ChelseaNH

I bet it did, too. She's a biochem specialist who knows there's a drug that can bring people back to life. You don't have to be evil to be interested in figuring out what's up with that. Those would be actions, not consequences. A consequence would be Ward going in front of a review board for killing either a valuable prisoner or an innocent man. But he managed to get out of that... We did see a consequence of all Coulson's decisions, in that they convinced Hand he was a HYDRA agent. Naturally, Coulson ends up paying no price. So far, the only one experiencing consequences is May, since Coulson's freezing her out for watching him. She should have looked him dead in the eye and said, "Welcome to life on the Index."

You don't think Ward vs the team would be the same story over and over again? That would be my concern. Normally I wouldn't think that Ward as a villain would give him enough screen time, because the show hasn't invested much screen time in its villains. But who knows what they'll be willing to do going forward?

If we're going to have a recurring bad guy, I'd rather have Deathlok, and he hasn't shown up anywhere near enough to rate regular status.

If Dalton remains a regular, then you can expect him to rejoin the team at some point.

Sitting in the doctor's office for a checkup, waiting for the doctor to arrive, I was staring at a poster of the digestive system. So when the doctor arrived, I asked him and he confirmed what I believed: Skye's injuries, as stated, weren't fatal. You can survive without portions of your stomach and intestines. Yes, people can die from being gut-shot, but that usually comes down to blood loss or infection or damage to more critical parts of the body. So it's just weird that they go to the trouble of spelling out specific injuries, but they're non-fatal injuries.

I saw CA:TWS this weekend and the Triskelion was impressive. Then we get the TV show and SHIELD civil war played out in a couple of basement rooms and corridors. Inviting a direct comparison was really not the best plan. Coulson was brought back to life by alien juice. Once he learned that, he should have realized that he wasn't going to be allowed to roam about with zero monitoring; SHIELD just doesn't work that way and there's no excuse for him not to have known it. Still wish we knew why it was so important to bring him back. Hopefully the show will get around to revealing that little tidbit. Maybe by the end of the third season... As usual, I like May, Fitz-Simmons and Triplett. I also like the academy principal. Coulson's angst is getting tiresome. Ward's turnabout might mean something if we knew more about Ward, and if he weren't a series regular; given all that, it's just arbitrary.

Well, he was expecting her to get saved. The effects would build over time, and he didn't spend that much time with her.

The ACTUAL Spruce Goose! (Season 5 Episode 1) I also enjoyed the reveal of the new HQ ("Suggestion box!") and the little touch of the daughter sending her father videos.

I was gobsmacked with the reveal that Jerry is in his forties, and the same age as Chin Ho. Also, I would like him more as a semi-regular if it didn't mean the Return of Shelburn(e). I'm not sure even he can make it tolerable.

They should invest in some world-building. I don't mind if the future looks a lot like the present; our present looks a lot like 50 years ago. The styles of things have changed, but we recognize the functions of a lot of those things. But fiction needs to be grounded in a reality; if that reality is made up, then you need to have a good understanding of what that encompasses. I'm not sure they do, outside of "robots with emotions!" What kinds of things are possible? Or, perhaps more importantly, not possible?

So if it turns out that Skye's superpower is, in fact, turning everyone she meets into woobies about her, then it seems we have our Requisite Obstacle on the Path to True Love. Because how is Ward going to react to learning that he's being magically emotionally manipulated AGAIN? Of course, this would mean that we wouldn't get the reveal of Skye's superpower until after the whole Wardsky thing materializes, but it's not like this show is in any rush to provide information about its characters.

Only if the SHIELD team knew they were HYDRA. Because it's not just about what you do, it's about the choices you make. If you know people are evil and likely to do harm to others, that's one kind of choice. If you don't know, that's a different choice; it means you're willing to harm people who haven't harmed anyone else (since, as far as you know, these people haven't). Which sets up an interesting contrast with Ward shooting Nash.

I was working my way through the "one of the team members is actually The Clairvoyant!" options. If Ward were the Clairvoyant, I wouldn't care because he's basically a nonentity. May as the Clairvoyant would be exciting, because she's a worthwhile opponent. (Skye as the Clairvoyant would make me happy because everyone would look so stupid after being such woobies about her, but only if she had actual psychic powers.)

My favorite Nate episode is probably the Miracle Job, with his friend, Father D.B. Sweeney. Favorite lines - one is from the Cross My Heart Job: "God killed you. I just made sure it took." The other is from the season 4 finale, at the very end: "My son would be ashamed of me if I were a murderer. My father, on the other hand, he'd buy me an ice cream cone."

The commentaries are spectacular, especially if you're interested in how television shows are made. Every episode has commentary; they usually have the episode's writer and director involved. They talk about how the script came together, and how they set up shots with different cameras, and the stunt work and the costumes and just everything. The actors don't participate much, but Aldis Hodge dropped in for several and I recall Beth Riesgraf being there for a couple.

The difference between shooting Nash and shooting the guards is that SHIELD didn't want Nash shot, and didn't care if the guards got shot. And when Nash isn't actually the Clairvoyant, it will no longer matter that Ward shot Nash. I realized that impression of busy-ness for the sake of being busy is essentially what a magician does with misdirection. As long as there are all these moving parts, you're distracted from realizing that they don't actually mean anything. Because meaning is passe. Television shows exist to manipulate audience expectations, period. Telling stories is so last century.

I'm wondering how they entered Skye into the SHIELD employee database when she doesn't have a last name... Dun dun dun! "He knows we're here!" Well, yes. Busting down the door was supposed to be kind of a giveaway, no? Elaborate precautions so no one will know the full details of the operation. Except, of course, for Skye. The only thing that would make this season bearable is if she turns out to be the Clairvoyant. Well, Wardsky is pretty unbearable regardless, but otherwise. There was a lot of moving around, but it all felt arbitrary. Busy-ness for the sake of being busy.

There are bad episodes of Leverage? The reruns on Ion regularly eat my Sundays, which is stupid since I own all the DVDs -- but I'm powerless to resist. I wish Leverage had more of a legacy, since its influence could only be a positive force. At this point, it's longest-lasting affect is to make other shows suffer by comparison, which is not the happiest of outcomes.

I could live with the show not being weirder if it just got smarter. What I want: Competent professionals Actual character histories instead of "shocking secrets!" that aren't Doesn't sound like much, does it?