S03.E02: Purpose In The Machine

[maczero]

 

Ward continues to be a ridiculous amount of fun as a bad guy and Von Strucker Jr. was a nice callback to that villain (maybe he won't be wasted like his dad was).  I remember in the comics that Von Strucker had twin children who were mutants that first appeared in Uncanny X-Men #200.  

Ah yes, the Fenris twins.  I wonder if they're off limits to Marvel Studios since they're mutants.  Can the characters appear and just get their powers from being part Inhuman?

 

It's been awhile since I paid much attention to this show so I have a couple of questions.

 

1) When did Skye embrace being Daisy?  I know that's her given name but it seems weird that she would want any connection to her past after her mother tried to kill her (and thousands others) and her Dad being bat shit insane.

 

2)  When did they start calling themselves Inhumans?  I don't recall anyone at her mother's compound using the term and frankly it doesn't sound very flattering.

[Cthulhudrew]

During Priest's Black Panther run in comics, it was revealed that the Resurrection Altar in Wakanda was or could also be a portal to alien worlds (a group of aliens imprisoned on the Earth during the Maximum Security mega-story used it to escape).

 

I've been wondering for a while now if the monolith is supposed to be the MCU version of the Resurrection Altar, or if it is just its own thing.

[benteen]

I'm not sure where the Fenris Twins would go rights issue.  My guess is that they are under the X-Men banner. 

 

I always thought Skye would have embraced the name she chose for herself.  It seemed much more her style.  But I think knowing what her true name was is something she wanted to latch onto and I get that.

[mommalib]

I think May is so attractive. I always wondered if Coulson had a shot with her.

[ChelseaNH]

How much time really passed between the flare and Fitz dropping himself  through the portal?

 

They had to set up the winch for the probe, so I can see it taking 15-30 minutes easily.

 

Ward's tough love for the Strucker boy seems like a compulsive re-working of his personal autobiography with Garrett, with himself cast as Garrett. Which is kind of demented.

 

But consistent with his kind of emotional trauma.  It would be nice to believe they knew what they were doing.

 

At first I presumed it was a side effect of her being Inhuman but I guess it was her vibratory abilities resonating?

 

When she first got her powers, there were indications that she would damage herself when using them.

[Tara Ariano]

In case you missed it, here's the Previously.TV post on the episode!

 

Agents Of SHIELD Goes Abroad
Life in SHIELD isn't perfect, but at least you get to travel.

[Raja]

Ah yes, the Fenris twins. I wonder if they're off limits to Marvel Studios since they're mutants. Can the characters appear and just get their powers from being part Inhuman?

It's been awhile since I paid much attention to this show so I have a couple of questions.

1) When did Skye embrace being Daisy? I know that's her given name but it seems weird that she would want any connection to her past after her mother tried to kill her (and thousands others) and her Dad being bat shit insane.

2) When did they start calling themselves Inhumans? I don't recall anyone at her mother's compound using the term and frankly it doesn't sound very flattering.

Skye embraced Daisy after her father, while insane did the right thing for humanity and killed his wife Jaiying to spare Skye from having to kill her mother. Her name was what she was searching for when Director Coulson recruited her for SHIELD.

When Jaiying introduced herself to her daughter she told her the story of her family and people along with we call ourselves Inhumans.

As for the twins that is in a contract but they wouldn't be the first mutants reimagined as something else for the MCU or other Marvel comics universes

[Bosman]

Count me in as someone NOT happy about the return of Ward. I find his character so tedious and one-note. They really should have killed him off last season so that the show can move on.

[xqueenfrostine]

We still don't know what was chasing Simmons in the premiere (though I presume we will find out) but as for her responding so quickly to the flare I would imagine that as a scientist and a SHIELD agent it would occur to her to stay in the general proximity of where she landed, just in case her friends found a way to reopen the portal or communicate with her.

Simmons may be a scientist and a SHIELD agent, but more importantly she's human. Which means that she can't stay in a place for months just because it's a spot where she's most likely to be found. She has more basic needs, like sustainable sources of food and potable water as well as shelter from the elements and predators. If she was able to easily find all of that on an alien planet (or moon as the case may be) within a mile of her landing site, that kind of undermines the peril of her situation. If we had seen Simmons running through lush vegetation maybe my bullshit detector wouldn't be ringing so hard here, but the landscape we saw her running through looked very arid and rocky. It seems likely that in those conditions that she would have been forced to move beyond the immediate area of the landing site in order to meet her basic survival needs.

