S02.E14: Love In The Time Of Hydra

[ottoDbusdriver]

Ward though didn't stop 33 from kissing him while wearing Skye's face because she's been brainwashed and it would be wrong, but because he finally realized Skye is just not into him.

 

Was that supposed to be Skye or just a model in that fashion magazine that looked a lot like Skye -- where would Agent 33 get a picture of Skye to sample ?  Especially if she is limited to only 3 faces to store and use for mimicking people.

[Sandman]

Was Olmos's "We're the REAL S.H.I.E.L.D., not you losers" base a heli-carrier? It looked to me like the regular old floating kind of aircraft carrier. It might be easier to keep the regular kind moving around and not attract as much attention as a flying fortress probably would.

[ChelseaNH]

A helicarrier doesn't have to fly.  In the water, it looks like a regular air craft carrier, no?

 

Alan Sepinwall's review does a good job summarizing some of my concerns:

"But it's problematic when this is a show about spies who are trained to put all this stuff behind them, and even the most battle-hardened vets like Coulson and May keep doing goofy things because they place their feelings over the mission."

 

If your mission is protecting humanity, then there aren't a lot of feelings that should take priority over that.  Which is not to say that I am entirely on board with how they go about protecting humanity when they get around to it, but at least they're trying.  A short scene with Coulson and/or May asking Skye what she wants to do about her new abilities would have gone a long way towards softening SHIELD's almighty high-handedness.

[Chicago Redshirt]

If REALD HQ is like (or is) the helicarrier seen in "The Avengers," then it can both act as a standard aircraft carrier and fly with some level of cloaking tech.

[thuganomics85]

Late for this one, but I really felt like I didn't miss much.  Felt like early S1 with way too much focus on Coulson and Skye.  I'm just tired of it, and I feel like Clark Gregg and Chloe Bennett are just going through the motions in all of their scenes.

 

So, right now, the "real" SHIELD is basically not happy that Coulson is keeping secrets and blame him for a lot of the problems involving the alien city.  Fine, whatever.  At least they consist of some fun faces like the return of Weaver, Kirk Acevedo (of course, he's kind of the dick of the group), and Edward James Olmos running the show.  Still curious to see why Mack and Bobbi are willing to throw in with them.  it sounds like Bobbi and Olmos have history, so maybe that will get explained.

 

Honestly, I'm kind of disliking both Simmons and Fitz now, which saddens me.  Neither one of them is willing to give: Simmons continues to always assume the worst about Skye and her powers, but Fitz really has his head up in the clouds, if he thinks this is something that can be glossed over.  Both of them need to chill, and quit being so over-dramatic.

 

Ward finally returns and he and Agent 33 are a team.  And, I see they are still killing people when they could just knock them out, so thankfully, I don't see a redemption path coming out of this.

 

Talbot was wasted as basically comic relief.

 

I guess I only really get interested when Cal is involved.

[DeLurker]

Late for this one, but I really felt like I didn't miss much.  Felt like early S1 with way too much focus on Coulson and Skye.  I'm just tired of it, and I feel like Clark Gregg and Chloe Bennett are just going through the motions in all of their scenes.

 

So, right now, the "real" SHIELD is basically not happy that Coulson is keeping secrets and blame him for a lot of the problems involving the alien city.  Fine, whatever.  At least they consist of some fun faces like the return of Weaver, Kirk Acevedo (of course, he's kind of the dick of the group), and Edward James Olmos running the show.  Still curious to see why Mack and Bobbi are willing to throw in with them.  it sounds like Bobbi and Olmos have history, so maybe that will get explained.

 

Honestly, I'm kind of disliking both Simmons and Fitz now, which saddens me.  Neither one of them is willing to give: Simmons continues to always assume the worst about Skye and her powers, but Fitz really has his head up in the clouds, if he thinks this is something that can be glossed over.  Both of them need to chill, and quit being so over-dramatic.

