The fifth season of AoS has premiered on December 1, 2017.
What can be said about it?
It continues the theme of a totalitarian dystopia that began
in the last third of S4 with the framework. Back then the main enemy was Hydra,
(never mind that it was supposed gone for good at the end of S3 – it began to
come back by the mid-S4, but so far it seems to be gone again, so there’s
that), and now – the Kree. Yes, there are some allusions to some RL WWII
atrocities done by the Nazis in the Kree actions, but there are just as many
allusions to both the SW franchise and ‘Handmaid’s Tale’ book and TV series,
(you know, the Alice Munro one). Thus, AoS is trying to be either diverse or
just different from the ‘Arrowverse’s’ take on the ‘evil Nazi trope’, and-?
And it worked, yeah. AoS appears to have made a clean break
from the first 3 seasons at last and is going for something completely new and
exciting. Yes, the first 17-20 minutes of the first 2 S5 episodes are confusing
and vague – maybe too much – but they are deliberately so, in order for more
revelations and twists in the future episodes, (hopefully); for all we know,
the leader of the MIB-wannabes is MCU’s version of the Watcher – or someone
like that, and he had a reason for keeping Fitz behind, aside from the RL
issues, one of which, apparently is the still-tight budget of AoS: with all the
special effects in play, the show may be incapable of maintaining a roster of 7 full-time actors on screen, and now
that Yo-Yo (NCB) is a main character in her own right, tough nuggies for Fitz
(Iain).
Let us pause and focus some more on Yo-Yo and Mack
(Simmons), since they are probably going to be the main focus of romance in the
next few AoS episodes at least –
Simmons and Fitz are separated again,
Daisy is single again, and Phil and
Melinda have reset their relationship for now – they are back at S2-S3 level of
interacting, which means no romance. Do Gregg and Wen have some personal issues
between each (or with each other)? Go figure.
…And the emphasis on ‘again’? It is just a point – in S2
(and maybe S3) Daisy’s tumultuous love life and the FitzSimmons issues as a
couple were new and exciting, but now – they are not. Maybe it is time for Daisy
to get back to Robbie, (Gabriel Luna), since the new guy, Deke, may have a
semi-girlfriend in the new girl Tess already, and in general, in RL, Chloe
Bennett, (the actress), doesn’t seem to like any romantic entanglement for her
character, (Daisy); even back in S1 there were signs of this, but we got
distracted.
Back to ‘Orientation’ proper, we have also learned that
Daisy has as much power of destruction as SW’s Death Star did, (back in the ‘New
Hope’ and ‘Rogue 1’ movies) and that the framework was one of the few things
that has survived from Earth’s destruction. Maybe another one will be Hydra as
some sort of a political movement, but that would be too cruel, and the Kree
are quite capable of that, especially their local leader, Cassius, whose take
on asshole is that of Edward Cullen, (rather than Cedric Diggory, who in the
HPCC proved to be a Death Eater himself). At last, AoS managed to create a
brand-new, unsympathetic villain, so kudos to them, again!
So. In S5, AoS had finally managed to break free of the
morass of the first 3 seasons and finally get its’ priorities straight. This is
good, but also something that AoS tried to do in S4 already, this time via the
Ghost Rider/Robbie Reyes – and it did not work. By the second third of S4 Hydra
was back, then AoS brought back Ward, and Tripp, and Bakshi, and many other
people, (but not Hunter and Morse – what’s up with that?), and S4 ended with
the lowest numbers ever in AoS’ history, and who’s to say that history won’t
repeat itself, especially if AoS still
hasn’t resolved all of its’ RL issues, whatever they may be?
And on that note, we must pause for the moment – the heroes
of S.H.I.E.L.D. are just getting started with whatever SW-inspired Kree
dystopia their authors have come up with now. Yes, again, the heroes are
separated, (just when Daisy gave that pro-teamwork speech at the end of S4),
but this doesn’t mean anything – none of the actors are leaving the show, so
all of them are going to survive, at least for the first third, or even half of
S5. Go them! AoS has also finally managed to create an unsympathetic villain,
so this is good also – AoS is on a winning streak, let us now see if they can
keep it. Therefore – see you soon!
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