1) Klementyna Sokal is Angelika's sister (ethnicity - another Polish Slav, duh). Unlike Angelika, however, she tends to stay in the background, often complaining or just eating. She isn't necessarily a slothful or a bad person, just introvert or even inert. She loves her children, but keeps her love and care for them at a low burn, preferring to conserve energy. There are rumors of her being ill, but so far Angelika isn't sure about them, and Klementyna herself is too inert to go to the doctor herself. Usually, she stays in the background, alongside her friend-
2) Kamalani Elikapeka. She is a friend and neighbor of Iolana Kai - an Afro-American from the state of Hawaii. She is usually found alongside Klementyna, but whereas Klementyna is usually low on energy, Kamalani is constantly active and running out and about, interacting and talking with others. She also may have the metabolism of a hummingbird, since she eats anything and never gains weight. Of course, she usually lets one of the Sokol sisters to manage her diet, (she's too active slash busy to do it herself), so this might be the reason why...
3) Gulten Hatice-Ferreira is Irena Ferreira's sister-in-law (ethnicity - Turkish). Whereas Irena tends to think things through...to the point where she needs someone else's help to get back on track (usually, Angelika, but sometimes Klementyna or even Kamalani), Gulten tends to rush right in and do everything however she thinks fit. She is a hot-head, but she does care for Irena and vice versa. She doesn't object too much to the Sokal sisters either, as she knows that they mean well, but Durada's nature-loving ways are just too passive for her liking, as are Ildo's. She and Kamalani get well enough with their similarly active lifestyles, but Gulten still thinks that Kamalani lacks focus (just as Iolana does).
4) Elvan Esin (ethnicity - Turkish) is a cousin of Gulten. The two cousins don't get along very well - whereas Gulten is something of a jock and a very active woman, Elvan rather spends her time on modern 'technology and knick-knacks', doing her best to keep up with the modern fashions. This causes her to argue with Ildo, who thinks that this sort of thing is a waste of time, and Durada, who tends to stick with Ildo in this sort of fight. Gulten prefers to let Irena sort it out - Irena often is able to talk Ildo down, and Gulten prefers to let her sister-in-law sort out this sort of an argument: Elvan may not be particularly close, (and Gulten, despite her dislike of Ildo and Durada actually thinks that they are more correct than Elvan is), and the two cousins don't like each other too much, but they are still family...and Irena is better at negotiating than Gulten is.
5) Helmi Aune (ethnicity - Finnish) is a friend of Elvan: even though she doesn't buy any modern tech very often, she is quite interested in it all the same, and often 'plays' with Elvan long enough, whenever Elvan gets herself a new toy. Not unlike Durada and Ildo, she is more laidback than the Sokal sisters, Gulten or Kamalani are, for example, but unlike Durada she is a very hands-off parent, and often lets her son play by himself while she does other things. As a consequence, she and Durada often lock horns even if Elvan isn't around, for the two women are too similar yet fundamentally different not to rub each other wrong. Ildo, curiously enough, gets along with Helmi well enough, yet because of her own dislike of Elvan the two of them argue often between themselves too. (And Gulten is slightly jealous of the fact that Elvan is friends with Helmi even though they are cousins - while Elvan is jealous of Gulten's bond with her sister-in-law.)
6) Noelani Kekepania is an Anglo-American who also hails from Hawaii. She gets along with Kamalani well enough, (though they are not particularly close - Kamalani prefers to hang around the Sokal sisters, who manage her life at least to a certain degree, and she likes it), but she is more of Iolana's 'sidekick': both women are messy, disorganized, and tend to fight/argue with Angelika Sokal a lot. (Of course, since Angelika is friends with Kamalani, this doesn't endear Noelani to Kamalani either). On her own, Noelani is friends with Elvan and Helmi, who can tolerate her chaotic ways with understanding, but otherwise, Noelani is something of the outside in the group.
Thursday, 31 March 2016
Wednesday, 30 March 2016
S.H.I.E.L.D., Watchdogs - March 29
And so, yesterday's episode, "Watchdogs", had come to TV. What can be said about it? First - the useless/pointless trivia bit - the Watchdogs were a right-wind terrorist group that weren't, or aren't, that different from the F.O.H. who harass the mutants (remember the initial X-Men movies with Stryker in it? Earth-10005 rather than Earth-TRN414? Never mind). They're funded by Hydra so, yeah, they suck - but read on.
As they reeled from the departures of Lance and Bobbi, the Agents came across the Watchdogs - who are currently being run by a former agent, Felix Banks, from S1. Yeah, this guy, who was killed by Deathlok but not quite: now he's stuck in a wheelchair and directs his people via holograms. Now what?
Well, it is another sign/indication that AoS is getting its continuity together, as more of the previous seasons' elements are returning to the show. After the mess that S2 had done, trying to assimilate Hunter and Morse before casting them out into their spinoff, S3, especially the second half, is fixing the mess...but the damage has been done. "Parting Shot" had even lower ratings than "The Inside Man" had, and "Watchdogs" have more in common with it, than "The Inside Man".
