And so, the 50th episode of AoS went past. Now it
is time for the 51st – and it still delivered, a very tense,
dramatic episode. The Lash plotline had come to a mid-term resolution, as we
learn what has happened to Andrew – or rather how. This is a story of a good
man succumbing to darkness within, of becoming a monster and unable to stop it,
of dragging his loved ones into this- Oh wait. Ward did in the second half of S1,
and Cal actually underwent something similar throughout S2 – and this brings
down to ratings.
Take this episode, “Chaos Theory”, for example. Both the
main and the supporting cast did their parts without a hitch; the plot in many
ways was as solid as it was in the episode 3x02 (the episode 3x01 should be
killed and buried, BTW), and the conclusion of the episode’s finale was equally
heart wrenching... spoilers alert – in this episode May got her heart broken,
in the next – it’ll be Coulson’s turn, as the InHuman and Hydra plotlines
appear to collide and yet the ratings continue to plummet. Why?
Because repetition. It began already in S2, as Gonzales
infiltration of Coulson’s part of S.H.I.E.L.D. was reminiscent of Hydra’s
actions in S1, save that it was done on a liter scale; the emphasis here is on ‘lite’.
Yes, Mack and Bobbi seem to have made their peace with Coulson, (though their
friends on Gonzales’ side, including the man himself, had died because of Coulson’s
ideas, BTW), but this still was a repetition of what Ward and Garrett and other
Hydra agents had done back in S1 – so it was up to the InHuman plotline to
carry the day...and they failed. S2 finale was a bloodbath – an unnecessary
bloodbath, and it did not get better in S3. Ward’s plotline doesn’t get
resolved (he may be a villain, but not a very formidable one, if the site
information is correct), the show is struggling with balancing InHuman and
Hydra plotlines in general, and Andrew is really a repetition of Ward & Cal
from the previous seasons – this isn’t very original, frankly.
And his resolution...it is something else. AoS was dealing
the whole redemption angle rather badly, ever since the end of S1. For a while
the show’s writers made redemption sound like a big deal, right out there next
to teamwork, but then...
No, it is not about Ward, though the way Coulson had handled
him in mid-season 2 was not very smart or logical. This is about Jiaying too –
Coulson did offer her a chance to solve things peacefully with Gonzales and
co., and she threw it back into his face and in a very nasty way too, not to
mention deadly. Yes, she was killed, but Lincoln came back, or rather – helped in
the first place – of his own will, S.H.I.E.L.D. got nothing to do with it...
By S3 AoS seems to have abandoned the redemption plot
altogether. The good guys are good, the bad guys are bad...and they die. Kebo
in particular, though von Strucker seems to have gone into a coma instead. This
is simple, this works, but it is somewhat disappointing, in a simplified way. AoS
already has to deal with competition that was inspired by its initial success,
from ‘Killjoys’ to “Dark Matter’, from ‘Supergirl’ to ‘Blindspot’, and those
shows are quite successful and dramatic, especially ‘Blindspot’, but none of
them have any excessive plot twists as AoS does. ‘Blindspot’, for example, has
a very ‘noir’ feeling lately, but it is not dependant on plot twists as AoS is.
And speaking of repetition, drama and relationships – Will,
Jemma’s new cough friend cough back from ‘4722 hours’ is some
sort of an evil doer? Gasp, shocking. Seriously, how this is (or will be once Will
is back on Earth himself) different (if you look past the secondary details) of
what Skye went with Grant or Melinda with Andrew? Not really. This is more of
the same, and the same is not always good. AoS’ ratings continue to go down, and
this is very sad, for it is a very good show – but all good things must
come to an end...let us just hope that AoS will not end any time soon.
So: the Lash situation is resumed, and now it seems that it
will be Ward’s turn next. Hopefully, the scriptwriters will do something more
original to him rather than turn him into Hellfire.
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