S03.E12: The Inside Man

[Raja]

I just heard a head canon that General Talbot played the ugly American in an attempt to spike the conference and thwart Hydra

[Tara Ariano]

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

 

Agents Of SHIELD Gets Into Fighting And Kissing
There are double-crosses and crazy outfits and crazier gadgets and it's all still kind of boring.

[TVSpectator]

Re Bobbi and Hunter. I love them as a pair and I love them as part of the ensemble. However, I can see a benefit to removing two cast members given that the ensemble is pretty big and that shortchanges character development. Mack wasn't even in last night's episode. Fitz and Simmons were in last night's ep but were mostly there for exposition.

 

I wish they'd cut Lincoln. I really love Daisy with Mack, Fitz, Simmons. Hell, she's good with everyone except Lincoln. I feel like Chloe Bennett is doing her best to carry their scenes while the guy who plays Lincoln is just sitting there like scenery. Blandly pretty scenery.

 

I do think that Bobbie and Hunter are leaving in the next episode. I have heard that they needed to start filming on the new series (according to some sources on Reddit), so I think that they will be starting to plant seeds for their spin-off by the next episode.  

 

As with Lincoln, personally I really don't care about him. I find him and his powers to be boring. And yes, I do think that he has no chemistry with Daisy, but CB is doing her best with what she has. 

[romantic idiot]

See the issue is i haven't seen CB have chemistry with any of her leading men - not Dalton, Mitchell or even the actor playing Gunnar on Nashville[/i', so I do think part of it is her. And I liked Lincoln last season and Luke Mitchell was definitely the only good thing about [i[The Tomorrow People, so I would like both the character and the actor to stick around. Maybe they should make him May's boytoy (even if it is repeating a plot). i also liked that part of the plot this episode - those were 2 different and understandable points of view. Especially when Daisy has really had a comparatively easy time of it with her powers. Yes, she was mistrusted a little last season but she had people solidly on her side, whereas people like Lincoln and Lash have had to pay a lot for it. Then again there's Joey and YoYo who are sort of in the middle. So I wasn't bored by that part of the story this episode - for me the point of sci-fi fantasy is to get into the big thematic philosophical questions and dilemmas. If only I didn't have to live through Daisy / CB to get at them - though I hate her a lot less now. 

[Aeryn13]

 

and Luke Mitchell was definitely the only good thing about [i[The Tomorrow People

 

I agree. So I know the actor can bring charme, charisma and fun to a role. It is Lincoln that is a blandly written character. Which could be fixed but currently they just don`t take any strides in that direction.

 

Hated Talbot`s portrayal throughout the party and meeting. IF they had made clear afterwards that it was just an act, maybe I could have retroactively seen the appeal in the comedy relief but as it stands, it is too ambigious for me and therefore just cringeworthy humiliation porn "humour". Not my thing.

 

I`m also liking Dalton`s portrayal as Hive, he has a nice otherworldy quality to him. 

 

May had moments again where she got on my last nerve. I hated it back last Season when she bitched about Agent 33 and the May face. Yeah, sure, the one who suffered the greatest inconvenience in that situation was YOU. Urgh. And here we have Hunter being upset about having to work with a guy who killed his friends and again she was nothing but bitchy. I cheered when Hunter threw "it`s certainly different when Andrew was the problem" in her face. I get that "brusque" and "stoic" are supposed to be legit characteristics of May - which is fne - but sometimes it`s just written as over the line abrasive IMO.  

[DeepPoet117]

May had moments again where she got on my last nerve. I hated it back last Season when she bitched about Agent 33 and the May face. Yeah, sure, the one who suffered the greatest inconvenience in that situation was YOU. Urgh. And here we have Hunter being upset about having to work with a guy who killed his friends and again she was nothing but bitchy. I cheered when Hunter threw "it`s certainly different when Andrew was the problem" in her face. I get that "brusque" and "stoic" are supposed to be legit characteristics of May - which is fne - but sometimes it`s just written as over the line abrasive IMO.  

 

Yeah, May's cold response to Hunter when he was upset about Creel confused me. It seemed a bit OOC.

[KirkB]

It was kind of odd all around. Hunter had a legitimate reason for not wanting to work with Creel and the others just dismissed him.

 

Speaking of Creel, Lincoln's just lucky this version isn't as tough as the one in the comics. That guy can absorb anything, from matter to energy, so zapping him would just turn him into the very energy he was hitting him with.

 

The more I think about it, putting Talbot in the outfit (which absolutely no one else was wearing) seems like it was just for a cheap laugh, at Talbot's expense. There didn't seem to be any other real reason for it, since even the woman who complimented him on it was looking at him kind of funny.

Edited March 19, 2016 by KirkB

[Kel Varnsen]

Another person here who thinks the Daisy relationship is super boring. It seems to be entirely based on "you are an inhuman, i am an inhuman also".

[Bishop]

See the issue is i haven't seen CB have chemistry with any of her leading men - not Dalton, Mitchell or even the actor playing Gunnar on Nashville[/i', so I do think part of it is her. And I liked Lincoln last season and Luke Mitchell was definitely the only good thing about [i[The Tomorrow People, so I would like both the character and the actor to stick around. Maybe they should make him May's boytoy (even if it is repeating a plot).