 

Ward finally returns and he and Agent 33 are a team.  And, I see they are still killing people when they could just knock them out, so thankfully, I don't see a redemption path coming out of this.

 

Talbot was wasted as basically comic relief.

 

I guess I only really get interested when Cal is involved.

All this, but especially the bolded lines.

 

And everything is better with Crazy Cal.

[Chicago Redshirt]

Was that supposed to be Skye or just a model in that fashion magazine that looked a lot like Skye -- where would Agent 33 get a picture of Skye to sample ?  Especially if she is limited to only 3 faces to store and use for mimicking people.

I'll fanwank that, given his obsession with her, Ward probably has approximately five million photos of Skye lying around that Agent 33 could use to dupe. 

Edited March 25, 2015 by Chicago Redshirt

[xqueenfrostine]

Was that supposed to be Skye or just a model in that fashion magazine that looked a lot like Skye -- where would Agent 33 get a picture of Skye to sample ?  Especially if she is limited to only 3 faces to store and use for mimicking people.

 

It was definitely Chloe Bennet in that scene.  She was wearing May's hair and speaking in May's voice, but it was Chloe's face and not one of the models 33 imitated in an earlier scene.

[Donny Ketchum]

Ward, Skye made her feelings (or lack thereof) for you way back when she found out you were Hydra.  It's not her fault it took several bullets inside you to make her point.  Get over yourself.

 

I'm really not buying Ward's turn to rationality.  He was delusional.  Getting shot doesn't alter your mental state.  Stop trying to make him a romantic anti-hero, show.

While I'm glad Ward's finally gotten the picture that Skye doesn't want him anymore, yeah, he's better off as a villain, not an antihero, if the show really wants to keep him around.  There is nothing romantic about him.  Nothing.

 

On a side note, he is not returning to the team in ANY capacity, @APSimpson.  At all.  He is still killing innocents who don't deserve it, and is now manipulating an innocent (well, mostly innocent) woman, likely to his gains.  Once Coulson and the others find out about all of this, I don't see them EVER letting him back in.  At!  All!

[sjohnson]

The scenes with Fitz and Ward were interesting. Real SHIELD in my opinion is the same BS that made it into HYDRA. EJO is just early Alexander Pierce with a cheaper actor. Super powers can't make Skye interesting to me. May is far too chop socky and random bipolar nice/mean for me to figure out who she is or what she wants or where she's going. I'll be catching this on demand, watching iZombie instead.

[sinkwriter]

Ward: (pushing Agent 33 away) I'm not insane.

Me: (choking on my tea, laughing) Oooookay, Ward, whatever you say.

 

The dude is batshit crazy, and now he's got Agent 33 following his lead. Oh yeah, this is going to end well. 

 

P.S. That poor woman having to get her face pulled on by Adrian Pasdar... LOL. I hope they had a good laugh afterward, because that was hilariously awkward for Talbot as a character. I loved his sheepish apology, and half-expected her to correct him for saying the wrong name with his "sorry." And I loved all his little tests. "How many times have I gotten your name right?" "None. (pause) Sir." Heee.

[kennyab]

I was trying to figure out how this worked.  Either they're a splinter organization (with a helicarrier) that Coulson doesn't know about, or they agreed to work for Coulson in the fallout but then changed their minds due to the alien antics.  Either way, Coulson looks pretty clueless.  And I'm left wondering where either of them is getting the funding they need to support their sizeable operations.

 

I think they started at the same time Coulson's team did, with Gonzalez and Hartley, who were together when HYDRA made itself known, joining up with Agent Weaver and a few others very quickly in the aftermath. They're getting things going, then at some point Coulson tries to recruit Hartley. I imagine this is when her SHIELD found out about Coulson's SHIELD, and rather than filling him in on the other group, she decides to hold back that information and see what he's doing, whether his SHIELD is on the up-and-up or it needs to be taken care of.

