S.H.I.E.L.D., 50 ep - Nov 3

And so, S.H.I.E.L.D. celebrated its 50^th episode. Let us start with that.

S.H.I.E.L.D. is a great show, with many well-developed and thought-provoking plot twists. Tonight’s twist, which revealed that Dr. Garner is actually one of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s new enemies, proves this is true. It also shows agent Morse recovering from Ward’s shot, Hunter living with the consequences of his recklessness, and Ward, well, Ward actually has been offered redemption. Since for him the word has some very unpleasant connotations...no. Just now, Malick has probably judged him correctly, but who knows? The show’s writers have not finished with him yet, because his big showdown with Morse and May hadn’t occurred in this episode – instead, the younger von Strucker seems to be gone, and so’s Kebo. The show’s scriptwriters have done it to perfection! That anniversary video on YouTube has depicted it very neatly. (Ward may be a villain, but Brett and Chloe still go around; it's cute, in a weird way, and there's the talk of redemption...yeah).

Sadly, the other aspects of AoS universe lag behind the visual/auditory ones – i.e. the show itself. The comic is...actually not related to the show; rather, it is a series of adventures, mostly of Coulson himself (Daisy/Quake actually appears to have a series of her own) that deals with saving the world. So far it is only him and May, Fitz and Simmons – and that is it. Ward, Raina, Whitehall, Garrett – they are all gone, at least for the moment and probably are not making a proper appearance; Hell, the regular Hydra villains are not making much of an appearance, and the latest comic installments seem to lack a common story arc (the first 6 issues had that at least). Plus, unlike some other comic series, (“Arrow” for example), the S.H.I.E.L.D. comic is not really a part of AoS universe, it is just inspired by the series...and only loosely so. Ouch.

And as for at least one of the show’s sites (marvel190 dot com), it suffers from irregular updates...and just plain sloppiness; one of the last season’s clips is described as having Ward and May...going after Ward. Somehow the site got Lance and Grant, aka Nick and Brett confused, and considering that the two of them are two very different-looking people, which are just sad.

But in any case, S.H.I.E.L.D. has delivered a very beautiful episode number 50, which was very pleasant to watch, to put it lightly. Hopefully, the following episodes will keep this up, and the ignominy of ‘Laws’ (episode 3x01) will be put behind us.

S.H.I.E.L.D., Devils - Oct 20

...One of the more important issues in AoS, now, is pacing and proportions. In S1 it was simple – first the team had to discover who the Clairvoyant is, and then they had to stop him and the rest of Hydra...well, his cell of Hydra, because we never really learned just how high up John Garrett was in the Hydra hierarchy.

In S2, the situation was somewhat different: the first part of the season was dominated largely by Hydra, the second half – by the InHumans. It also marked a change in the roles’ proportions: in S1 Ward was an equal part of the cast; from S2 onwards, his role began to diminish, or rather – his screen time did. His importance was something else, especially in the S2 finale, and its out-of-proportion hack/gore-fest.

In S3 this sort of situation continued: as Ward did receive proportionally less screen time than Hunter or May did, for example, let alone Mack, Coulson or Daisy. That is not to say that his importance became any smaller: through his sheer presence and taunting words alone he brought Hunter down to his level, and now Andrew Garner has paid the price (presumably). May will have an even bigger axe to grind with Ward nowadays, but she and Hunter have to resolve her issues too, and given how the Cavalry carries her grudges...well, Grant is going to die, eventually, probably by the season’s end, but Hunter is going to grovel, he has to – otherwise it’ll be even worse for him.

Back to the proportions and pacing? The Hydra and the InHumans plotlines are being pointedly kept apart, almost as if they were two different episodes or something along those lines – and perhaps they are. In S2, Hydra and InHumans took turns, so to speak – in the first half S.H.I.E.L.D. had to tackle Hydra, in the second – the InHumans. Now, in S3 the series apparently had S.H.I.E.L.D. tackle Hydra and InHumans at the same time, with rather mixed results. No, it is not about Andrew Garner being dead because Hunter was obsessed with the need for revenge; it is about the screen time. Try as they like, the series’ writers and co. just do not seem to mix the Hydra and the InHuman plot lines in the equal proportions; maybe they have to or they don’t have to (let’s not forget – the actors themselves are people with opinions and ideas, who may or may not get along with each other and other people, this probably plays a role in S.H.I.E.L.D. episode scripts), but this is what they do. The result – an unbalanced episode, such as the ep. 3x02 for example. If Grant Ward is to be an opponent to S.H.I.E.L.D. he just has to be more impressive, because otherwise, he just will not cut it. (On the other hand, there are rumors of yet another new character coming forth – one that is even more formidable than Ward is which frankly sucks, especially for Coulson.)

