a terrible start with an overblown voice-over and lots of questionable narrative choices, but has matured to the point where it's one of two shows I look forward to each week (well, three, now that Archer's back), the other being Person of Interest. It's rare for a show to hit the ground running (Stargate Atlantis is one of the few recent ones I can think of, and even that's not all that recent), and SHIELD certainly stumbled out of the blocks.
The reason we notice it more is twofold. The first is that it's such a high profile show. It's coming off of The Avengers, a movie that was the culmination of a decade’s work in making a shared universe. The idea that a studio could make 5 separate films involving 4 different sets of characters and link them together cohesively in a 6th is pretty amazing, and they’re still going strong (Avengers 2 will be the 11th film in this shared universe). So to then go and add a TV show linked to that means that far more eyes will be on it, magnifying its faults.
The second is that the TV landscape has changed. People now watch entire seasons in a day (or a weekend), and the slow grind of a week-to-week procedural with limited serialisation is something a lot of people are moving away from. There will always be shows designed in a way so that you can watch them in almost any order – the shows that do well in syndication – but people’s tastes are shifting. We’re getting some pretty amazing quality television as of late, and SHIELD fell way short of that mark. I’m not saying SHIELD needs to be Breaking Bad, House of Cards or even The Wire (or even The Shield, geddit? ), but it did need to step up its game to at least be as good as Arrow is now. The fact that it’s taken so long is a mark against it, but it’s not a fatal mistake.
They can come back from this, and it seems that they are. Just a pity that we’re getting multi-week breaks between episodes right now. Not the shows fault, sure, but it’s not as if they didn’t know the Winter Olympics were coming.
I doubt it's too late. The negative reactions to SHIELD have been fairly consistent in their criticisms, so much so that it would be hard for the writers to ignore the fact that many different places are all pointing out the same flaws. In the past two weeks alone I've read articles on Blastr, IGN, TV.com and The A.V. Club that all talked about what SHIELD was getting right and what SHIELD was getting wrong. They pretty much all said the same thing, and it appears that there's been enough of a shift in the way they tell stories between the first half and the second half of the season that you could almost hear the "clunk" as they shifted gears. And that's a good thing.
And lots of shows have rough first seasons. My fav show of all time, Stargate SG-1, had a pretty horrendous set of initial episodes. Spartacus was almost offensively bad for its first 3-4 episodes, and the suddenly became amazing and never stopped being good. Arrow, my current fav TV show, had a terrible start with an overblown voice-over and lots of questionable narrative choices, but has matured to the point where it's one of two shows I look forward to each week (well, three, now that Archer's back), the other being Person of Interest. It's rare for a show to hit the ground running (Stargate Atlantis is one of the few recent ones I can think of, and even that's not all that recent), and SHIELD certainly stumbled out of the blocks.
The reason we notice it more is twofold. The first is that it's such a high profile show. It's coming off of The Avengers, a movie that was the culmination of a decade’s work in making a shared universe. The idea that a studio could make 5 separate films involving 4 different sets of characters and link them together cohesively in a 6th is pretty amazing, and they’re still going strong (Avengers 2 will be the 11th film in this shared universe). So to then go and add a TV show linked to that means that far more eyes will be on it, magnifying its faults.
The second is that the TV landscape has changed. People now watch entire seasons in a day (or a weekend), and the slow grind of a week-to-week procedural with limited serialisation is something a lot of people are moving away from. There will always be shows designed in a way so that you can watch them in almost any order – the shows that do well in syndication – but people’s tastes are shifting. We’re getting some pretty amazing quality television as of late, and SHIELD fell way short of that mark. I’m not saying SHIELD needs to be Breaking Bad, House of Cards or even The Wire (or even The Shield, geddit? ), but it did need to step up its game to at least be as good as Arrow is now. The fact that it’s taken so long is a mark against it, but it’s not a fatal mistake.
They can come back from this, and it seems that they are. Just a pity that we’re getting multi-week breaks between episodes right now. Not the shows fault, sure, but it’s not as if they didn’t know the Winter Olympics were coming.
Thank you for the intelligent, succinct analysis. I agree that the multi-week break is going to be a drag, especially coming off of 2-3 very successful episodes. I'm not a big fan of where Skye's story is going but I see the draw for it and it could work out as long as they don't draw it out too long beat us across the face too much with her inner turmoil over her mysterious past (seriously, does every conversation have to end with her trying to dig for information? It makes the character tiresome.)
I think Deathlok is a great character to bring in, especially in the 40th anniversary year of the character; he's a fitting character for the SHIELD universe in that he's struggling to gain control of his own destiny and is basically a likable guy. We'll see where it goes. And I do like the character development in the last few episodes; they really needed to be fleshed out of the cardboard cut-out personas that they began the year as (super-spy, assassin, nerd and nerdette, captain-dad, double agent). We now have a love interest angle and the actors are showing much more depth in their characters than before.
Cheers.
As for new shows. I quite like Black Sails so far.
Saw the first episode of that. Thought it was a little slow, although it did surprise me in that the obvious antagonist (the guy who wanted to be Captain) was killed before the first episode ended. Haven't seen any others since then, but I'm willing to give it a chance.
So, I'm really looking forward to the 4 netflix series marvel is working on... Luke Cage is still one of my favourites. This show getting better gives me just that little bit of extra hope for those.
I presume because they're on Netflix and not on generic network TV that they'll be able to take a few more risks. Moreover, the four characters chosen for the series they're working on are a bit more high profile, so I'd imagine they've been given more freedom of scope.
My main question is: Will they be linked to the MCU? I certainly hope they are, as Luke Cage and Iron Fist showing up in an Avengers movie, or teaming up with Scott Lang in an Ant-Man movie could be quite cool.
I also hope that Agent Carter show gets off the ground. I finally opened my Iron Man 3 Blu-Ray that I've had for a few months and watched both IM3 and the Agent Carter One-Shot. The Agent Carter thing was the best thing on the disc.
I doubt they will show up in Avengers 2 since the series are slated for a 2016 release. Avengers: ultron owns being a 2015 movie, though it would make for some good early hype.
Well I said an Avengers movie. Doesn't have to specifically be the next one. Chances are we'll have to get new Avengers eventually as I doubt RDJ is going to stick around after this one, and I don't think Chris Hemsworth likes the routine he has to undergo to get into shape for Thor.
I didn't know either. I had to look him up. Same goes for Victoria Hand and the guy Bill Paxton will be playing in the next few episodes. Still, the more people they bring in from the comics, the better. We're getting Sif in a few episodes time as well, so that's awesome.
Baron Strucker: Strucker is rumored to be involved in the creation of Ultron in the next Avengers film, and is another Hydra leader. Would be interesting if the show leads into the next avengers film after the first one lead into it.
Baron Zemo: The Clairvoyant seems to prefer Zemo's MO, and has a definite like for high tech. Founder of the Masters of Evil, and likes to get super villains into his employ by manipulating events. Given what's happened so far this whole thing may be him setting up a bunch of super villains so he can then spring them from Shield.
There's also the connection that Ultron reformed the Masters of Evil following Zemo's demise.
Kang the Conqueror: A time traveler would explain how he know what will happen and has happened, as Kang is an expert in, what is for him, History (and Coulson's resurrection seems to have been kept a very big secret, even from him). Further Kang is something of a puppetmaster in order to keep the future he comes from viable. He also tends to use the highest tech available in the time period he's in, in an attempt to avert paradox.