 

Since Hartley's group knows about Coulson's and doesn't reciprocate that info, it's easy enough for Gonzales to go more covert and keep a lower profile with his faction to stay under Coulson's radar. Since they had Hartley, Mack, and Bobbi embedded, they'd be able to get a heads-up about our SHIELD's activities and stay clear. At this point, I think their goal is to get the gadget containing all of Fury's secrets and shut Coulson down as cleanly as possible. They don't want to hurt anyone, but they see Coulson as erratic and don't trust him, even though they probably want to recruit most everyone else. But Hunter's escape has forced their hand, and they're about to raid the compound before Coulson has a chance to get a defense together.

[APSimpson]

I actually thought it was Simmons who suffered as a character in that scene, a bit, because even when she gets a "win" and does something that could help Skye, the scene still became all about how she done Fitz wrong.

 

But Coulson went to Simmons. He went to Simmons and had her make the gloves. He didn't go to Fitz the engineer and weapons maker, he went to Simmons. That says a lot to me about how the writers are looking at this. Fitz making the gloves would empower him. Even if Simmons is suffering she is still the one empowered because she's in charge of the lab and she's the one Coulson trusts. Why doesn't he trust Fitz? It's just more of Fitz being marginalized and treated poorly. Just because Fitz is telling off Simmons doesn't change the fact that he is operating with no power. His power - being the gadget guy, the Q of the show - has been taken away from him.

 

Simmons could care less about what Fitz thinks. When a woman writes off a man, she doesn't care what he thinks. He has no value in her eyes other than a friend and that's been destroyed. She will always have control in the lab and Fitz will be marginalized. He will never have any satisfaction or leverage over her, and Coulson will take her side over Fitz. Why is Fitz still with the team? Nobody seems to care about him and now Mack is a spy. I'm just tired of it, and that's one reason I'm leaving the show. Simmons will always undercut Fitz. Fitz will never win with her. The audience may root for Fitz but it doesn't matter. It's about Fitz' relation with his peers in the show, and he's basically chopped liver. He'll never be accepted into the Cool Kids' Club.

 

And it's not so much that Simmons has done Fitz wrong. She's just doing what Coulson wants her to do. In this case it was Coulson who did Fitz wrong. I used to adore Coulson but now he has lost me. And the show has as well. This was the last straw for me. Whatever happened on this show, I at least had the comfort that Fitz would make the gloves/gauntlets whatever, and now they even took that away from him, and away from me, and that tells me the writers don't care about what I'd like to see. It's not my show anymore.

 

On a side note, he is not returning to the team in ANY capacity, @APSimpson.  At all.  He is still killing innocents who don't deserve it, and is now manipulating an innocent (well, mostly innocent) woman, likely to his gains.  Once Coulson and the others find out about all of this, I don't see them EVER letting him back in.  At!  All!

 

Oh at this point of course not. He's still killing people. My point was that I was disappointed that they didn't have him be a part of this new shield. They could have written something up. Could you imagine him walking into the room with Bobbi? The show missed a wonderful opportunity like that and I just feel that the show isn't going in the direction I want it to.

 

But any little bit of hope that I had that Ward would be redeemed or would be with the new shield and still technically a good guy even though he's killed some people (spy business and all that) there could have been some plausible deniability that he was justified because Skye was a danger and so was Coulson, etc. The writers could have contrived something. Gotta make the "hard call" blah blah blah but hey, Ward is with this new shield so he's still good, and he gets to go after Coulson. Cool! Wait 'til they find out! But instead they stick with Ward the villain and that's just not compelling to me and I think it's a dead-end for the character. He's already not in every episode. I'm just not in the camp that likes Ward as the villain. And it's clear there will be no redemption at this point. Maybe something down the line, but I won't be there to see it. Don't care about Ward and the lady being Bonnie and Clyde. Ward will never grow as a character, he's just a sociopath. No one will help him from the well... it was all a tease. Just a plot to have him kill his family and be the bad guy. No transformation, at least not anytime soon and I don't care anymore.

 

I'm done. I wish the show the best of luck. I've been watching from the beginning but it's not worth the aggravation anymore.

