S07.E03: Alien Commies from the Future!

[paigow]

12 hours ago, MisterGlass said:

I wonder if AoS inherited Agent Carter's wardrobe racks when it was sadly canceled.  It's nice, if a little bittersweet, to see Sousa again.

When they landed in NYC, Deke went on a shopping trip for era appropriate clothing.

Was there an Area 51 outlet mall nearby? The other thing is actual money...Did Simmons get currency from every possible era? Or are there a bunch of bills printed in 1929 circulating around 1955 Nevada?

[Raja]

26 minutes ago, paigow said:

When they landed in NYC, Deke went on a shopping trip for era appropriate clothing.

Was there an Area 51 outlet mall nearby? The other thing is actual money...Did Simmons get currency from every possible era? Or are there a bunch of bills printed in 1929 circulating around 1955 Nevada?

In 1931 they showed Deke being issued cash. I would just give them future counterfeiting tech. as opposed to finding examples of old currency to carry

[swanpride]

Quote

I have to admit, I had no idea why they all looked at Deke and decided that he had to interrogate Sharpe.  Even when Deke pointed to his face and said "Because of this?" I thought "What, because he's a kid?  A young guy wouldn't lie to him?"  When I see Deke, the first thing I see is a goofy-looking white guy.  Then I realized that it was because Deke is white, right before he walked away mumbling something about "white privilege".

Really? After this guy insulted all the others with racial slurs? I usually forget that the cast of AoS is so diverse, but the current setting is a constant reminder. 

Though it made a lot of sense that Deke himself was first clueless, because he actually didn't grew up with any "white privilege". I doubt that the Kree cared about skin colour, or that the surviving humans cared anymore.

[Raja]

2 hours ago, swanpride said:

Really? After this guy insulted all the others with racial slurs? I usually forget that the cast of AoS is so diverse, but the current setting is a constant reminder. 

Though it made a lot of sense that Deke himself was first clueless, because he actually didn't grew up with any "white privilege". I doubt that the Kree cared about skin colour, or that the surviving humans cared anymore.

To be fair oriental was not a slur in 1955. And someone Ming Na Wen's real age would have been called oriental as a child with no more malicious intent than calling Mack a negro. Even with Asians being the largest minority group in my high school I first heard the object versus Asian as a people in 1978 when visiting UCLA.

As late as 2001 I found myself trying to correct a Cambodian immigrant that oriental was wrong when he self identified as such and on message boards folks from the UK treated Americans like we were crazy when we insisted on Asian as they used oriental to distinguish them from the peoples we now call South Asians.

Edited June 14, 2020 by Raja

[Jack Shaftoe]

I don't understand why they thought that their prisoner being interrogated by Deke would have increased the chance of him revealing any secrets. Last time I checked most people from the Soviet Bloc and their sympathizers in the US were white and that guy clearly hated "commies". I know that it worked, sort of, because the guy was a moron but their rationale bugged me.

[paigow]

36 minutes ago, Jack Shaftoe said:

I don't understand why they thought that their prisoner being interrogated by Deke would have increased the chance of him revealing any secrets.

The guy said he wrote the book on resisting torture...so Deke should have gone Marty McFly and worn him down with Van Halen turned up to 11

[Orbert]

7 hours ago, swanpride said:

Really? After this guy insulted all the others with racial slurs? I usually forget that the cast of AoS is so diverse, but the current setting is a constant reminder. 

Though it made a lot of sense that Deke himself was first clueless, because he actually didn't grew up with any "white privilege". I doubt that the Kree cared about skin colour, or that the surviving humans cared anymore.

Sharpe calling May "oriental" and whatever he called Mack did clue me in that he was a racist ass, but it still didn't occur to me right away that Deke is white.  The cast is diverse, and I tend not to see color anyway.  Maybe because I'm not white, either.

[swanpride]

Quote

I don't understand why they thought that their prisoner being interrogated by Deke would have increased the chance of him revealing any secrets.