More precisely, the last two episodes had a very dark, very oppressive atmosphere, and tried to incorporate real-life American issues, not unlike how 'Agent Carter' began to do in S2. Only, if AC has done it in a relatively light-hearted manner, AoS seems to going increasingly oppressive and depressing, especially now that Lance and Bobbi and their sarcasm are gone. Of course, they themselves were best in small doses, but without them AoS doesn't have even that. Agent Mack can be also called "Alphie'? Ha-ha, and this brings us to "Watchdogs" main real-life component: race and racial stereotypes.
In the world of literature, one Russian author has published a book on the U.S. Civil War (in 2008). It was more of a propaganda piece than an accurate one, but he did raise some good points, including how the U.S. mass media (TV shows, movies, etc) tended to associate 'the bad guys' with Confederacy and its values, (real or imagined). Well, in "Watchdogs" we have all-white terrorists harassing 'freaks', and at the end - two people of color, the Mackenzie brothers. Yay. The leader, Felix, is an Anglo-American, even though S2 had at least two 'negative' characters who were neither: Gonzales (a Latino American) and Weaver (an Afro-American woman). Gonzales got killed in the massive character kill-off at the end of S2, and Weaver is a colored character, so there are problems in depicting her as a villain. Honestly, there is something of a debate going around non-mainstream characters and their treatments in TV shows, such as '100', so yeah - AoS, who is already trying to prevent it, I think, isn't going to go for controversies: instead it is going for good old reliable cliches, including the issue of color. How nice.
The same goes for depicting/handling of this cliche. Mack single-handedly, (with some help from his younger brother), defeats 5 or 6 Watchdogs, all of whom seem to be Anglo-American. Honestly, he seems to be some sort of a mix between Charles Gunn from Angel (AtS) and Gord Cantrell from The Sixth Gun comic. Well, considering that he didn't make much of an appearance in either "The Inside Man" or "Parting Shot", this could mean...
...This could mean, in combination with him being out of commission at the end of this ep, is that he won't appear in the upcoming episodes either. Nick and Adrienne have already left the show for good; maybe the same goes for Henry Simmons? Yeah, in one of the online articles (well, quote lists), an AoS site suggests that there could been a Mack/Slingshot romance in the works, but at the end of the episode in question, ("Bouncing Back"), Slingshot seems to be paired more with Joey instead; considering how flippantly AoS treats the episodes' scripts, and especially dialogues, Slingshot's relationship is up for grabs-
-That, the fact that actors seem to be leaving the show, and the fact that the InHumans have appeared only as a smattering of characters - only Daisy and Lincoln are main/recurrent S.H.I.E.L.D. characters with powers - and frankly, so far they served more as a plot device than characters, appearing largely behind the scenes, than as part of a plot. Yes, there's Andrew/Lash, and-
-and there's no sign of Philinda, which did appear in the epilogue "Bouncing Back" alongside Static Quake and the FitzSimmons. WTF? Mind you, after "The Inside Man", AoS took a new, different, darker turn, so perhaps the relationships were discarded, especially if Andrew is coming back...eventually. Considering that even the regular cast members don't appear on the episodes fully anymore, (May and Simmons' storyline on the last episode vanished completely at the end, with the two of them trying to bond over Andrew's situation and not quite succeeding), I wouldn't bet on it. Yeah, the odds of AoS not getting renewed for S4 are still very low, but with all the cliches that are being thrown around, and the number of viewers still very low after "Parting Shot", it is probably more up in the air than the cast and crew of AoS would like it to be.
As they reeled from the departures of Lance and Bobbi, the Agents came across the Watchdogs - who are currently being run by a former agent, Felix Banks, from S1. Yeah, this guy, who was killed by Deathlok but not quite: now he's stuck in a wheelchair and directs his people via holograms. Now what?
Well, it is another sign/indication that AoS is getting its continuity together, as more of the previous seasons' elements are returning to the show. After the mess that S2 had done, trying to assimilate Hunter and Morse before casting them out into their spinoff, S3, especially the second half, is fixing the mess...but the damage has been done. "Parting Shot" had even lower ratings than "The Inside Man" had, and "Watchdogs" have more in common with it, than "The Inside Man".
More precisely, the last two episodes had a very dark, very oppressive atmosphere, and tried to incorporate real-life American issues, not unlike how 'Agent Carter' began to do in S2. Only, if AC has done it in a relatively light-hearted manner, AoS seems to going increasingly oppressive and depressing, especially now that Lance and Bobbi and their sarcasm are gone. Of course, they themselves were best in small doses, but without them AoS doesn't have even that. Agent Mack can be also called "Alphie'? Ha-ha, and this brings us to "Watchdogs" main real-life component: race and racial stereotypes.
In the world of literature, one Russian author has published a book on the U.S. Civil War (in 2008). It was more of a propaganda piece than an accurate one, but he did raise some good points, including how the U.S. mass media (TV shows, movies, etc) tended to associate 'the bad guys' with Confederacy and its values, (real or imagined). Well, in "Watchdogs" we have all-white terrorists harassing 'freaks', and at the end - two people of color, the Mackenzie brothers. Yay. The leader, Felix, is an Anglo-American, even though S2 had at least two 'negative' characters who were neither: Gonzales (a Latino American) and Weaver (an Afro-American woman). Gonzales got killed in the massive character kill-off at the end of S2, and Weaver is a colored character, so there are problems in depicting her as a villain. Honestly, there is something of a debate going around non-mainstream characters and their treatments in TV shows, such as '100', so yeah - AoS, who is already trying to prevent it, I think, isn't going to go for controversies: instead it is going for good old reliable cliches, including the issue of color. How nice.