[tennisgurl]

On re-watch...

 

Damn, 33. If you think Ward is well adjusted...

 

For all their talk about being more out in the open than original recipe SHIELD, Edward James Olmos SHIELD  sure do love their secrets lairs, double agents, shady phone calls, and keeping people against their will, don't they? They did make some good points about Coulson and how much he has screwed up with Skye and the alien hunt, but how do we know "real SHIELD" is any better than Coulson`s faction? In fact, if they're "real SHIELD", why even have all the secrets? Tell Coulson`s team what the deal is and get them on their side. Any why do these guys get to be the real deal? Coulson`s group has just as much of a claim to be SHIELD as they do, right?

 

Honestly, I think SHIELD people just like keeping secrets. They're like middle school girls, whispering and passing notes in class. For all we know, there are five other outfits of random ex-SHIELD agents running around, all claiming to be SHIELD, not knowing about each other. 

 

I would like to know more about how Mac and Bobbi got involved in this, and what their motivations here are. 

Edited March 26, 2015 by tennisgurl

[Donny Ketchum]

Oh at this point of course not. He's still killing people. My point was that I was disappointed that they didn't have him be a part of this new shield. They could have written something up. Could you imagine him walking into the room with Bobbi? The show missed a wonderful opportunity like that and I just feel that the show isn't going in the direction I want it to.

 

But any little bit of hope that I had that Ward would be redeemed or would be with the new shield and still technically a good guy even though he's killed some people (spy business and all that) there could have been some plausible deniability that he was justified because Skye was a danger and so was Coulson, etc. The writers could have contrived something. Gotta make the "hard call" blah blah blah but hey, Ward is with this new shield so he's still good, and he gets to go after Coulson. Cool! Wait 'til they find out! But instead they stick with Ward the villain and that's just not compelling to me and I think it's a dead-end for the character. He's already not in every episode. I'm just not in the camp that likes Ward as the villain. And it's clear there will be no redemption at this point. Maybe something down the line, but I won't be there to see it. Don't care about Ward and the lady being Bonnie and Clyde. Ward will never grow as a character, he's just a sociopath. No one will help him from the well... it was all a tease. Just a plot to have him kill his family and be the bad guy. No transformation, at least not anytime soon and I don't care anymore.

I know!  That's why I'm enjoying this!  Not enjoying Ward, but that they're keeping him bad! :)

 

I'm done. I wish the show the best of luck. I've been watching from the beginning but it's not worth the aggravation anymore.

We'll survive, and so will the show.

[kennyab]

But Coulson went to Simmons. He went to Simmons and had her make the gloves. He didn't go to Fitz the engineer and weapons maker, he went to Simmons. That says a lot to me about how the writers are looking at this. Fitz making the gloves would empower him. Even if Simmons is suffering she is still the one empowered because she's in charge of the lab and she's the one Coulson trusts. Why doesn't he trust Fitz? It's just more of Fitz being marginalized and treated poorly. Just because Fitz is telling off Simmons doesn't change the fact that he is operating with no power. His power - being the gadget guy, the Q of the show - has been taken away from him.

 

Coulson went to Simmons because it's continuing from the previous episode before where he asks her not to reveal what she's learned about Skye with anyone else. While Fitz knows some of the changes Skye's gone through, being involved in his project would require him to know the whole thing, and Coulson's trying to keep it as far under wraps as possible. It has nothing to do with not trusting Fitz's abilities (I mean, he had enough confidence in Fitz to put him back in the field in Puerto Rico when even Fitz wasn't sure he was ready), it's about containing information. I mean, I don't even think May fully knows what's going on at this point.

Edited March 26, 2015 by kennyab

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Best part of this not very good episode was Skye and Coulson sitting side by side eating Twizzlers (I believe they were Twizzlers because Coulson would know that they are superior to Red Vines).

[Raja]

With a break from the Inhumans story it felt like a first season episode as TPTB were marking time waiting for The Winter Soldier. This time it is The Age of Ultron and

the reemergence of the two accepted Coulson superior's Fury and Hill.