Speaking of the portal, did they explain (and I missed it) why it was randomly opening? I know the Asgardian made some mention of it responding to something even if it wasn't obvious what, and since it's destroyed I guess it really doesn't matter but still I'm curious.

They didn't give a specific answer but Professor Randolph speculated that the portal opening was being triggered by something on the far side of the portal rather than things happening on Earth.

Daisy being hurt by the portal. At first I presumed it was a side effect of her being Inhuman but I guess it was her vibratory abilities resonating?

Yeah I'm pretty sure the pain came from the frequencies emitted by the machine affecting Skye's powers (and from overexertion when she was producing the frequencies herself) as neither Gordon or Raina seemed to be affected when they were in the presence of the active monolith.

I was hoping that the Asgardian would have remote control flusher for his jail toilet because Peter MacNichol will always be the Biscuit to me.

That's funny, because to me he will always be Janosz from Ghostbusters 2. Every time I see him I expect that crazy accent.

I was surprised that Simmons was rescued so soon but I give them credit for not dragging this out like they have with the Coulson revelations the past two seasons.

Honestly, I think moving too quickly on a plot point can be just as bad as drawing things out too long. Move too quickly and it undermines the peril of the plot line because the resolution looks too easy, and move too slowly and the final reveal will feel too small to the audience because nothing can stand up to months and months of slow buildup. The real talent in storytelling is finding that Goldilocks zone of just long enough. I don't think the show hit that zone here.

[Chicago Redshirt]

Why would Coulson send Hunter after Ward without one of those Black Widow masks? May called BS on "Undercover Hunter" right away and his response was weak. 

It seemed to me from last season that those masks are relatively rare. BW obviously has the one she used in Cap 2. Kara from AoS had one. When they tracked down the inventor, if memory serves, he acted like hers was relatively rare and other than him people didn't know how to fix it. 

[Lady Calypso]

Excellent episode. I loved all the interactions, and we get to have some new ones! Fitz and Bobbi! Hunter and May! This is how an ensemble should work!

 

Fitz was, once again, MVP. His determination to save Simmons was great to see. I like how he took some leadership, and I'm glad everyone didn't hesitate to help him.

 

I loved seeing May outside of SHIELD, and with her father! They had some sweet moments, but I'm going to love Hunter/May teaming up against Ward. I also loved Hunter's enthusiasm to Simmons being alive. 

 

I love evil Ward. I love how the show has finally embraced him as a villain. I liked his interactions with the kid too. Von Struker Jr is interesting, but yeah, he's totally Ward's protege. 

 

Mack and Daisy make a really good team. I'm glad we got to see Daisy use her powers, and I like how Coulson can't stop calling her Skye. 

 

I'm super glad Simmons is back, but I definitely see PTSD, and we're definitely not done with her story. Just because she was rescued fairly quickly, doesn't mean her story will be done. I was partially wondering if Fitz was going to get stuck with Simmons in the other world and the others would have to search for them, but that would mean most of the other stories they have built up would have to be paused, so I'm ok with the quick rescue. 

 

Andrew fits well with the team. They definitely need a more grounded member, and Andrew does well with that. 

[kennyab]

Simmons may be a scientist and a SHIELD agent, but more importantly she's human. Which means that she can't stay in a place for months just because it's a spot where she's most likely to be found. She has more basic needs, like sustainable sources of food and potable water as well as shelter from the elements and predators. If she was able to easily find all of that on an alien planet (or moon as the case may be) within a mile of her landing site, that kind of undermines the peril of her situation. If we had seen Simmons running through lush vegetation maybe my bullshit detector wouldn't be ringing so hard here, but the landscape we saw her running through looked very arid and rocky. It seems likely that in those conditions that she would have been forced to move beyond the immediate area of the landing site in order to meet her basic survival needs.

 

There's obviously a bunch more to this story to be told, and we're just at the beginning of it. But if the portal always opens at the same place, regardless of where the monolith is located, that would indicate that there's a specific destination for anyone who goes through, possibly with some resources at said destination, some kind of oasis (and we saw in the premiere that wherever she is, there's water not too far under the surface). So perhaps she's been scavenging on the outskirts of a populated area we haven't seen that's fairly close to the portal.

