Tuesday, 19 April 2016

S.H.I.E.L.D., The Team - April 19

And so, lo and behold – the revenge of Grant Ward from beyond the grave, bitches! Coulson had killed him – and Hive took over from where he had left off and delivered in style. Last episode, he had Guyerra beat the shite out of everyone, including Mack and May and Coulson; in this episode, he uses Daisy/Skye to do the same thing to S.H.I.E.L.D. Go Hive! The next promo shows him alongside Daisy, while Lincoln is intent on getting her back, so odds are that within the last four episodes of S3 Lincoln will do this – just in time. He has already showed quite a bit of character growth, staying with S.H.I.E.L.D. (though he had zapped the shite out of Coulson, so the two of them may be good because of that too) despite Daisy’s seductions, and-

Moreover, the problem is not that the writers (or so some people think) are trying to assassinate Grant’s character, or to make him into someone like Killgrave from JJ…well, actually, that is the problem. They are unoriginal and are constantly rehashing the material from the first two seasons – anyone who had seen the last few episodes of S1 in particular will recognize the parallels (and John Garrett is laughing his ass off in Hell as he is enjoying the view of Daisy quaking S.H.I.E.L.D.’s HQ from his personal rack or cauldron of tar or whatever), but it doesn’t mean that they’ll enjoy it. They just may want original material, not more rehash of the same old. (Including the Clairvoyance/the sight of the future bit after 2-3 seasons it is getting old, if AoS will return for a 4th season they will have to come with something original…hopefully).

On the other hand…there is little to no other hand. The show is still limited by the matters of cast (and cash): yes, the Secret Warriors kick ass, but, apparently, their tenure as regulars on the show is still not established: Joey wants officially out of it all, and Elena has her own doubts. Malick, speaking of outs, is dead at last, so Coulson had just shot his mouth to the deceased head of Hydra for nothing.

Well, maybe not for ‘nothing’ – maybe Malick had told him about Hive, something important (and how does Coulson know about Hive to begin with? Randolph from 3x02?), but he was the head of Hydra: WTF Coulson trusted him in the first place? The man believes anyone, it seems, except for Grant Ward – at least he has manned up enough to admit that Hive is the one enemy we had made, but he still gives speeches, like the one that he had given to Daisy in the last quarter of this episode…only Daisy was under Hive’s ‘sway’ this entire time, Coulson’s speech was wasted, just as his time with Malick had been, most likely: here he was, trying to trick Malick into selling Hive out for revenge – and along comes Daisy and kills Malick dead. And then she also blows him up to confuse her teammates, S.H.I.E.L.D. and Secret Warriors. Coulson and his people seem to be reminiscent of Kerensky and his failed democratic regime in the pre-U.S.S.R. Russia.

To elaborate, after the Romanov royal family had resigned from their rule (no, seriously, this is what they have done) and before the Bolsheviks had seized power, the Russian elite, aristocracy and intelligentsia tried to establish a democratic government in Russia. The result was not unlike what happed about 70 years later, during the Perestroika and Yeltsin’s regime: anarchy, but for a shorter chronological period. That democratic regime in Russia lasted for a very short chronological period, and it remains a sign of incompetence, political and otherwise, in the Russian culture to this day. S.H.I.E.L.D., in ‘The Team’ and ‘Spacetime’ seems to have become just as incompetent, with its members liable to turn upon each other easily: the InHuman Secret Warriors may be infected by Hive, according to a Hydra head? Let us hide it from them, make it an unnecessary mess, and turn upon them – with sleeping gas and whatnot. Great teamwork, DC; I hope that Hive beats the shite out of you in Grant’s body the next time you meet.

So: S.H.I.E.L.D.’s feud with Hive (in Grant’s body) seems to be reaching its’ peak, and right now the agents appear to be incompetent hypocrites, and with 4 episodes to go, it gives plenty of time for the writers and similar staff to further assassinate their characters. I can hardly wait. Not.

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