 

 

 THIS.  The problem, imo, isn't Lincoln.  Luke Mitchell was great on TTP, and he was the only one that had any charisma and chemistry on that show.  So I know he can bring it, but the writers have to invest some effort to fleshing out the character.  Instead, it seems they want to create a "romance" just to have a romance.  Frankly, I love Lincoln in all his scenes except with Daisy, and it feels like she sucks the life out of their scenes.  I agree with you that Lincoln shines around May.  I don't want him as her boytoy.  I think that they work because she's a tough cookie and is willing to teach him in a hard way without making puppy dog eyes at him.  I think the writers made a mistake rushing any romance with Daisy and Lincoln.  It worked much better when he was treating Daisy like she ruined his life.  

Edited March 20, 2016 by Bishop

[rab01]

Daisy was a problem with the show when she was Sky and she's still a problem now. It was fine when Kyle McLachlan was around because he was providing enough energy to fill three TV shows so putting an energy suck like Daisy in the same scene provided him a nice blank canvas. Now that she is back to interacting with people playing scenes at a normal decibel level, her inability to go beyond a teenage pout is again a problem. The actress is cute and maybe she can do good work in another setting but I'm hoping they just sideline her more.

[TVSpectator]

I do think that they have improved on Skye/Daisy, but with her complaining about the possibility of a potential vaccine, irked me. Yes, I guess she does feel that her powers are a birthright (as of now) but wasn't the whole point of her story was that her father took away her ability to choose whether or not she wanted to go through the Terrigen Mist, in the first place? And if I remember correctly, she wasn't really too happy about the change, at least in the beginning. So, why is she all now anti-vaccine, even if she feels that it's a birthright, she should realize that a vaccine might actually protect the humans who do not have the Inhuman genes (which is about all of her friends from SHIELD)- and let's all have a moment of silence in honor of Trip- and that maybe she should let some people choose their own path.

 

As with Lincoln, boy I find that character to be boring. Yes, he isn't too bad in small doses but this whole, "hey babe" relationship sucks. IMO, he was better off as being a reoccurring character. Personally, I could care less about him and Daisy as a couple and his anger issues, IMO, don't seem to be anger issues but more of the fact that he just likes to hurt people with his powers. 

Edited March 22, 2016 by TVSpectator

[kitlee625]

Daisy was a problem with the show when she was Sky and she's still a problem now. It was fine when Kyle McLachlan was around because he was providing enough energy to fill three TV shows so putting an energy suck like Daisy in the same scene provided him a nice blank canvas. Now that she is back to interacting with people playing scenes at a normal decibel level, her inability to go beyond a teenage pout is again a problem. The actress is cute and maybe she can do good work in another setting but I'm hoping they just sideline her more.

I agree. Whenever she's had to show emotion on the show, she comes off as kind of muted, bland, and very teenager-ish, and it takes a lot of punch out of the conflicts. I think the exception was when she was going up against Ward in season 1.

 

I do think that they have improved on Skye/Daisy, but with her complaining about the possibility of a potential vaccine, irked me. Yes, I guess she does feel that her powers are a birthright (as of now) but wasn't the whole point of her story was that her father took away her ability to choose whether or not she wanted to go through the Terrigen Mist, in the first place? And if I remember correctly, she wasn't really too happy about the change, at least in the beginning. So, why is she all now anti-vaccine, even if she feels that it's a birthright, she should realize that a vaccine might actually protect the humans who do not have the Inhuman genes (which is about all of her friends from SHIELD)- and let's all have a moment of silence in honor of Trip- and that maybe she should let some people choose their own path.

 

As with Lincoln, boy I find that character to be boring. Yes, he isn't too bad in small doses but this whole, "hey babe" relationship sucks. IMO, he was better off as being a reoccurring character. Personally, I could care less about him and Daisy as a couple and his anger issues, IMO, don't seem to be anger issues but more of the fact that he just likes to hurt people with his powers. 

 

For both of these characters, I think they suffer from a lot of inconsistency. You're absolutely right about Daisy's about face on powers, and she did the same about SHIELD too in season 1. At first she was all "free information" and then after Cap2 she was all "we must keep all the secrets" without really any explanation aside from Coulson becoming her surrogate Dad. Whatever the issue is, the writers have her bounce from one extreme to the other without much consideration. Same thing with Lincoln. He worked better IMO when he was the bland, ultra-zen guy, and trying to shoehorn in these "anger issues" into an already bland performance is a bad idea.

Edited March 22, 2016 by kitlee625

[rab01]

For both of these characters, I think they suffer from a lot of inconsistency. You're absolutely right about Daisy's about face on powers, and she did the same about SHIELD too in season 1. At first she was all "free information" and then after Cap2 she was all "we must keep all the secrets" without really any explanation aside from Coulson becoming her surrogate Dad. Whatever the issue is, the writers have her bounce from one extreme to the other without much consideration. Same thing with Lincoln. He worked better IMO when he was the bland, ultra-zen guy, and trying to shoehorn in these "anger issues" into an already bland performance is a bad idea.