 

ETA: There was a decent amount of time between shooting the flare through the Portal and the scene where Fitz rescues Simmons, enough time for Mack to haul the monolith from the US to England, so a few hours. And the smallest known moon is only 12 miles across, so it's possible that she's on such a body with an artificial gravity and atmosphere.

Edited October 7, 2015 by kennyab

[foreverevolving]

There's obviously a bunch more to this story to be told, and we're just at the beginning of it. But if the portal always opens at the same place, regardless of where the monolith is located, that would indicate that there's a specific destination for anyone who goes through, possibly with some resources at said destination, some kind of oasis (and we saw in the premiere that wherever she is, there's water not too far under the surface). So perhaps she's been scavenging on the outskirts of a populated area we haven't seen that's fairly close to the portal.

 

ETA: There was a decent amount of time between shooting the flare through the Portal and the scene where Fitz rescues Simmons, enough time for Mack to haul the monolith from the US to England, so a few hours. And the smallest known moon is only 12 miles across, so it's possible that she's on such a body with an artificial gravity and atmosphere.

Was it water?

I remember she dug for a couple of seconds than put whatever dirt she found on her face and it healed a wound she right about her right eye.. I don't recall any water.

[kennyab]

Was it water?

I remember she dug for a couple of seconds than put whatever dirt she found on her face and it healed a wound she right about her right eye.. I don't recall any water.

 

It was mud, as sand or dry dirt wouldn't have stuck to her face, and mud implies water.

[Notwisconsin]

 

Glad for the return of Peter MacNicol's Asgardian.  He's always a treat.  Loved his interactions with Bobbi.

He should have gotten an Oscar nom for Sophie's Choice. BTW what did Simmonds EAT?

[HistoryGirl]

Anyhow, I wonder if I was the only one hoping that Fitz would tell Simmons that he didn't know how long Daisy could keep that open, and have her go who? So Fitz finally says Skye. Anyhow, I feel to easy to get her back. Which make me worry she is either not Simmons or there is something else going on. What is the odds that she would be right there when they opened it. I know Coulson said something about her seeing the flash, but still there wasn't that much time before attempts. Unless time passed different there so she has like days or weeks to find the spot (because that would be awesome). Anyhow I'm glad to have her back, and hopefully she is herself.

 

Elizabeth Henstridge did an interview with EW where she says that Simmons is Simmons but has PTSD.  Presumably she entered at the same location, no?  So she would know where to go wouldn't she?  There might be some hellbeast lurking around it which is why she couldn't spend a lot of time there or maybe the wind makes it really difficult to be there during portal openings?  

 

Was Baron Strucker on the show? Or in the movies? My memory is not that good. And like Coulson, I still think "Skye" when I should be saying "Daisy." "Skyesy"?

Strucker has definitely been name checked in AOS, I think. Unless I'm misremembering.  His minion, Dr. Levy was on though. 

 

With a surname like May, I had always assumed that Melinda was the daughter of a white father and the incomparable Tsai Chin as her Chinese mother, whom we have already seen.  It took me a while to figure out that was her father.  He said something like "20 years with your mother" helped him get a good read on people.  I thought maybe he was a second marriage for her mom, and he was her stepfather.  But then it became apparent to me that he meant they divorced after 20 years.

 

So I looked it up.  May is indeed a Chinese surname, more commonly spelled Mai.  It is spelled Mak in Cantonese.  When May's mother was on the show, I think she might have spoken in Chinese once or twice?  Was it Mandarin or Cantonese?  Her father in this episode definitely spoke Mandarin.  I distinctly recall in the past that May has spoken Cantonese.  Has she ever spoken Mandarin?  Wiki says that May speaks both.  Regardless, I just hate the fact that in most TV shows and movies, TPTB seem to treat Mandarin and Cantonese as the same generic language "Chinese".  I've often heard one character speak Mandarin and the the other answer in Cantonese, or vice versa.  You'd think that in this global world, they would pay better attention to details like that.  It'd be like having someone speak Spanish and the other answer in Italian.

 

How did Simmons survive in that snowstorm for (I think) six months in just a long sleeved shirt?  Or was the snow not really cold?

 

I think May speaks whatever MingNa Wen speaks.  MingNa definitely speaks Mandarin (her and Chloe Bennet apparently speak Mandarin to each other on occasion). I just went back to the episode where May gets picked up by her mother. The mother doesn't speak anything but English to May.  