H.B.M.C. wrote: Kang's a little too much for a bunch of SHIELD agents to take on.
You're forgetting both that Kang has no super powers of his own, and part of his weird personal world view is to 'fight fair' ie not bring anything that his targets can't conceivably beat. (as he explained when asked why he simply didn't go back in time and kill Reed Richards as a child.) Taking on a team of shield agents probably isn't his end game, but could conceivably be part of a larger ploy.
My suggested Villian for A.o.S.
Rupert Grint, aka Ron Weasley, as Arcade! He has the right look, can be coached on the laugh and accent, and would be the right level of bad guy for the show and could be recurring.
Arcade has appeared in nearly every Marvel title, and has even gone after several villians.
He is more of a Marvel Universe baddie than a title specific one.
As for his MO... he started by going after normal people, which would fit, then moved on to bigger fish like supers.
SHIELD got away with including Skrull text in that episode where Ward and Fitz go out on a mission together, so there's clearly some leeway in what they can and cannot include.
Arcade's a difficult one though. He's kinda dumb - he makes a big amusement park meant to kill you, and somehow no one can find this non-super-powered stooge? - and you really have to find one-off situations where he fits. Plus if he puts the team into Murderworld and no one dies then he's not an interesting or even threatening villain.
Even making Arcade make sense in the broader scale of the universe is difficult. I'll pick three examples:
1. Marvel Ultimate Alliance. This is a PC game from a few years back where some Baron Mordo shenanigans sends your teleporting team from their chosen destination (Castle Doom) to a version of Murder World disguised as Castle Doom (at least at first). You fight your way through because you start out trapped. That worked for the most part, but then you fight arcade's giant robot suit and it feels really silly.
2. Agenvers Arena. This is less about Arcade and more about the characters stuck within. And it's just Battle Royale/The Hunger Games with Marvel Characters, and I don't think that'd work on TV (especially if none of the characters can die).
3. Avengers Alliance. This facebook game recently did a big Arcade/Avengers Arena event, and to make it plausible that your team (consisting of everyone from Thor through to Ghost Rider) could be threatened by Arcade they had to give him supreme technological, psychic and magical abilities far and above any one hero.
Now try to translate that into Agents of SHIELD. The show would need far more reoccuring characters (that can be killed off to raise the stakes), and you'd have to make Arcade into something more than a joke character.
Seriously? You start with an important person, politician, business person, or a couple Shield agents being found murdered in an abandoned warehouse. A clue (perhaps left on purpose) leads to the possibility of it being Arcade.
Then the less combat oriented get kidnapped and placed in Murderworld. Plus there is the Sky sl they opened that could be the reason for same.
Maybe May had a run in with him previously, which leads to some interplay with Colson and the others. Make it a 2 parter ...
It doesn't make Arcade any less dumb. And again, you've highlighted the exact problem I mentioned - you can't kill anyone. Your suggestion has nobody’s being killed off, and then main characters getting dragged in; main characters who will inevitably survive as their names are in the credits. There’s no tension. No suspense. No stakes.
A story like that needs to be about how they survive, not if they survive. That’s what worked with the last episode of SHIELD – all the different ways they made it off the train (or didn’t) and how they ended up at the mansion in the end. With Arcade… he’s a 1-note villain who puts the characters into slow moving death traps which they all escape anyway. That doesn’t sound at all interesting.
I'd be glad to be rid of Arcade permanently. If I had ever liked the character, I sure as hell wouldn't now, after Marvel chose to sacrifice characters we actually like on his altar, to try to prop up this loser's credibility.
Have to agree with the rest.... arcade is way to silly to make it in here. Honoustly one of the least interesting villains I can name off the top of my head.
Ok, so I think we all can say that Arcade is most likely NOT the Clairvoyant. Personally I think it's Kang.
Being a historian from the future would explain a whole lot, particularly in the light of Shield not having anyone with actual powers like that on file.
Someone in/from Hydra would make more sense in my mind. They've been under cover for a while, and are about to come back onto the scene in a big way thanks to Avengers 2.
The problem with Zemo is that the clairvoyant is apparently telling people in advance that certain things will happen, including things he does not directly control. This indicates he has some actual foreknowledge of events. Skye more or less shows up randomly following the raid (remember the guard in the train car tries to disable everyone with a grenade) but Quinn says that the Clairvoyant told him in advance that she would show up. Not Shield, but her in particular. Further, Deathlok states that he had his orders in advance, suggesting that the Clairvoyant briefed him about the security guards failure before putting him in a cryotube.
H.B.M.C. wrote: I don't think it's Kang. To big an enemy to use in this show. It'll be someone small scale, like the Mad Thinker or someone.
Well, while we've had Deathlok and Blizzard, we also had Graviton, who has gone toe to toe with Thor, and on occasion defeated the combined Avengers and Fantastic Four. He's able to teleport, fly, and generate 20kt range energy blasts.
In upcoming eps we're seeing more 'big time' names like Sif and Lorelei as well, so there's definitely some ramping up going on.
Based on the way they're talking about the reveal, it sounds more like the villain is a big time guy rather than someone small scale like Thinker or Tinkerer.
H.B.M.C. wrote: I don't think it's Kang. To big an enemy to use in this show. It'll be someone small scale, like the Mad Thinker or someone.
I agree, someone on the scale of Deathlok. I think the clairvoyant is MODOK and Centipede is actually AIM (who already showed up in Iron Man 3, hello crossover).
Think about it. MODOK ties in with the cosmic cube thing in the avengers, he can't see the future but has insanely advanced powers to predict probabilities and has a loooong history of conflict with SHIELD in the comics...
The problem with MODOK is that it doesn't explain how the Clairvoyant seems to know things that have not happened yet.
Also, we run into the issue that the marvel cinematic universe owes more to Ultimate Marvel than 616 Marvel. This means that MODOK is tied to Galactus, not AIM.
From a more practical issue, the cost of the special effect for MODOK would probably kill the series budget.
We also have the issue that while Hawk is in Winter Soldier, Aldrich Killian's actor Guy Peirce (who would be MODOK if they follow the Ultimate origin for MODOK as he was transformed by extremis like nanomachines brought to earth by Galactus) has denied he will be in Agents of Shield. You also run into the issue wherein his 616 origin he's technically a mutant, due to being forcibly mutated by AIM using the Cube.
Honoustly, I think we need a bigger clue on the clairvoyant to make any guesses. All we really know is: evil and possible precog(and we don't even in know what kind of way).
agnosto wrote: But AIM vs. SHIELD would make for an awesome 2nd season and ties in with how centipede keeps coming up with the same or higher tech...
So would Kang, plus you have the whole 'he knows what some of us will do before we do it.' Think about it, it's not just precog, he knows weird little details of Coulson's past, so it's not just precog. Further this could be fairly early in Kang's origin. Remember that Kang starts out as Nathaniel Richards, time traveler and megalomaniac.
I was under the impression that the MCU is no longer 616 centric or Ultimate centric but a mix of the two/its own setting based off murmurings from Marvel.
Makes sense really, why would Marvel want to continue to promote the same setting as the one Fox birthed with X-Men all those moons ago.
Finesse.
Why it might work: Finesse barely knew her mother, and never met her father. She believes Taskmaster to have been her biological father. All involved have ties to Shield. Having one o hte deadliest mercs in the world after her might explain the high body count.
