S.H.I.E.L.D., No Regrets - April 18

…So, here is the catch – I really should be discussing this week’s episode of AoS, ‘No Regrets’, but… I do not truly care about it: AoS is back doing the mainstream; it got over the departure of Luke (Lincoln), and there is little to no SkyeWard, which is fine – ever since the S2 finale I’m suspecting that regardless of what makes their characters tick, Brett and Chloe themselves don’t get along… but that’s conspiracy theories, let’s not get into them too blatantly.

What next? I have been watching bits and pieces of a new documentary TV series, about the ‘untamed’ North America. In this week’s episode, they showed an alligator skull – of an alligator that was killed by a crocodile. Hence, let us raise an AFO-style question: which of the two is deadliest?

First, about the contestants. The alligator is the American alligator, not the Chinese one, Alligator mississippiensis. Second, the crocodile is the so-called ‘American crocodile’, or Crocodylus acutus. Unlike the alligator, is has a proportionally longer, thinner, V-shaped snout while the alligator’s snout is proportionally shorter and broader and is rather in the shape of an U.

This situation is complexed further by the presence of the so-called spectacled caiman, Caiman crocodilus, which is an introduced species in the U.S. Normally, it lived south of Mexico, in the American tropics, but not unlike other big reptiles – the monitor lizards, various constrictor snakes – it ended up in the state of Florida as well… but it isn’t as hardy as the crocodile and the alligator are. It also smaller – about 1 or 2 m long, while both the crocodile and the alligator can reach 4 to 5 m in length, twice as long as the caiman…or a human.

Next, about their hunting techniques. All of the crocodiles, alligator and caimans are ambush predators, attacking from, well, ambush. Or cover, if you prefer, overpowering their prey quickly, often through some massive body damage. Like most other carnivores, (birds, beasts, reptiles, etc.), they prefer to attack animals smaller than they are; all of those effective shots of (Nile) crocodiles attacking antelopes and zebras in Africa involve mature reptiles; younger crocodiles are nowhere as bold and probably stay far away from such spots, for otherwise the adult crocodiles may attack them instead of gazelles and co. The same goes for alligators and caimans, (which are closer relatives to each other than to the ‘true’ crocodiles); save that, in general, they are smaller and weaker than the ‘true’ crocodiles are (especially the Nile and the saltwater crocodiles).

So. Can an American crocodile ambush and kill an American alligator if it can ambush it successfully? Yes, with ‘ambush’ and ‘successfully’ being the key words here, plus the crocodile is older and bigger than the alligator is (or vice versa in a reversed situation). Otherwise the table can get turned – it’s easy to point out how crocodiles are more powerful and dangerous than their cousins are, (especially if the crocodiles in question are the Nile and the saltwater crocodiles, the monsters of the modern world), but the American crocodile isn’t really much bigger or stronger than the American alligator is, and in North America it is the alligator that got the territorial advantage: just like the caimans, the crocodiles live better in the tropics, (i.e. Central and South America). The alligator skull featured on the show may have been work of an American crocodile, but somehow it just looked too clean and too white to be natural…but that is conspiracy theory.

Speaking of conspiracy theories, this is probably the perfect entry to return to the topic of AoS, but there is nothing to say. Ward fans and Ward haters still are going to each other, and while the show writers tried to minimize the controversy by minimizing the interactions between Grant/Brett and Daisy/Chloe on screen, it does not really work. Plus, now people are getting huffy about Fitz’s fall into the darkness, and if he’ll get the chance of redemption, (and he’ll take it, no doubt), there will be some Grant fans who will cry ‘foul’ at this and rightfully so.

But! The people at AoS knew this, they realized and understood this, when they brought Grant back, via framework or whatever, and instead of bringing back…no, not Lincoln, this would have probably had its’ own issues, but a completely neutral third party, or even Robbie Reyes, (seriously, this could have been interesting), in such a role. But no, instead they got Grant back, and, while I enjoyed watching the framework episodes, it is noticeable that Grant’s conversion from bad to good here was kind of jarring; it’s likely that he was supposed to be a framework villain as well, but Brett, (and his agent?), said, “no, just no”, and because Mitchell’s, (and Reyes’?) departure gave AoS a disadvantage they had to comply. So now they are trying to downplay Grant, period, (he mostly interacts with Simmons lately), because they do not really want him as a hero, but cannot do him as a villain either. It is unlikely that Grant will be around for more than another couple of episodes, and certainly not for the season’s finale, so in the end his presence will do the show more harm than good. However, this is not Brett Dalton’s fault either, so that is that…

Moreover, that is for this week’s episode of AoS, ‘No Regrets’. Stay tuned for the next week!