Also, speaking of villains, though not of proportions and pacing, Lash is even more formidable than how he has first appeared in ‘Laws’; (in fact, I think that the entire series team is doing its best to bury the embarrassing, cliché-ridden episode as much as they can): he is a shape-shifter as well, making him twice as tricky to capture. (Maybe it is a she, cough, but would not Lash have breasts too if this was the case?)

This brings us to Daisy, or rather – to Alisha. Once a minion of Jiaying, she has acquired some sort of a role in Coulson’s crew – fancy that. Maybe Daisy’s team of powered people just got its first new member – and a competent one, too.

So: Ward is largely a villain/plot device to move the series forwards; Hunter is on the outs with the rest of the crew; Coulson appears to have acquired a new friend, BTW; and Daisy continues to bond with Mack – and maybe she will bond with Alisha, too. Oh, and Simmons has to go back from wherever she came, too – but that is the topic for the next week’s episode. Until then – see you.

S.H.I.E.L.D., Laws of Nature - Sep 29

And so, AoS is back. Opening S3 is “Laws of Nature”, a nice filler/introductory episode. It introduced Joey/Jose, a new character with the power to melt metal (and maybe other solids), as well as Lash, a giant feral InHuman of an arsehole, who goes around killing people. Whedon, whose demons back on BtVS had been known for their grotesque appearances, must be so proud of him – talk about a throwback, and it is primal!..

And then there is Ms. Rosalind, an international woman of mystery, who is running ACTU, a new incarnation of ‘real S.H.I.E.L.D.’. It aims to control the new InHumans, (who are set to appear all over the world), but actually may not be the evil organisation that Lash made it appear to be to the viewers. That said, given Coulson’s keen acumen and whatnot, it is only a matter of time until S.H.I.E.L.D. and ACTU are being full-out enemies, or at least – rivals.

Think back to S2. Ward is not in this episode, so we shall not be talking about him this time. Think about the ‘real S.H.I.E.L.D.’. Odds are, they were not exactly evil, and they did make peace with Coulson at the end of S2 – just for Jiaying’s InHumans to decimate them, because they followed Coulson’s plan, and died for because.

The same goes for senator Ward. Yes, it was his brother who killed him, but the man got the opportunity only because of Coulson’s decisions. (May’s as well, maybe, but she is not in this episode either, so we shall not talk about her much too.) Coulson found the senator useful? Then he should have dedicated at leastsome agents to protect him against Grant – but he did not. The result? Ward killed his family, but he had nothing to lose, while Coulson probably lost any political goodwill he had built by hanging over Scarlotti to Talbot and the US authorities – and now he is paying the price. Great decision choices there, ‘DC’.

Speaking of decision choices, there is Lincoln, who, apparently, is not with S.H.I.E.L.D. anymore. WTF with that? Obviously, the SkyeWard relationship is done. Obviously, there needs to be more than just ‘Skye/Daisy married Lincoln and had his babies’. But at the end of S2 Lincoln helped Skye and Co. defeat Jiaying’s forces, so whatever it was that caused his about-face really should be shown in detail. For the moment, though, Lincoln refused to come with Mack and Skye/Daisy, but has run away, seeking out his own way in the world. He will probably be back, helping the agency or being helped by them in few episodes – he is a part of the regular cast now, after all.

With Jemma, it’ll probably be much longer – she’s stuck on some alien planet, having learned some survival skills that probably equal Ward’s, waiting, but proactively, for the others to come and rescue her...and by ‘proactively’ I mean running for her life from...whatever it is that we weren’t shown – yet. We did get to see the alien moon, which is cool, so maybe we will get some Guardians of the Galaxy crossover action yet. Of course, if Fitz will lose Simmons to Rocket Racoon, this will just be wrong! His final scene in this episode, when he is screaming at the monolith because he had lost Jemma (at least for a while) is heart rendering.