 

It's not uncommon for a Mandarin speaker to know Cantonese and vice versa since Chinese television programming tends to have one or the other as a subtitle. So I would believe May would know both, especially as a super spy. 

Edited October 7, 2015 by HistoryGirl

[xqueenfrostine]

It was mud, as sand or dry dirt wouldn't have stuck to her face, and mud implies water.

It would have stuck to her face if she was bleeding. Blood and sweat could have made the earth stick without much moisture in the soil. Plus you don't see sandstorms in places where the ground is moist, and this place appears to have them. Dust storms and sandstorms occur as much for the drought and desert condition of the soil as they do for the speed of the wind in an area.

As for supplies or resources existing near the landing site, that's definitely possibly though that in itself would pose another set of problems as enemies and predators would be likely to stay close to known food or water sources.

Strucker has definitely been name checked in AOS, I think. Unless I'm misremembering. His minion, Dr. Levy was on though.

Yeah Von Strucker was mentioned by name last season when they were trying to figure out who was running the US operations for HYDRA (before they knew it was Whitehall obviously). I seem to remember Ward mentioning that Von Strucker was in Europe during his first meet up with Bakshi. Wouldn't have been surprised if he was mentioned again during the fight for leadership in the first episode after the Winter hiatus, but I can't remember for sure.

[kennyab]

It would have stuck to her face if she was bleeding. Blood and sweat could have made the earth stick without much moisture in the soil. Plus you don't see sandstorms in places where the ground is moist, and this place appears to have them. Dust storms and sandstorms occur as much for the drought and desert condition of the soil as they do for the speed of the wind in an area.

 

It looked to me like it smeared right onto her face without her having to mix it with anything. I agree with you that on earth that's unlikely, but this is an alien environment. She seemed to know that very little digging would get her to a moist soil of some sort. In fanwanky "science" land, one could have an underground water source but no nutrients to sustain vegetation, and consistent high winds would wick away the moisture at the surface, basically giving the region chapped lips.

[xqueenfrostine]

If we're using the "alien environment" reasoning though, dirt on the planet Jemma landed on may be more adhesive without the presence of ground water to moisten it.  Obviously this particular argument is moot until we get more information on the moon where Jemma landed, but my underlying point stands: the way in which this part of the story feels unnaturally easy.  The idea that Fitz could have a break through on the nature of the Monolith and then rescue Jemma within a day or two, with no major barriers in his way feels like crappy story telling. Having a convenient solution for every single basic hurtle that you'd expect someone marooned for months in an alien land to encounter is a poor way to respect a character and their storyline, I know they obviously want to move the story along but this is too contrived.  

Edited October 8, 2015 by xqueenfrostine

[Emily Thrace]

Elizabeth Henstridge did an interview with EW where she says that Simmons is Simmons but has PTSD.  Presumably she entered at the same location, no?  So she would know where to go wouldn't she?  There might be some hellbeast lurking around it which is why she couldn't spend a lot of time there or maybe the wind makes it really difficult to be there during portal openings?  

Strucker has definitely been name checked in AOS, I think. Unless I'm misremembering.  His minion, Dr. Levy was on though. 

 

 

I think May speaks whatever MingNa Wen speaks.  MingNa definitely speaks Mandarin (her and Chloe Bennet apparently speak Mandarin to each other on occasion). I just went back to the episode where May gets picked up by her mother. The mother doesn't speak anything but English to May.  

 

It's not uncommon for a Mandarin speaker to know Cantonese and vice versa since Chinese television programming tends to have one or the other as a subtitle. So I would believe May would know both, especially as a super spy. 

 

Its also possible that Melinda May simply has a Mandarin speaking mother and a Cantonese speaking father. That way she would have grown up speaking both.

 

Simmons is a biochemist and genius biologist other people were surviving on that rock I don't doubt Simmons found a way. Besides the list of things we don't know about that place is longer than the list of things we actually know.  We got a two view of a few rocks there could be a whole green valley over the next ridge. It also would make sense for her to stick close to the portal in hopes of it sucking her back home again.

[BPOX]

 

Ward's tough love for the Strucker boy seems like a compulsive re-working of his personal autobiography with Garrett, with himself cast as Garrett. Which is kind of demented.