The same goes for depicting/handling of this cliche. Mack single-handedly, (with some help from his younger brother), defeats 5 or 6 Watchdogs, all of whom seem to be Anglo-American. Honestly, he seems to be some sort of a mix between Charles Gunn from Angel (AtS) and Gord Cantrell from The Sixth Gun comic. Well, considering that he didn't make much of an appearance in either "The Inside Man" or "Parting Shot", this could mean...
...This could mean, in combination with him being out of commission at the end of this ep, is that he won't appear in the upcoming episodes either. Nick and Adrienne have already left the show for good; maybe the same goes for Henry Simmons? Yeah, in one of the online articles (well, quote lists), an AoS site suggests that there could been a Mack/Slingshot romance in the works, but at the end of the episode in question, ("Bouncing Back"), Slingshot seems to be paired more with Joey instead; considering how flippantly AoS treats the episodes' scripts, and especially dialogues, Slingshot's relationship is up for grabs-
-That, the fact that actors seem to be leaving the show, and the fact that the InHumans have appeared only as a smattering of characters - only Daisy and Lincoln are main/recurrent S.H.I.E.L.D. characters with powers - and frankly, so far they served more as a plot device than characters, appearing largely behind the scenes, than as part of a plot. Yes, there's Andrew/Lash, and-
-and there's no sign of Philinda, which did appear in the epilogue "Bouncing Back" alongside Static Quake and the FitzSimmons. WTF? Mind you, after "The Inside Man", AoS took a new, different, darker turn, so perhaps the relationships were discarded, especially if Andrew is coming back...eventually. Considering that even the regular cast members don't appear on the episodes fully anymore, (May and Simmons' storyline on the last episode vanished completely at the end, with the two of them trying to bond over Andrew's situation and not quite succeeding), I wouldn't bet on it. Yeah, the odds of AoS not getting renewed for S4 are still very low, but with all the cliches that are being thrown around, and the number of viewers still very low after "Parting Shot", it is probably more up in the air than the cast and crew of AoS would like it to be.
Tuesday, 22 March 2016
S.H.I.E.L.D., Parting Shot - March 22
And so, we say apparently good-bye to Lance Hunter and Bobbi Morse in 'Parting Shot'. What can be said about it?
It is a purposefully oppressive episode, very heavy on the Russian - language. I'm not going to go into this too much: back in 2009, 'Deadliest Warrior' aired an episode where the Soviet/Russian Spetsnaz had defeated the U.S. Green Berets fair and square, something that had haunted this show for the rest of its' existence (DW went off air in 2011 after going on for 3 seasons, cough). The Russians are as good as the Americans are, and to make them bogey-men (the ones that aren't Hydra, perhaps) for AoS is cheap, especially for the show's writers and co.
One may point out that something similar is going on in the comics of the AoS franchise, where the agents are about to lock horns with the uncanny Avengers, but the two sides of AoS franchise are different - the comic version of agents attempts/pretends to be firmly integrated into the rest of Marvel world from the start ('Perfect Bullets' story arc), while the TV version...not so much. None of the Avengers movie cast has appeared on the show since S1, and even then it were Fury and Hill, so they don't quite count. One could argue that Bobbi is the Mockingbird, and as such she is something of an Avenger herself, only she isn't. Yes, the sites, (or at least some of them) are calling her Mockingbird, but this never has happened on the show.
No, it is unlikely that this is because of the entire Kara Palamas arc of S2, where Bobbi had sold her out to Hydra, 'forgot' to rescue her, and didn't even apologize to her in the end - and then Grant killed her by accident, ha-ha, and AoS has done its best forget about her: 'Parting Shot', in the last scene, depicted Malick's daughter - the appropriate love interest for Hive or Werner von Strucker, whoever will win her in the end... if the show doesn't kill her in a future episode first. Either way, Kara's fate and death rests on Bobbi's head as much as on Grant's or Melinda and Lance's - Bobbi may not be a villain as Whitehall was, for example, but neither is she a hero as the Mockingbird is supposed to be.
...That said, the odds are coming down from the financial aspects of the real life's side of the show: last week's episode had THE LOWEST ratings yet and so far it is uncertain how the show will recover. Make no mistake, it will - sort of: there had been cases in the previous seasons when one episode or another made an overly low, or high, rating as opposed to the episodes before and after it, but never so sharply or so low, even considering that overall the ratings of S3 AoS episodes were going even lower already. The S2 two-bit finale was already low, and many of S3 episodes are lower than it was. Yes, there is a promise of an AoS S4 season in the talks, but there was also talk of a Lance-and-Bobbi spinoff in the wind, ever since S2 beginning, and so far there is nothing concrete. Now the groundwork had been laid, of course, (with a pun for a title of the episode, too), but there are no signs of a spin-off coming forth; in fact it may be that the producers have made a Grant-and-Kara thing for Lance and Bobbi, treating them differently/separately from the rest of the cast instead for the rest of S3.
