WandaVision: Program - Feb 1

 Obligatory disclaimer: real life sucks. Well, it works, but it also sucks. Hooray for WandaVision, then? Kind of sort of, so let us talk about it.

Firstly, I must admit, for me the WV show was spoiled a bit beforehand…by ‘Bliss’. In this instance, ‘Bliss’ is an upcoming 2021 film about a man, (played by Owen Wilson), whose life is in a disarray, until he meets a beautiful woman, (played by Salma Hayek), who tries to convince him that he lives in artificial simulation. Cough. Bliss is released on Feb 5, 2021, and already some similarities to WV are obvious, even though info about it, (it is being released by Amazon studios), is scarce. Even though, judging by the trailer, it is evident that Salma’s character – Isabel – is morally ambiguous, (though neither outright good nor evil at this point), and that Owen’s character – Greg – will have to make a choice, a life with Isabel or a life with his daughter. Pause.

Yeah, at this point WV and ‘Bliss’ appear to be diverging – yes, Wanda is wearing pants in this relationship, (remember the episode 1x02?), just as Isabel seems to be the woman in charge in ‘Bliss’, but so far there’s no evidence of Vision having to make a choice just as Greg is going to do in ‘Bliss’, but on the other hand, as we have seen in the episode 1x04 Vision might be dead.

…Ok, Vision is a synthezoid, so I am not quite certain that the terms ‘alive’ and ‘dead’ may be properly applicable to him, but Disney & MCU make the rules, and when we last saw him Vision appeared to be technically dead, or offline, rather than alive and/or online instead. Where does this leave us?

Well, within MCU – roughly in the same time period that went down during the second Tom Holland Spider-Man movie, aka ‘Far From Home’. Apparently, while everyone’s neighbourhood’s friendliest manly-bug fought abroad in Europe, back in the good old U.S. of A. the brave men and women of S.W.O.R.D. are dealing with Wanda & Vision…pause again.

Here I am calling out that while in the Marvel comics S.W.O.R.D. is essentially S.H.I.E.L.D. in space, (slash space CIA, if you care), in MCU S.W.O.R.D. appears to be S.H.I.E.L.D., period, regardless of whatever it is that Nick Fury is doing in space, (as shown in the abovementioned ‘Far From Home’ film, remember?). Since the AoS finale showed S.H.I.E.L.D. getting back on its’ feet, why the reinvented S.W.O.R.D.? Sigh…

My take is that after its’ extended 7-season run, AoS had overstayed its’ finale; I’m betting that it was supposed to be no more than 3 seasons long, (as Disney shows tends to be), and by ‘more than’ doubling its’ length, AoS got stretched too thin; the finale, with everyone, (even Deke Shaw?) getting their piece of happy ending, was taken from the initial 3-season plan and it didn’t really mesh with the actual show; plus, as we have talked before, the cast, (and the crew?) of AoS might’ve overstayed their welcome and had had their fill of AoS, of MCU, of each other, and so on, so now S.H.I.E.L.D. just ain’t coming back, even though right now, with WV, the situation is perfect for its’ return. Instead, we got a not-quite-necessary S.H.I.E.L.D. clone…and a full roster of AoS – and Marvel - characters that are not coming back, most likely, no matter how many accolades were sung about Chloe Bennett’s Daisy/Quake, for example, and her relationship with Daniel Sousa. Back to WV?

Well, as we know, ‘Program’ wasn’t really about the titular characters at all; rather, we got reintroduced to such old MCU characters as Darcy Lewis – now a doctor of science, agent Jimmy Woo of FBI, and Monica Rambeau, formerly Lieutenant Trouble, and now all grown up. The WV episode 1x03 showed us the latter confronting Wanda ‘The Scarlet Witch’ Maximoff and being kicked out of Westview; the episode 1x04 showed us the same event – and several others – from the outsider’s P.O.V., which is very different…from what we have seen in WV so far. Otherwise, MCU’s S.W.O.R.D. is both a clone of the old MCU’s S.H.I.E.L.D., and WV itself is turning from stranger waters to the ones that are more familiar.

To elaborate, ever since MCU’s ‘Spider-Man 2: Far From Home’, people commented that MCU tended to become familiar, and Tom Holland’s Spider-Man’s story was very similar to Tony Stark’s – it’s ‘a Hero’s Journey’ cliché, nothing more, nothing less. Yes, clichés work for a reason, (and they become clichés for a reason), but… Here, in WV, we got titular characters being an unfamiliar setting – a sitcom comedy – doing atypical characters – comedy characters – but slowly they’re beginning to move into something that is much more familiar by Marvel’s standards in this case – there’s some sort of a phantom menace – maybe Hydra, maybe Mephisto or one of his minions, maybe some leftover from Thanos or Ultron or whatever – that is harassing civilians, and the brave people of S.H.I.E.L.D. – er, S.W.O.R.D. – rise to meet the challenge. Wanda’s conflict with Monica is not too different from the conflict Steve developed with Tony…eventually…with the main deviation being…not the gender issue, but the fact that Wanda has the actual chops to become a proper villain instead.

No, seriously, think about it: when Wanda was introduced in MCU, she worked for Ultron, who was a proper villain. It was Pietro who had his big redemption/self-sacrifice moment in A: AoU, and not Wanda. Instead, it were Wanda’s actions in the CA: CW film that instigated the movie’s titular civil war, and I believe that it was Wanda who sent the first blow in that film’s big fight in the German airport. Even in the A: E film Wanda was shown in a rather dark light, a fight with Thanos or not, so there is no reason as to why Wanda’s cannot do a proper Anakin Skywalker and go full Darth Vader in WV. How will Vision handle this, and is it really Vision with Wanda in Westview at all, has to be revealed yet.

As for the new twins – Billy and Tommy – we have talked about them when we discussed the episode 1x03, and so far, there is no new information about them either. So far, they are just lying there in their cribs…and if anything happens to them, Wanda will go full house of M…only she supposedly already did some time between ‘Endgame’ and the events in WV, so again, more details are needed before we make any more conclusions about as to what is going on in WV, (aside from the obvious).

