S03.E07: Chaos Theory

[Tara Ariano]

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

 

Agents Of SHIELD Tries Sleeping With The Frenemy
There's apparently no rule against fraternization for these people. Does SHIELD even have an HR department?

[Bats27]

They don't really have on the comics either.  There are SHIELD people hooking up with each other there as well.  Plus, technically the ACTU is NOT SHIELD, they're just working with them.  So it'd be more like a CIA agent hooking up an FBI one, or DEA, of ATF, etc.  Perhaps not the smartest of ideas, but technically not against policy either.  Plus Coulson has a track record here (he was willing to look the other way when May and Ward were sleeping together in Season 1, as long as it didn't end up adversely effecting their ability to do their jobs well).

[benteen]

Agreed and unfortunately AOS has painted anyone who disagrees with Coulson & co with these broad, unsubtle strokes before, so I'm worried that the ATCU is going to go the way of Jiaying and Gonzalez, just cranking up the evil until we're reaching cartoon levels of mustache twirling evil.

 

THIS.  Disagree with Coulson and you're evil.  Disagree with St. Daisy and you're REALLY evil.  This is the same show that didn't have a problem with Coulson and company murdering those two guards in Season 1.  It's lazy writing that holds back the show on a creative level.

 

Agreed on the action scenes coming across as uninspired and uncreative.

 

Oh and Andrew's "I lashed out" comment was cringe-inducing.

Edited November 11, 2015 by benteen

[Traveller519]

I think this would have worked better stretched across two episodes. One to get the reveal of Lash to Melinda, better understand his motivations and his coping with what has happened. What does he think is so dark about Lincoln? How does he know he can control himself enough not to harm Daisy, or May for that matter. Is it Andrew's projections that are causing him to want to Kill Inhumans, which his Inhuman side has a desire to be near, or is it the Lash Persona establishing dominance of sorts.

 

Then have the action sequences in the second episode. As mentioned the action sequences haven't been up to snuff this year. I think back to the base infiltration last year and how fantastic that was. A near full epsiode of that, with Hunter and Bobbi riding in as reinforcements, while the Science twins track him from the lab would make for a great episode if we've fully established him as a somewhat sympathetic character. Also, if he presented enough of a threat that there was some discussion as to whether the new Avenger team was ready to deploy, and Coulson shutting that down....great tie-in!

 

But I get that would have likely made for a boring show one.

 

At any rate, god I love Hunter. "I'll just say what we're all thinking. He's got a hog face."

[Jack Kerouac]

It proves May is a Bad Ass with a capital B.  Makes up for being upset with Hunter for continuing to go after Ward when Andrew's life was at stake.  And Ming-Na's work this episode stood up to what EH did in 4,722 Hours and what IDC has been doing all season.

 

I think May proved herself an Idiot with a capital I this episode. So she strongly suspects that Andrew is Lash. She even has some pretty compelling circumstantial evidence to corroborate it. What does she do? Go off to confront the mentally unstable serial murderer without telling ANYONE where she is or what her suspicions are. Genius.

 

At least MENTION to someone that Andrew might be a problem. I get that you want to protect the one you love, but this guy could be a multiple unstoppable murderer.

[Potanical Pardon]

I feel like Rosalind isn't a villain. She's working for Powers Booth's character, but I don't think she's aware of his Hydra-ness. I still think she thinks she's one of the good guys.

[benteen]

I think May proved herself an Idiot with a capital I this episode. So she strongly suspects that Andrew is Lash. She even has some pretty compelling circumstantial evidence to corroborate it. What does she do? Go off to confront the mentally unstable serial murderer without telling ANYONE where she is or what her suspicions are. Genius.

 

At least MENTION to someone that Andrew might be a problem. I get that you want to protect the one you love, but this guy could be a multiple unstoppable murderer.

 

Yeah, I have to agree with this.  She put a LOT of lives in danger, especially Joey's, by concealing this information for hours.  She would have been responsible if someone would have died.