Why it might not work: one would hope that Skye would have noticed her powerset by now if she was Finesse.
Diamondback
Why it might work: Several women have used the name Diamondback, and at least one of them became a member of Shield. Diamondback has no superhuman powers, but instead uses Batman style gimmicks shaped like diamonds designed by the Trapster and the Tinkerer.
Why it might not work:
No reason for Skye to be an 084.
Galacta
Why it might work: Galacta has a knack for high(er) tech and a love of Facebook and Twitter. How she arrived on Earth is never explained. She has connections to the Power Cosmic. Her mission in life is to keep Earth safe from nasty alien invaders.
Why it might not work: She's the daughter of frigging Galactus. While she walks around normal human sized, she's the daughter of frigging Galactus. (The fantastic four's response to this was hilarious). If she ever 'discovers' her powers, Shield would probably not be able to handle it.
Most of hte rest either have very balatent and not easily unnoticed powers or have well known histories that don't really match Skye. Interesting enough, Skye was also the name of a character in Warmachine, though she was not really filled in as a character and had no obvious powers.
Morathi's Darkest Sin wrote: I was under the impression that the MCU is no longer 616 centric or Ultimate centric but a mix of the two/its own setting based off murmurings from Marvel.
It's a mix of 616 and Ultimates, but it's not beholden to either.
The problem is the Marvel Universe itself... Nearly any villain can be associated with one of the "restricted" properties.
Single baddies would either be too strong for the show or on the "No" list, if not both.
That leaves groups like AIM, Hydra, The Circus, Zodiac, and Doctor Demonicus.
helgrenze wrote: The problem is the Marvel Universe itself... Nearly any villain can be associated with one of the "restricted" properties.
Single baddies would either be too strong for the show or on the "No" list, if not both.
That leaves groups like AIM, Hydra, The Circus, Zodiac, and Doctor Demonicus.
Unfortunately Zodiac is in the past of the marvel film Universe. Peggy Carter is investigating it in one of the shorts.
Hydra 'heads'
The Gorgon: Out because he's also a mutant.
Madam Hydra: Probably out as she appeared in The Wolverine
VonStrucker: We know he will be appearing in Avengers 2.
Helmut Zemo: Possible. Von Strucker was Zemo's lackey on occasion.
The Hive: Unlikely. No one seems to have found any parasites yet.
The Kraken: Unlikely. No one has seen any sign of giant sea monsters.
AIM
Mentallo: A mutant and therefore out of hte runnning.
Graviton: Already captured
Superia: Possibility. Superia has dabbled in creating superhumans, a connection to Victoria Hand, and a history of time travel. The problem is her powerset. There's no screaming way that our happy go lucky misfits on the Bus have a chance against her, she's able to match current Captain Marvel, Carol Danvers.
MODOK: I grant his a possibility, but I think it's unlikely. It really does not explain how The Clairvoyant knows so much.
Others in the running:
Arnim Zola: Possibility. He survived Captain America and had connections with Shield's weapon program. The problem is that he likely knows as much about Shield's backroom science as anyone and thus would not be confused about Agent Coulson's return to life.
The Fixer: Strong possibility: the Fixer has connections to AIM and Hydra and Graviton, as well as being an expert in robotics and cybernetics. Again though, no explanation of the Clairvoyants ability to apparently see the future.
Kang: I can't get past how perfectly Kang fits, particularly in his earliest incarnation. I think the line about the eyes being 'years ahead of anything' was a hint, and the fact that the Clairvoyant knows a lot about the secret pasts and futures of the team. Because for Kang it's all the past.
Scorpio: the problems with Scorpio are many, particularly since the movie universe puts the Zodiac in the time right after WW2, so he's unlikely.
Ultron: We do not know if Ultron's creation comes before or after the events at the beginning of the show.
It could also be that the Clairvoyant is simply someone who is from the future, made detailed notes, and traveled into the past to make changes. Not like Whedon is above beating a dead horse. To death. Again.
Then again, they have the Hulk so it could be someone like The Leader.
Breotan wrote: It could also be that the Clairvoyant is simply someone who is from the future, made detailed notes, and traveled into the past to make changes. Not like Whedon is above beating a dead horse. To death. Again.
Then again, they have the Hulk so it could be someone like The Leader.
I don;t think it's going to be the Leader. Partially because we already apparently killed him off in one of the previous Hulk movies.
From how they're describing this, the Clairvoyant is a Name in regular Marvel canon, and the only one that really fits the bill based on what we know is Kang.
The Leader was alive at the end of The Incredible Hulk (in fact he had just started to change). The MCU comic that followed it (Fury's Big Day, I believe it was called), had Widow showing up in the Harlem to take Sterns into custody.
Mastermind is a mutant and therefore tied to X men.
You keep saying that mutants are out for MCU, but they've stated that both Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch will be in Avengers 2 and that's with Quicksilver being in Days of Future Past, so we can count out a character appearing in that franchise as a guarantee that they won't be in MCU media, too.
So I wouldn't rule out any characters because they're mutants in the comics. For example, I'd bet we're more likely to see Wasp in MCU than X-movies despite being a mutant because she's more an Avenger than X character.
Platuan4th wrote: For example, I'd bet we're more likely to see Wasp in MCU than X-movies despite being a mutant because she's more an Avenger than X character.
Isn't she only a mutant according to the Ultimate comics and not the mainstream comics?
Platuan4th wrote: For example, I'd bet we're more likely to see Wasp in MCU than X-movies despite being a mutant because she's more an Avenger than X character.
Isn't she only a mutant according to the Ultimate comics and not the mainstream comics?
Probably. There's been so many retcons in comics, I forget which origins have been maintained and which have been altered. For Example, I'm not sure whether the whole "Spider Totem" thing with Spiderman is still part of why he has his powers or not.
Mastermind is a mutant and therefore tied to X men.
You keep saying that mutants are out for MCU, but they've stated that both Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch will be in Avengers 2 and that's with Quicksilver being in Days of Future Past, so we can count out a character appearing in that franchise as a guarantee that they won't be in MCU media, too.
So I wouldn't rule out any characters because they're mutants in the comics. For example, I'd bet we're more likely to see Wasp in MCU than X-movies despite being a mutant because she's more an Avenger than X character.
We also don;t know what sort of back room deal was cut to get them there. AFAIK Fox currently holds all the movie rights to Xmen characters and mutants. I'm also willing to bet they had to take them instead of long time Avengers Wolverine and Beast, both have more to do with Ultron.
QS and SW are shared because of how long they spent as Avengers, but mutants are off limits. They can't say the M-word in any MCU related things. That's why the comics have had such a big push with the Inhumans lately, and the whole releasing of the Terrigen Mists to create new super-powered non-mutant characters.
Breotan wrote: I wonder if that's also behind the whole "M-day" event.
Officially Mday was because there were too many mutant characters. Personally I think it was due to the same reason that One More Day happened, ie editors with an Agenda.
I thought both of them made for interesting stories. All the crying over One More Day was almost as entertaining as the event itself.
And what 'agenda', really? I mean, isn't the agenda of all the writers to "sell more comics"? You make it sound as if they're out to intentionally sabotage things.
Jaimie walked onto the set in full Lady Sif regalia just as she looks in the movies — from the huge, mile-high boots to the metal armor — and she towered over everyone. It was so striking and impressive, all we could do was stare. It was very cool!