Unfortunately, the writers don't care a ton about which mouths they use for the opposing sides of these set-speeches. They want to air both sides of their fake philosophical argument and pick two characters at random - they just forgot which should be which this time.

 

I kind of liked Lincoln when he was the bland exposition deliverer with a vague Obi-Wan role. Having him follow Daisy's orders, rather than vice-versa, eliminates that role and makes him just an agreeable underling -- in other words, no tension. They need to give him independent goals or else the actor has nothing to work with. That said, it's actually logical for him and Daisy to hook up so I'm glad the show is going there quickly -- they are both pretty, have similar backgrounds, similar mild personalities ... they make a perfect (and perfectly boring) couple. 

 

Heh, I may not be nice but, in the season finale, one of them should die to give the other some tragedy and anger to fuel the next season.

[romantic idiot]

Liked the stuff about Lincoln - do NOT want him to die. 

[Taryn74]

I do think that they have improved on Skye/Daisy, but with her complaining about the possibility of a potential vaccine, irked me. Yes, I guess she does feel that her powers are a birthright (as of now) but wasn't the whole point of her story was that her father took away her ability to choose whether or not she wanted to go through the Terrigen Mist, in the first place? And if I remember correctly, she wasn't really too happy about the change, at least in the beginning. So, why is she all now anti-vaccine, even if she feels that it's a birthright, she should realize that a vaccine might actually protect the humans who do not have the Inhuman genes (which is about all of her friends from SHIELD)- and let's all have a moment of silence in honor of Trip- and that maybe she should let some people choose their own path.

 

I think a lot of it is just hot-headed, impulsive immaturity.  The kind of immaturity that passionately, completely, wholeheartedly believes that whatever you believe is right, is RIGHT (even if you passionately, completely, and wholeheartedly believed just the opposite yesterday) and anyone who disagrees with you is an idiot.  Skye has grown up a lot since we first met her, but she hasn't grown up that much.

[John Potts]

One thing I don't understand: if the delegates rooms were meant to be sealed off, then wouldn't leaving a bottle of champagne in their room (as either May or Bobbi did) be a massive Red Flag? OK, it would be ultimately irrelevant because the whole op went tits up but it shows poor Tradecraft. As does not having a protocol for saying "Going dark - DO NOT contact (until I do X)" - but if you don't, DEFINITELY don't respond with anything that could be overheard.

 

As for Talbot - he seems destined to be SHIELD's Butt Monkey. Like Raja suggested, I did wonder if his Dumb American act was a way to subtly sabotage the talks without being seen to do so, but for my money it's the same thinking that goes "General 'Thunderbolt' Ross can keep getting resources to FAIL to capture the Hulk every week', which you'd think even the most deluded General Staff would eventually see as a lost cause (even if they still think it's a good idea, which you'd think they'd eventually see it wasn't). Also, if HYDRA had learned that it could (at least potentially) control General Talbot by threatening his son, why would they then try to kill him? Yes, he sought to wriggle out from their control, but so would ANYONE in his situation (you'd imagine) - the next guy might be less susceptible to intimidation.

 

As for Ward - he's generating a whole lot of "Just don't care" for me. The fact that he's now eating (kinda) people as well as killing them doesn't make him any more interesting (and it doesn't help that the effect looked terrible, either). Also don't care about Daisy/Lincoln either, though at least Chloe Bennet brings the Eye Candy (I guess others might feel shirtless Brett Dalton does the same, but he doesn't do it for me). And on that subject, they really can't seem to settle on a consistent characterisation for Daisy. Occasionally, she seems to be growing into the mature second in command and at other times it seems she's an immature teen:

 

 

Taryn74  The kind of immaturity that passionately, completely, wholeheartedly believes that whatever you believe is right, is RIGHT (even if you passionately, completely, and wholeheartedly believed just the opposite yesterday) and anyone who disagrees with you is an idiot.

 

 

If nothing else, hasn't she noticed that some people DIE undergoing Terragenesis? She also talked to "Sonic the Hedgehog" (forget her real name) who felt her power was a curse. She really can't be self centred enough to go "Well I got a cool power out of it so it must be good!" even if she DOES have a point that governments having a "cure" for Inhumans has sinister overtones. 

Edited March 29, 2016 by John Potts

[TVSpectator]

Also don't care about Daisy/Lincoln either, though at least Chloe Bennet brings the Eye Candy (I guess others might feel shirtless Brett Dalton does the same, but he doesn't do it for me). And on that subject, they really can't seem to settle on a consistent characterisation for Daisy. Occasionally, she seems to be growing into the mature second in command and at other times it seems she's an immature teen:

 

If nothing else, hasn't she noticed that some people DIE undergoing Terragenesis? She also talked to "Sonic the Hedgehog" (forget her real name) who felt her power was a curse. She really can't be self centred enough to go "Well I got a cool power out of it so it must be good!" even if she DOES have a point that governments having a "cure" for Inhumans has sinister overtones. 

 

I do agree that the charactization is all over the place (and it does seem such as sudden trun for her) but then again, a lot of the other characters are sometimes written the same.