S02.E01: Shadows

[Irishmaple]

Veering off-topic but I knew a kid IRL who had an entire hemisphere removed.  A few months later (which seemed shockingly brief considering how ill he'd been and how major the surgery) he was recovered and you'd never know to look at him that anything had ever been wrong.

[Grammaeryn]

True that the brain doesn't regenerate, but there are compounds and substances in the Marvel 'verse that can make that happen. Also, the brain can re-route. Neural pathways take detours sometimes. I'm also looking forward to seeing how Fitz's recovery manifests. Will the injury give him some type of cognitive superpower? Will he go evil (I hope not)? 

 

Whatever's in store for him, it translates into more Fitz screen time and I'm all for that!

Exactamundo! I was paralyzed on my left side until my brain rerouted. I'm wondering if headSimmons is kind of like a personification of recovery? For example, the words need come from someplace else but his brain has them. Another scary/cool brain injury thing is you are unaware of what you can't do. I had trouble pouring a glass of water initially but it looked fine until it spilled everywhere. Fitz could be a lab accident away from creating an 084 or curing himself. I bet he'll be healed by episode 5.

[Collinwood]

Was I the only one who super slow-moed through the beginning sequence with Agent Carter securing the boxes of top secret stuff?  I wonder that because I haven't seen anyone else mention the Kree In A Box that one of the soldiers was starting to open when Carter stopped him.  There was a distinctly blue something in the box with the alien symbols on it.  It was only a brief glimpse but it was definitely there.  I think it must have been partial body that supplied the Reanimation Juice used on Coulson and Skye in Season One.  No one else saw this?  Someone reassure me that I was not hallucinating.

[Wilowy]

I did see someone else comment on it upthread, and yes I saw it too ("That's dangerous") so you are not alone. :)

[HistoryGirl]

Was I the only one who super slow-moed through the beginning sequence with Agent Carter securing the boxes of top secret stuff?  I wonder that because I haven't seen anyone else mention the Kree In A Box that one of the soldiers was starting to open when Carter stopped him.  There was a distinctly blue something in the box with the alien symbols on it.  It was only a brief glimpse but it was definitely there.  I think it must have been partial body that supplied the Reanimation Juice used on Coulson and Skye in Season One.  No one else saw this?  Someone reassure me that I was not hallucinating.

While I missed it and have been too busy rewatching the Fitz parts on loop to have specifically looked at that scene again, the folks over at the After Buzz podcast mentioned it.  So it does exist. 

Edited September 28, 2014 by HistoryGirl

[jhlipton]

Fitz has Comic Book Brain Injury (CBBI) so I'm not sure how much it parallels Real World Brain Injury (RWBI).  CBBI can get better or worse just depending on plot requirements (and a dose or two of Handwavium).  My prediction is a bit to the worse until Simmons arrives with the Handwavium-powered CBBI-Fixinator (arround episode 5).

[Sandman]

Definitely not hallucinating, Collinwood.

[HistoryGirl]

A screen grab of the Kree alien from episode 1.

[ottoDbusdriver]

A screen grab of the Kree alien from episode 1.

 

It's my Kree in a box
My Kree in a box babe
It's my Kree in a box
Ooh, my Kree in a box girl

 

1, cut a hole in a box
2, put your Kree in that box
3, make her open the box
And that's the way you do it

 

It's my Kree in a box.

[paigow]

In 1945, who knew how to design life support / stasis units for humans, let alone Kree? If Hydra was that smart, the war should have been over in 1942.

[Wilowy]

Who's to say that wasn't a stasis field of their own design? Or even some other alien design/

 

And we may have had a lot of underground powerful bullshit science that the hoi polloi knew nothing about. In the MCU or otherwise. 

[Kel Varnsen]

So Triplett's cover at the base was General Jones. And his granddad was a Howling Commando. So is that confirmation that his grandfather was Gabe Jones? Because I think previously that was just speculation? 

 

A decent episode, some stupid stuff but enough action to make me mostly ignore it.

 

Also is this the first time the jets in the MCU were actually referred to as Quinjets?

[Statman]

In 1945, who knew how to design life support / stasis units for humans, let alone Kree? If Hydra was that smart, the war should have been over in 1942.

What makes you think Krees even need life support? You can't impose human needs on a fake alien species.

[Kel Varnsen]

One other thing I just remembered. I think Coulson might want to rethink his recruitment policy for new SHIELD agents. Because in the episode he said he needed to meet in person with new recruits to get a feel for them and make sure they are loyal to SHIELD. But one of the people in his own base is a HYDRA double agent. Not to mention they said that they can now monitor HYDRA communications. But again a HYDRA agent is in their base communicating with his superiors. 