This brings us to finances: with Mack and Lincoln joining the regular cast since the end of S2, the cast has expanded to 10 people as the regular cast, who need to be paid, which means less money to go around. And since the ratings are dropping, as is the show's overall popularity, means that there is less money to go around too. Odds are that Nick and Adrienne are going is because AoS cannot afford their salaries. Ouch, but last week's episode had no Mack in it (for no reason), this episode had no Lincoln (he was in Cocoon, apparently), so clearly the entire AoS team is having problems keeping everyone balanced here with 10 main characters and guest/recurring characters as well. So now they're pruning the fat, and Kara Palamas got some karma payback for her and for Grant all the same. Coulson is going to get his too - Hive and his up-and-coming new girlfriend (is she supposed to be an analogue of Sin or someone like that) are going to make certain of it...in a matter of weeks, since the second part of AoS S3 takes place in 3 months, and the month of March is almost gone, too.
As for the episode itself...it's oppressive, it's purposefully oppressive, and it is associated with Russia for that purpose. This time, the agents stopped the Prime Minister from being assassinated by a Russian InHuman general...only Russia is a funny country: it is run by a tsar (nowadays they call 'em presidents instead, as a part of suckering the West), so the Prime Minister is worth diddly-squat here. If AoS is trying to earn sponsor points by adhering to the U.S. sense of apple pie and patriotism they could go for political accuracy rather than subtlety.
And yes, this can backfire. The already mentioned 'Deadliest Warrior' had done its best to appeal to the American patriotism in the last two seasons of its show, especially in S3, with its kick-ass presidents, George Washington and Teddy Roosevelt. Guess what, it still didn't fully work: the U.S. Rangers defeated the North Korean special forces by only half a percent, (and considering the West's opinion of North Korea, talk about a double-ouch), and the show got cancelled after they did a season finale 'Vampires vs. Zombies'. That episode ran largely against the show's established M.O., and DW went out on a Halloween special that didn't even take place on Halloween. And as for AoS...
As for AoS, if 'Parting Shot' was truly the end of Hunter and Morse at least for the rest of S3, this means that the viewers who were watching the show primarily for their characters will stop watching it, likely, which means ANOTHER ratings drop, something that AoS cannot afford now more than ever. Not everyone liked Hunter and Morse, most likely, due to the Kara plotline, but replacing them with new characters (Slingshot? Manifold?) who may or may not be just recurring isn't the best idea too. Hell, they kept Grant/Hive on the show past S2 for the viewers, because honestly, it would've been more humane to have him go through T.A.H.I.T.I. and live on in Mexico or elsewhere with Kara. It would've been more humane for Kara too. But if Maya Stojan could just be easily dropped from the show, Brett not so much, so instead more character assassination and now Hive. Hail Hydra!
...And then there's the entire 'Agent Carter' situation: she and Sousa and co. are precisely dealing with the Russians/Communists/the Leviathan rather than Hydra (at least in the first 2 seasons). How will this episode mesh with the future seasons of AC? So far AoS is splitting the MCU rather than integrating it, so this again makes it less popular with its audience, which means fewer ratings - and it has nothing to do with Phil killing Grant back in 2015, however Whedon and the others are trying to pretend otherwise.
So, a tense, overwhelming, oppressive episode, complete with terrific acting from the actors - and some very incorrect political/patriotic imagery. I hope that 'Parting Shot's' ratings will be higher than the last week's episode, but am not betting on it.
It is a purposefully oppressive episode, very heavy on the Russian - language. I'm not going to go into this too much: back in 2009, 'Deadliest Warrior' aired an episode where the Soviet/Russian Spetsnaz had defeated the U.S. Green Berets fair and square, something that had haunted this show for the rest of its' existence (DW went off air in 2011 after going on for 3 seasons, cough). The Russians are as good as the Americans are, and to make them bogey-men (the ones that aren't Hydra, perhaps) for AoS is cheap, especially for the show's writers and co.
One may point out that something similar is going on in the comics of the AoS franchise, where the agents are about to lock horns with the uncanny Avengers, but the two sides of AoS franchise are different - the comic version of agents attempts/pretends to be firmly integrated into the rest of Marvel world from the start ('Perfect Bullets' story arc), while the TV version...not so much. None of the Avengers movie cast has appeared on the show since S1, and even then it were Fury and Hill, so they don't quite count. One could argue that Bobbi is the Mockingbird, and as such she is something of an Avenger herself, only she isn't. Yes, the sites, (or at least some of them) are calling her Mockingbird, but this never has happened on the show.
No, it is unlikely that this is because of the entire Kara Palamas arc of S2, where Bobbi had sold her out to Hydra, 'forgot' to rescue her, and didn't even apologize to her in the end - and then Grant killed her by accident, ha-ha, and AoS has done its best forget about her: 'Parting Shot', in the last scene, depicted Malick's daughter - the appropriate love interest for Hive or Werner von Strucker, whoever will win her in the end... if the show doesn't kill her in a future episode first. Either way, Kara's fate and death rests on Bobbi's head as much as on Grant's or Melinda and Lance's - Bobbi may not be a villain as Whitehall was, for example, but neither is she a hero as the Mockingbird is supposed to be.