Well, Ward has a pretty high opinion of himself. If it worked on him, it's probably a great plan! It seems basically sound though. Get someone who is convinced that they are entitled to greatness and tell them if they just work hard enough, ruthlessly enough it's their right. Pretty familiar message really.

 

 

I love how they mix up pairings, it keeps things interesting. May and Hunter should be a fun one. Hunter will be cracking jokes and May will not react to him at all.

 

Until she has just the right one liner. May's pretty funny at times.

I'm glad they got Simmons back now, I'm sure we'll find out what happened to her throughout the season. She's got some PTSD from her time over there and sleeps with a weapon. So I do hope we see her in survival mode.

PTSD is angsty and all, but I really want flashbacks and her being a big key to the mystery and changed, not just injured.

 

What was odd is that about all the information SHIELD had on the monolith going in was the legend that it was an anti Inhuman weapon. Yet Daisy was front and center for the entire mission, even with her body showing physical symptoms that she was not up to the strain.

 

She's been throwing herself into dangerous situations seemingly over her head since the pilot. So I'm not sure this was exactly odd. They've just given up trying to stop her.

 

 I would have enjoyed seeing some of that Jemma trying to survive on the Alien planet for that time. What was she eating/drinking?

I think I would just have Walking Dead flashbacks where I yell at the screen at the screen for her to cut some pikes for gods sake. Find a library, learn to pickle, get a dog. So, it's best I was saved that. I just want to know who the bad guys on the planet are and how they will affect this season's arc.

[KirkB]

My guess is the reason they ended Simmons little interplanetary field trip so quickly is they wanted her back with the team. They will most likely stretch her experiences on the other planet over at least the first half of the season through dreams and flashbacks, some of which will oh so conveniently fit into the plot of that particular episode.

[paigow]

It seemed to me from last season that those masks are relatively rare. BW obviously has the one she used in Cap 2. Kara from AoS had one. When they tracked down the inventor, if memory serves, he acted like hers was relatively rare and other than him people didn't know how to fix it. 

I can't believe that Stark Industries has not reverse - engineered that mask.

[paigow]

Honestly surprised that Simmons has already been saved... I'm sure her time on the planet will end up changing her somehow.

She met Matt Damon and learned to grow vegetables in a hostile environment

[Turtle]

Huh.  I really don't know how I feel about this episode.  Was it enjoyable?  Yes.  A lot happened, and it was exciting, but if I think too hard about anything in the Monolith plot my brain starts to hurt. While I'm so glad to have Simmons back, it was weird having her rescue happen in just one episode.  Everything fell into place so quickly that it felt a little cheap.  I mean Fitz just now found the random space sand?  SHIELD has had the monolith in a box since before the fall of SHIELD, you would think if it was laying off debris, it would have been noticed before now.  Granted, no one was likely beating it with their fists, but it seems unlikely that it was never wiped down to try to extract some sort of residue with they were studying it.  And then Simmons being nearby enough to reach Fitz within minutes of his landing was just a little too convenient.

I thought that they only found the sand because Fitz had breached the clean environment (maybe with a shotgun?) the monolith was in, and then it turned to liquid or whatever before reverted to a solid, leaving the sand behind. But I may have been confused about what was going on.

I'm glad that they rescued Simmons already, especially since it was so very well done. An entire season of attempting to rescue her would have annoyed me much like an entire season of Tahiti musings did. I thought getting her back three episodes in built plenty of tension, and I definitely think the way they got her back was great to watch. I really had no idea what was going to happen, given this show's history. Might have actually cheered, just a little, when they both came back.

[sinkwriter]

 

On the subject of Ward, I'm liking the new, devious version, but I am so over Hydra.

 

Me too. I thought he might try to make his own bad guy group, which is annoying enough, but to try to reinstate Hydra just makes me roll my eyes. A lot.

SO glad that Simmons is back! When Fitz appeared, and pulled her up and hugged her, while all the rest of the team looked on in astonishment, I admit I got a little teary. (I had feared that Fitz would end up stuck there with her, or yanked back without her entirely.)

[shrewd.buddha]

My guess is the reason they ended Simmons little interplanetary field trip so quickly is they wanted her back with the team. They will most likely stretch her experiences on the other planet over at least the first half of the season through dreams and flashbacks, some of which will oh so conveniently fit into the plot of that particular episode.