Breotan wrote: That picture makes her look a lot less impressive than she was in Thor 2. Seriously, it's almost like they're striving for mediocrity.
maybe that's because she isn't cutting someone open? Cause that's the same outfit from the film, so if your saying that she looks less impressive because of the outfit then you're being a bit silly.
I never said it was the costume or the actor. It's the way they shoot the show. This show just isn't trying to make the visuals impressive in any way. They... reduce, somehow, instead of try to be larger than life. This doesn't say "Sif". It says, "Is this where we go for costume judging?"
Breotan wrote: I never said it was the costume or the actor. It's the way they shoot the show. This show just isn't trying to make the visuals impressive in any way. They... reduce, somehow, instead of try to be larger than life. This doesn't say "Sif". It says, "Is this where we go for costume judging?"
And you base this off one photograph that may or may not even be part of the actual footage? Well done you.
Besides, it shouldn't be larger then life, this isn't about the big guys. If they started shooting this like the avengers but it's just shield agents it would look dumb as hell.
The shot is taken face on, the problem is that she is standing in front of a car on a ramp and that makes her look less impressive. It makes the shot look like it was taken from a higher angle than it was.
H.B.M.C. wrote: I thought both of them made for interesting stories. All the crying over One More Day was almost as entertaining as the event itself.
And what 'agenda', really? I mean, isn't the agenda of all the writers to "sell more comics"? You make it sound as if they're out to intentionally sabotage things.
To be fair, Joe Quesada was very blunt about having an agenda when it happened: He hated that Peter Parker got married and basically thought the Macfarlane era of Spidey was the best thing ever. He even stated that Peter being single is "an intrinsic part of the very foundation of the world of Spider-Man".
Well I'm not gonna criticize a random screen shot/photo. I assume you could get equally bad "screenshots" of the avengers characters. It'll all depend on the actual show which, given how they've been doing the last 3 episodes, I have hopes for again.
I believe the tree-guy was called Groot, and the Racoon is of course Rocket Racoon. So long as it doesn't take itself too seriously, I can see GOTG being beyond awesome.
I just saw the Sif episode on Hulu. This is the type of episode they should have opened with. Instead we got a weak pilot followed by that ridiculous "Oh, noes! The Peruvians hijacked our super-techno-spy plane!" follow-up.
Principle characters are still dull although Fits and Simmons are less annoying of late. Got a feeling we're going to get the same old stuff with the "Blazer-from-Dodgeball" episode.
I'm not sure if Captain America: The Winters Soldier is out in America yet (by the lack of a main topic on the board I’m guessing no) but It's going to have to be acknowledged by Agents of Shield soon as the events of the film will have a huge impact on the show.
Spoiler:
The film ends with SHIELD being officially shut down after the Captain discovers it has been massively infiltrated by HYDRA.
As a vocal detractor of this show I'm compelled to give credit where it is due. The last two episodes have easily been the best so far and I'm actually looking forward to the next one (which won't be a multi week delay for once.)
Had to Exalt that, Zond. Sometimes I feel like I'm too alone in my dislike of IM2 and IM3.
I keep watching with the hope that it'll get better and lately at least it has been.
Thor 2 give me hope that Cap 2 will be at least fun, but the buzz I keep hearing about Cap 2 is crazy in how good it sounds. Really looking forward to seeing it this weekend.
Those of you in the US still watching AoS, is the first season still running, and if so, how many episodes have there been since the one with the train? Just trying to work out how much of the series is left for the UK.
As much as the show was awesome (in my opinion) before the break, it's been even better since. The Magical Place, Seeds and Tracks have all been really good. The show has really found its feet now, and the plot has started moving along very nicely.
Paradigm wrote: Those of you in the US still watching AoS, is the first season still running, and if so, how many episodes have there been since the one with the train? Just trying to work out how much of the series is left for the UK.
As much as the show was awesome (in my opinion) before the break, it's been even better since. The Magical Place, Seeds and Tracks have all been really good. The show has really found its feet now, and the plot has started moving along very nicely.
The one with the train was episode 13. We just watched episode 16 which takes place right before Cap 2
Automatically Appended Next Post: If you've seen Cap 2 already, that might lessen the impact of episodes 14, 15 and 16, but the last half of episode 16 was REALLY strong and has me very excited to see Cap 2 this weekend and see what they do in the last 6 episodes of the season.
Good to know there's still a long way to go then, I'll be getting my marvel fix for a while yet. I've not seen Cap 2, so I look forward to these next episodes.
I must say if that any episodes tie into Cap 2 in a meaningful way then they'll probably be better by default. Cap 2 is probably the best addition to the marvel cinematic universe since Avengers. I might be tentatively interested. If not I can just enjoy when they go to the awkwardly named place of the week. I'm hoping for the greenhouse.
And yeah, Agents of SHIELD has got a major bump in quality for the past few episodes. The show looks to have finally found its feet. That doesn't excuse the drek we got at the start of the Season, but it does mean that this is a normal "season 1" show that takes a while to work out what it's doing.
I have to say, I was happy to see that they at least somewhat incorporated the original look of Deathlok into this episode...curious to see how/if they do a "reveal" of his more cybernetic side....
I'm going to go with him losing a battle in some way, being injured and requiring more 'upgrades'.
'Wait, didn't we already beat that guy?' 'Yeah, but he has a fancy new *insert limb here* this time'
TheMeanDM wrote: I have to say, I was happy to see that they at least somewhat incorporated the original look of Deathlok into this episode...
Too bad it was only a special effect in a computer monitor. The costume and acting is so far away from the actual character that I don't even care about Deathlok. Too many sins committed by this show early on. The interest level is only becoming acceptable in the past two or three episodes. Whedon is a sh*t storyteller.
That was quite the episode...but it definitely seems to be taking place not in the "aftermath" of Winter Soldier, but during the events of Winter Soldier.
So the "top Hydra moles" seem to be the chaps from the film.
Kind of saw that coming. Not that specifically, but I knew something big was going to happen to/with him. He had a happy, heartfelt moment earlier on in the show and that is something you never want to do in a Whedon series.
LOEB: And part of what’s so much fun is being able to go back and look at the pilot and see where Coulson says to Ward, “we haven’t scores like yours since Romanov.” Now, at the time, you probably thought “oh, that’s a really good spy.” But then if you think about what Natasha has done with her life and the number of identities she’s had and the number of people that she’s burned along the way, that may have not been the best compliment to give somebody.
BELL: Let me put this on another level: Ward had put Garrett on this plane for a reason, and so he had to come in and be accepted to this team. And so if you’d look at how he related to everyone — Coulson loves projects. Here is a guy who didn’t have people skills. So Garrett says, can you help this guy Ward round off some of the rough edges? So he comes onto the team. Coulson is now vested, because he’s got a project. Who is Ward’s greatest threat? May. What does he do? He seduces her. Who is the one unknown on the team? Skye. He becomes her S.O. How do you get everyone rally around and trust you? You jump out of a plan trying to save someone else. Now, he had a parachute. Let’s say he failed to save Simmons, he would’ve been fine. Everything he’s done has solidified how people feel about him over the course of the season.
LOEB: And what was the next thing he had to do after he saved Simmons? He had someone on the plane who was jealous of him: Fitz. And what did they do? They went on a mission together and they had a really good time together. And a bromance was started. And that took care of that.