Therefore, for now, this is it. See you all soon!

Ocean's 8 and co. - Nov 28

Obligatory disclaimer: real life sucks, which is why I went forth and watched what else but ‘Ocean’s 8’. Why? Because I already re-watched ‘Charlie’s Angels 2000’ once, and don’t want to do it again – somehow, whenever I watched CA2000 it feels exhausted as shite, as if an experienced hooker tried to be an innocent virgin instead; the movie did it very convincingly, but it was still only an act; CA2003 was… a template that Elizabeth Banks built her own CA2019 movie; no one has called her out on it officially, but it can be noted that she very quickly turned tail and stopped bitching after the initial salvo. So, where does ‘Ocean’s 8’ fit into this?

Very much right there next to CA2019. Just as CA2019 has borrowed heavily from its’ 2003 predecessor, so O8 was very much a rip-off of the original O11 film, though out of the two, O8 was more derived than CA2019, because of the gender flip. There is no gender flip in CA2019 because of reasons, but that just makes its’ similarity to O8 more evident. Both films featured strong female characters who were superior to their male counterparts, with the latter relegated to more supporting roles, if any; both had various action sequences, though O8 was more high-brow and less fisticuffs’ than CA2019; both had their female leads dress in very revealing, sexy clothing, because you know what? Their audiences might be ‘woke’, but not that woke apparently; and both movies are so slick that they entered through one ear and exited through another without making much an impact on the audience’s hearts and minds; there are fan works about the characters of the CA2019-verse, but you know? There usually are fan works; you will need to be especially stodgy and stiff, such as the ‘Ad Astra’ film, to not have any. CA2019 is not anything like ‘Ad Astra’; it is a derived variant reboot of CA2003 film, and even though most of their target audience had not seen this movie, it tells.

Reboots are among the less successful films to begin with – CA2019, O8, the latest Terminator film, any recent ‘King Arthur’ movies, the latest Robin Hood movie, and so on. Regardless if they are woke or not, if their leads are male or female, they usually fail, justly or unjustly, because the latest Terminator film was quite good, and Gabriel Luna was a very impressive villain.

…Does this steer us away from the movies and onto TV series and comics? (Luna’s version of the Ghost Rider appeared in both). Yeah, probably. Maybe. Some of the current ‘Avengers’ comics do a better job of helping to escape reality… only not. In those comics, our titular heroes got replaced as America’s number-one superhero team by the latest incarnation of Squadron Supreme, which seems to embody Trump’s current foreign policies, and who are revealed as false puppets of the false Phil Coulson, who is probably the Red Skull (the comics’ version) or some similar villain.

…Yeah, I must admit that I kind of enjoy this story arc – I never stopped disliking Phil Coulson as a character since AoS’ S2 for reasons that I talked about regularly in the past… so here I want to point out that this strategy – Trojan horse of false S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, or in this case, false Avengers, has been used on TV before – and not just in MCU, but also in an Avengers’ cartoon series, where the Red Skull had imitated some U.S. senator and tried to poison the Avengers; in particular, he turned the Hulk into an evil version of the Red Hulk, and did other mischief before captain America exposed him. Yay, but it also means that again, Marvel is reworking its’ old material, however masterfully, rather than making something genuinely new… under the guise of old and tested, as Disney is doing with the ‘Frozen’ franchise, (maybe with ‘Moana’ as well). Next?

…As for the real-life connections of Marvel comics… this happened in the past too, for example, when Copperhead used the word ‘hombres’ in an indirect dig at Trump. ‘Indirect’ is the key word here, because…

Well, let us look at the ‘Avengers’ again. In this incarnation, everyone is getting into a team – the Avengers, their Russian counterparts, the Squadron Supreme, Namor of Atlantis and his people, Dracula and his, and so forth. In the previous plot arcs, it was Avengers vs. the Russian counterparts…until it was revealed that Dracula played them all, so now Major Ursa is reaching out to the Black Panther and his Agents of Wakanda because reasons, the fake Coulson and his best friend Mephisto, (Marvel’s Mephistopheles, whose name got abbreviated because… copyright infringement, maybe?), talk about ‘red’ as opposed to ‘red, blue and white’. Hence my suspicion that it’s the Red Skull who’s behind the fake Squadron Supreme…and then there’s also the Red Widow, a new member of the Russian not-Avengers; maybe it will be revealed that it’s a latest version of Hydra who is trying to keep Russia (well, the Russian Federation) and the U.S. at loggerheads. Does it remind you of something?

…What it does not remind you of is real life, wherein on one hand we have president Putin, who, apparently, is genuinely interested in bringing the American way of life and democracy down for purely ideological reasons with not a whit of common sense and right now? He is unstoppable, both within and without his country, because on the other hand we got the Donald, whose take on ‘making America great again’ seems to be smelling strongly of isolationism. In real life, America had had bouts of isolationism before; the most notorious is the 1920s-30s, where at first everything in America was great and wonderful and constantly improving and glorious – the Roaring Twenties. 

And then it all fell apart and collapsed into the Great Depression – the Depressing Thirties. These days, the Western mass media does not really talk about those decades anymore and would rather have the American masses forget about it. Why? Because the man who pulled the American society out of the Great Depression is the same man who got them to win in WWII – Franklin Delano Roosevelt, one of the greatest U.S. presidents. The twist here is that he used decidedly semi-socialist methods and means to achieve that success, by dismantling the U.S. Capitalistic utopia of that time, something that Bernie Sanders, and AOC and her squad, and some other people, are trying to implement… and they are being opposed by the current generation of political American utopists, most of whom are also in the Democratic party, whereas the Republicans-

-the Republicans are keeping it together. While the Democrats are fighting between each other like a horde of angry bears that are stuck in a single cavern, the Republicans remain solid. Oh sure, they have their own problems, starting with the Donald who is marching to his own drum and ignoring everyone else, but they intend to stay in power for as long as they can, and God-damn everyone else – and this brings us back to Russia.