It seems as if a lot of shows do this : the team is broken up or damaged during the season finale -- show starts back and three or six months have passed  -- because TPTB want the cast together again and think the audience is mostly interested in the team being together  (and probably 'shipping characters). 

But just having the characters talk about how difficult things were during that time apart isn't really the same as showing some of it. I feel it would have been more engaging if we spent a few episodes showing Simmons surviving and the others missing her and working the problem. 

Edited October 9, 2015 by shrewd.buddha

[mac123x]

Carbon dating sand.  They carbon dated sand.  I can't even...

 

Is the Asgardian going to become part of the team, or at least a consultant?  Seems like he's too good a source of information for them to let him just disappear.

 

Count me in as someone NOT happy about the return of Ward. I find his character so tedious and one-note. They really should have killed him off last season so that the show can move on.

 

Ward and Hydra Reborn just seems so superfluous.  They already set up multiple antagonists last week with Lash and the new government agency, plus they'll have to deal with new Inhumans popping up.  Continuing with Ward's story just seems unnecessary and distracting.  Though I do have to say, von Strucker Jr. is kinda hot.

[Tarasme]

 

I think I would just have Walking Dead flashbacks where I yell at the screen at the screen for her to cut some pikes for gods sake. Find a library, learn to pickle, get a dog. So, it's best I was saved that. I just want to know who the bad guys on the planet are and how they will affect this season's arc.

 

Yes and yes. SO GLAD tPtB choose to do the months of Fitz's research/ Not. Giving. Up.- and Simmons terrible fight to survive- OFF screen during hiatus. I found Tuesday's resolution very well executed and entertaining. And... YAAAAAAYYY FITZSIMMONS!!!!

 

To the last part; who the bad guys are on the planet, it would be nifty if centuries of idiots being hustled through that portal from earth spawned a tribe of rabid, deranged Immortan Joe-esque creeps on the hunt for fresh meat.

 

I'm glad that they rescued Simmons already, especially since it was so very well done. An entire season of attempting to rescue her would have annoyed me much like an entire season of Tahiti musings did. I thought getting her back three episodes in built plenty of tension, and I definitely think the way they got her back was great to watch. I really had no idea what was going to happen, given this show's history. Might have actually cheered, just a little, when they both came back.

 

And...

SO glad that Simmons is back! When Fitz appeared, and pulled her up and hugged her, while all the rest of the team looked on in astonishment, I admit I got a little teary. (I had feared that Fitz would end up stuck there with her, or yanked back without her entirely.)

 

Yes again! And, while they were clinging to one another in the storm, and Fitz was being pulled away.... then again when they emerged, together, from the rubble... then *again* when Jemma started from sleep and I KNEW Fitz was there cause there was no way he was ever letting her out of his sight again... I might have gotten something in my eye. A lot of something. Wet stuff resulted. All over my glasses. Darn emotions. Ppppbbttt.

Edited October 8, 2015 by Tarasme

[frenchtoast]

Carbon dating sand.  They carbon dated sand.  I can't even...

I am sad to say it took me a minute to get that. And then...yeah...I feel not so bright right now.

I think the writers took the metric that they understood as a way to test really old stuff and didn't really think much farther than that. I certainly didn't notice while watching though having it pointed out was certainly a "D'OH!" moment for me.

[kennyab]

Carbon dating sand.  They carbon dated sand.  I can't even...

 

Yeah, that was a big WTF moment. They messed up everything about that one -- the fact that sand can't be carbon dated, that the timescales they were talking about are orders or magnitude (POP POP!) beyond carbon dating's limits. They boned that one big time. I just had to let me eye twitch a little bit and then move on.

Edited October 8, 2015 by kennyab

[DeLurker]

Carbon dating sand.  They carbon dated sand.  I can't even...

In the future, just keep a big glass of the favorite liquid beverage on hand.  Anytime you start to think about things in a real world context, take three deep breaths and a big drink.  If real science is still intruding, take three deep drinks and a big breath.

[Texasmom1970]

Fitz shows all other men what caring for someone is like. Jumping into a weird portal to alien planet to bring back Simmons. He sets the bar really high!

Need to get Ming Na's health and beauty regimen, because damn, 50, seriously!