BELL: And then even when he was with Lorelei, and she was talking about the darkness inside of him and the other qualities, she saw something that a lot of other people hadn’t seen. So we feel like we laid things out pretty well. Because you don’t want to over tip your hand, but we think people are pretty smart, and you can look back and go, “oh yeah, it was all there the whole time if I had looked.” And what’s fun now that you’ve seen 17, watch it again, or watch 16 again, and every look Ward does seems to have a double meaning.
Interviewer: I love that. Give me an example of something that might be a little less “obvious” than the Romanov line that could be fun for viewers to realize. LOEB: We’ll give you one that’s a lot of fun, and that’s in “Seeds,” episode 12. Towards the very end, there’s a lovely, heartwarming moment where Skye is standing in front of the fallen S.H.I.E.L.D. agents through the decades. Watch that scene, and keep an eye on Ward.
In that scene they reference Coulson is giving a monologue while Skye is looking at the memorial: "The world is full of evil, and lies, and pain, and death. And you can't hide from it, you can only face it." While he is saying it the camera pans over Ward.
I would imagine its real. Bad guy showed no reaction or surprise to the betrayal, and killing three shield agents is a bit much for planting a double agent.
Ahtman wrote: In that scene they reference Coulson is giving a monologue while Skye is looking at the memorial: "The world is full of evil, and lies, and pain, and death. And you can't hide from it, you can only face it." While he is saying it the camera pans over Ward.
I went back and watched it as well (both scenes in front of that wall). I dunno... I just don't see it.
And I really think that "the power of love" is going to bring Ward back. I really want to be wrong - as wrong as I was about this episode actually, as I thought AoS would not only drop the ball, but then stab the ball over and over again before burning it and thankfully they didn't - but in this case I don't think I am.
Ahtman wrote: In that scene they reference Coulson is giving a monologue while Skye is looking at the memorial: "The world is full of evil, and lies, and pain, and death. And you can't hide from it, you can only face it." While he is saying it the camera pans over Ward.
I went back and watched it as well (both scenes in front of that wall). I dunno... I just don't see it.
Not sure I do either, but that is what (I was told) happened in the episode they specifically reference. I have a few ideas, but it seems pretty thin tbh.
H.B.M.C. wrote: Those two reports contradict one another. One says it rose for the second week in a row and isn't the series low, and the other says its a series low.
Both say that it dropped, one just also says that it isn't a new low (1.9 versus 1.8) while the other does (1.7). I don't see either saying it went up from the previous week, which was listed as 2.0.
Hmm... I wonder if lower ratings could be due to the fact that a lot of people who would otherwise watch the show didn't specifically because they hadn't seen The Winter Soldier yet?
I knew Hand wasn't going to survive the episode but I didn't expect her to actually be loyal. I expected the entire group to have a "Hail Hydra" moment. Still, his eyes at the very end make me wonder what's happening there.
One thing I'm confused about is why Deathlok attacked the Shield safehouse with Garrett and Triplett. Was that a ruse to throw people off Garrett's tail? Does that mean that Triplett is really truely not a Hydra agent? After the end with Ward I'm not sure if Triplett wasn't just playing Hand when she showed up.
Will Triplett replace Ward on Coulson's team?
I hope they keep Ward evil and they don't wuss out. I think there's part of him that is smitten with Skye, but I don't want to see that turn him from the dark side.
Did Ward shoot the Fakevoyant on Garrett's orders? He had to know the Clairvoyant was Hydra, so I'd think that whole thing was a ruse.
I liked the episode overall, what I didnt like was the preview for next weeks episode... from the look of it ward is growing a beard....why is it every time a character turns evil they forget to shave?
ironicsilence wrote: I liked the episode overall, what I didnt like was the preview for next weeks episode... from the look of it ward is growing a beard....why is it every time a character turns evil they forget to shave?
Wait a minute...are you saying Riker went to the dark side too?
So, my boss is salivating at the mouth to find out who Ward actually is. He keeps telling me not to let him in on who I think he is. But based on what he's told me (I haven't watched yet), I suspect he has a Skull mask and a sword and shield combo. I told my boss that to torture him. It fits.
I have a theory about how things might pan out in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but I'll put it in a spoiler tag just in case someone wants to skip it.
Spoiler:
So, given that we have just learned that Hydra has been at the core of the Marvel Cinematic Universe since it started, I think that the Red Skull will play a bigger part in it than we might have previously thought.
I think Red Skull ended up telling Thanos that the Tesseract was on earth some time after he was transported away from earth by it. That would provide a reason for Thanos to support Loki's attempt to conquer earth.
We know that The Collector is also interested in the Infinity Stones and That the Collector and Thanos (possibly only the influence of Thanos and not him directly) and an Infinity Stone are somehow involved in Guardians of the Galaxy, so what if we get a Red Skull cameo in GotG? That would tie the MCU even more together.
Some people speculate that Loki's scepter contains the Mind Gem and we now know that Hydra holds the scepter, so what if Avengers 3 has Red Skull and Thanos coming to Earth to complete the set. Upon learning Hydra has the staff, Red Skull, could try and leverage that to back stab Thanos.
With the Infinity Stones in play, that would also give a reason for The Collector and the GotG to show up too.
Yeah, I sincerely hope that was a joke. I think Tasky is involved somehow, as the character biographies have enough similarities where you could draw some parallels. Identical? No. Similarities that still allow for the film universe to be its own self? Absolutely.
Taskmaster is a difficult character to just introduce like that. Really? He has a sword and shield? And a bow and arrow? What???
Consider two other characters from the MCU - Deathlok and Crossbones. It took multiple episodes for Mike Peterson to become Deathlok, and it's still a gradual process of upgrades and extra bionics. Crossbones isn't even Crossbones yet in The Winter Soldier, but they show him surviving the events of TWS (in a horribly burned state) to give them the opportunity of developing him into Crossbones later on.
To just have a character suddenly go "Now I am the task master!" would be a little jarring.
As for the Red Skull, well Hugo Weaving said he has no interest in playing the character again. Of course, Marvel isn't above re-casting (Banner, Rhodey), and really, recasting Red Skull might be a good thing as Hugo Weaving was easily the worst part of that first Cap film.
IGN: This is another question that you may give me a similar answer on, but can we also assume that Victoria Hand and those other unfortunate gentlemen are definitely dead?
Bell: Let's say that Ward definitely killed them.
IGN: [Laughs] Okay!
Bell: It's the Marvel Universe... But he definitely put three shots in her, and he killed her.
IGN: It wasn't the ICER he was using at that point.
Loeb: No, no. He iced her in the old-school version of "iced her."
I guess that (95%) nixes the triple agent idea... but sadly makes the 4th quarter conversion to the light side thanks to the "power of love" more of a certainty unless, of course, the writers of the show really have a spine.
I agree he should stay evil, but I might be okay with a turn to the light side if he dies saving Skye. Not that I care about him, her or their relationship, but it would at least be better than, "my love for you is greater than my love for Hydra, so I'm a good guy again!"
bbb wrote: I agree he should stay evil, but I might be okay with a turn to the light side if he dies saving Skye. Not that I care about him, her or their relationship, but it would at least be better than, "my love for you is greater than my love for Hydra, so I'm a good guy again!"
I would be fine with that, as long as he subsequently get's shot in the head by Nick Fury.
I was pleasantly surprised when I saw the most recent 2 episodes, I'd heard that they were much better but I didn't believe it was true until I watched it for myself. Those 2 episodes are on a par with most of series 2 of Arrow.