...That said, the odds are coming down from the financial aspects of the real life's side of the show: last week's episode had THE LOWEST ratings yet and so far it is uncertain how the show will recover. Make no mistake, it will - sort of: there had been cases in the previous seasons when one episode or another made an overly low, or high, rating as opposed to the episodes before and after it, but never so sharply or so low, even considering that overall the ratings of S3 AoS episodes were going even lower already. The S2 two-bit finale was already low, and many of S3 episodes are lower than it was. Yes, there is a promise of an AoS S4 season in the talks, but there was also talk of a Lance-and-Bobbi spinoff in the wind, ever since S2 beginning, and so far there is nothing concrete. Now the groundwork had been laid, of course, (with a pun for a title of the episode, too), but there are no signs of a spin-off coming forth; in fact it may be that the producers have made a Grant-and-Kara thing for Lance and Bobbi, treating them differently/separately from the rest of the cast instead for the rest of S3.
This brings us to finances: with Mack and Lincoln joining the regular cast since the end of S2, the cast has expanded to 10 people as the regular cast, who need to be paid, which means less money to go around. And since the ratings are dropping, as is the show's overall popularity, means that there is less money to go around too. Odds are that Nick and Adrienne are going is because AoS cannot afford their salaries. Ouch, but last week's episode had no Mack in it (for no reason), this episode had no Lincoln (he was in Cocoon, apparently), so clearly the entire AoS team is having problems keeping everyone balanced here with 10 main characters and guest/recurring characters as well. So now they're pruning the fat, and Kara Palamas got some karma payback for her and for Grant all the same. Coulson is going to get his too - Hive and his up-and-coming new girlfriend (is she supposed to be an analogue of Sin or someone like that) are going to make certain of it...in a matter of weeks, since the second part of AoS S3 takes place in 3 months, and the month of March is almost gone, too.
As for the episode itself...it's oppressive, it's purposefully oppressive, and it is associated with Russia for that purpose. This time, the agents stopped the Prime Minister from being assassinated by a Russian InHuman general...only Russia is a funny country: it is run by a tsar (nowadays they call 'em presidents instead, as a part of suckering the West), so the Prime Minister is worth diddly-squat here. If AoS is trying to earn sponsor points by adhering to the U.S. sense of apple pie and patriotism they could go for political accuracy rather than subtlety.
And yes, this can backfire. The already mentioned 'Deadliest Warrior' had done its best to appeal to the American patriotism in the last two seasons of its show, especially in S3, with its kick-ass presidents, George Washington and Teddy Roosevelt. Guess what, it still didn't fully work: the U.S. Rangers defeated the North Korean special forces by only half a percent, (and considering the West's opinion of North Korea, talk about a double-ouch), and the show got cancelled after they did a season finale 'Vampires vs. Zombies'. That episode ran largely against the show's established M.O., and DW went out on a Halloween special that didn't even take place on Halloween. And as for AoS...
As for AoS, if 'Parting Shot' was truly the end of Hunter and Morse at least for the rest of S3, this means that the viewers who were watching the show primarily for their characters will stop watching it, likely, which means ANOTHER ratings drop, something that AoS cannot afford now more than ever. Not everyone liked Hunter and Morse, most likely, due to the Kara plotline, but replacing them with new characters (Slingshot? Manifold?) who may or may not be just recurring isn't the best idea too. Hell, they kept Grant/Hive on the show past S2 for the viewers, because honestly, it would've been more humane to have him go through T.A.H.I.T.I. and live on in Mexico or elsewhere with Kara. It would've been more humane for Kara too. But if Maya Stojan could just be easily dropped from the show, Brett not so much, so instead more character assassination and now Hive. Hail Hydra!
...And then there's the entire 'Agent Carter' situation: she and Sousa and co. are precisely dealing with the Russians/Communists/the Leviathan rather than Hydra (at least in the first 2 seasons). How will this episode mesh with the future seasons of AC? So far AoS is splitting the MCU rather than integrating it, so this again makes it less popular with its audience, which means fewer ratings - and it has nothing to do with Phil killing Grant back in 2015, however Whedon and the others are trying to pretend otherwise.
So, a tense, overwhelming, oppressive episode, complete with terrific acting from the actors - and some very incorrect political/patriotic imagery. I hope that 'Parting Shot's' ratings will be higher than the last week's episode, but am not betting on it.
Tuesday, 15 March 2016
S.H.I.E.L.D., Inside Man - March 15
And so, the adventure continues in "The Inside Man". AoS continues in the same vein as it did with the previous episode, but-
But the episode 'Bouncing Back' was something of a portmanteau, dealing with a 'regular day' in the life of S.H.I.E.L.D. on one hand, and introducing Yolanda Rodriguez on the other. Since she's also Slingshot of the Secret Warriors, she deserves another mention, this time because she may be Mack's love interest, now that May seems to be back with Coulson, sort of. However, one of the last scenes back in 'Bouncing Back' seemed to be pairing Yolanda with Joey instead, on one hand, and on the other, NCB is still largely a guest star, who seems to come and go as a recurring character...and they tend to vanish on AoS leaving plot holes behind: Ian Quinn, the (remaining) Koenig brothers, agent Weaver, etc. There's no indication as to what has happened to them...and in this episode, agent Mackenzie is noticeably absent, as is Joey...but Joey was a recurring character with a spotty appearance record from the start; Mack is different: he is a part of the regular cast, so what gives?