I believe that coming out of the movie instead of the ragtag agency we will again have a big SHIELD with Coulson being a unit leader.

 

The other point was the Agent 33 and I am speculating  Madame Masque origin story. I remember her first from being a Tony Stark girlfriend but I doubt if they will make any break in the Downey/Paltrow team so her other big story of being in organized crime leads us to Hell's Kitchen Daredevil and the Netflix series.

[ottoDbusdriver]

For all we know, there are five other outfits of random ex-SHIELD agents running around, all claiming to be SHIELD, not knowing about each other.

 

Maybe Bobbi is a quadruple agent working for yet another faction like "True SHIELD", "Better SHIELD", or "New and Improved SHIELD". </sarcasm>

[DeLurker]

I don't think it's at all true that Simmons couldn't care less about Fitz. We just need Fitz back at full Fitz capacity. I think everyone is babying Fitz, and that's a problem, because it does marginalize him. I'm hoping that he'll get his mojo back. It just seems that every true friend he's made has deserted him. I don't know why they've messed with the Fitz/Simmons dynamic that worked so well. But there ya go.

From the perspective of someone with TBI, I think they are doing a pretty good job with Fitz and how the people around you change their treatment of you after you get one.  It's a lot to adjust to for the person and those who are close to them plus, if you are lucky enough to have substantial recovery, it's normally a shifting landscape which is hard on everyone - a 2 steps forward, 1 step back situation (in my experience).

[GinevradiBenci]

Oh yeah, this is definitely the MCU's Madam Masque origin story. They had Talbot say "the mask" and "that mask" several times, and then threw in "masquerading" on top of it - just a little overemphasis to point it out.

[ChelseaNH]

They're getting things going, then at some point Coulson tries to recruit Hartley.

 

Coulson tried to recruit all kinds of survivors in the aftermath of the HYDRA implosion.  In order to do that, you essentially have an inventory of who was SHIELD, who survived, who can be trusted, who declined to join.  You pay attention to where people ended up in the fallout -- because the ones who aren't possibly allies are possibly HYDRA.  Failing to notice a substantial group coalescing under different leadership is a failure of intelligence gathering, which is supposed to be what SHIELD does.

 

When a woman writes off a man, she doesn't care what he thinks. He has no value in her eyes other than a friend

 

.. and women don't care what their friends think.

 

For all their talk about being more out in the open than original recipe SHIELD

 

I suspect they're talking about more transparency and accountability within the organization, rather than without, but there are still limits to how far they -- or any large company -- can take it.

[Raja]

Oh yeah, this is definitely the MCU's Madam Masque origin story. They had Talbot say "the mask" and "that mask" several times, and then threw in "masquerading" on top of it - just a little overemphasis to point it out.

More than that, the kidnapped doctor called the technology the "madam mask".

It was interesting to me that he was not sure if Ward and Agent 33 were holdover's from Director Fury's SHIELD or Hydra after the Pulp Fiction recruitment.

[VCRTracking]

I just hope that Kara doesnt' die a villain. It really bothered me that they made Lady Deathstrike in the second X-Men movie brainwashed under Stryker's control. I didn't want to feel bad when Wolverine killed her. Why couldn't they just maker her a villain with her own agency? Ditto the Baroness in the first GI:Joe movie. They locked her away in prison at the end and none of it was her fault! She was brainwashed too! Also didn't catch that she was supposed to be Madame Masque but I should have. That was mostly tied into Iron Man lore.

[paigow]

Maybe Bobbi is a quadruple agent working for yet another faction like "True SHIELD", "Better SHIELD", or "New and Improved SHIELD". </sarcasm>

Or "Panty SHIELD" Or "Vic Mackey SHIELD"

[Traveller519]

It does feel a bit like we're in a bit of a holding pattern here until Avengers 2 drops. More a case of we're taking stock of where everyone is. before the big events.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Or "Panty SHIELD"

With WINGS!