Just watched the two most recent episodes of Agents this morning. It's maintaining the change it's had since the Olympic break. Glad to see it and really enjoyed it.
From the last episode I'm betting on the love bringing him back direction. It's pretty obvious that he's contemplating his choices at that point. Though, like everyone else, I'd like to see him die redeeming himself if they go that direction.
Is there a readily available replacement for the character (whoever that might be ) been introduced in the last couple of episodes.
Spooks (AKA MI5) used to do that all the time, you could tell whenever a cast member would get killed off, because you'd get someone coming in an episode or two beforehand with, "hey, this is Gary from the SBS, he's here to help out with the latest disaster."
Finally watched the last episode. The ending was pretty shocking but I'm glad they're doing something with Ward. He was just such a bland character and it looks like they figured that out.
Another good episode, and it really feels like this show is going somewhere good (which means cancellation is 100% assured, right?). In any case, the show doesn't get forgiven for spinning its wheels for so long but at the very least this episode is attempting to pay off many of those things, such as bringing back Raina, Quinn, the gun from 0-8-4, the Berserker staff, and even the gravitonium (and therefore Graviton!!!). That's good! Use your universe to build and let those annoyingly tedious stand-alone episodes finally mean something to the greater mytharc. Well done show.
Also, we got a reference to Griffin, which is funny, and to the Cube! That's cool. In the comics it's used to hold captive aliens (potential Norr-Vah introduction?), and in EMH it was used to hold Gamma-infused people (so we could get another mention of Blonsky and even Sterns).
I did like Coulson's speech (and subsequent losing it). And Koenig was funny as well. "My bad! Fury is not dead." I also love the idea of secret SHIELD bases that no one outside of their staff and Fury (and probably Maria Hill) know about. That's such a Fury thing to do. More disturbing is the idea that Project T.A.H.I.T.I. was not run by Fury. What could that mean?
Also, when Garret said "Don't forget to follow your dreams", the camera focused on the person he was letting out. That's actor Patrick Brennan, set to play Marcus Daniels/Blackout in the next few episodes.
Is it just me or does anybody else really just want to see the team get "smart" and kill Ward ASAP?
I guess its a good sign of the acting and writing that I feel so steongly that he just needs to die now because he has pissed me off with his betrayal and continued deception.
I actually hope May kills him...keep Sky "innocent" in a sense.
Automatically Appended Next Post: Also....what do you make of the cyborg/Deathlok--like metalllic addition to Garrets chest?
His comment about the heart wanting what it wants while catching the glimpse makes me wonder if he has had his replaced or augmented somehow.....
The review of the latest episode on the Guardian's website hypothesised that Skye is going to, as MeanDM puts it, "wise up" to Ward fairly sharpish, and the show will combine killing him off(in a typically ambiguous comicbook "this guy will obviously be back at some point" way) with the "big reveal" of why Skye is an 084.
Let's hope so, because the alternate (Ward - and the writers - chicken out and switch back to the good guys because his love of Skye) would kill this show.
Yeah, despite the whole "the girl wasn't part of the deal" thing, I really cannot see Ward seeing the light. I'll be ridiculously disappointed if they chicken out and go for a power of love resolution.
I am also curious about the 084 part; have we really seen Skye get properly angry at any point during the series so far? I'm envisioning her getting completely furious at Ward upon working it out and frying him with her mind.
Goliath wrote: Yeah, despite the whole "the girl wasn't part of the deal" thing, I really cannot see Ward seeing the light. I'll be ridiculously disappointed if they chicken out and go for a power of love resolution.
I am also curious about the 084 part; have we really seen Skye get properly angry at any point during the series so far? I'm envisioning her getting completely furious at Ward upon working it out and frying him with her mind.
Goliath wrote: Yeah, despite the whole "the girl wasn't part of the deal" thing, I really cannot see Ward seeing the light. I'll be ridiculously disappointed if they chicken out and go for a power of love resolution.
I am also curious about the 084 part; have we really seen Skye get properly angry at any point during the series so far? I'm envisioning her getting completely furious at Ward upon working it out and frying him with her mind.
Goliath wrote: Yeah, despite the whole "the girl wasn't part of the deal" thing, I really cannot see Ward seeing the light. I'll be ridiculously disappointed if they chicken out and go for a power of love resolution.
I am also curious about the 084 part; have we really seen Skye get properly angry at any point during the series so far? I'm envisioning her getting completely furious at Ward upon working it out and frying him with her mind.
The theory they were espousing was that Skye is actually Spider-Woman(not related to Spidey legally so open-season for the MCU), their reasoning being that recent episodes of Agents have tied together apparent plot holes from the earlier episodes in ways that make them look like deliberate foreshadowing, and the slightly irrational way that all these people in a top-top-secret organisation have no issues at all with some random hacker girl joining up and being everyone's bestie could just be the usual "it makes sense because comics" holes, or it could be Skye unconsciously secreting pheromones which manipulate people's opinion of her. It's a stretch, but it has the added bonus if right of explaining why a supposed hardcase like Ward would be going goo-goo-eyed, and it opens up the possibility of her killing him off(or appearing to) in a rage with an electrostatic blast.
I'm not sure frankly, they need to come out with a few more episodes at the recent level of quality before I'd be willing to credit the writers with the ambition and balls to be that "meta".
Goliath wrote: Yeah, despite the whole "the girl wasn't part of the deal" thing, I really cannot see Ward seeing the light. I'll be ridiculously disappointed if they chicken out and go for a power of love resolution.
I am also curious about the 084 part; have we really seen Skye get properly angry at any point during the series so far? I'm envisioning her getting completely furious at Ward upon working it out and frying him with her mind.
The theory they were espousing was that Skye is actually Spider-Woman(not related to Spidey legally so open-season for the MCU), their reasoning being that recent episodes of Agents have tied together apparent plot holes from the earlier episodes in ways that make them look like deliberate foreshadowing, and the slightly irrational way that all these people in a top-top-secret organisation have no issues at all with some random hacker girl joining up and being everyone's bestie could just be the usual "it makes sense because comics" holes, or it could be Skye unconsciously secreting pheromones which manipulate people's opinion of her. It's a stretch, but it has the added bonus if right of explaining why a supposed hardcase like Ward would be going goo-goo-eyed, and it opens up the possibility of her killing him off(or appearing to) in a rage with an electrostatic blast.
I'm not sure frankly, they need to come out with a few more episodes at the recent level of quality before I'd be willing to credit the writers with the ambition and balls to be that "meta".
Hmmm... That would be odd, considering Spider-woman got her powers from Hydra in the comics.
Goliath wrote: Yeah, despite the whole "the girl wasn't part of the deal" thing, I really cannot see Ward seeing the light. I'll be ridiculously disappointed if they chicken out and go for a power of love resolution.
I am also curious about the 084 part; have we really seen Skye get properly angry at any point during the series so far? I'm envisioning her getting completely furious at Ward upon working it out and frying him with her mind.
The theory they were espousing was that Skye is actually Spider-Woman(not related to Spidey legally so open-season for the MCU), their reasoning being that recent episodes of Agents have tied together apparent plot holes from the earlier episodes in ways that make them look like deliberate foreshadowing, and the slightly irrational way that all these people in a top-top-secret organisation have no issues at all with some random hacker girl joining up and being everyone's bestie could just be the usual "it makes sense because comics" holes, or it could be Skye unconsciously secreting pheromones which manipulate people's opinion of her. It's a stretch, but it has the added bonus if right of explaining why a supposed hardcase like Ward would be going goo-goo-eyed, and it opens up the possibility of her killing him off(or appearing to) in a rage with an electrostatic blast.