[Traveller519]

Yeah, I have to agree with this.  She put a LOT of lives in danger, especially Joey's, by concealing this information for hours.  She would have been responsible if someone would have died.

That's pretty par for the course with May, though. She operates under her own double standards for herself and what she expects from everyone else.

[TVSpectator]

I feel like Rosalind isn't a villain. She's working for Powers Booth's character, but I don't think she's aware of his Hydra-ness. I still think she thinks she's one of the good guys.

 

I hope that Rosalind isn't an outright villain but a gray character. The problem is that on shows like this, there isn't a lot of room for gray characters. So, I won't be surprised to find out that she is totally on HYDRA's side and is just working Coulson. 

[enness2000]

And please let's get Joey onto the team so he and Mack can start dating.

 

THIS. 

 

Delighted to see Offscreen Joey onscreen, and surviving (nearly threw my laptop out the window at that fakeout), though I'm a little disappointed at how they're handling the Secret Warriors thing in general. So there's a whole off-site training facility? Where they train some people? And this training is done by someone other than Daisy, I guess, since she's always off on missions? I mean, they've said there are other new Inhumans being kept at SHIELD, but given that the last we heard of Joey he couldn't open a door without melting it, it's weird that they've jumped to "Pretty much in control and with a whole new element to his power" in a few weeks, and that we haven't heard of any of the rest at all - powers, names, mental states, anything. I don't exactly miss the snail's pace of season 1, but it feels like a lot of missed plot opportunity to show someone actually going through the change in a SHIELD context - not like Daisy last year, but with a support network that isn't secretly genocidal and in a context where they're explicitly being asked to go from "random schmoe" to "super-soldier" by dint of having alien DNA. That said, if it gets Joey into the main plot faster, it's all good.

 

(And yes, I know that I'm putting more thought into his plotline than anyone actually involved in the show is, but honestly, I am so on board for an LGBT superhero that I will cheerfully take this, and if that means I end up paying a bit less attention to the multiple "I love you, but my [secret past/dubious political alliance/evil side/gung-ho revenge deathwish/marooned space boyfriend/mangsty facial hair] is causing us drama!" heterosexual couples on the show, I'm cool with that. I do love Ming Na Wen more with every episode though, and I'm very much hoping Ros doesn't know Powers Boothe and his terrifyingly sculpted eyebrows are Hydra, because her and Coulson give me a total "Ooh, old people can be so sweet!" feeling)

Edited November 12, 2015 by enness2000

[Fogh]

I have nothing against gay couples on TV shows. Some of my favorite TV characters are gay. Never the less I must protest. If there is something this show doesn't need, it's another romance, gay, straight or otherwise. It's bad enough that I now have to endure Daisy and Lincoln and possibly Rosalind and Coulson. Also I don't trust AoS to handle a gay relationship within their show even if it is the ABC that is known for pushing the boundaries like on "The Fosters". The show just doesn't have the capacity for it.

 

I really wish they would have stuck with just having Fitz and Simmons have a romance. They are the "normal" people on the show. The ones we can relate to. The rest (maybe not Mack) is either Inhumans, sociopaths or something in between.

 

Can't we let someone be single? Also, am I missing something with Mack since I don't see him being gay?

[TVSpectator]

I really wish they would have stuck with just having Fitz and Simmons have a romance. They are the "normal" people on the show. The ones we can relate to. The rest (maybe not Mack) is either Inhumans, sociopaths or something in between.

 

Can't we let someone be single? Also, am I missing something with Mack since I don't see him being gay?

 

Personally, I don't like the will they/won't they storylines because in the end they always end up being together. That being said, when I first started to watch SHIELD, I didn't really see Fitz and Simmons hooking up only because they seemed like really good and close friends. Then they introduced that Fitz love Simmons and then the writing decided that these two should be separated because of it (which lead us to the whole Space Monolith storyline). I personally don't care who ends up with who (for all I care, Simmons can end up with Spaceboyfried), but trying to keep them separated because for the hell of it, IMO, sucks to watch.