[paigow]

With WINGS!

Thanks for icing the cake.

[tennisgurl]

Eventually, all the SHIELDS will meet up in some back alley, and have a giant brawl, just pulling random weapons from behind their backs, and it will pretty much be the news team brawl from Anchorman. 

 

"We`re the REAL SHIELD"!

"No WE are!"

"We`re SHIELD Europe!"

"We`re sparkle SHIELD!"

"We`re Spanish language SHIELD!" 

[redfish]

It does feel a bit like we're in a bit of a holding pattern here until Avengers 2 drops. More a case of we're taking stock of where everyone is. before the big events.

 

Or more likely, this show is a placeholder and a 40some minute commercial for the MCU.

 

[Raja]

I think the Agents shows are there to keep us invested in the greater universe for the four to six hours of movies we pay big money to see a year. Just look at all the attention given to a third cut of a trailer and other content providers will want a piece of that action.

By introducing concepts like the Inhumans the cash movies don't have to get bogged down giving everyone an origin story like Spiderman has done.

[paigow]

Eventually, all the SHIELDS will meet up in some back alley, and have a giant brawl, just pulling random weapons from behind their backs, and it will pretty much be the news team brawl from Anchorman. 

 

"We`re the REAL SHIELD"!

"No WE are!"

"We`re SHIELD Europe!"

"We`re sparkle SHIELD!"

"We`re Spanish language SHIELD!" 

Fitz: I just killed a guy with a.....hhhmmm...gum?? ....No ....ocean....fork...submarine

May: Trident???

Fitz: Yeah! That's it!

[tennisgurl]

Boy, that escalated quickly! 

[Bec]

Ward is the most entertaining part of the show for me right now. I think it was supposed to be funny when Agent 33 said "you seem so well adjusted" to Ward and when he said "I'm not insane". I chuckled.

 

Technically he didn't lie about expressing his feelings with his family. He just left out the tiny detail that he did that by setting them on fire. Hee! Plus, I'm sure they were indeed surprised to see him and he did make his brother "really dig in".

 

And yes! I also wondered why they had to hold up an entire diner to kidnap one guy. But oh well, the Pulp Fiction homage was amusing. This show has never been big on things making sense anyway.

 

I have no idea what the crazy bastard is up to and I can't wait to see where this goes. I suspect in his mind he's doing all this for Agent 33 (and in his usual Ward way, if he decides to "help" you, he's like a cat that'll keep bringing you dead birds whether you want them or not). He's probably just as dependent on her to give him purpose as she is dependent on him to give her purpose. It's a circle of codependency! Messed up but fascinating.

 

Maybe it's wishful thinking on my part, but I sure hope Ward's Skye obsession is really over (so tired of that). He only obsessed over Skye because Garrett was gone and he needed someone to do stuff for or he wouldn't know what to do with himself. Now Agent 33 is his new obsession. Why not? She did save his life after all.

 

Agent 33 is already more sure of herself by the end of the episode. I don't think Ward is trying to make her his lackey. He has never struck me as leadership material. It's more like he wants her to be more boss so that he can be her lackey. Hey, it's an improvement of sorts over working for Garrett or making Skye accept his "services".

 

Talbot was also a highlight.

 

Everybody else is being super serious. Bored now. I couldn't possibly care less about SHIELD vs "I can't believe it's not butter!" SHIELD.

 

Honestly, I think SHIELD people just like keeping secrets. They're like middle school girls, whispering and passing notes in class.

"You know spies, bunch of bitchy little girls." - Sam Axe, Burn Notice

 

This seems to be a problem all spy shows run into eventually. Everything gets overly convoluted and turns into a giant clusterfuck.

[DeLurker]

"You know spies, bunch of bitchy little girls." - Sam Axe, Burn Notice

 

This seems to be a problem all spy shows run into eventually. Everything gets overly convoluted and turns into a giant clusterfuck.

Just like jr. high and high school!  Guess the bus is the school bus.