I'm not sure frankly, they need to come out with a few more episodes at the recent level of quality before I'd be willing to credit the writers with the ambition and balls to be that "meta".
Hmmm... That would be odd, considering Spider-woman got her powers from Hydra in the comics.
CA:TWS spoilers:
Spoiler:
Would it though? Her "discovery" involved a fair few SHIELD agents getting "crossed-off" in mysterious circumstances if I remember right, both during the event and in the aftermath, and with the top-to-bottom corruption of SHIELD by HYDRA, there's nothing to stop them writing that whole scenario as part of some secret HYDRA-faction experiment. Whether or not I think it's particularly likely she would turn out to be Spider-Woman, given the MCU continuity I'd say ties to HYDRA in a hero/villain's comicbook incarnation makes their appearance more likely, not less.
Platuan4th wrote: Hmmm... That would be odd, considering Spider-woman got her powers from Hydra in the comics.
When she was imbued as a child SHIELD/HYDRA would have been the same thing. The serum just accelerated/unlocked/enhanced it.
I meant more odd in that Hydra seems to want her dead/nothing to do with her rather than to actually use her, especially considering they're trying to create metahumans. If they created her, you'd think they'd want to grab her, not shoot her.
Perhaps her being an 084 will be something that more directly ties in to what she was doing in the first few episodes? That is, being a very skilled hacker.
H.B.M.C. wrote: Yeah, Skye = Spiderman only comes about from the equation "2 + 2 = pineapple", that is to say tremendous wishful thinking and large leaps of logic.
Isn't Skye a girl? If so, I see a serious flaw in anyone suspecting her becoming Spider-MAN.
Well crikey, if that was any indication the writers might have balls afterall.
Spoiler:
Seriously, they bring on Patton Oswalt, set him up as a cool new quirky character with potential to be a "play by the rules" foil for Coulson in season 2, then have Ward fething garotte him.
Not content, they then have Skye discover the corpse, realise Ward is HYDRA, and then have to act like nothing's wrong. Even if they do pull a "power of love" u-turn with Ward now, there's no way they can reasonably use that to justify a full-on redemption, at best it could convince them to chuck him in a deep dark hole rather than killing him.
I will stop watching this show if they pull a power of love or something like that. There's just no coming back for Ward. He's killed too many agents in cold blood.
Only way to reverse it is some kind of cheese ball sci-fi explanation like Bill Paxton was mind controlling him or brain washed him or something like that. Hopefully, they won't do that, it would just be a cheap cop out.
[url=http://marvel.com/news/tv/2014/4/22/22382/stephen_colbert_agent_of_hydra?utm_campaign=rss_feeds&utm_source=headline_news&utm_medium=rss&utm_content=story-22382&]
Stephen Colbert, Agent of Hydra?[/url]
[url=http://marvel.com/news/tv/2014/4/22/22382/stephen_colbert_agent_of_hydra?utm_campaign=rss_feeds&utm_source=headline_news&utm_medium=rss&utm_content=story-22382&]
Stephen Colbert, Agent of Hydra?[/url]
I really enjoy this show, but I'm betting on the power of love bringing Ward back from the darkside.. and it will be skye and ward's little secret for season 2, giving us 3-4 different episodes dealing with how you shouldn't lie to people and you need to be nice to the people you count on and everyone needs a hug.
Maybe, if we're lucky, he'll go down in a blaze of glory to save her, but if that happens, we'll end up with a couple of teen-angsty "he tried to save me and died and he was so nice on the inside, boo hoo" episodes instead.
That's my prediction, since it's network TV, and ABC, which is pretty much the Disney channel... If it were HBO, or even AMC or A&E we'd have a better chance at something cooler.
Though it has been said before. IF ward comes back to the good side. I am leaving this show. They could of pulled it off in buffy the vampire slayer with Angel. But Angel was a badass, and he lost his soul so he is completely fine in my book. Whedon don't screw this chance up.
Yeah maybe, but again I think that became a lot less likely after...
Spoiler:
...Ward garotted the likeable bureaucrat and dumped his corpse in an air vent for Skye to find and get bled-on by, then in the plane made it perfectly clear that his actions are all about getting the data from the disc. He's been so deceptive and brutal in the last couple of episodes that only a total fething idiot would even remain in the same room as him given the choice, nevermind start a relationship with him.
I'm still 90% sure they'll pull a "power of love" reversal, squandering whatever potential this show might have had. It's all that "you're a good man" nonsense from Skye.
Yodhrin wrote: Yeah maybe, but again I think that became a lot less likely after...
Spoiler:
...Ward garotted the likeable bureaucrat and dumped his corpse in an air vent for Skye to find and get bled-on by, then in the plane made it perfectly clear that his actions are all about getting the data from the disc. He's been so deceptive and brutal in the last couple of episodes that only a total fething idiot would even remain in the same room as him given the choice, nevermind start a relationship with him.
Lets see... So there is a guy who holds a gun to your head and tells you to dance to a justin bieber song and he will let you go. What are you going to do? I want to live. I don't want to anger the man with the gun who wouldn't even flinch to kill me.
Yodhrin wrote: dumped his corpse in an air vent for Skye to find and get bled-on by[/spoiler]
Only she and Eric knew about the tracking devices; Ward didn't have a reasonable belief that she would stumble upon him. We are getting layers of dramatic irony, in which Ward thinks he knows more than Skye and can talk about the HDD openly, and of course the audience and Skye knowing that she knows he is lying.
After this episode I think they are less likely to pull a power of love reversal. I think they are setting it up for Mary Sue Poots to pull the trigger on Ward.
Automatically Appended Next Post: Per the listings on http://titantv.com/ for the next two week's episodes
Spoiler:
Next episode: "Nothing Personal"
Agent Maria Hill shows up to give Coulson and his team a sign that there is still hope and at least one person left to trust as S.H.I.E.L.D. is being destroyed around them.
Also, the cast listing shows Deathlok and Glenn Talbot will appear.
The following week: "Ragtag"
Hydra's secrets and Agent Ward's betrayal against Coulson, his team and S.H.I.E.L.D. are uncovered when the team must go undercover on a mission that will affect everyone.
The cast listing there shows Garrett, Deathlok, Flower Dress Woman, and Ian Quinn will appear.
Only one episode left to go after that and we already have confirmation that Fury will be in it.
ABC and Marvel sent out the first two minutes of tomorrow night’s Agents of SHIELD. In the clip we get to see Agent Maria Hill complaining about all the questions she’s having to answer to who I am guessing is Pepper Potts. During the rant she drops the name of The Man-Thing.
Is this just a throw away line or are there plans for the walking muck-monster? The character was the basis for a straight to cable/dvd movie back in 2005 that included Alex O’Laughlin from Hawaii 5-0. Also one of the soldiers effected by Extremis in Iron Man 3 was named Ellen Brandt, the same name as the ex-wife and villain of Ted Sallis.
And I'm now 99.99% convinced of a "power of love" redemption for Ward. After what Deathlok did to him he's basically in Lando "This deal is getting worse all the time" mode, and he seems completely deluded with the belief that his feelings for Skye override his horrible actions. Once he realises hit little Garrett cares for him that'll be it.
