‘The Man behind the SHIELD’ was a very good episode, utilizing
acting and atmosphere (setting) over special effects. The agents of the show
were properly heroic, the villains – appropriately villainous, and the
flashback to the pre-Bahrain Phil and Mel were suitably adorable, showing their
relationship. So, what is the problem?
Let us diverge for the moment and try to talk about
the director Mace. Someone has suggested to me, that the ‘LMD’ mini-arc might
also be his origin story, as the Patriot, (his comic book counterpart). You
know, the heroic Americans vs. the dastardly Russians, etc. The first mini-arc
was about Robbie Reyes becoming the new Ghost Rider and earning his wheels, and
this one is about Jeffrey Mace.
Maybe, but this does not subtract from the fact that ‘The
Man’ was also a fairly simple and straightforward episode, the entire allusion
to ‘the Matrix’ franchise regardless. (Also, when Fitz had helped Radcliffe
built the framework prototype? That episode escapes me for the moment. Aida –
yes, the framework - no). And this simplicity has its own issues.
Look at the big ‘Coulson confronting Ivanov’ scene.
Yes, Coulson is demonstrating his moral superiority to Ivanov, no doubt! However,
the trick is that to be morally superior to someone the two of you have to be
on the same playing field, however vaguely, to speak the same ‘metaphorical’
language.
Not so long ago I have read the novel ‘The Epic
Adventures of Lydia Bennet’, a sequel to ‘The Lizzie Bennet Diaries’, which is
a modern adaptation of ‘Pride and Prejudice’, (written by Kate Rorick and
Rachel Kiley). In ‘Adventures’, Lydia confronts George Wickham in the end,
tells him that she is over him, she has forgiven him, he has no power over her,
and she is moving forwards – and so she does. This is good, but neither in ‘The
Diaries’ or ‘The Adventures’ did Wickham show any true sign of sharing values
with Lydia, (hence his betrayal of her, of course), nor did he show any regret
over his actions, or tried to fix the damage that he has caused. Lydia’s
confrontation of George in ‘The Adventures’ was cathartic, for her, but for
George? It probably left him neither hot nor cold, certainly not moved or
affected, (contrary to what Lydia might think or imagine). Lydia has moved on.
George…continued to move in a different direction. The end.
The same thing has happened in ‘The Man’. Coulson’s
speech to Ivanov was impressive, but what was the point? To fix Coulson’s
reputation for the viewers after the events in S2 and 3? Ivanov just wants to
kill Coulson because of Andronnikov (back in S3) or his dead SVR friends and
cohorts, that is it. Anything else just goes over his head. Not unlike Ely
Morrow, Ivanov is flat and almost clichéd.
Now, this approach of AoS’ is understandable – they tried
to make their villains well-rounded in the past – Grant Ward, Kara Palamas,
even Gideon Malick in S3 – and their ratings plummeted, as the agents of
S.H.I.E.L.D. did some increasingly morally objective actions, erasing the lines
between them and the villains. The show’s ratings plummeted, so now AoS is
trying to go the other route, by having the good characters being good, and the
evil characters being evil, insane, unlikable, and – unrealistic. The now-dead
senator Nadeer, Terrence Shockley, Anton Ivanov, even Radcliffe and Aida – they
are all depicted as unlikable and increasingly mentally unstable, period. All
of them are crazy in somewhat different ways, but they are all still crazy. And
evil, of course. Faced with such opponents the agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. are sure
to win and to be heroes.
And as for the more mechanical level? How did team
Radcliffe captured Coulson, Daisy, and Mack? May – okay, May was still hurt
from the ghost-caused insanity, and Mace’s handling of her was not that gentle
either. Mace himself is apparently a fraud, not a true InHuman. However, Daisy?
Even Coulson? What gives?
Moreover, yes, the time frame is confusing – when did
team Radcliffe do the switch, chronologically speaking? AoS did purposefully leave
this behind the scenes in ‘The Man’, but hopefully this will be revealed in the
next week’s episode, when the agents’ confrontation with the LMDs reaches its’
climax.
So, this is it for the week’s AoS episode. See you all
later!
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