[Spartan Girl]

I don't see the show trying to make Ward look anything but manipulative, delusional and creepy.

 

 

I agree.  This is exactly why I don't want Ward redeemed.  In fact, I hope he's dead by the end of the season.

[Captain Asshat]

Eventually, all the SHIELDS will meet up in some back alley, and have a giant brawl, just pulling random weapons from behind their backs, and it will pretty much be the news team brawl from Anchorman. 

 

"We`re the REAL SHIELD"!

"No WE are!"

"We`re SHIELD Europe!"

"We`re sparkle SHIELD!"

"We`re Spanish language SHIELD!" 

"We're SHIELD 8: The OCHO!"

[Sandman]

We're lucky the female agents don't get relegated to Dress S.H.I.E.L.D. or Panty S.H.I.E.L.D.

 

Edited because, yeah, somehow I missed that paigow got there already. Whoops.

Edited March 27, 2015 by Sandman

[mac123x]

So some dude with no eyes teleported Skye's dad away from the football stadium last week, but Coulson thinks it's a good idea to put her in a remote isolated cabin by herself.  And it wasn't even mentioned by anyone that this might be a bad idea.  Hell, I don't know, maybe Coulson is using her as bait. and the cabin has some sort of roach-motel effect.  You can teleport in, but you can't teleport out.

[kennyab]

So some dude with no eyes teleported Skye's dad away from the football stadium last week, but Coulson thinks it's a good idea to put her in a remote isolated cabin by herself.  And it wasn't even mentioned by anyone that this might be a bad idea.  Hell, I don't know, maybe Coulson is using her as bait. and the cabin has some sort of roach-motel effect.  You can teleport in, but you can't teleport out.

 

What else is he supposed to do? She doesn't mean to be, but Skye's a threat to everyone and could bring the whole base down in her sleep. Putting her at a hidden location that only a couple of other people know is sadly one of his few options.

[Cranberry]

It's surrounded by some kind of laser fence, as well; perhaps that extends in a dome shape over the entire area.

[DeLurker]

Does that mean the cabin is located in Chester Mills (of Under the Dome fame)?

[Sandman]

Golly, I hope not!

 

Does Coulson have reason to think that Teleporter of the Eyeless Face is after Skye at all, when she didn't get scooped up along with her father? Is it a reasonable assumption to suppose that Cal was rescued by a collaborator? (I mean, we know that's not the case, but Coulson doesn't.)

Edited March 27, 2015 by Sandman

[ChelseaNH]

Wasn't there a SHIELD team closing in on Raina when she was scooped up?  You'd think they would have reported the details, and that SHIELD does some kind of cross-indexing on weird events.

[Kel Varnsen]

i'm out from watching it for this reason.  It has all the elements of a good show:  a rich backstory to draw from, actors I really enjoy, superpowers, complex plots, etc., but it still manages to be boring.  It's like they miss the difference between "thriller" and "horror", or for reasons of budget and/or pacing violate the "show, don't tell" rule too much.  There's a good show in here, and maybe it's somewhere between the pacing of the Previousies and the current show.  There's a point where "building tension" becomes "building slack", and they've gone too far for me down that road.  I wish them luck, and I might return, but for now, I'm out.

Yes they are starting to lose me a little I think. The writing isn't compelling enough (and the acting strong enough) for it to be the kind of show where people walk around in offices and talk about what happened/is happening/will happen. It needs to break that up with some action. But the pure action episodes don't always work either. They really need to work on finding a balance. I really hope the daredevil show is better (Agent Carter sure was).

[redfish]

So some dude with no eyes teleported Skye's dad away from the football stadium last week, but Coulson thinks it's a good idea to put her in a remote isolated cabin by herself.  And it wasn't even mentioned by anyone that this might be a bad idea.  Hell, I don't know, maybe Coulson is using her as bait. and the cabin has some sort of roach-motel effect.  You can teleport in, but you can't teleport out.