Edited October 8, 2015 by Texasmom1970

[kitlee625]

Ward and Hydra Reborn just seems so superfluous.  They already set up multiple antagonists last week with Lash and the new government agency, plus they'll have to deal with new Inhumans popping up.  Continuing with Ward's story just seems unnecessary and distracting.

 

Seriously. I really wish they had just killed him off in season 1 and 2. Keeping him around for season 2 felt somewhat contrived, but now it's just ridiculous. Are we really supposed to find him threatening when there are Inhumans with powers running around?

[Raja]

Fitz shows all other men what caring for someone is like. Jumping into a weird portal to alien planet to bring back Simmons. He sets the bar really high!

Need to get Ming Na's health and beauty regimen, because damn, 50, seriously!

Nah, about to turn 52 in a few weeks

[Texasmom1970]

Nah, about to turn 52 in a few weeks

No way 52, now I really feel bad! Need to get my ass to the gym!

[Raja]

Seriously. I really wish they had just killed him off in season 1 and 2. Keeping him around for season 2 felt somewhat contrived, but now it's just ridiculous. Are we really supposed to find him threatening when there are Inhumans with powers running around?

Sure, its a big universe with up to three feature movies a year. Maybe four series broadcast on ABC and another four series on NetFlix all needing antagonist. Beyond Inhumans there is the treat of another alien invasion. Groups maybe or maybe not linked to Hydra like the Ten Rings, perhaps a reformed AIM and Hammer to compete with Stark. And then there is Hydra's motto of killing one head and two more appear.. Just as we had some of Hydra make an appearance at Pym Industries some more are now taking commands from Ward.

[BPOX]

Are we really supposed to find him threatening when there are Inhumans with powers running around?

 

Why not? For the last two seasons we have seen Hydra capture people with powers to create weapons out of them. Why wouldn't he keep doing this? Why would this be less a threat with more to harvest? Also, we've seen Ward successfully fool, kill, kidnap, and torture our protagonists either on his own or with bad guy allies. Lash looked weird, punched a hole in the wall and got away. Yeah he hurt some folks off camera too. But he hasn't proven himself as effective as Ward yet at terrorizing the team. I'm not saying Ward's the smartest most capable bad guy out there, but he does OK.

[enness2000]

I'm torn on the Jemma thing. It felt extraordinarily easy, but then, it didn't feel like they were even trying to pretend that she wasn't immediately coming back all along. I mean, the non-Fitz characters seemed borderline "Jemma who?" and the entire science division was being run by a character who's talking about being back in the field in a few weeks. It's understandable given the breadth of stuff that needed to be covered last week, and there's still a chance to course-correct next week, but like...this week, the second-most emotional reaction to Jemma being rescued after theoretically being assumed dead for months was Hunter, who was in a different subplot* and has, as far as I can recall, barely interacted with her in their time on the show. And in that context, I'm fine with them just hustling things along - if they weren't going to use Jemma's absence to explore what she meant/means to the team, then there's no point in keeping her gone. We can see what happened on the planet in flashbacks, and hopefully get a better-realised story about her PTSD and everyone's reaction to her being back.

 

I like Brett Dalton a lot, but I just can't sustain interest in his character any more. My only regret is that only one of the people with very good reason to kill him will get to actually kill him.

 

Daisy's 'Secret Warriors' plot is, name aside, by far the thing I'm most looking forward to seeing this season, and I like that they're trying to make it as 'realistic' as a subplot about secret alien DNA superpowers can be, with an actual psychologist reviewing people and a minimum period of months of review being required before they even decide to let these people leave, let alone sign them up to be new agents. I hope a bit more of it plays out on screen as we go along.

 

*Related: Big HELL YES for characters on an ensemble TV show actually relaying useful information to each other and reacting to what's happening in their world and team even if they're not directly involved in it. One of my pet TV peeves is when characters feel like they're in entirely different shows to people who are theoretically their colleagues and close friends.

[JTMacc99]

And in that context, I'm fine with them just hustling things along - if they weren't going to use Jemma's absence to explore what she meant/means to the team, then there's no point in keeping her gone. We can see what happened on the planet in flashbacks, and hopefully get a better-realised story about her PTSD and everyone's reaction to her being back.

I'm also fine with it. The first two episodes were really a two-part story to fix up the mess created at the end of last season and to launch this season's stories.  

