S.H.I.E.L.D., Self-Control - Feb 21

The finale of LMD mini-arc was one of the best episodes of AoS yet; Jemma, Daisy, Leo and others have rocked – okay, their actors rocked, but still. As always, AoS has capitalized one of its best aspects – actors and acting, and they have delivered: S.H.I.E.L.D. has been destroyed.

…Well, not entirely. Jemma, Daisy, and three rookie agents, (who didn’t even have their own episode) have escaped, together with Yo-Yo, and-

And now AoS S4 is entering its third stage – ‘Agents of Hydra’. Marvel Comics in general have used this trope before – the world where Hydra rules, and usually it’s Captain America, who is left fighting for freedom, but in MCU Captain America is busy putting the Avengers back together again, (‘Avengers: Infinity War’ film has begun to be produced earlier this year too), so it is up to S.H.I.E.L.D. to save the world, from Hydra, again. What is wrong with this picture?

…Essentially, they are back to recycling again – they killed off Hydra in S3, together with Malick, Ward, and Hive, and now they are bringing it back, as well as Grant Ward, in a virtual world, (did the ‘Matrix’ franchise get its’ cut or what?), to promote the plot along. This is not bad, of course, but-

However, sometimes it appears that the problem is less with recycling of ideas, (and shuffling of characters), and more with the fact that AoS does not know where it is going as a show. What was so important and significant about the Ghost Rider’s appearance on AoS? The Ghost Rider was a brand new character, and with him came the possibility, or even the probability of AoS going in a completely new direction, leaving the messy morass of S2 and S3 behind. Seriously, Hydra was creating controversy all over the Marvel fandom, and AoS’ treatment of Grant was only making things worse. Right now, the ratings of AoS are still lower than those of ‘Powerless’, for example, so once they had resolved any Hydra- and Grant Ward-related issues in S3, they should’ve moved on instead.

No, it could have been easy, being Hydra-less: the Watchdogs (and Ivanov’s people, to a lesser extent) could be, (and were, in the canon), equally versatile and varied opponents as Hydra, with Ely Morrow providing a more occult villain at the same time. Gabriel Luna was delivering a very good Ghost Rider, and his character was certainly flourishing, providing the counterbalance to Chloe Bennett’s new Daisy/Quake. If AoS was going to introduce the Ghost Rider into MCU they could’ve done the full 22 episode (or one season) treatment of him – between the Watchdogs, Lucy Bower and her cohorts, and even Ivanov and his immediate minions S.H.I.E.L.D. would’ve had its arms full – it certainly would’ve been interesting to see Robbie go against Shockley the InHuman live bomb. I do not see why it could not have worked, even if there would have been no romance between Robbie and Daisy, (frankly, the FitzSimmons, and later on May and Phil had the romance covered more than enough).

Instead of going the ‘completely new’ routine, AoS opted promptly to return to its old haunts – Hydra in general and Grant Ward in particular. The problem? The earlier controversies and issues will return as well.

Here is the deal. Part of the problem that AoS had with Grant was that he started as a sympathetic character who was probably supposed to be redeemed in S2. This never happened, and some people got seriously angry about this…while other viewers just hated him, period. The two groups began to argue and fight, online, but still, and some people just stopped viewing AoS, period. The ratings dropped, and the same thing happened when Lance Hunter and Bobbi Morse were removed from the show as well. Some people hated them, but others watched AoS because of them, and with Hunter and Morse gone, there was no reason for these viewers to continue to watch AoS – and so they stopped.

…Yes, the appearance of new characters – the Reyes’ brothers, their uncle, Ellen Nadeer and her brother – could have brought new viewers, and this what probably happened, just in not big enough numbers to balance and compensate the viewers lost. With interesting new characters, veteran old characters, and an original and catchy new storyline AoS could have changed this, but instead they first got rid of the Ghost Rider in a seriously lackluster way, (Ely had just a giant box and no more than a score of men to battle his nephew and S.H.I.E.L.D. – some god), and then they promptly began to return to their old haunts – first Hydra in general, (we got some ‘real life’ Hydra action when director Mace was revealed to be a fraud), and now – Grant. Let the old problems and controversies return!

Again, some people are just going to hate Grant – and now they will also hate the AoS for bringing him back. Other people will still be rooting for him and Skye, so when AoS will return to treating Grant as the same old villain, they will also hate the AoS. (Yes, this version of Grant is VR and new, but since the VR world that Daisy, Jemma and the others have found themselves in is also Hydra-friendly, the VR version of Grant will also be Hydra-friendly and still a villain, because by now his official redemption is unlikely). More people will be unhappy with Grant’s return than otherwise, and the entire matter of Hydra? (Aside from the question as to where do Aida and/or Radcliffe get the idea about creating a VR Hydra world?) More of the same.

Currently, AoS is standing at a precipice of what can go either really right or really wrong. We will just have to wait until April and see how it goes.