redfish

She's the showrunners go to girl to have a tortured female characters. They seem to like to see her suffer.

I think so too. 13 episodes are enough to create an arc without too many filler episodes or lagging. But networks/studios don't always believe in quality, it's all about the money.

I don't know. Why do I get a Wolfram&Hart (from Angel) vibe from the boardroom in Hydra? And how come they're virtually in the public? That building isn't exactly subtle. How come the government/military doesn't seem to make hunting down Hydra a priority as much as they're going after Shield? Also I thought the actress looked a little too young to be a seasoned spy/agent or give off an ex-wife (ball and chain) vibe to Hunter.

If the show has to depend/rely on that to boost its profile instead of standing on its own then it's doomed to fail. Because what would have happened to the show's storyline if they didn't release The Winter Soldier around that time? Would they have kept stalling and stalling and waiting for the movie to make the first move so that they can come up with something?

I knew it! The retconning has begun. They're going to redeem Ward in a way that is going to insult my intelligence. Soon they're going to add abusive brother and family and that he's misunderstood. He shot Victoria Hand in the head! And then dumped Fitz and Simmons into the ocean and I don't buy the BS that he believed they could fight their way out scenario. That's trying to say in his small way he was working against Garrett and set it so that they would live. Didn't Ward disavow any feelings of loyalty, relationship (it was an act to him) and guilt towards them to Garrett and Raina? They're making him a cypher. Before he was under Garrett's thumb he followed along him without question. Now that he's under Shield's he's willing to do whatever they want from him to ingratiate himself. Also he's a little disturbingly upbeat (or mellow that kind of reeks of crazy) about his "guilt" at what he did to Fitz and his "feelings" for Skye that borders on the creepy.

Yes. Disney bought Marvel and in a way they own AOS.

ITA. Why do I get the feeling they assembled this larger group of new Shield agents at the season premier just to eventually winnow it down one by one until it's the original core including Ward for the finale.

Yeah, that speech didn't help either. It was kind of overwrought and had all the subtlety of a hammer to the face. So now they're like the X-files meets the A-team. Augh. I think it's kind of arrogant of the Coulson/Shadowy Shield to act like they're the only ones capable of handling it all. That they are smarter than all the rest. Isn't that kind of hubris is what got them in that mess (ex. Hydra) in the first place? I don't think they really learned anything from the experiences in season 1, except don't get caught and they're the misunderstood heroes even though from what was revealed in Captain America2, Shield did a lot of questionable things and such, and they weren't quite the ethical branch of the government either. I wished someone had given them the reality check speech and deconstruct what they thought they were and what they were in truth and ask themselves what they do they really want to accomplish because they should have really start over from scratch because it just looks like business as usual without any real soul searching or self-realization. And for an organization that is suppose to start from scratch they seem throw tech around like nothing has changed. I thought with no support from the government how are they being kept going? Secret bank accounts? Things still cost money. It was kind of weird to see Skye play a mini-May version of May. Also. Why isn't Ward in a real military prison? They're just keeping him around to play Hannibal Lector for intel? Okay. If they do a redemption arc with him after all the crap he pulled I'm going to lose it.

Considering they lost their home due to debt and his physical rehab and being overwhelmed managing the hotel I don't think they had the energy to venture outside their hotel.

They'll be non-white characters but there's a good chance they'll be either villains or victims. Considering this is a Disney owned corporation and screened on ABC it's hard to believe that the showrunners would be that openminded or willing to go the extra mile? You can only be so edgy at a limit, even though I agree at 9'oclock they should push themselves. But since this is based on comic universe that has mostly white characters they're not going to stray far from the path. Diversity is not on the menu. Maybe they'll keep him under lock and key trying to get him to reveal any Hydra info and then realize he was just a victim (who killed a lot of people) and they should give him another chance... and I'm going to puke.

Most likely. Although cleaning up the Hydra mess was Nick Fury's "quest". I think they might repeat the same pattern they did with season 1. They'll hold back their plot line with stuff that might remind me of Fringe and then when the movie comes around bang it out in the season finale. From what is revealed about the movie, Stark is now technically bankrolling The Avengers now, so the others will probably have little to no contact with SHIELD at all. So I seriously doubt they're going to have any Avenger characters dropping in on them. But then I don't think consistency and continuity is a priority for them. And that's the showrunner's problem/job, to make this about the agents and shine on its own unique merits and not be a placeholder/44 minute commerical for the movies.