 

And that's the thing. These are supposed smart or at least competent agents and are making a lot stupid mistakes like they're newbie amateurs like they stopped acting/thinking like efficient SHIELD agents to manufacture dramatic tension in the worst way possible.

[jhlipton]

How did Agent 33/Ward seem to know exactly what Carla Talbot was wearing that day ?  Because they got the trenchcoat and wedding ring right.  I thought the the nano-mask only changes her face, yet seemingly it can change her height, her hair color, length and style, give her large breasts, and even change clothing. Which makes no sense.

She and Ward may have known what Mrs Talbot was wearing, but there's no way the "mask" should have let her change clothes.

 

IRL, breast size can easily be enhanced or decreased through the magic of a good bra, padding or a minimizer - since the clothes weren't particularly revealing, it would be pretty easy to do.

But she didn't have any of that when she turned into one of the GIs

 

 Normal if we don't count the creepy way he claims to have talked out his problems with his family.  An odd thing to say considering we know he murdered both her parents and his brother before burning down their house.

I don't see the show trying to make Ward look anything but manipulative, delusional and creepy.

Ward is definitely still a psycho- or socio-path. The bit about his family, the cold way he said that the doctor wouldn't talk., the callous killing at the base...

I hope Agent 33 doesn't keep whimpering for long. I understand why she's doing it, but it is not fun.

[Kel Varnsen]

And I agree that our shield not knowing about other shield is a major fail. Didn't coulson say they were getting supplies from Maria Hill at Stark? Who is suppplying the other guys. Plus does other shield even know Fury is alive? He is still out there, as is Cap, Romanoff and Barton. Have any of them come across the other Shield and their carrier full of planes (all which would need fuel).

Also considering how uneventful this episode was why couldn't they have given us a scene of Skye going outside and trying to figure out how much power she really has.

Edited March 28, 2015 by Kel Varnsen

[KirkB]

I got the impression the eyeless guy was able to pop in and grab Skye's dad because Cal was making an ass of himself by being so public and the people eyeless guy work for wanted to shut him up. They knew where he was. But even if they are (or are going to be) after Skye, and I don't see any reason they would be, the cabin is hidden and private. The teleporter wouldn't know where to teleport to.

 

The 'real' SHIELD doesn't need to be a big organization. Just a group of like minded individuals who managed to get hold of an aircraft carrier, which is probably easy enough in this world if you have the right contacts. They may not have been around long or were under the radar while big SHIELD was still active to keep from being found out. Barton and Romanoff might have run into them in some capacity in the past but wouldn't have known them to be any different from regular SHIELD. They just seem to be distinguishing themselves now.

 

Skye trying to find out just how much power she really has might be a bad idea. If she lets it all go she may not be able to rein it in again and I don't think she wants to be responsible for sending a chunk of the continent into the sea.

[Aeryn13]

I think "real Shield" is a joke. "Hey, we hated Fury`s secret-keeping, clandestine operations and spying on everyone, that is why we have decided to create this new organization that has... secret-keeping, clandestine operations and spying on everyone." Hunter was apparently the only sane person there. Bobbi might play a long con but Mack has definitely drunk the kool-aid.

 

Meanwhile, the other Shield isn`t doing any better. For one, they don`t know about "real Shield". Secondly, Coulson DOES have major deficits as a leader. He doesn`t want to engage in a discussion, he handwaves it away with some "need to know".

 

Ward and Agent 33 was actually the best storyline, I felt. And, say what you want about Ward (he is definitely still villainous, creepy and crazy) but he is the only person who at least makes an effort with Agent 33. Who was basically a devoted Shiled agent who got captured, tortured, brainwashed and disfigured. And not a single person on Shield, either one, has ever cared about it. Guess this is how they repay loyalty when you are not a main character.

 

I was still firmly on Fitz`s side in that argument with Simmons. He is right, she has changed, too, and not for the better and if his words knocked her off that sudden high-horse a little bit, hell yeah.

 

The Skye stuff wasn`t bad, just some treading water, I thought..