dusang

Doubt was on last night. I know I've rented the DVDs and would have sworn I've seen every episode in the first four seasons, at least, but I had NO memory of that episode. I had it very firmly in my mind that Season 3 started with Gideon missing because Mandy just stopped showing up for work. The IMDb trivia says that Doubt was filmed for S2 -- it would make a reasonable season cliffhanger -- and was held back because of the shootings at Virginia Tech. Is my recollection of Patinkin's departure completely mistaken? Or was it just a convenient coincidence that Doubt set it up for Gideon to disappear?

I will never not love that, when finally coming to the realization that Holt is gay, the first "clue" is a framed article about Holt being gay. It just sets the stage for the slo-mo "Maaaaanscaaaaping" flashback to work perfectly.

Sasha & Melanie https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljf4yIJukXU

I'm sure there are better and more recent examples but the first name that pops to mind is Benji Schwimmer -- he went to choreo and we all know how that panned out for him. (Even if the whole process is staged, they went to the effort of creating drama and uncertainty around Benji at that point. There is something fascinating about the pre-taped sections because, although they know who makes it to Top 20, they don't know who will make it all the way so the editorial choices are always a bit interesting to me.) Also, I've always wondered about the implicit homophobia on the show. Is that honestly Nigel or just his pandering to Fox? Because how can someone that homophobic have been in the dance community for so long?

Wait, Grace Park is 40? Kono from Hawaii 5-0? I thought she was supposed to be young, just starting out as a cop? I thought she was like 26!! WTF?! Sorry, I'm getting massively off-topic here but my MIND IS BLOWN. So... where do we hope to see the character go in S2? I guess she's now the Maria Hill to Coulson's Fury.

The Bieber factor aside, I'm quite curious to see how they intend to integrate crews into the show -- it sounds like they're setting up a sort of side-competition throughout the audition episodes to showcase the crews. Interesting approach -- personally, I frequently skip through the audition eps (at least until they get to Vegas) so this might be a super clever way to start audience voting (and upping the ratings) right from the getgo.

Yeah, I don't know that it has a succinct, rhyming title but I'm pretty sure I've read Lainey describing the phenomenon of Asians not aging for decades and then suddenly being very very old -- like they jump from 20 to 80 overnight. Oh, she refers to it as the "Asian Aging Process" and linked to this handy graphic. (I'm just going to say that because my source is an Asian woman, this is not racist.) But still... I wonder if Melinda May is 50 because it kind of puts a whole new spin on hooking up with 30-year-old Ward... and then kicking his ass. OH MY GOD I AM SO ENVIOUS OF HER IN ALL WAYS!! Sorry... did I just say that out loud?

I just found out last night that Ming-Na Wen is fifty years old and I'm FREAKING OUT!! If I can age HALF so well as she has I will be beside myself with joy. Ward got his ass handed to him by a FIFTY YEAR OLD!! Is it wrong that I'm this shocked? ETA The Golden Girls were fifty!!

OMG I just got that!! BWAH HA HA HA!!

Stupid geographic restrictions... grumblegrumble

Will it be out on DVD by then?

I think SHIELD was secret until the Chituari invasion in Avengers.

That's not my cake, thanks. I've said that Skye saving Ward was not a sign of weakness. I also said that what Fitz did was fucked up, in that he expressed no human empathy or compassion for (intentionally or accidentally almost) killing someone. And I want TPTB to address that.

So is Ward, and Skye, knowing that he was an enemy combatant and having seen one of his victims, still saved him from certain death. With the two events in consecutive episodes, I'm struck with the obvious parallels between the two scenes. Now, admittedly, at that point Fitz (possibly) didn't know that Garrett had any tech in him that would be disrupted by the EMP, therefore activating it wasn't a deliberate attempt on Garrett's life. However, that he then gloated over Garrett's imminent demise is a little concerning. Although, you are correct that he is behaving like a vicious, vengeful child.

Seeing someone as a monster, therefore deserving to die, is not entirely dissimilar to seeing someone as less than human and deserving to die. To distill my argument to it's finest point: what Fitz did is fucked up and if TPTB whitewash it I'll be pissed.