[paigow]

Life support is not exclusively a human need. The demi-Kree needed life support.

[Sarahastro]

Was the Kree in the tube alive or just preserved in fluid like one of those medical specimens in a jar?

[ChelseaNH]

one of the people in his own base is a HYDRA double agent

 

I suspect you're conflating Creel with the Henry Simmons mechanic character who didn't actually get an introduction.  Initially I thought the guy getting into the back of the truck was the mechanic guy and it took me a moment to readjust.

[Sandman]

My prediction is a bit to the worse until Simmons arrives with the Handwavium-powered CBBI-Fixinator (arround episode 5).

 

The best part is the H-PCBBIF is cleverly designed to look just like a big heavy book that Simmons can use to hit Fitz in the noggin with! Scientific progress goes bonk!

[Dandesun]

 

In 1945, who knew how to design life support / stasis units for humans, let alone Kree? If Hydra was that smart, the war should have been over in 1942.

 

Johann Schmidt/Red Skull probably was smart enough to come up with life support -- human or otherwise -- but that never seemed to be his interest. It was all about taking over and considering that Hydra's motto is 'Cut one head off, two will take its place.' I don't think he was particularly interested in healing people.

[paramitch]

As someone who had a TBI at 24, with a nice chunk of my temporal lobe gone Fitz made me tear up with familiarity. I did not hallucinate friends. There came a point after 3 months of rehab, where recovery only occurs in your regular life. I was a shuffling slurring mess who cried all the time but living life really helped me. My memory is better than injury state but not what it was. Just an FYI from a survivor...

 

I'm so sorry for what you went through, but am so happy for the recovery you achieved. As someone who helped my Mom through two years of recovery (she had a rapidly growing benign brain tumor removed from her temporal lobe), I've witnessed some of what you describe firsthand -- my Mom was actually unable to recover, and eventually passed away, but I did witness some incredible recovery moments that were right out of "Awakenings."

 

Personally I love his beard of evil. It's very "Darkest Timeline" from Community or "Mirror Universe" from Star Trek.

Cool cool cool! I <sheepishly> like the Beard of Evil too. I also like Dalton, and think he's done a great job with Ward, and rolled with the character's changes pretty well. I like quiet actors, he's good at humor, and he certainly brings the pretty.

 

I'm hoping Simmons is just going around looking for a cure.  She wouldn't abandon someone she loved like Fitz and she owes it to him after saving her life.

 

Definitely hoping the same thing. I was gutted to realize she had actually left a broken, injured Fitz behind.

 

...when we left he was under the care of a team of Fury's doctors, and we now see him taking medication makes it reasonable that he has gotten medical care and rehab. I wonder what exact type of medication he is taking. Temporal lobe injury is associated with seizures - perhaps he is on antiseizure medication. I'm interested to see how his recovery continues to progress.

 

This is a really good point, and I'll be impressed if the show was that thoughtful about the technicalities. If unable to be controlled, the seizures can be even more debilitating than the original injury.

 

The brain does reroute and take over.....Fitz may be close to normal, or he may not. Anoxic brain injury creates a more diffuse injury though compared to a stroke, which can be far more focal (affecting for example a single arm/leg). It seems like they are going the route of the slow recovery, which I am all for because again, it adds weight to the actions and adds more tension/drama to the show.

I agree with this, and am interested and impressed that the show took Fitz's injury seriously enough to give it consequences (versus just saving him and then poof, months later, he's all better).

 

I'm wondering if headSimmons is kind of like a personification of recovery? For example, the words need come from someplace else but his brain has them. Another scary/cool brain injury thing is you are unaware of what you can't do. I had trouble pouring a glass of water initially but it looked fine until it spilled everywhere. Fitz could be a lab accident away from creating an 084 or curing himself. I bet he'll be healed by episode 5.

 

I love this idea and I was thinking the exact same thing. The fact that Simmons is a manifestation of his subconscious is interesting, because we can see (even if the others can't) that inside, in his dialogues with Simmons, Fitz is capable of analysis and of coming up with the right answers. But through "Simmons," it's like he has to call them up from a different part of the brain. I really hope the show is going in this direction, as it's an elegant and realistic way to approach what Fitz is going through.

 

Meanwhile, I don't hate Skye but in spite of her improved gravitas and hairstyle she still seems like she's a kid playacting around the adults. I find her weirdly heavy-handed (the actress and the role both). But I still like and care about Coulson, Fitz, Simmons and May, and the darker tone for the season has possibilities.

 

But I'm with those who do not want Ward redeemed without massive torture, death (he can die a few times frankly) and humiliation. I just don't think you can come back from the kind of betrayal he perpetrated on the team.