On the other hand, Lance and Bobbi are back together for good. They have to be, of course, since the talk of a spinoff featuring them, and primarily them, has been in the works had been around since they appeared on S2, and now it is picking up steam, but anyways. Bobbi still has not recovered from Ward’s shooting her in the knee; Hunter is going after Hydra and Ward (so who is going to be helping Daisy/Skye with the InHumans? Only Mack? Considering that he does not like aliens and had been infected with some sort of an alien virus back in Puerto Rico...this will turn out to be a problem, one bets). That is fine, Hydra is a part of Marvel universe, but the question is – will Hunter be able to handle it? In the end – yes, he must because of the spinoff, but on the other hand? Ward might be evil now fully, but if he had been able to rebuild Hydra after AoS S2 and ‘Age of Ultron’, then he had to learn new skills, including organizational ones. How will Hunter be able to handle them, I wonder?

And so, this is it for ‘Laws of Nature’. It just introduced the new characters and plotlines, (conflicts, etc), and not even them, since neither Ward nor May have appeared in this episode. It should be noted, that on the latest ‘S.H.I.E.L.D.’ promotional posters, Ward is flanking Coulson alongside Skye. Why? Is he going to be redeemed? This is unlikely; even for his fans on the show, but no one probably saw Lincoln splitting off from S.H.I.E.L.D. and breaking up with Skye after S2 either.

...Anyways, ‘Law of Nature’ was very exciting to watch, but nothing in-depth. This is worrisome too – ever since S2 ended; TV had featured new shows that were clearly influenced by ‘Agents’, including ‘Killjoys’ and ‘Blindspot’. The latter, in particular, stars Jaimie Alexander, who had appeared as lady Sif on S.H.I.E.L.D., so odds are that lady Sif will not be returning to this show any time soon: being Jane Doe on ‘Blindspot’ pays better. That is not the issue; the issue is that those shows tend to stimulate excitement and nothing more; easily watchable and easily forgettable. Hopefully, ‘S.H.I.E.L.D.’ will not follow their example...

So this is it for this installment – a nice introductory episode, nothing more. Hopefully, the next ones will be have more depth.

JW and S.H.I.E.L.D. - April 21

Once more, Marvel’s “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” have a delivered a very good episode; but before we get into it, let us talk about a certain upcoming future film – “Jurassic World”. 

What is the film’s premise? 22 years in the future after the events of the first JP movie, InGen – or a similar company – has restarted the dinosaur theme park thing, making it bigger and better. When I say bigger, I mean literally – aside from the I-Rex, there was also a vastly oversized mosasaur (Tylosaurus?) that swallows great white sharks whole: in reality, mosasaurs were very big animals (8-12 m long on average), but that wasn’t big enough to swallow a modern great white shark (or its Cretaceous analogue – the Ginsu shark) whole; it would rip and tear into pieces first, instead. What JW presents here, though, is already an imaginary, impossible, artificial creature, making the producers’ use of the I-Rex redundant.

And as for the I-Rex itself... Aside from various rumors – that it possesses telepathy and similar amazing mental powers – there is the fact it is not a Rex! There is not any tyrannosaur in this monster’s genetic makeup: apparently, it was created from the DNA of Giganotosaurus and various abelisaurs instead. We will get to Giganotosaurus in a moment; first about the abelisaurs. They were a group of Cretaceous carnivorous dinosaurs, descendants of the Jurassic Ceratosaurus and the like; formidable hunters in their own right, they were smaller – on the average – than Tyrannosaurus was, or than Giganotosaurus, for that matter. They also had very small front limbs – even smaller than those of a T-Rex, though they had three or four fingers instead of T-Rex’s trademark two. The Carnotaurus from Disney’s “Dinosaur” film, for example, was an abelisaur – and it did not look anything like an I-Rex. Or the I-Rex does not look anything like an abelisaur – instead it looks like a carnosaur.

What is a carnosaur? It is a group of carnivorous dinosaurs, which in the Jurassic were represented by allosaurus, saurophaganax; in the Cretaceous – by Giganotosaurus, Carcharodontosaurus, Mapusaurus and so on. Compared to tyrannosaurs and abelisaurs, the carnosaurs were more gracile, so to speak: they had longer and thinner legs, lighter skulls, less powerful jaws (more designed to rip and tear rather than to grip and crush), and correspondingly – longer and stronger front legs and claws, as you can see for yourself in a museum, or a paleontology book, or online. The I-Rex has these features too – especially the front limbs – so why is it a Rex? You could have as well called it a “Megalo-raptor” or something along those lines, and it would be just as true! The real T-Rex should sue this impostor for the unlawful appropriating of its name or something...