Alternatively, if you would like it, this brings us to the Roman Republic – the very first one. In the older history books it was proclaimed a democracy, but in reality? Before long, it became a reign of oligarchy very much in the same sense that the modern Russian Federation is. In the ancient times, the Roman Oligarchical Republic became a Roman Empire and it was nowhere as bad, especially at first, as George Lucas depicted this process in the original SW trilogy; in the modern times, the fate that will befall the oligarchical political style of the modern Russian Federation is still undefined, but keep in mind that history showed that went the temper of the Russian plebeians (aka the proletariat) ends, it does so explosively; and the U.S.?

…And in the U.S. we got the Republican oligarchs facing-off the Democrats who are divided between utopists and pragmatists, (with the latter having a strong socialist tinge, true), while there’s a swarm of third parties and other people who want a chance to steer the ship of the American state. The results are unpredictable, and possibly a part of the reason as to why Ms. Nancy Pelosi did initiate the impeachment process was to prevent the Democrats from splitting into several factions that wouldn’t, or don’t, get along with each other: if that had happened, that would’ve been the true end of the American society as we know it, that started with the 13 colonies that faced-off with Great Britain and led to the modern American culture & society. Therefore, instead, we got the impeachment that is going nowhere fast, but at least the Democrats have stopped their infighting instead. Sometimes the only choice is between a pair of evils, and hopefully Ms. Pelosi chose the right/the lesser one after all.

And does the mention of evils bring us back to Marvel and Mephisto? Kind of sort of, because the Avengers’ last completed plot arc has Robbie Reyes face-off with Johnny Blaze in a Ghost Rider showdown, which takes the Avengers in a different direction entirely – it belonged to a time period where it seemed that Gabriel Luna’s Robbie Reyes would become a part of MCU for good – instead he followed the paths of Hunter and Morse for example and is fully out of it, at least for now. Consequently, now the Avengers’ comic puts them into space, a very different medium from Hell – but this is neither time nor place to discuss it; for now, let’s just admit that when it comes to real-life political savvy, Marvel’s comics isn’t any better than CA or O-franchise movies, and leave it at that.

…This is it for now; see you all soon!

S.H.I.E.L.D., The Ghost - Sep 20

S4 of AoS has premiered – and?

Well, Brad and Angelina are divorcing, after 2 years of marriage (and 10 years of living together). As a member of team Aniston, I am certainly not upset; as an average person, I do not really care either way – oh. We are talking about AoS. Never mind.

As an AoS episode, ‘The Ghost’ was a very good starter, in the same vein that ‘Laws of Nature’, (3x01) was not.

In case people have not figured out, back in S2, AoS opened with the action directly following the S1 finale, AoS was shaping to be a different show, from a technical P.O.V., than how it turned out. Then they tried to integrate Blood & Palicki, (Hunter & Morse), the plot line with Stojan (33/Palamas) went really wonky, and starting from the second half of S2, AoS went into a slog, to use a term from ‘Ocean’s 13’ movie. S3 tried to start afresh, but it could not, especially post the ‘Maveth’ episode, where original S3 ideas where intermixed with the older, S2 ideas. Basically, rather than making S2 largely Hydra with the InHumans really coming into their own in the finale, AoS tried to mixed InHumans and Hydra from the middle of S2, and it didn’t work.

What did work was getting rid of both of them by S3 finale – sort of. Obviously, since InHumans are very major part of Marvel, they are not going away, especially since NCB (Yo-Yo) is now a major secondary character on AoS. (Daisy does not count: she is a part of the main cast, and not just an InHuman, period).

With Hydra, it is the same thing – as soon as it can be useful, it will be brought back. (Alternatively, AIM will, or maybe the Secret Empire – they all amount to the same thing, really, a shadow organization that plans to take over the world). But for now there is no Hydra, and as for ‘generic bad guys’? The Watchdogs, (introduced in the second half of S3) can probably do the trick. Maybe we will see S.H.I.E.L.D.’s former agent Felix someday, but considering that Deathlok had not appeared in S3, the odds are against it.

This brings us to ‘The Ghost’ proper; maybe the title is about the Ghost Rider, (who is busy being discussed all over the ‘Net by now), or maybe about the ghost/banshee who were released out of the box in the second plotline (you can see her; she is brief, not blurry). Either way, ‘The Ghost’ did its’ job in introducing the new major character, in reintroducing the old characters, and in introducing new story lines.

Once more – ‘The Ghost’ is an introductory episode; it introduces, it does not develop anything. ‘Laws of Nature’ tried to the same thing, but between the massive placings of MCU elements, the way that S2 has ended, and some other issues, it did not really work. ‘Purpose in the Machine’ did: it mainly concluded S2 and started the new S3 plotlines, primarily regarding Hive, (who looked like the villain in the old ‘Osmosis Jones’ movie, but that is irrelevant). ‘The Ghost’ does the same thing, without the massive installment of MCU elements, and it has started anew…well, no, AoS did. Grant Ward’s conflict with S.H.I.E.L.D. has been resolved, S.H.I.E.L.D.’s conflict with Hydra has been resolved, Hydra’s greatest monster – Hive was defeated, the end. AoS could honestly start anew, with new everything, except for the main cast, unlike the S2 finale (well, duh). Now what?

Nothing. The S4 is just getting started. We saw now that Daisy has gone rogue and vigilante, with Yo-Yo running interference between her and S.H.I.E.L.D. (This raises the question – just how much Mack is in the loop: by now, he and Yo-Yo are clearly in a relationship of their own). This will allow AoS to have several plotlines and P.O.V.’s in their episodes, (they actually did something similar with Grant & Hive in S3). We have seen the new Ghost Rider – Robbie Reyes in action and in his entire CGI glory (and it is a good CGI, BTW), as well as his crippled brother. We have seen all of AoS leading ladies, (not just Daisy) in new getups, (what? We did! I do not think there will be too many complaints regarding this – hence why AoS moved to another time slot). We learned about the new lay of the land in S.H.I.E.L.D. (and undoubtedly will learn more in the future episodes). And we were introduced to the occult not just via the Ghost Rider, but via an actual ghost/banshee/spirit, that has a magical box (Pandora?). Now S.H.I.E.L.D. will have to deal with the occult directly, and while a visit from Dr. Strange is not very likely, (his movie will not be aired anytime soon), S.H.I.E.L.D. will have to call in someone to help them deal with this – and no, this isn’t the ghost of Grant Ward – Dalton is done with AoS for now, and the ghost is a woman, from what we’ve seen.