 

I don't think the Jemma/Fitz story is anywhere near wrapped up. I think it was much better to get her back as soon as possible so that we can actually have the characters interacting.  That should be far more interesting than Fitz running around banging his head on the desk and 5 seconds of Jemma hiding behind a rock for several weeks.  

[bettername2come]

Jemma waking up lashing out with the shiv was sad and scary. Definitely curious about what went on there. And I'm such a sucker for Fitzsimmons moments, so I'm happy to see them save each other, as they should. I'm sure whatever happened will have relevance in the present day, so I'm not worried about her coming back so quickly. Whatever was after her will be back just in time for mid-season finale.

[Maverick]

Why did Jemma still have the shiv? Didn't they search her? When someone's been trapped on an alien world I think you'd want to make sure there are no weapons.

[bettername2come]

It was a well-hidden shiv? She carved a new shiv before falling asleep?

 

...I got nothing.

[enness2000]

Hypothesis: They knew she had a shiv, but she's in a secure room where only Fitz is present, and he just risked everyone's lives by breaking off from the group plan to try a solo rescue mission, so they're all like "Meh, worst case scenario she shivs Fitz, NBD".

[NossohSeven]

After a good start last week, it felt like AoS fell back to old bad habits this week.

Repeated for truth. Either be a superhero show or don't -- there is no middle ground.

[LilJen]

If you're going for shallow, don't forget Bobbi in any damn thing, also Simmons.

Or Blair Underwood. That is one very good looking man.

[Jack Kerouac]

Or Blair Underwood. That is one very good looking man.

 

Underwood is okay (I'm a dude, so YMMV), but watching Adrianne Palicki's fake boobs swish around is not attractive.

[MisterGlass]

I thought this was a decent episode, though agree the Ward plot should have been pushed to the next episode.  I do love it when the team works.  I also like the working pairs they've set up (Mack and Daisy, May and Hunter, Bobbi and Fitz).  Now that they've had time to define the characters personalities I feel like they have great opportunities to play with their interactions.

 

Great to see Peter MacNicol recurring.  Blair Underwood too.  James Hong was a good pick as Mr. May.  (I knew he'd been in a ton of things, but looking him up on IMDB just now he has 403 credits?!)

 

I expected Simmons to be gone for another episode, but I don't object to bringing her back now.  I think they will have the since not to pretend that she can snap back to normal at once.  They committed to the idea that Fitz needed time to recover from his oxygen deprivation at the end of the first season, and while he may be better recovered now that he ought to be, I thought they handled his arc well.  I'm hoping for the same with Simmons, who will no doubt be spending some time with Andrew.  We may see the trauma in flashbacks.  And it's possible that time moved more slowly for Simmons than it did on Earth.  She may have been trapped a week, rather than months.  Also, I thought she applied mud to her cut face at the end of last episode to keep whatever was chasing her from smelling blood.

 

It's a bit random, but I like that Daisy is dressing down while dealing with her rough and tumble job (chunky high heels aside).  She wore a Velma-esque dark turtleneck and later a shirt with bleach stains.

[tennisgurl]

 

It's a bit random, but I like that Daisy is dressing down while dealing with her rough and tumble job (chunky high heels aside).  She wore a Velma-esque dark turtleneck and later a shirt with bleach stains.

I really like that too. I like the new Daisy. Bother her look and her attitude. I hope Blair Underwood lets her create her super team soon,

 

Count me in as surprised that Simmons is back already. Lets hope that her and Fitz can take a little break from angst after poor Simmons has gotten some time away from death planet to work out what are clearly some issues. I do love me some angst, but their bad luck, both together and as a duo, should mean they deserve a tiny break here and there. 

[onlywearscardigans]

I expected Simmons to be gone way longer and I kinda wish she was just because the show rarely ever goes there. They raise the stakes just say "just kidding! everyone's fine dont worry". I'm sure though psychologically Simmons will be very vulnerable for a bit. Really excited to see the growth of Daisy and her team of Inhumans. How much longer can Ward really last?? They've made him completely irredeemable which I really commend because like I said before, this show is can be very forgiving of its protagonists. That's not to say Ward can be considered a protagonist at this point. But again they rarely keep the antagonists on for so long. Also who cares about Strucker;'s kid? I sure as hell don't. Getting a little bored of the formula SHIELD is sticking to. One villain in the government and one extraterrestrial/hydra/super powered 

Edited October 13, 2015 by onlywearscardigans