Because for one a lack of respect doesn't make the interrogation easier and two, white man have a tendency to go buddy-buddy with each others. In any case it worked, because Shape, who was previously happy just throwing out insults, really, really wanted to proof to Deke how stupid he was. Because Deke was someone he could only take down on this level.

[Llywela]

11 hours ago, Jack Shaftoe said:

I don't understand why they thought that their prisoner being interrogated by Deke would have increased the chance of him revealing any secrets. Last time I checked most people from the Soviet Bloc and their sympathizers in the US were white and that guy clearly hated "commies". I know that it worked, sort of, because the guy was a moron but their rationale bugged me.

With everyone else out on mission, Deke was kind of their last option anyway!

[blackwing]

On 6/14/2020 at 9:18 AM, Orbert said:

I have to admit, I had no idea why they all looked at Deke and decided that he had to interrogate Sharpe.  Even when Deke pointed to his face and said "Because of this?" I thought "What, because he's a kid?  A young guy wouldn't lie to him?"  When I see Deke, the first thing I see is a goofy-looking white guy.  Then I realized that it was because Deke is white, right before he walked away mumbling something about "white privilege".

I did think it interesting how disparate the reactions of the public were to the team.  I think the one waitress was clearly disgusted by the idea of a black man eating in a diner with a Hispanic woman.  But we didn't see how she reacted to the idea of an older white man eating with a much younger Asian woman.  Sharpe was clearly racist but then we see Sousa thinking nothing of the fact that an Asian woman younger than him is a CIA agent.  

 

Edited June 15, 2020 by blackwing

[Raja]

Daisy easily passes, she looks more the European ideal than say Johnny Cash's first wife.

[swanpride]

I am not sure about the waiter...she seemed to dislike customers in general.

[blueray]

My thought is the server probably thought Coulson was Daisy father. Which doesn't look weird at all.

[ProudMary]

On 6/11/2020 at 8:05 PM, Lunula said:

Was the female Chronicom Jessie Graff (from American Ninja Warrior)? I looked on IMDB and the entire role wasn’t listed. We also watched the closing credits and none of the Chronicoms were listed. 

You may have discovered this already, but Jessie Graff has been added on IMDb as an uncredited cast member for this episode. She's at the bottom of the Full Cast list.

 

[maczero]

On 6/12/2020 at 12:47 PM, blackwing said:

I think the original Human Torch was seen briefly in the first Captain America movie... it was in a case and there was a sign saying "The Synthezoid Man" or something like that.  I guess it may or may not have happened but I would think it's quite possible in this universe in the span of 10 years or so that the Invaders happened.

Why assume the Invaders existed?  Up until the Avengers, the general public of the MCU seemed to have no idea that superhumans existed.  Hell, I bet the general public didn't buy that Captain America was superhuman because he was used for propaganda.

On 6/16/2020 at 8:19 AM, swanpride said:

I am not sure about the waiter...she seemed to dislike customers in general.

Yeah, I thought she had a problem with Mack at first but she seemed to scowl at several other white patrons. 

[Sandman]

On 6/11/2020 at 12:19 AM, thuganomics85 said:

Yay, Daniel Sousa! I'm glad that he has been moving up in the ranks at S.H.I.E.L.D. and is doing well for himself, even though things obviously didn't work out with Peggy (thanks, Endgame!) Enver Gjokaj is always great and seemed to be enjoying getting to reprise the role. 

I guess I wasn't paying attention during the opening credits, because I was totally unspoiled about Enver Gjokaj's appearance. I may have made a noise that sounded suspiciously like  ... a squee.

The timey-wimey plot contrivances are kind of annoying, and threaten to turn this show into Marvel's Legends of Tomorrow -- this can in no way be considered a compliment -- but so far I'm enjoying this show more than I have in ages -- more than at least the last two and a half seasons, and maybe more. It's stylish and fun, and if it doesn't make a lot of sense (did we know before that Wilfred Malick was part of the SHIELD?), at least it's not taking itself so desperately seriously.