This actually brings us to not-a-love-machine that Radcliffe has built and Fitz is helping to further improve. You know what, however? These are the FitzSimmons; apparently to AoS they just have to have some sort of personal drama in their lives, so why not Radcliffe’s robot? Maybe the ghost will fuse with it and make it an entirely new entity, who knows? AoS is big on twists like this. We will just have to wait until the future episode to see how it goes.

So: a very good starter episode and a good episode, with good acting and plot overall. Let us hope that remains like this in the future, too. 

S.H.I.E.L.D., Paradise Lost - April 12

Once more, AoS continues to astonish – the show’s dynamic seems to be as tight as before, the show’s script seems to be as tight as before, the plot twists seem to be as tight as before, yet the show’s ratings keep falling. Dramatically. “Spacetime”, last week’s episode, had the lowest ratings yet, and this trend does not seem to be bucking.

Yes, all shows tend to have their ratings decrease – just look at ‘Blindspot’ for example. Actually, ‘Blindspot’ is particular: not only it had stolen Jamie Alexander from Marvel™ (she played lady Sif in AoS and ‘Thor’ movies of MCU), but it had stolen AoS’ ideas and depicts them right. A mystery, not unlike what the agents had undergone in S1? Check. A mystery girl, not unlike Skye/Daisy (especially in the first seasons)? Check. A very complicated relationship(s)? Check. A FitzSimmons-like tragic relationship? Check, and ‘Blindspot’ has all done it better, without resorting to too many plot twists, and no moral ambiguity, not like what AoS had done to Kara Palamas in S2. Put otherwise, ‘Blindspot’ treats its’ characters proper, while AoS does not. (Moreover, in one of the ‘Blindspot’ episodes, the show’s team investigates a death of some poor Latin-American woman named Palamas. Clearly, ‘Blindspot’ is in some polemics with AoS and does not even try to deny it too hard.)

Take a look at ‘Paradise Lost’, this week’s episode. (Who lost the paradise? Maybe Daisy and Lincoln, I do not know.) Plot twists abound – unnecessarily, too, as do unnecessary deaths. Hive is not Grant Ward, but Gideon Malick’s brother, who just looks like Grant, whenever he is not looking like his comic book self? Ok, possibly AoS could not afford to replace Brett with another actor. So why did Stephanie Malick had to die. She did not look much of a likable character, but she died because of empty drama… and to explain further, perhaps, why Hive is going to kill Malick? Maybe, but ever since the demise of S2, quite a few viewers have stopped watching AoS because of the unnecessary deaths that began at its finale, “S.O.S”, something that had been avoided in AoS S1, BTW.

Another sticky/sore point of AoS is the matter of team and trust. ‘Blindspot’ handles it quite well, without any moral limbo, (just look at Weller and Mayweather, for example); ‘Agent Carter’ did not have too many issues with it either; AoS tends to drive it constantly all over episodes and seasons – whom do you trust and why?

But then again, AoS tends NOT to come up with any original material any longer – tonight’s episode about brothers was SO adapted/taken forth from Grant’s conflict with Christian back in S2; Lincoln’s little revelation was not unlike what Grant could and would tell Daisy if he had been given the chance in the past – the hypocrisy and prejudice of the show’s script writers can be overwhelming. That said, they did rather ‘redeem’ themselves with Guyterra beat – single-handedly – the crap out of almost the entire AoS crew, including Coulson, May and Mackenzie, and captured them all for Hydra. Sieg Hail!

…And yes, Hydra is another problematic point. AoS crew cannot decide if it is supposed to be a Nazi death cult or not. Sometimes the emphasis is on the Nazi part, other time on the death part, etc. Again, quite a few of fans are not impressed with this indecisiveness on this hotly debated topic, and have stopped watching AoS for that reason too.

Now, this does not diminish the fact that the show does seem to get its continuity together, at last, but it may be too late - this is the second part of S3, not S1 or 2 – by now a core group of fans had been established, the viewers know what they view – or don’t view, if they don’t like AoS. Judging by the shrinking ratings of the show so far, it is becoming obvious where the majority lies.

Until next week, then!

S.H.I.E.L.D., Watchdogs - March 29

And so, yesterday's episode, "Watchdogs", had come to TV. What can be said about it? First - the useless/pointless trivia bit - the Watchdogs were a right-wind terrorist group that weren't, or aren't, that different from the F.O.H. who harass the mutants (remember the initial X-Men movies with Stryker in it? Earth-10005 rather than Earth-TRN414? Never mind). They're funded by Hydra so, yeah, they suck - but read on.

As they reeled from the departures of Lance and Bobbi, the Agents came across the Watchdogs - who are currently being run by a former agent, Felix Banks, from S1. Yeah, this guy, who was killed by Deathlok but not quite: now he's stuck in a wheelchair and directs his people via holograms. Now what?

Well, it is another sign/indication that AoS is getting its continuity together, as more of the previous seasons' elements are returning to the show. After the mess that S2 had done, trying to assimilate Hunter and Morse before casting them out into their spinoff, S3, especially the second half, is fixing the mess...but the damage has been done. "Parting Shot" had even lower ratings than "The Inside Man" had, and "Watchdogs" have more in common with it, than "The Inside Man".

More precisely, the last two episodes had a very dark, very oppressive atmosphere, and tried to incorporate real-life American issues, not unlike how 'Agent Carter' began to do in S2. Only, if AC has done it in a relatively light-hearted manner, AoS seems to going increasingly oppressive and depressing, especially now that Lance and Bobbi and their sarcasm are gone. Of course, they themselves were best in small doses, but without them AoS doesn't have even that. Agent Mack can be also called "Alphie'? Ha-ha, and this brings us to "Watchdogs" main real-life component: race and racial stereotypes.