It all probably comes down to the budget and the fact that the show seems to have peculiar relations with its cast - it tends to re-use them, as it did with Creel; in this particular episode, not only he had returned, but he had been redeemed by the military, in the character of general Talbot. When the latter starts to talk about redemption, there's some stabbing and unwitting criticism of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s tactics, I suspect. Hive is a man-eating monster, but Grant...well, he should've been either shot from the start, or offered something along the lines of Creel - also from the start, not when it was too little too late.
Talbot himself is not so much redeemed as developed further, depicted as a more well-rounded and likable character rather than the sherrif of Nottingham type of character he appeared in S2. Of course, his previous informal alliance with Coulson didn't go so well, so one cannot blame him for not trusting or liking Coulson, especially at first, and to putting his faith in Creel too.
Creel is going to be important as himself as well, since apparently his blood can counter the effects of the Terrigen, which - a minor or not so minor plot point - is the part of an argument between Daisy and Lincoln about him settling into S.H.I.E.L.D. Meh, he cannot go anywhere, he's still something of a wanted man, so he'll stay there, alongside Daisy, May and Coulson, and the FitzSimmons (who barely got any screen time at all during this episode - ouch!).
This, of course, brings us to the potential spinoff of Hunter and Morse - the 'Most Wanted'. It still hasn't gone through, and it just may never do, because by now, AoS doesn't have a very big fan base as it did in S1, and let's be honest - there are some people who are watching the show primarily for Hunter and Morse, as opposed for the FitzSimmons, for example, so if they're off the AoS and onto MW, then this part of AoS viewers will most likely go with them, which means another drop in the audience numbers. Yes, AoS has been passed on for S4 in the future, but things happen. In fall of 2015, for example, a series called 'Blood & Oil' was aired. It was supposed to consist of 13 episodes (and possibly passed on for S2), but S2 doesn't appear to be happening anytime soon, and the number of episodes was cut down to 10. So yeah, things happen, even in TV land, and AoS seems to have problems as a franchise too - there were several comic runs of 'Agents' (none of which have anything to do with the show, unlike some 'Agent Carter' comics), plus Daisy/Quake comics, Howling Commandos comics, InHuman and Mockingbird comics, all of which diversify attention and make it very hard to figure out where the 'Agents' stay in the greater Marvel world. Go AoS. Not.
But the TV series have seemed to gotten it together at last, one way or another. The only question is whether or not this will be enough to enable the show's - and the franchise's - audience to flourish and grow once more.
But the episode 'Bouncing Back' was something of a portmanteau, dealing with a 'regular day' in the life of S.H.I.E.L.D. on one hand, and introducing Yolanda Rodriguez on the other. Since she's also Slingshot of the Secret Warriors, she deserves another mention, this time because she may be Mack's love interest, now that May seems to be back with Coulson, sort of. However, one of the last scenes back in 'Bouncing Back' seemed to be pairing Yolanda with Joey instead, on one hand, and on the other, NCB is still largely a guest star, who seems to come and go as a recurring character...and they tend to vanish on AoS leaving plot holes behind: Ian Quinn, the (remaining) Koenig brothers, agent Weaver, etc. There's no indication as to what has happened to them...and in this episode, agent Mackenzie is noticeably absent, as is Joey...but Joey was a recurring character with a spotty appearance record from the start; Mack is different: he is a part of the regular cast, so what gives?
It all probably comes down to the budget and the fact that the show seems to have peculiar relations with its cast - it tends to re-use them, as it did with Creel; in this particular episode, not only he had returned, but he had been redeemed by the military, in the character of general Talbot. When the latter starts to talk about redemption, there's some stabbing and unwitting criticism of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s tactics, I suspect. Hive is a man-eating monster, but Grant...well, he should've been either shot from the start, or offered something along the lines of Creel - also from the start, not when it was too little too late.
Talbot himself is not so much redeemed as developed further, depicted as a more well-rounded and likable character rather than the sherrif of Nottingham type of character he appeared in S2. Of course, his previous informal alliance with Coulson didn't go so well, so one cannot blame him for not trusting or liking Coulson, especially at first, and to putting his faith in Creel too.
Creel is going to be important as himself as well, since apparently his blood can counter the effects of the Terrigen, which - a minor or not so minor plot point - is the part of an argument between Daisy and Lincoln about him settling into S.H.I.E.L.D. Meh, he cannot go anywhere, he's still something of a wanted man, so he'll stay there, alongside Daisy, May and Coulson, and the FitzSimmons (who barely got any screen time at all during this episode - ouch!).