 

I am also kind of wondering if they will have a storyline where Fitz falls for someone else and then it's Jemma who is jealous about it (which is what they always did on Friends for the Rachel/Ross relationship). 

Edited November 12, 2015 by TVSpectator

[Jack Kerouac]

I am also kind of wondering if they will have a storyline where Fitz falls for someone else and then it's Jemma who is jealous about it (which is what they always did on Friends for the Rachel/Ross relationship).

You know they will. It's like the Romance Trope 101 of television.

[TVSpectator]

You know they will. It's like the Romance Trope 101 of television.

 

Maybe they will introduce this in Season 4?

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Nooooooo! Coulson, put it back in your pants!

 

]I wish May had actually killed him. Not because I want him dead, but because I'm a fan of the whole "kill the one you love" thing.

After seeing Buffy kill Angel, I get why you like it. I give points to May for being willing to kill Andrew for the greater good too.

[MisterGlass]

I am also kind of wondering if they will have a storyline where Fitz falls for someone else and then it's Jemma who is jealous about it (which is what they always did on Friends for the Rachel/Ross relationship).

You know they will. It's like the Romance Trope 101 of television.

 

Please no.

 

 

Agreed and unfortunately AOS has painted anyone who disagrees with Coulson & co with these broad, unsubtle strokes before, so I'm worried that the ATCU is going to go the way of Jiaying and Gonzalez, just cranking up the evil until we're reaching cartoon levels of mustache twirling evil.

 

I don't know.  In the end I thought they did a decent job of showing Gonzalez trying to reach out in spite of personal prejudice to better everyone's situation.  And I thought Crazy Cal was a great gray character.  I do hope Rosalind remains gray and not knowingly Hydra.

[TVSpectator]

I don't know.  In the end I thought they did a decent job of showing Gonzalez trying to reach out in spite of personal prejudice to better everyone's situation.  And I thought Crazy Cal was a great gray character.  I do hope Rosalind remains gray and not knowingly Hydra.

 

I always thought that Gonazlez was more practical than gray, but I guess you are right to assume he was a gray character. At least he tried to reached out to Daisy's mom and even had the forthright to say that Coulson was too close to Daisy and that was why he should go to the meeting. Although, I do wonder what if Gonazlez survived the attacked and what he would've have been (well I guess he would've have to be an Inhuman). He was an interesting character and so was Isabelle, but I guess EJO and LL were too expensive to keep around. 

 

 Now, I do hope that Rosalind isn't on Hydra's side, but the show revealed that she might end up being on some other shady group (and in the Marvel universe, well at least in the comics, there were a ton of other shady groups that weren't Hydra affiliated. So....). Although, if I have to guess, the predictable route would be to make her Hydra, because of the Gideon connection. So, I am not going to hold my breath and see if she will come out looking good. I do think by next episode we will probably find out what  the ATCU and her are really up too. 

Edited November 14, 2015 by TVSpectator

[Izeinwinter]

I really liked that Joey's go to reaction to his powers coming under better control was "Gosh, this seems really useful for building things and demolition". Mundane, and non-combat utility isn't something that gets brought up nearly often enough.

[Jack Kerouac]

I really liked that Joey's go to reaction to his powers coming under better control was "Gosh, this seems really useful for building things and demolition". Mundane, and non-combat utility isn't something that gets brought up nearly often enough.

 

I would certainly hire him to build my shed. He would be done it about five minutes!

[Raja]

I really liked that Joey's go to reaction to his powers coming under better control was "Gosh, this seems really useful for building things and demolition". Mundane, and non-combat utility isn't something that gets brought up nearly often enough.

I heard that and thought he may be set up for the proposed comedy cleaning up after the super battles rather than being a permanent Secret Warrior

[RustbeltWriter]

I'm not convinced Rosalilnd is in cahoots with Hydra. She could be playing them.

[tennisgurl]

I hope Rosalind isn't full on evil. Having gray characters is always a good thing, especially on a show like this. 

[Fogh]

Moved to another thread.

Edited November 18, 2015 by Fogh

[Kel Varnsen]

Hunter and Bobbi reunite and bicker like normal, but it did include a Bobbi bra scene, so I'm not complaining.