In the world of literature, one Russian author has published a book on the U.S. Civil War (in 2008). It was more of a propaganda piece than an accurate one, but he did raise some good points, including how the U.S. mass media (TV shows, movies, etc) tended to associate 'the bad guys' with Confederacy and its values, (real or imagined). Well, in "Watchdogs" we have all-white terrorists harassing 'freaks', and at the end - two people of color, the Mackenzie brothers. Yay. The leader, Felix, is an Anglo-American, even though S2 had at least two 'negative' characters who were neither: Gonzales (a Latino American) and Weaver (an Afro-American woman). Gonzales got killed in the massive character kill-off at the end of S2, and Weaver is a colored character, so there are problems in depicting her as a villain. Honestly, there is something of a debate going around non-mainstream characters and their treatments in TV shows, such as '100', so yeah - AoS, who is already trying to prevent it, I think, isn't going to go for controversies: instead it is going for good old reliable cliches, including the issue of color. How nice.

The same goes for depicting/handling of this cliche. Mack single-handedly, (with some help from his younger brother), defeats 5 or 6 Watchdogs, all of whom seem to be Anglo-American. Honestly, he seems to be some sort of a mix between Charles Gunn from Angel (AtS) and Gord Cantrell from The Sixth Gun comic. Well, considering that he didn't make much of an appearance in either "The Inside Man" or "Parting Shot", this could mean...

...This could mean, in combination with him being out of commission at the end of this ep, is that he won't appear in the upcoming episodes either. Nick and Adrienne have already left the show for good; maybe the same goes for Henry Simmons? Yeah, in one of the online articles (well, quote lists), an AoS site suggests that there could been a Mack/Slingshot romance in the works, but at the end of the episode in question, ("Bouncing Back"), Slingshot seems to be paired more with Joey instead; considering how flippantly AoS treats the episodes' scripts, and especially dialogues, Slingshot's relationship is up for grabs-

-That, the fact that actors seem to be leaving the show, and the fact that the InHumans have appeared only as a smattering of characters - only Daisy and Lincoln are main/recurrent S.H.I.E.L.D. characters with powers - and frankly, so far they served more as a plot device than characters, appearing largely behind the scenes, than as part of a plot. Yes, there's Andrew/Lash, and-

-and there's no sign of Philinda, which did appear in the epilogue "Bouncing Back" alongside Static Quake and the FitzSimmons. WTF? Mind you, after "The Inside Man", AoS took a new, different, darker turn, so perhaps the relationships were discarded, especially if Andrew is coming back...eventually. Considering that even the regular cast members don't appear on the episodes fully anymore, (May and Simmons' storyline on the last episode vanished completely at the end, with the two of them trying to bond over Andrew's situation and not quite succeeding), I wouldn't bet on it. Yeah, the odds of AoS not getting renewed for S4 are still very low, but with all the cliches that are being thrown around, and the number of viewers still very low after "Parting Shot", it is probably more up in the air than the cast and crew of AoS would like it to be.

S.H.I.E.L.D., Parting Shot - March 22

And so, we say apparently good-bye to Lance Hunter and Bobbi Morse in 'Parting Shot'. What can be said about it?

It is a purposefully oppressive episode, very heavy on the Russian - language. I'm not going to go into this too much: back in 2009, 'Deadliest Warrior' aired an episode where the Soviet/Russian Spetsnaz had defeated the U.S. Green Berets fair and square, something that had haunted this show for the rest of its' existence (DW went off air in 2011 after going on for 3 seasons, cough). The Russians are as good as the Americans are, and to make them bogey-men (the ones that aren't Hydra, perhaps) for AoS is cheap, especially for the show's writers and co.

One may point out that something similar is going on in the comics of the AoS franchise, where the agents are about to lock horns with the uncanny Avengers, but the two sides of AoS franchise are different - the comic version of agents attempts/pretends to be firmly integrated into the rest of Marvel world from the start ('Perfect Bullets' story arc), while the TV version...not so much. None of the Avengers movie cast has appeared on the show since S1, and even then it were Fury and Hill, so they don't quite count. One could argue that Bobbi is the Mockingbird, and as such she is something of an Avenger herself, only she isn't. Yes, the sites, (or at least some of them) are calling her Mockingbird, but this never has happened on the show.

No, it is unlikely that this is because of the entire Kara Palamas arc of S2, where Bobbi had sold her out to Hydra, 'forgot' to rescue her, and didn't even apologize to her in the end - and then Grant killed her by accident, ha-ha, and AoS has done its best forget about her: 'Parting Shot', in the last scene, depicted Malick's daughter - the appropriate love interest for Hive or Werner von Strucker, whoever will win her in the end... if the show doesn't kill her in a future episode first. Either way, Kara's fate and death rests on Bobbi's head as much as on Grant's or Melinda and Lance's - Bobbi may not be a villain as Whitehall was, for example, but neither is she a hero as the Mockingbird is supposed to be.

...That said, the odds are coming down from the financial aspects of the real life's side of the show: last week's episode had THE LOWEST ratings yet and so far it is uncertain how the show will recover. Make no mistake, it will - sort of: there had been cases in the previous seasons when one episode or another made an overly low, or high, rating as opposed to the episodes before and after it, but never so sharply or so low, even considering that overall the ratings of S3 AoS episodes were going even lower already. The S2 two-bit finale was already low, and many of S3 episodes are lower than it was. Yes, there is a promise of an AoS S4 season in the talks, but there was also talk of a Lance-and-Bobbi spinoff in the wind, ever since S2 beginning, and so far there is nothing concrete. Now the groundwork had been laid, of course, (with a pun for a title of the episode, too), but there are no signs of a spin-off coming forth; in fact it may be that the producers have made a Grant-and-Kara thing for Lance and Bobbi, treating them differently/separately from the rest of the cast instead for the rest of S3.