This, of course, brings us to the potential spinoff of Hunter and Morse - the 'Most Wanted'. It still hasn't gone through, and it just may never do, because by now, AoS doesn't have a very big fan base as it did in S1, and let's be honest - there are some people who are watching the show primarily for Hunter and Morse, as opposed for the FitzSimmons, for example, so if they're off the AoS and onto MW, then this part of AoS viewers will most likely go with them, which means another drop in the audience numbers. Yes, AoS has been passed on for S4 in the future, but things happen. In fall of 2015, for example, a series called 'Blood & Oil' was aired. It was supposed to consist of 13 episodes (and possibly passed on for S2), but S2 doesn't appear to be happening anytime soon, and the number of episodes was cut down to 10. So yeah, things happen, even in TV land, and AoS seems to have problems as a franchise too - there were several comic runs of 'Agents' (none of which have anything to do with the show, unlike some 'Agent Carter' comics), plus Daisy/Quake comics, Howling Commandos comics, InHuman and Mockingbird comics, all of which diversify attention and make it very hard to figure out where the 'Agents' stay in the greater Marvel world. Go AoS. Not.
But the TV series have seemed to gotten it together at last, one way or another. The only question is whether or not this will be enough to enable the show's - and the franchise's - audience to flourish and grow once more.
Tuesday, 8 March 2016
S.H.I.E.L.D., Bouncing Back - March 8
And so, "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." are back. Yay?
It's tricky to say. In many ways, tonight's episode - 'Bouncing Back' had all the better qualities of an AoS episode - it was simple, straightforward, had the team acting as a team (mostly) and it did a great job of introducing Yo-Yo 'Slingshot' Rodriguez as a proper, heroic character, (more similar to Daredevil or Jessica Jones, though, than the Avengers), while setting the stage for Coulson's eventual confrontation with Malick - the opening scene of 'Bouncing Back' had purposefully given us a time frame: 3 months, after which there's an explosion in space. Probably, it will be the end of Hive, and/or Malick, because-
Wait, first this episode has also did a wonderful job of integrating AoS into MCU - president Elios was the same president that appeared in the 'Iron Man 3' film, for example. Moreover, it seems to have done with its earlier, fractured approach to plot lines, as it did in S2 (and it carried, slightly, into S3) - now everything is settled: Fitz and Simmons have finally come together, Coulson seems to have patched things up with May (she seems to have gotten over Garner for the moment), and Daisy is with Lincoln. Fair enough, and there's none of the cliched, forced feeling that was back in 'Laws of Nature' (3x01). Mack, who had been sort of paired up with May in the closing episodes of S3, may've been shuffled over to Yo-Yo, or perhaps Joey had - for the moment it is hard to tell. AoS is trying to remove its former unpredictability and reliance on plot twists: even this episode's plot twists - the local cops were corrupt and had a gifted enforcer working with them - were kind of obvious and easily understood/foreseen by the viewers since the beginning of the ep.
Is this good? It's one of these things that have to be decided on an individual basis. 'Agent Carter', whose S2 had just ended last week, never had any plot twists from the start, hadn't suffered any from their lack: in fact, it was a different show from AoS, though they're supposed to be connected (S.H.I.E.L.D. picked up where SSR will leave off, eventually), for it had humor (and not tasteless either, BTW); it had real-life issues, such as racial and gender inequality, and in person of Dot Underwood we may be dealing with gender minorities too. It had everything - and there wasn't a lot of killing involved either, unlike AoS, which, since the S2 finale, became very fond of killing various characters off. Nowadays they do seem to be treating them differently - Yo-Yo is going to be something of a guest star, appearing only on a necessary basis, (thus saving AoS the cost of paying her actress all the time), as will Werner, apparently, and Thomas Ward...seems to have vanished.
More precisely, 'Bouncing Back' is the episode where Aos has cut-off (at least in canon) all ties to the previous episodes and their messed-up plotline. Fitz and Simmons are together, as they should be. Daisy and Lincoln are together, as it was hinted at since they've met in Li Shi (not that the fans care - Daisy has been paired off in fan works with anyone and everyone and their aunt, cough), and Coulson and May may be finally getting together: in other words, things are back to how they been in S1, save that Grant is dead and Lincoln's in his place.
Fair enough, and the way how the show's staff have made Ward into a simple, designated villain has probably cost them some viewers/fans: right now, the ratings of AoS are under 4 million, while 'Blindspot', by comparison, has about 6.5: this is a telling number - no matter how well the characters do their job, they're still characters in a show, and the real life isn't affected by them. For example, 'Fuller House', which is a modernized, updated version of 'Full House' sitcom of the 90s, isn't doing so well, but it seems to have gotten a S2 of its own all the same. Whoever pays the piper gets the tune and the show, it seems, and AoS has gotten its S4 (and Grant/Hive appears to be a part of the promo pic here, so yeah?).