Anything else? There is the blatant disregard or mocking of the modern paleontological discoveries – JP3 had its own share of problems, but at least its’ raptors had protofeathers, and the Spinosaurus featured there was not so much wrong, as it was outdated, just as the featherless raptors in the first JP films were. Speaking of raptors: for Crichton, in the original novel, velociraptors were not a name of a specific species, but a term that he used as a synonym for a generic ‘raptor’, to describe such dinosaurs as the Deinonychus (a bigger, stronger species of ‘raptor’ than the Velociraptor was) instead; once again, he was more scientifically accurate than his followers in the field of mass media are.

As for the latest incarnation of JP (-related franchise) raptors...yeah. They are still the size of Deinonychus, but are still – apparently – identified as velociprators by fans and filmmakers. The fact that they are featherless and scaly is only an extra insult to an injury, but still. The telepathically communicating dinosaurs, pterosaurs, and marine reptiles put all science (paleontology?) out of the window, which contrasts sharply with the main message of the film – artificial animals are bad, Dr. Frankenstein was wrong; man should not meddle with what he does not understand in the name of science, etc. I would not go that far to say that JW has been sponsored by creationists to discredit science in general, but discredit science the JW cast and crew do all the same.

(And on top of all the paleontological inaccuracies JW had some legal problems as well, mainly in regards to who had actually written the story – the WGA had to get involved; I’m not sure if it was Writers Guild of America East or West, but that’s not the point; the point is that the film hadn’t been yet aired, and yet there already are legal problems with it. Sad.)

While JW is dealing with problems legal and scientific, “Agents” have to deal with Hydra instead. Well, most of them anyways; Skye has to deal with her parents instead. So far, she’s got a delusional, perfectionist father, who puts insane into ‘insane genius’, and has physical prowess not unlike that of the Incredible Hulk, just like in the comics, and a mother, who is obsessed with research and protecting – and running – her town of Afterlife; a typical modern American family gone nasty, in the other words. To make things more complex (potentially), there is also Lincoln, a young man she may have developed a crush on; Raina, who is Raina, and Gordon, who may be Raina’s only friend in the world for the moment. Together, combined, these people may make life in Afterlife more complex...even if one forgets about the fact that Lincoln was captured by Hydra alongside his new potential friend Deathlok the Cyborg...and Skye’s mother appears to be the sort of a person who doesn’t like complications...then again, she had lived with Skye’s father, who is a complex character, in an insane sort of way...where were we?

Right, the rest of the team. They got Grant Ward and Kara Lynn, sure enough, but somehow this plot line did not have the same impact as the one dealing with Skye and her family did. Grant’s re-integration into the rest of the team just did not feel natural, but rather rushed; and the team itself appeared to lack the moral high ground that is needed, when dealing with Grant and 33; Coulson’s idea of a carrot – S.H.I.E.L.D. erases Grant’s memory and makes him a normal man – is flawed, and not just because this is a lot like the mental/memory manipulation that Whitehall and the rest of Hydra had practised... yeah. (And Kara Lynn was not even included in the negotiations – who did Coulson think he was by dealing with her in such a high-handed manner? Headmaster Dumbledore? Aye and Fitz almost got his throat slit for this.)

Moral ground aside, this plotline also feels rushed and forced: Coulson and Ward switched from arguing with each other at gunpoint to watching each other’s back within an episode (though that came as a surprise to Coulson, admittedly.) So did Lance and Kara Lynn, of course, but considering that Bobbi is getting rather friendly with Mack...who knows? Maybe the ship HunterBird is more broken-up than it initially looked like. True, there are rumors of a Lance/Bobbi spin-off going around, but, firstly, it all depends on the actors, and secondly, not unlike the “Agent Carter” plotline it could be a filler arc that takes place in the past (with more of agent Isabelle/Xena/LL thrown into the mix, maybe?), so all bets are still off.

And finally, the villains (not counting Grant and Kara Lynn). Dr. List is ruthless and efficient; Bakshi is back being charge and something of a creep; Cal and his ex-wife were already discussed (though it is anyone’s guess if they are villains or not); and there was an official mention of the good baron von Strucker too (and a possible tie with the upcoming new Avengers movie). Hydra villains are getting badder, basically – will S.H.I.E.L.D. be able to stand up to the challenge? Only time will tell.

Until next time!