This brings us to finances: with Mack and Lincoln joining the regular cast since the end of S2, the cast has expanded to 10 people as the regular cast, who need to be paid, which means less money to go around. And since the ratings are dropping, as is the show's overall popularity, means that there is less money to go around too. Odds are that Nick and Adrienne are going is because AoS cannot afford their salaries. Ouch, but last week's episode had no Mack in it (for no reason), this episode had no Lincoln (he was in Cocoon, apparently), so clearly the entire AoS team is having problems keeping everyone balanced here with 10 main characters and guest/recurring characters as well. So now they're pruning the fat, and Kara Palamas got some karma payback for her and for Grant all the same. Coulson is going to get his too - Hive and his up-and-coming new girlfriend (is she supposed to be an analogue of Sin or someone like that) are going to make certain of it...in a matter of weeks, since the second part of AoS S3 takes place in 3 months, and the month of March is almost gone, too.

As for the episode itself...it's oppressive, it's purposefully oppressive, and it is associated with Russia for that purpose. This time, the agents stopped the Prime Minister from being assassinated by a Russian InHuman general...only Russia is a funny country: it is run by a tsar (nowadays they call 'em presidents instead, as a part of suckering the West), so the Prime Minister is worth diddly-squat here. If AoS is trying to earn sponsor points by adhering to the U.S. sense of apple pie and patriotism they could go for political accuracy rather than subtlety. 

And yes, this can backfire. The already mentioned 'Deadliest Warrior' had done its best to appeal to the American patriotism in the last two seasons of its show, especially in S3, with its kick-ass presidents, George Washington and Teddy Roosevelt. Guess what, it still didn't fully work: the U.S. Rangers defeated the North Korean special forces by only half a percent, (and considering the West's opinion of North Korea, talk about a double-ouch), and the show got cancelled after they did a season finale 'Vampires vs. Zombies'. That episode ran largely against the show's established M.O., and DW went out on a Halloween special that didn't even take place on Halloween. And as for AoS...

As for AoS, if 'Parting Shot' was truly the end of Hunter and Morse at least for the rest of S3, this means that the viewers who were watching the show primarily for their characters will stop watching it, likely, which means ANOTHER ratings drop, something that AoS cannot afford now more than ever. Not everyone liked Hunter and Morse, most likely, due to the Kara plotline, but replacing them with new characters (Slingshot? Manifold?) who may or may not be just recurring isn't the best idea too. Hell, they kept Grant/Hive on the show past S2 for the viewers, because honestly, it would've been more humane to have him go through T.A.H.I.T.I. and live on in Mexico or elsewhere with Kara. It would've been more humane for Kara too. But if Maya Stojan could just be easily dropped from the show, Brett not so much, so instead more character assassination and now Hive. Hail Hydra!

...And then there's the entire 'Agent Carter' situation: she and Sousa and co. are precisely dealing with the Russians/Communists/the Leviathan rather than Hydra (at least in the first 2 seasons). How will this episode mesh with the future seasons of AC? So far AoS is splitting the MCU rather than integrating it, so this again makes it less popular with its audience, which means fewer ratings - and it has nothing to do with Phil killing Grant back in 2015, however Whedon and the others are trying to pretend otherwise. 

So, a tense, overwhelming, oppressive episode, complete with terrific acting from the actors - and some very incorrect political/patriotic imagery. I hope that 'Parting Shot's' ratings will be higher than the last week's episode, but am not betting on it.

S.H.I.E.L.D., Inside Man - March 15

And so, the adventure continues in "The Inside Man". AoS continues in the same vein as it did with the previous episode, but-

But the episode 'Bouncing Back' was something of a portmanteau, dealing with a 'regular day' in the life of S.H.I.E.L.D. on one hand, and introducing Yolanda Rodriguez on the other. Since she's also Slingshot of the Secret Warriors, she deserves another mention, this time because she may be Mack's love interest, now that May seems to be back with Coulson, sort of. However, one of the last scenes back in 'Bouncing Back' seemed to be pairing Yolanda with Joey instead, on one hand, and on the other, NCB is still largely a guest star, who seems to come and go as a recurring character...and they tend to vanish on AoS leaving plot holes behind: Ian Quinn, the (remaining) Koenig brothers, agent Weaver, etc. There's no indication as to what has happened to them...and in this episode, agent Mackenzie is noticeably absent, as is Joey...but Joey was a recurring character with a spotty appearance record from the start; Mack is different: he is a part of the regular cast, so what gives?

It all probably comes down to the budget and the fact that the show seems to have peculiar relations with its cast - it tends to re-use them, as it did with Creel; in this particular episode, not only he had returned, but he had been redeemed by the military, in the character of general Talbot. When the latter starts to talk about redemption, there's some stabbing and unwitting criticism of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s tactics, I suspect. Hive is a man-eating monster, but Grant...well, he should've been either shot from the start, or offered something along the lines of Creel - also from the start, not when it was too little too late.

Talbot himself is not so much redeemed as developed further, depicted as a more well-rounded and likable character rather than the sherrif of Nottingham type of character he appeared in S2. Of course, his previous informal alliance with Coulson didn't go so well, so one cannot blame him for not trusting or liking Coulson, especially at first, and to putting his faith in Creel too.


Creel is going to be important as himself as well, since apparently his blood can counter the effects of the Terrigen, which - a minor or not so minor plot point - is the part of an argument between Daisy and Lincoln about him settling into S.H.I.E.L.D. Meh, he cannot go anywhere, he's still something of a wanted man, so he'll stay there, alongside Daisy, May and Coulson, and the FitzSimmons (who barely got any screen time at all during this episode - ouch!).