Anyways, as a show AoS has shown that has gotten its bearings together by now, which is good, for Morse and Hunter appear to be about to acquire their own show at last...but since the talk has been going about this since the start of S2 and nothing seems to have come out of it, it's anyone's guess. The spin-off's synopsis, however, indicates that S.H.I.E.L.D. will have its own problems by the end of S3, and Hunter and Morse will be on their own (alongside Dominic Fortune) in the spinoff. Again, this makes AoS a very different, darker show from 'Carter' (Malick owns Gothic Industries - seriously?) and suggests that when in three months' time some sort of a S.H.I.E.L.D. space shuttle explodes in space Coulson and his team won't get the clean win they got in the mid-S3 finale, but for now it's a fairly straightforward road: both S.H.I.E.L.D. and Hydra are assembling forces of gifted/InHuman people to fight 'some sort' of a future battle for them, cough, which will probably occur at the end of S3 (causing Hunter and Morse to strike out on their own in the process?). Until then we will follow the show and generally enjoy watching it (or not - it depends on the person, after all).
It's tricky to say. In many ways, tonight's episode - 'Bouncing Back' had all the better qualities of an AoS episode - it was simple, straightforward, had the team acting as a team (mostly) and it did a great job of introducing Yo-Yo 'Slingshot' Rodriguez as a proper, heroic character, (more similar to Daredevil or Jessica Jones, though, than the Avengers), while setting the stage for Coulson's eventual confrontation with Malick - the opening scene of 'Bouncing Back' had purposefully given us a time frame: 3 months, after which there's an explosion in space. Probably, it will be the end of Hive, and/or Malick, because-
Wait, first this episode has also did a wonderful job of integrating AoS into MCU - president Elios was the same president that appeared in the 'Iron Man 3' film, for example. Moreover, it seems to have done with its earlier, fractured approach to plot lines, as it did in S2 (and it carried, slightly, into S3) - now everything is settled: Fitz and Simmons have finally come together, Coulson seems to have patched things up with May (she seems to have gotten over Garner for the moment), and Daisy is with Lincoln. Fair enough, and there's none of the cliched, forced feeling that was back in 'Laws of Nature' (3x01). Mack, who had been sort of paired up with May in the closing episodes of S3, may've been shuffled over to Yo-Yo, or perhaps Joey had - for the moment it is hard to tell. AoS is trying to remove its former unpredictability and reliance on plot twists: even this episode's plot twists - the local cops were corrupt and had a gifted enforcer working with them - were kind of obvious and easily understood/foreseen by the viewers since the beginning of the ep.
Is this good? It's one of these things that have to be decided on an individual basis. 'Agent Carter', whose S2 had just ended last week, never had any plot twists from the start, hadn't suffered any from their lack: in fact, it was a different show from AoS, though they're supposed to be connected (S.H.I.E.L.D. picked up where SSR will leave off, eventually), for it had humor (and not tasteless either, BTW); it had real-life issues, such as racial and gender inequality, and in person of Dot Underwood we may be dealing with gender minorities too. It had everything - and there wasn't a lot of killing involved either, unlike AoS, which, since the S2 finale, became very fond of killing various characters off. Nowadays they do seem to be treating them differently - Yo-Yo is going to be something of a guest star, appearing only on a necessary basis, (thus saving AoS the cost of paying her actress all the time), as will Werner, apparently, and Thomas Ward...seems to have vanished.
More precisely, 'Bouncing Back' is the episode where Aos has cut-off (at least in canon) all ties to the previous episodes and their messed-up plotline. Fitz and Simmons are together, as they should be. Daisy and Lincoln are together, as it was hinted at since they've met in Li Shi (not that the fans care - Daisy has been paired off in fan works with anyone and everyone and their aunt, cough), and Coulson and May may be finally getting together: in other words, things are back to how they been in S1, save that Grant is dead and Lincoln's in his place.
Fair enough, and the way how the show's staff have made Ward into a simple, designated villain has probably cost them some viewers/fans: right now, the ratings of AoS are under 4 million, while 'Blindspot', by comparison, has about 6.5: this is a telling number - no matter how well the characters do their job, they're still characters in a show, and the real life isn't affected by them. For example, 'Fuller House', which is a modernized, updated version of 'Full House' sitcom of the 90s, isn't doing so well, but it seems to have gotten a S2 of its own all the same. Whoever pays the piper gets the tune and the show, it seems, and AoS has gotten its S4 (and Grant/Hive appears to be a part of the promo pic here, so yeah?).
Anyways, as a show AoS has shown that has gotten its bearings together by now, which is good, for Morse and Hunter appear to be about to acquire their own show at last...but since the talk has been going about this since the start of S2 and nothing seems to have come out of it, it's anyone's guess. The spin-off's synopsis, however, indicates that S.H.I.E.L.D. will have its own problems by the end of S3, and Hunter and Morse will be on their own (alongside Dominic Fortune) in the spinoff. Again, this makes AoS a very different, darker show from 'Carter' (Malick owns Gothic Industries - seriously?) and suggests that when in three months' time some sort of a S.H.I.E.L.D. space shuttle explodes in space Coulson and his team won't get the clean win they got in the mid-S3 finale, but for now it's a fairly straightforward road: both S.H.I.E.L.D. and Hydra are assembling forces of gifted/InHuman people to fight 'some sort' of a future battle for them, cough, which will probably occur at the end of S3 (causing Hunter and Morse to strike out on their own in the process?). Until then we will follow the show and generally enjoy watching it (or not - it depends on the person, after all).
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)