S.H.I.E.L.D., One Door - March 31

...The “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” has met their new major enemy for the rest of S2 – and it is them. Back on the day when S.H.I.E.L.D. had fallen to Hydra, a group of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents had broken away from Fury’s decree and survived instead, rather than blowing their – S.H.I.E.L.D. – warship with all hands on deck instead. That group featured Captain Gonzales, Bobbi Morse, Mack, and agent Hartley (also known as Lucy Lawless and Xena, Warrior Princess, cough), who died in the beginning of S2. Hunter was not a part of the core group, but he was around – an important distinction, for as the S2 continues to develop, more of the ‘other S.H.I.E.L.D.’s’ back-story will come to light, as will Hunter’s, for he is a part of both S.H.I.E.L.D.s, so to speak, unlike Ward, who is a part of neither now, and whose role in the “Agents” universe has become largely diminished especially as Hunter does join up with Coulson and officially becomes a part of his team at the end of this episode.

Captain Obvious points out that this is a repetition of Angel/Spike dynamic back in BtVS, save that for “Agents” it took roughly 2 seasons – not 5 or more as it was for BtVS; besides, Grant isn’t completely gone: in her confrontation with Morse May refers to him, albeit not mentioning his name: here, Grant (and Hydra) serves as a foil/contrast to this season’s take-over of S.H.I.E.L.D.: unlike Hydra, captain Gonzales and his crew aren’t heartless murderers or brainless drones; they’re people just like Coulson’s team, with beliefs and convictions and determinations to fight for their beliefs – on one hand.

On the other, we have Mack and Morse who are more merciful than Ward was, they aim to incapacitate, rather than kill, and Mack actually saved Fitz, when Gonzales went to storm the Playground at last. Given the propensity of “Agents” to surprise their audience with twists and turns, it just might be that Gonzales’ people will become ‘the good guys’ in the eyes of the general populace (of the Marvel-verse), and Coulson and co will become the villains – Ward and Kara will certainly appreciate the irony should they learn of it.

Skye, on the other hands, will not. This civil war of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s (reminiscent of the greater civil war story arc in the Marvel comics) had caught her already unbalanced by the visit of the Inhumans’ representative, who offered to help and train her in ways that S.H.I.E.L.D. cannot. As Skye’s takedown of one of Morse’s underlings had shown, she is already a competent fighter, but her powers of vibration are another story, and to a person who doesn’t know her back story, she can be easily seen as a villain or a monster; to a person who had been hurt by Skye’s vibration strike (epic scene, that) – ditto. Odds are that the future episodes of “Agents” S2 will feature a manhunt for Skye, putting extra pressure on top of what her father is trying to do to her too: their last showdown had been rather inconclusive, especially for Cal, who is crazy (bipolar, most likely). 

In good news, Fitz and Simmons are finally back together – a sign of their personal growth and competence. Gemma was able to capture Bobbi, however briefly, so if she and Ward will meet again, she just might kill him, for the main team, Coulson’s team, are growing in competence, and Ward has stopped, and his influence in series has become diminished, as have the chances for the SkyeWard ship. 

That is unlike the ship FitzSimmons, which is stronger than ever, and the ship PhilMel is showing evidence of being in being as well: the way that May has sacrificed her freedom to save Coulson is impressive; the audience will have to wait and see if Captain Gonzales’ team can offer anything like it. Considering that agent Weaver, FitzSimmons’ old mentor from the Academy is on the good captain’s team, this idea should not be dismissed out of hand.

So: Coulson’s team is captured and split, and he can only count on Hunter for help at hand, at least for now. Skye is off to parts unknown, seeking to learn the ways to master her new powers. S.H.I.E.L.D. is in full throes of a civil mini-war.

S.H.I.E.L.D., Love - March 24

And so, the exciting rollercoaster that is the “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” TV series continue! 

First of all, however, my apologies on missing last week’s episode due to a blackout. Pity. Cal Johnson tried to round-up a group of super-villains to stop Coulson and his team, but failed. That is disturbing, and not just for our heroes, who will now have to worry about people with powers going after them on top of regular villains, but also for the fans of the Marvel-verse: are the Inhumans the new mutants? X-Men movie/Marvel franchise is not doing that great – Jennifer Lawrence, who plays Mystique, is about to quit for example – but to replace them with Inhumans role-wise? That does not sound right.