Maybe the Halloween episode of Season 2 will have Man-thing pop up. I thought the actor who plays Ward is doing a great job. I'm hoping Deathlok will get more scarred and start looking like the comic bit by bit over time.
I'm thinking that the team won't welcome him back, but if he does turn from Hydra he will do so to save Skye and will either die in the process or go wandering around on his own search for redemption and to find himself. I hope he just dies.
I found it really stupid that Skye saved his life, unless she erased the drive or something when she said she left a surprise. He's a cold blooded murderer who deserves to die. And letting him die wouldn't make her a murderer.
I thought it was stupid that no one noticed the bus parked in LA. How easy is it for a plane without a flight plan to land and be unnoticed, especially a SHIELD plane.
Attacking Talbot was stupid. Hill wouldn't be able to stand behind "Employee of Stark Enterprises" as an excuse.
As cheesy as the Lola escape was, I did enjoy it.
Overall, while I felt like there were big gaps in logic for the episode, I did like it more than the first half of the season and am really looking forward to see where they go from here.
After the end of the episode I could see it moving in an A-Team direction where next season they're on the run from Talbot while getting tips from Maria Hill about fugitives from the Fridge or scraps of Hydra that need to be dealt with. All the while Hydra in the background would be building up towards Age of Ultron.
I like that Triplett is basically part of the team now, but I have a feeling that he's going to die before the end of the season, at which time Fitz will finally get over his bad attitude towards him.
Automatically Appended Next Post: Titan TV has the synopsis for the season finale
Spoiler:
"Beginning of the End"
New, 5/13/2014, Drama, Sci-fi, Adaptation, Fantasy, Action
Coulson and his team are pulling out all the stops and putting it all on the line in order to stop Garret and the forces of HYDRA no matter the cost.
Credits: Bill Paxton (Actor), Clark Gregg (Actor), J. August Richards (Actor), Brett Dalton (Actor), David Conrad (Actor), Ming Nah Wen (Actor), Ruth Negga (Actor), Iain de Caestecker (Actor), B.J. Britt (Actor), Chloe Bennet (Actor), Patton Oswalt (Actor), Elizabeth Henstridge (Actor)
So the season finale will have Garrett, Deathlok, Flower Dress Woman, and Ian Quinn in addition to a return appearance from Agent Koenig (flashback or LMD?) and there are plenty of reports about Nick Fury showing up too.
Is HYDRA still a nazi orginization? I mean I know Red Skull didnt exactly want to be a Nazi, but he still held its beliefs.
Im having trouble trying to figure out what exactly HYDRA is now. Grant doesnt seem like a Nazi, and they used Mike Peterson now.
Compel wrote: Would it be massively incorrect to say that Hydra was still a fascist organisation, but not a specifically Nazi one?
It would be incorrect because it was the Italians, not the Germans, who were fascist.
Fascism isn't limited to WWII Italians in the same way as Nazism is limited to Germany during that time period. Also, fascism tends to be tied to nationalism and I'd say Hydra is a multi-national organization, so fascism doesn't seem like it would be the best description either.
Let's just say that it is a ruthless terrorist organization determined to rule the world.
Uuuuuuughh, jeebus come on, just decide whether Ward's supposed to be a baddie or not already. The whole shtick with the dog, and the sob story, and the ambiguity over whether it was him or Garrett that finally offed the dog, then the stupid cargo pod thing *sigh*
This sub-plot is actually making it difficult to enjoy the other bits, and that's a shame because some of the writing is getting pretty good(I actually LOL'd at the "large file transfer" skit). Ach well, season finale next week, and we all know that the end of season cliffhanger will have something to do with Skye's "monstrous" origins, so hopefully that means they won't try and drag the "is he/isn't he" crap into season 2.
I want the Ward storyline to be done and dusted by the time the credits roll next Wednesday. I don't want Ward to suddenly be good again - giving into his "weakness" (oh spare me... ) - I don't want him sacrificing himself, I just want him either a permanant antagonist, or dead.
But the show is giving every indication that they don't have the spine to follow through with any of this.
Ya, and they better not. He shot two cops in the previous episode and killed many shield agents in cold blood and worst of all it looks like he shot his own dog. I will think less of the whole team if they just decide to forgive him for all that.
As for Hydra, ya they're pretty much Nazis who think they're better than Nazis.
H.B.M.C. wrote: I want the Ward storyline to be done and dusted by the time the credits roll next Wednesday. I don't want Ward to suddenly be good again - giving into his "weakness" (oh spare me... ) - I don't want him sacrificing himself, I just want him either a permanant antagonist, or dead.
But the show is giving every indication that they don't have the spine to follow through with any of this.
Please..... please go the path that angel went. Please kill the bastard..... Or you know make him a badass that fights to redeem himself and then potentially dies in a thrilling awesome way.
As long as he dies or becomes a full time recurring antagonist I'm ok with it. I don't care if he dies sacrificing himself for something good or redemption as long as he dies. Because there is zero believability that after killing several high ranking/trusted Shield agents they'd let that crazy back in the fold.
Well the finale has aired, and I thought it was great, and I'm very happy the show didn't redeem Ward. We saw him losing his convictions towards Garrett, but he didn't turn good at the last second, or sacrifice himself to save Skye or any of the other horrific things they could have done that would have utterly ruined this series. Instead May kicks the ever-loving gak out of him, and he gets arrested. I wanted May to kill him, but I can live with that outcome. I'm worried about Fitz though. Poured his heart out, still in the Friend Zone, and now in a coma. Dude's having a bad day.
If anyone couldn't guess that Fury would save Fitzsimmons then they weren't paying attention. Why draw attention towards a frequency that no one's looking for? Because of course Fury is monitoring that frequency. As far as Fury goes, his presence was nice. He got a lot of fun lines, and I liked how the story played out (with one exception, which I'll get to in a sec). I especially loved how he brought out Coulson's Revenge (sorry, I call the Destroyer gun that because of this). That was nice. Killing Garrett was an interesting move as well, and the way it was done was fun because it was a nice way to subvert expectations. Not sure where the Skye's Father thing is going, but I guess we'll have to wait 'til next Season. Thankfully the writers appear to have learnt their lessons from this Season so I don't think we'll be waiting 17+ episodes for that ball to get rolling. Also good to see Raina and Quinn making it away. The show needs more reoccurring villains, which was a problem this show had for most of its run, so them being out there (with the Gravitonium no less) is a good thing.
And hooray for Koenig's brother! And for Mike getting free.
Of course, now I have two concerns:
1. Coulson is the new director of SHIELD.
2. Fury specifically saying "I won't be back for a long while".
The effects of this are twofold:
1. It disconnects the show from the rest of the MCU. SHIELD now only exists in the world of the show because SHIELD stopped existing after The Winter Soldier. That means there's no SHIELD in any upcoming MCU movies, meaning this show continues to skirt around the edges of the MCU rather than being directly involved with it.
2. The opposite side of that coin is that the movies no longer have SHIELD, and nothing from the TV show will ever influence or cross-over into the movies.
This makes Agents of SHIELD into high-level fan-fiction, and that's a problem.
Also, IGN has a (spoiler-filled) interview with Jeff Bell and Jeph Loeb.
), but it did need to step up its game to at least be as good as Arrow is now. The fact that it’s taken so long is a mark against it, but it’s not a fatal mistake.