(And I don't care what anyone says -- the "Cap goes to the past" business in Endgame means Peggy got not one but two (count 'em, two!) separate happy lifetimes: one with Steve and one with Daniel. Ain't nobody gonna convince me otherwise, and nobody deserves it more than our Margaret Carter.)

[Raja]

30 minutes ago, Sandman said:

 

The timey-wimey plot contrivances are kind of annoying, and threaten to turn this show into Marvel's Legends of Tomorrow -- this can in no way be considered a compliment -- but so far I'm enjoying this show more than I have in ages -- more than at least the last two and a half seasons, and maybe more. It's stylish and fun, and if it doesn't make a lot of sense (did we know before that Wilfred Malick was part of the SHIELD?), at least it's not taking itself so desperately seriously.

 

I can't recall specific information on Wilfred, as far as I remember he was only shown cheating in the lottery  for the astronaut to send through the monolith to Maveth. And his surviving  son Gideon rose to the World Security Council that order the nuke to New York. After the Hydra emergence Gideon then made many Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. appearances.

[swanpride]

Nah, Wilfried was never shown before...but we know roughly when he died: in 1970, because that is when Malick and his brother inherited the estate. So if the agents are now

Spoiler

in 1970th to fight him, they better be exactly in 1970.

Anything else would mess with the timeline.

[Sandman]

14 hours ago, Raja said:

And his surviving  son Gideon rose to the World Security Council that order the nuke to New York. After the Hydra emergence Gideon then made many Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. appearances.

I remember Gideon well. It was just Wilfred-as-part-of-SHIELD that felt a little like a retcon to me. (That it was done so that Daniel could be shown to be insightful and above reproach helps it sit a little better, to be honest.)

[Raja]

5 minutes ago, Sandman said:

I remember Gideon well. It was just Wilfred-as-part-of-SHIELD that felt a little like a retcon to me. (That it was done so that Daniel could be shown to be insightful and above reproach helps it sit a little better, to be honest.)

Given the show's bible that Hydra had always been there, even with a Hydra prep school sending it graduates to all the services to work their way up the ranks I wouldn't say it was an out of nowhere retcon to fit the story, but rather the story which had always been in play from The Winter Soldier through the club in Agent Carter

[Llywela]

Yeah, I don't think it was out of left field for Wilfred Malick to be senior in SHIELD - after all, we already knew that Hydra had a huge number of operatives woven throughout SHIELD from very early in its existence, ranging from junior to senior, that was already a major plotline for the show, so this historical twist ties in with what we already knew rather than sticking out as a retcon.

[Sandman]

Hmm. Twist might be a better word for it than retcon, after all. An unwelcome surprise, on the whole, but not unprepared for in story terms. Daniel is the happiest addition to the cast in quite a while, I say. 

[Kel Varnsen]

My only real complaint about this episode was that it was a time travel story set in 1955 that featured a bunch of dudes in lab coats and not a single Back to the Future reference. Although I did especially like that they finally mentioned that someone back then noticed bad people were infiltrating Shield. That has bugged me since Winter Soldier, the fact that no one (not Peggy, not Howard Stark not Coulson and not even Fury for a long time) noticed that SHIELD was full of Hydra people.

On 6/11/2020 at 10:54 AM, Jack Shaftoe said:

They did but it was about as believable as anyone mistaking Jemma Simmons for Peggy Carter. 

I bought it. How many people do you think had seen a decent quality picture of her at that point? Sure she was well known to future Shield types but for an average 50's soldier how much more are you going to know about her beyond white British Lady with dark hair.

On 6/11/2020 at 9:45 PM, rmontro said:

That might have been my favorite part of the show, the 50s sci fi appearance of the title card.  I think there was even a theremin playing in the background.

 

I wish they hadn't skipped over the 40's since I would have liked to see it being called  Timely's Agents of Shield.

[swanpride]

I wish they hadn't skipped over the 1960s.