Back to this week’s episode, Coulson and his team are in trouble once more. Contrary to the episode’s title (more on that later), new their problems are not from an external source (like Hydra), but from the inside: a schism is brewing in S.H.I.E.L.D., with Mack and Morse throwing their lot with the schismatics, who think that Coulson is not that good of a leader. Considering how much the “Agents” scriptwriters love to throw curveballs at their audience, maybe they are (the schismatics) correct. Still, considering that their M.O. is turning onto anyone they do not trust (Hunter can been handcuffed in a closet during last week’s episode, for example), and that includes Skye, (who cannot catch a break lately, let us be fair), the odds are set against them, in terms of viewers’ sympathy. In terms of material belongings, planning and the like, however, the separatists are in a different situation: they got, apparently, an aviation carrier with plenty of airplanes to use it upon, and with plenty of crew to run it. True, the Playground, where Coulson currently at, is very formidable, but that will probably not be enough...

On a more personal level, Hunter and Morse have appeared to have broken up over this – Hunter is going pro-Coulson, while Morse is clearly contra-. The actors, of course, have delivered wonderfully upon this, but the scriptwriters haven’t: why is exactly Hunter is so pro-Coulson? ...The problem here is the lack of back-story of Hunter (and Morse): they were an item at one time, then they broke-up and Hunter became involved with Isabelle Hartley, who died in the beginning of S2, (because she was played by Lucy Lawless, and guest stars’ characters tend not to last long on “Agents”), and then, during S2, Hunter and Morse got back. Fine, but why they did not stay together this time? Because Hunter was kept out of the loop by her and Mack? Because he was handcuffed in a closet – or because of Coulson? Some further elaboration would be nice, as “S.H.I.E.L.D.” s2 continues to proceed.

Even now, however, some presumptions can be made: namely that as the ship HunterMorse is sunk, so is the ship SkyeWard: Morse and Hunter have split up, and Ward has given up on Skye, and is doing his best to bond with agent 33/Kara instead. Considering that Skye has shot him, this makes sense. Considering that Ward and Kara have this sort of an Angel(us)/Drusilla dynamic going on as well, the odds of Skye running into Hunter and starting a new relationship with him in the future episodes is very good. 

(Don’t forget – “Agents” got Josh Whedon on their side, the man who split up Buffy with Angel and set her up with Spike, whose British accent surfaced very noticeably in Hunter during “Love...” this week.)

And then, of course, we got the “Love” from the episode’s title – and the episode featured only two couples (as couples): Hunter/Morse and Ward/33, with Skye being the odd one out – but she had a protégé/guru thing going with Coulson himself, so it’s clear that whatever love Skye is going to experience in the future, it won’t be with Ward...

Of course, we also got general Talbot and his wife (as a couple) in this episode as well: Ward and 33 have kidnapped Bakshi from Talbot so that Kara would get closure by subjecting Bakshi to torture. Let’s be honest – she earned it, and Bakshi has officially become pathetic, now that Whitehall is dead, and the immediate Hydra inner circle that was under him, was destroyed by S.H.I.E.L.D. Good riddance to bad rubbish in Bakshi’s case!..

And in case of Talbot, the good general and his wife were this episode’s comic relief: it is not that Talbot is incompetent, his character is, as 33 and Ward were able to fool him easily enough. Talbot is the Sheriff of Nottingham and not even the competent Vaisey from BBC’s series, but the buffoon of the traditional Robin Hood stories instead. Sucks to be him – almost as much as it sucks to be Bakshi...

As for the rest of the main cast of “Agents”? Coulson and May have realized that something is wrong with Mack at least but Mack has learned that Skye was shuffled sideways to clear the air at S.H.I.E.L.D., and in combination with Hunter flying the coup; this has served as a detonator instead. Coulson and May and their team are up to their toughest challenge yet – their fellow agents.

...True, Ward, and Garrett, and the others had been fellow S.H.I.E.L.D. agents as well, at least initially, but then they defected over to Hydra (or were Hydra to begin with), so it was easier to deal with them as enemies instead. With Mack, and Morse, and the others things will not be as black and white – but that is what you get when you live in shadows: eventually everything starts to appear grey...

So: Ward has given up on Skye, (while Coulson didn’t), Hunter has given up on Morse, Morse, Mack, and their fellow separatists have given up on Coulson and his loyalists, and everyone and everything is ready to blow on the next episode of Marvel’s “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.”!