[mac123x]

Twice I noticed the camera lingering on the licence plates of cars as they drove off.  One was a Mayrland plate (I think), but I couldn't what the other one was.  I was puzzling over the significance, if maybe there was some clue hidden in the plates that would have some major consequences later in the episode or in the seasonal arc.

 

Then I realized the camera wasn't lingering on the licence plate; it was lingering on the Chevrolet emblem on the cars' trunks.  Since I stopped watching Vampire Diaries I've become less sensitized to whorish product placement.  Thanks, Show, for reacquainting me with it!

 

Other than that, meh episode.  Ward is definitely on the first steps of a redemption arc, though the fact that they are showing the consequences to Fitz's injury and not hand-waving it away gives me hope that Ward's redemption will also be a long-haul.  I'm thinking he could be like Scorpius on Farscape -- not really redeemed into a good guy, but turned into someone they all still detest but have to work with against a common enemy.

[paramitch]

Then I realized the camera wasn't lingering on the licence plate; it was lingering on the Chevrolet emblem on the cars' trunks.  Since I stopped watching Vampire Diaries I've become less sensitized to whorish product placement.  Thanks, Show, for reacquainting me with it!

 

This made me laugh out loud -- we've all been there! I haven't noticed it as much on VD (but I stopped watching this year), but it definitely can pull focus.

 

For me, though, nothing will ever top poor "Alias," which was always teetering on cancellation and evidently saved at the last minute by massive product placement from Ford, and there was one scene that had me howling:

 

<Cue tense chase scene on a rooftop, lives at stake, disaster on the brink>

 

SYDNEY: (screaming to fellow chasee): "Quick! Take the F-150!"

 

<everything may or may not have paused for a split second>

 

<cue loving close-up beauty shot of the F-150 logo>

 

<everyone basically unpauses and the chase continues>

 

To me it remains the best and funniest inadvertent placement ever.

 

So I don't mind it too much in SHIELD. I mean, some seasons of "Community" were season-long "Subway" commercials so I've kind of become desensitized. If it helps a fun show survive, I will put up with an onslaught of Chevrolets, F-150s and subs.

[jhlipton]

It has been pointed out to me that my use of CBBI (Comic Book Brain Injury) is dismissive of those who had or nave real brain injuries.   I am very sorry.  I had no intention of dismissing or demeaning real life injury, and apologize for that.

[benteen]

This made me laugh out loud -- we've all been there! I haven't noticed it as much on VD (but I stopped watching this year), but it definitely can pull focus.

 

For me, though, nothing will ever top poor "Alias," which was always teetering on cancellation and evidently saved at the last minute by massive product placement from Ford, and there was one scene that had me howling:

 

<Cue tense chase scene on a rooftop, lives at stake, disaster on the brink>

 

SYDNEY: (screaming to fellow chasee): "Quick! Take the F-150!"

 

<everything may or may not have paused for a split second>

 

<cue loving close-up beauty shot of the F-150 logo>

 

<everyone basically unpauses and the chase continues>

 

To me it remains the best and funniest inadvertent placement ever.

 

So I don't mind it too much in SHIELD. I mean, some seasons of "Community" were season-long "Subway" commercials so I've kind of become desensitized. If it helps a fun show survive, I will put up with an onslaught of Chevrolets, F-150s and subs.

 

Oh God, I still remember that "great" Alias moment!  Yeah, they were noticeable when it came to product placement.  I remember late in Season 5 where Mia says to Jack "I see you got the Ford Hybrid" and Jack's like "Yeah, it's a smooth ride.  Gets me to where I'm going."  I don't think I ever felt more embarrassed for actors than to have to work that crap into their performance.

 

I can live with logos/trademarks popping up...people drinking Coke in real life, people drive Fords and Chevrolets but I can't stand it when they work it into the actual script.

[anna0852]

I think I'm in the minority but I like Skye's bangs. She looks a lot like Linda Cadellini did on ER to my mind.

 

And also in my head, I'm fanwanking that the bangs are there to help obscure the shape of her face and make her slightly more surveillance camera resistant, as SHIELD is now operating from the shadows.

[Ceindreadh]

I did at one point mid-way through the ep think that Fitz was hallucinating and that while he was talking to imaginary Simmonds that the real one would show up behind him.  But when that didn't happen, I figured I was mistaken...until the end.  Talk about sucker punches!

 

As for Ward, the only way I can see him being redeemed is if he sacrifices himself for SHIELD as in actually dies to save one or more members of the team. 

But then, i could see him being devious to put himself in jeopardy, obstensibly to save the team, but with the hope that they'll save him before it's too late. 

[Sandman]

If he did that, then Fitzsimmons should be allowed to kick him out of the quinjet in mid-air.