Obviously Garrett was behaving as a terrible leader in this episode -- sacrificing the entire Centipede/Deathlok/Philosopher's Stone R&D to use the only sample to save his own life -- but I was also surprised at the order to kill both Fitz and Simmons. In the big reveal episode (title totally forgotten but the one right after CA:TWS came out) Garrett specifically says that, whether Fitz swears allegiance to HYDRA or not he'll be developing weapons for them. So, in addition to wasting the only sample of the Elixir of Life on himself, by ordering FitzSimmons killed in an act of petty vengeance, he's undermining the future of HYDRA's scientific program. The whole "following orders" line is getting really absurd in the face of the clearly self-serving and ill-conceived orders being given. Ward's allegiance is clearly to Garrett rather than HYDRA because anyone who had truly drunk the proverbial Kool-Aid would never allow Garrett to sacrifice the entire HYDRA endgame to save one man, as the whole thesis of HYDRA is the sacrifice of a "few" to secure the many. (In this case, I believe "few" was quoted at 20 million relative to a total population of 7 billion.) Also, didn't Fitz basically just do to Garrett what Garrett/Deathlok did to Ward last episode? And Skye didn't let Ward die but Fitz pulled the trigger and expressed pleasure at Garrett's potential death? I seriously hope Fitz expresses some guilt or shame over killing a man because if this is an example of how women are too kind and good to kill someone and men don't bat an eye I'll be rather disappointed.

Okay, I've now seen the episode and I really don't know if Buddy was shot or not and, if so, by whom. I do know that was an ADORABLE dog and anyone who caused him harm is a terrible, irredeemable person. Also, presumably Garrett and Ward did things other than hunt in the woods during that five-year period because that kind of deep-cover spycraft requires a lot of social skills that you do not develop living like the Unabomber in the wilderness. Also, I kind of have to agree that Ward can't be redeemed and live -- he's killed too many people with both first and last names for his character to recover without audience backlash.

In the showrunners defense... you just don't kill the dog. (OT: The only thing I remember about the Will Smith movie "I Am Legend" is that I was so anxious about what was going to happen to the dog I literally fast forwarded scenes to ensure that the dog survived and then rewound to watch it properly.)

I haven't seen the episode yet but, based on comments around the web, I am fascinated by the ambiguity of this dog's fate! There seems to be a pretty even split on those who believe Ward killed the dog from a distance or just let it go. I wonder if the showrunners left it so vague intentionally or accidentally -- it gives new insight into those shows that show, then tell, then show again and you're like "give me some credit people!" but if there's any room for interpretation, clearly there will be interpretation!!

But Hydra is an active enemy combatant -- the better analogy would be to Al Qaeda right now and NO ONE would casually say they are "less constrained" in their thinking. That's the point I was making -- both S.H.I.E.L.D. and Hydra agents are, at this moment, fugitives from the law. It seems highly improbable that any company would be actively recruiting from Interpol's Most Wanted list.

I was more thinking that anyone praising a Nazi scientist is... walking a fine line. Their drug trials are not FDA-approved, if you know what I mean. Also, if the army (?? air force? General Talbot) is rounding up S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and Hydra agents are named terrorists, WTF kind of company is interviewing them and developing their weapons??

OMG Coulson accidentally mimicking Fitz's accent cracked me up. Also, I feel like the whole "Nazi" thing is going to hit a whole new level of discussion with these guys praising Hydra's "less constrained" thinking.

I'm strangely torn on this whole issue and really wish the PTB would make an announcement on season two one way or the other. On the one hand, I can't really see a reasonable redemption arc for Ward -- I was SUPER pleased that Skye's response to him was unrelenting disgust and outrage without an iota of "maybe there's still good inside" dewy-eyed bullshit -- but at the same time I would feel really bad for Brett Dalton to have to leave the show. Apart from the fact that he's easy on the eyes, I always feel badly for young actors who think they just got a career-making role that turn out to be ... not. I mean, a full-season run leading a network show is nothing to sneeze at but I'm sure when he signed the contract he was looking forward to several years of regular employment and access to the larger MCU. Being written out just as the show is getting good would have to hurt, you know? (You could even formulate that as "getting written off IN ORDER FOR the show to get good". Ouch.)

Okay, Skye's little "what would you say to Garrett if he were here right now" speech was pretty awesome and my admiration grew when she got in some [well foley-ed] shots when she attacked him on the bus, but I absolutely squealed with delight when she head-butted him. Followed by the "you're a Nazi serial killer" and her wanting to throw up when he said his feelings were real... all in all, Skye really showed up this week. Also LOVED Deathlok throwing the "I was just following orders" line back in Ward's face. I hear what you're saying but, personally, I'm very happy that they didn't go the 24 route where torture solves everything (or anything). Not to get in a real-life debate on the efficacy of torture, I just don't think it would be an appropriate tonal fit for the show and the "threatening others" ploy demonstrates more psychological finesse from Garrett/Hydra and character consistency from Skye. I don't think it showed weakness on her part -- Batman saved Joker, didn't he? Weirdly, after all the people we have seen him kill, I noticed that at least one of the cops he shot near Skye was hobbling, so I think he just took out their knees. Not that that lessens your point in any way, just an odd detail.

Oh my God, Grammaeryn, I could spend HOURS checking out random TV shows on that graph site.