S.H.I.E.L.D., Who - March 10

And so, having dealt with Hydra in the previous episode, now S.H.I.E.L.D has turned their attention to the sky – and the alien menace. In the case of this episode, the aliens are represented by a pair – lady Sif of the Asgardians, who was already introduced in the last season’s episode ‘Yes Men’ and Thor-related Marvel™ movies – and her current foe, a Kree, an alien who looks like a human, but with blue skin. (Then again, Asgardians do not have even that – they are some of the most human looking of all aliens in Marvel™ world.) Armed with a truncheon, he was likely to be intended a sort of a parody of Thor, a watered-down version of him, so to speak, one that could be defeated by humans, as Morse and Hunter did exactly that – but first...

But first the two aliens gave the back-story to the new plot twist of the series: the Inhumans, like Raina and Skye, were designed to be bioweapons of Kree against their enemies (like the Skrulls, who have not appeared yet on the series). As such, they are very dangerous and must be put down. (A sentiment echoed by agents Mack, Morse and for the moment Simmons as well.) Coulson, being who he is, has refused to put Skye down – or to ship her to Asgard, where she would be contained. 

As a side note the team has also discovered that the Kree had left several Diviners back on Earth and all of them had been misplaced. One, of course, had been destroyed by Tripp, but that still leaves five or six others completely unaccounted for. S.H.I.E.L.D has sunk the temple used to activate the Diviners beneath the sea, but in Marvel™ such actions often have unforeseen after-effects as well...

In any case, lady Sif has returned home, taking the Kree with her, leaving S.H.I.E.L.D. to deal with Skye. This is important, and not just for the obvious reasons: the team is in danger of splitting again. As it happens in the world of “Agents”, as long as the agents work together, they can achieve anything, and defeat anyone using trust and teamwork; when they stop doing that, they gain problems. At this moment in S2, they have problems.

The team is clearly split in their opinion on Skye and the other Inhumans: Mack, and Morse, and for the moment Simmons are clearly against them, while Fitz is firmly on team Skye. Jemma Simmons is clearly upset about this, and so the ship FitzSimmons is acquiring further complications of their own, as well as complicating the general split over Skye and Inhumans for everyone else.

On the other hand, FitzSimmons’ problems pale in comparison to HunterMorse ship and their problems. Hunter and Morse are clearly lovers at this point, but Mack, who is friends with Morse, does not want Hunter to be in on whatever they are doing and in fact has choked him into unconsciousness at the end of this episode. The secret – and plot – of Mack and Morse at this point is something or someone called Backup; their actions are reminiscent of Hydra back in S1...hopefully, this will not be like that in the upcoming episodes, and not just because of the obvious reasons. A big part of “Agents” attraction is that they are unpredictable and capable of unexpected twists in their plot, unlike “Carter”, which was not (except for the season finale, perhaps). A repetition of the second half in S1 in the second half of S2 would diminish this attraction quite a bit. 

That said, Mack had not killed Hunter, which is a plus, and it makes him different from Ward, who had killed agent Koenig #1 back in S1. This suggests that whatever Mack and Morse are in is not too Hydra-like, and it also gives an opening, or suggests one, for a future HunterSkye ship.

Seriously, both Skye and Hunter had been betrayed by their significant others. (Morse may not have been around, when Mack overwhelmed the other man, but she did take his side over Hunter and did not bring him into the loop). And “Agents” are run by Whedon, who has been known to set up complicated love relationships back in BtVS (Buffy/Angel/Spike and Willow and her numerous significant others come to mind) – why not here? And Ward is not around for the moment either as well.

Ward’s absence is interesting. While the rest of the team continues to grow and develop as a team and on their own, he is not. He is out of it, licking his wounds, and bonding with agent 33 in a best-case scenario. When earlier in S2 he had escaped from Talbot’s soldiers and S.H.I.E.L.D. people, he was shown to be more competent than either of these groups, at least on a certain level. Now...who knows?

Speaking of personal development, May has acquired some – in this episode, she appeared to be more talkative and humane, especially when compared to Sif. Perhaps all of the proximity to Coulson, and Skye, and even Fitz is paying off. 

And so, May has acquired some personal development, Ward has not. The plot of Morse and Mack is progressing; the relationship between Morse and Hunter is deteriorating, as the relationship of Fitz and Simmons. Lady Sif has arrived, fought with Vin-Tak the Kree and left. The agents have remained behind, and with Skye currently staying in S.H.I.E.L.D.’s holding cell in isolation, things are certainly looking bleak for them, even if one looks away from the rising infighting. We will just have to wait and see as to what will happen next.