This, of course, brings us to the potential spinoff of Hunter and Morse - the 'Most Wanted'. It still hasn't gone through, and it just may never do, because by now, AoS doesn't have a very big fan base as it did in S1, and let's be honest - there are some people who are watching the show primarily for Hunter and Morse, as opposed for the FitzSimmons, for example, so if they're off the AoS and onto MW, then this part of AoS viewers will most likely go with them, which means another drop in the audience numbers. Yes, AoS has been passed on for S4 in the future, but things happen. In fall of 2015, for example, a series called 'Blood & Oil' was aired. It was supposed to consist of 13 episodes (and possibly passed on for S2), but S2 doesn't appear to be happening anytime soon, and the number of episodes was cut down to 10. So yeah, things happen, even in TV land, and AoS seems to have problems as a franchise too - there were several comic runs of 'Agents' (none of which have anything to do with the show, unlike some 'Agent Carter' comics), plus Daisy/Quake comics, Howling Commandos comics, InHuman and Mockingbird comics, all of which diversify attention and make it very hard to figure out where the 'Agents' stay in the greater Marvel world. Go AoS. Not.

But the TV series have seemed to gotten it together at last, one way or another. The only question is whether or not this will be enough to enable the show's - and the franchise's - audience to flourish and grow once more.

S.H.I.E.L.D., Bouncing Back - March 8

And so, "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." are back. Yay?

It's tricky to say. In many ways, tonight's episode - 'Bouncing Back' had all the better qualities of an AoS episode - it was simple, straightforward, had the team acting as a team (mostly) and it did a great job of introducing Yo-Yo 'Slingshot' Rodriguez as a proper, heroic character, (more similar to Daredevil or Jessica Jones, though, than the Avengers), while setting the stage for Coulson's eventual confrontation with Malick - the opening scene of 'Bouncing Back' had purposefully given us a time frame: 3 months, after which there's an explosion in space. Probably, it will be the end of Hive, and/or Malick, because-

Wait, first this episode has also did a wonderful job of integrating AoS into MCU - president Elios was the same president that appeared in the 'Iron Man 3' film, for example. Moreover, it seems to have done with its earlier, fractured approach to plot lines, as it did in S2 (and it carried, slightly, into S3) - now everything is settled: Fitz and Simmons have finally come together, Coulson seems to have patched things up with May (she seems to have gotten over Garner for the moment), and Daisy is with Lincoln. Fair enough, and there's none of the cliched, forced feeling that was back in 'Laws of Nature' (3x01). Mack, who had been sort of paired up with May in the closing episodes of S3, may've been shuffled over to Yo-Yo, or perhaps Joey had - for the moment it is hard to tell. AoS is trying to remove its former unpredictability and reliance on plot twists: even this episode's plot twists - the local cops were corrupt and had a gifted enforcer working with them - were kind of obvious and easily understood/foreseen by the viewers since the beginning of the ep.

Is this good? It's one of these things that have to be decided on an individual basis. 'Agent Carter', whose S2 had just ended last week, never had any plot twists from the start, hadn't suffered any from their lack: in fact, it was a different show from AoS, though they're supposed to be connected (S.H.I.E.L.D. picked up where SSR will leave off, eventually), for it had humor (and not tasteless either, BTW); it had real-life issues, such as racial and gender inequality, and in person of Dot Underwood we may be dealing with gender minorities too. It had everything - and there wasn't a lot of killing involved either, unlike AoS, which, since the S2 finale, became very fond of killing various characters off. Nowadays they do seem to be treating them differently - Yo-Yo is going to be something of a guest star, appearing only on a necessary basis, (thus saving AoS the cost of paying her actress all the time), as will Werner, apparently, and Thomas Ward...seems to have vanished.

More precisely, 'Bouncing Back' is the episode where Aos has cut-off (at least in canon) all ties to the previous episodes and their messed-up plotline. Fitz and Simmons are together, as they should be. Daisy and Lincoln are together, as it was hinted at since they've met in Li Shi (not that the fans care - Daisy has been paired off in fan works with anyone and everyone and their aunt, cough), and Coulson and May may be finally getting together: in other words, things are back to how they been in S1, save that Grant is dead and Lincoln's in his place.

Fair enough, and the way how the show's staff have made Ward into a simple, designated villain has probably cost them some viewers/fans: right now, the ratings of AoS are under 4 million, while 'Blindspot', by comparison, has about 6.5: this is a telling number - no matter how well the characters do their job, they're still characters in a show, and the real life isn't affected by them. For example, 'Fuller House', which is a modernized, updated version of 'Full House' sitcom of the 90s, isn't doing so well, but it seems to have gotten a S2 of its own all the same. Whoever pays the piper gets the tune and the show, it seems, and AoS has gotten its S4 (and Grant/Hive appears to be a part of the promo pic here, so yeah?).

Anyways, as a show AoS has shown that has gotten its bearings together by now, which is good, for Morse and Hunter appear to be about to acquire their own show at last...but since the talk has been going about this since the start of S2 and nothing seems to have come out of it, it's anyone's guess. The spin-off's synopsis, however, indicates that S.H.I.E.L.D. will have its own problems by the end of S3, and Hunter and Morse will be on their own (alongside Dominic Fortune) in the spinoff. Again, this makes AoS a very different, darker show from 'Carter' (Malick owns Gothic Industries - seriously?) and suggests that when in three months' time some sort of a S.H.I.E.L.D. space shuttle explodes in space Coulson and his team won't get the clean win they got in the mid-S3 finale, but for now it's a fairly straightforward road: both S.H.I.E.L.D. and Hydra are assembling forces of gifted/InHuman people to fight 'some sort' of a future battle for them, cough, which will probably occur at the end of S3 (causing Hunter and Morse to strike out on their own in the process?). Until then we will follow the show and generally enjoy watching it (or not - it depends on the person, after all).

S.H.I.E.L.D., Closure - Dec 1

And so, the mid-winter mid-season AoS finale has come upon us, and once more there are twists. More precisely, ATCU was taken out; both Price and Banks are gone. The fusion of the plotlines – Hydra, InHuman, alien – is coming to a head, with both S.H.I.E.L.D. and Hydra boasting gifted people among them, while Coulson is going after Ward (and, unknowingly, Fitz) through another portal to planet/dimension X. It is only a matter of time until Thanos gets involved, as the final shots at the Age of Ultron had indicated.