Stupid CTV had one of those on screen ads going during that scene which covered up the bottom 1/3 of the screen/

 

 

I don't think Roz is evil. Her conversation with Gideon (whom the wiki says is the WSC guy from Avengers but other sources say otherwise and I wish they would address it on the show already) is not bad guy to bad guy. 

Was wondering if he was the same guy. Would make sense for Hydra to have more than 1 council member in their pocket. Plus it would be weird to cast a guy with a really distinctive voice and have him play a different character. I mean imagine Jon Lovitz was playing both roles.

 

Also, if he presented enough of a threat that there was some discussion as to whether the new Avenger team was ready to deploy, and Coulson shutting that down....great tie-in!

During the whole fight with Lash I kept thinking about how Stark's launched from orbit Hulk jail would be really useful.

 

Also I had to laugh at Ward's kill Coulson and shut down Shield plan. I mean has the guy heard of Nick Fury?

[ahisma]

Also I had to laugh at Ward's kill Coulson and shut down Shield plan. I mean has the guy heard of Nick Fury?

As far as the world knows, Fury is dead. Coulson was the only one on his team who knew Fury was still alive other than FitzSimmons when he rescued them from the ocean—and Ward was long gone by then.

[Kel Varnsen]

As far as the world knows, Fury is dead. Coulson was the only one on his team who knew Fury was still alive other than FitzSimmons when he rescued them from the ocean—and Ward was long gone by then.

After the events of Age of Ultron i wonder if that still holds true. I mean who does the world thing was running that helicarrier?

[TVSpectator]

After the events of Age of Ultron i wonder if that still holds true. I mean who does the world thing was running that helicarrier?

I assumed that Stark just took an old SHIELD helicopter and just repurposed it for his Avengers?

[ahisma]

Maria Hill has been running that side of things, ostensibly working for Stark. But Nick has been keeping his hand in, from the shadows. On the helicarrier in Sokovia was probably the most people he had shown himself to since going underground, and they were still all vetted agents.

[John Potts]

Yeah, it's a decided intelligence failure on Ward's part to not know Nick Fury is alive: at the present time, as well as Phil Coulson, The Avengers (Age of Ultron), FitzSimmons (S1 Finale) and Deathlok (S2 Finale) have all learned Nick Fury is alive (I'm sure many others know too - Maria Hill almost certainly). That's a pretty large pool of people who know, so for HYDRA not to know is a pretty bad intelligence failure on Ward's part - that's what you get when you make everything personal.

 

Though for once, I mostly liked the personal stuff: Bobby/Hunter was believable, as was the somewhat conflicted Fitz/Simmons relationship. Even May/Andrew was believable, though I agree May risked a load of lives with the way she handled it (she could have gone herself and claimed that Lash was following Andrew but she was going in to protect him, but put a team on call for when he turned up - she does get some points back for being prepared to kill him, though).

 

It's a shame that we had the Rosalind is secretly EVIL because, prior to that point, practically everything she'd said was

true. Inhumans like Lash really ARE a threat and while the way the ACTU deals with those threats is questionable (to say

the least) she was actually making valid points. But apparently complicated motives are not allowed! OK, she may not know she's dealing with HYDRA, but I'm betting she does. But nice to see that people over 40 are allowed to have sex, even if now I'm questioning her motives.

 

benteen Disagree with Coulson and you're evil.  Disagree with St. Daisy and you're REALLY evil.

 

 

I found that annoying too. Nothing that Rosalind said was untrue, though you can disagree with her conclusions (I would). That's why I'll be disappointed if it turns out she IS a HYDRA mole.

 

Monty Ashley (Recap) SHIELD has a lot of bases all over the world, many of which do not have any Pattons Oswalt staffing them

 

 

I'm repeatedly surprised at the vast facilities SHIELD possesses given it's officially non-existence!

 

 

VCRTracking Bobbi in a bra was gratuitous and I have no problem with that.

 

Gotta agree with you there!