Anything else? The writing team put their best effort into this, this is no hackfest as it was at the season finale of S2, this time everything makes sense, the plot is solid, as is the action...pardon me, the acting of the actors, it is also solid, without any gaps as it was in S2, especially in the beginning of that season, and even the setting, the scenery is very well done – but it had been so since the “Purpose...” episode and yet the ratings have continued to fall.

Now, we’ve talked about this; the problem is in repetition (the mid-season finale, for all of its good points, is very reminiscent of the finale of S1 – even John Garrett was mentioned), as well as in recycling – Price was based on S1 Raina, while Lash was more of a second-half S2 Raina; and then there are all of those ‘imitations’ – “Killjoys”, “Dark Matter”, “Blindspot”, perhaps even “Supergirl”, some of which are quite successful in their own right, especially “Blindspot”, with Kurt being a Ward-like character, and Jane/Taylor being a Skye-like character, and now their mid-winter finale introduced Oscar, a Lincoln-like character – someone on “Blindspot” is clearly an AoS fan, who wants it done right – never mind that those are all TV characters; anyone remember their 50^th episode featurette? Brett and Chloe did their best to point out that they were not Skye/Daisy and Grant, while trying to give ‘SkyeWard’ fans a bone – got to appease the viewers somehow, but we talked about this in a previous installment. This relationship is obviously finished, we got StaticQuake here now, but this is not the point.

Well, ok, the other fact is that the ship Philinda is back on – Price is dead, and so’s Andrew, but considering that Andrew, for one, had killed plenty of innocent people in his own right, as Lash, yeah, May is better off with Coulson anyways. The FitzSimmons? The show is clearly referencing back to S1, when Fitz and Simmons were underwater – sometimes Ward acts like a crazy, messed-up Cupid – but speaking of messed-up? There is the show’s site that is updated relatively irregularly; there are the comics, which have nothing to do with MCU; and then there the upcoming “Civil War” movie – AoS is trying to tie itself to it: the FitzSimmons got captured in an abandoned Stark facility.

That probably is not good – ‘Laws’ did its best to tie itself into the greater MCU, and as a result the writers delivered a very hackneyed, clichéd episode that they tried to bury themselves in the following episodes very successfully, so hopefully they won’t try to do that in ‘Maveth’ (does this word even mean anything or is it just a name) or in post “Agent Carter” S2 episodes. (That is right, Carter is coming back in January, so yay!) That sort of cliché can kill a show, you know?

But the upcoming “Civil War” movie (in May 2016)? Yes, that is something else. So far MCU had delivered beautifully, and this trailer promises this to be just as good. So let us buckle our loins, hanker down and wait – for the next week for AoS mid-S3 finale, for January for ‘Carter’, and for May for “Civil War”. Until then – peace out! 

S.H.I.E.L.D., tale - Nov 17

And so, keeping in mind that next week AoS is taking time off, let us recount as to what they have done in this episode.

They brought the strands together. Until now, the episodes tended to treat InHumans and Hydra separately, but now, they are bringing them together. Will is...sort of Hydra, just working for NASA and possibly not knowing this. Fitz and Simmons have finally kissed and are finally getting back together, because in worst-case scenario? Will is another knock-off of Ward, meaning a wolf in sheep’s skin. Ward himself...he is starting to play a greater role in S3, actually learning what Hydra is, what it stands for and what it does. The episode’s script is integrating the Avengers’ second movie into the plotline, and it is giving a new, bigger dimension to the show itself as well. Remarkable and Hydra nowadays is something more than just a Nazi death cult, something possibly worthy to go toe-to-toe with S.H.I.E.L.D., and especially Ward, since the next episode (actually aired in December) is going to put the end to ‘Ward’s revenge’ storyline once and for all, because S.H.I.E.L.D. needs something new and exciting to keep itself afloat, ratings-wise.

It is already doing that, mind, with making Rosalind not evil (supposedly), and Andrew – alive. Of course, as it may have been written before, redemption in S.H.I.E.L.D. is something of a select piece, almost anyone but Ward gets his or her chance of it so frankly, if Coulson puts Ward out of his misery in the next episode? It might be the better choice. It might also be the only choice, since the next month, December, is wrapping up the first half of AoS S3, for January? This is where ‘Agent Carter’ takes over. Agent Carter is a good show, though not as exciting as AoS...was, for now it is getting more straightforward and less unpredictable, and Carter is apparently going to Hollywood. You cannot get bored in Hollywood!

Back to AoS...there is not much left to discuss. There is hope for Andrew and May, Rosalind and Coulson, and Lincoln’s setting down. There are signs that Ward may be Hellfire, (which is a pity, he was a cool villain so far all on his own), though maybe they are just another plot twist and Fitz and Simmons finally kissed. Hooray! Go FitzSimmons! Lincoln and Daisy...they did not get too much time on this ep, but at least Lincoln has bonded with May, which is good for both of them. So yes, this is it for AoS this time around – a very exciting and informative episode to be watched.

S.H.I.E.L.D., Chaos - Nov 10

And so, the 50^th episode of AoS went past. Now it is time for the 51^st – and it still delivered, a very tense, dramatic episode. The Lash plotline had come to a mid-term resolution, as we learn what has happened to Andrew – or rather how. This is a story of a good man succumbing to darkness within, of becoming a monster and unable to stop it, of dragging his loved ones into this- Oh wait. Ward did in the second half of S1, and Cal actually underwent something similar throughout S2 – and this brings down to ratings.

Take this episode, “Chaos Theory”, for example. Both the main and the supporting cast did their parts without a hitch; the plot in many ways was as solid as it was in the episode 3x02 (the episode 3x01 should be killed and buried, BTW), and the conclusion of the episode’s finale was equally heart wrenching... spoilers alert – in this episode May got her heart broken, in the next – it’ll be Coulson’s turn, as the InHuman and Hydra plotlines appear to collide and yet the ratings continue to plummet. Why?

Because repetition. It began already in S2, as Gonzales infiltration of Coulson’s part of S.H.I.E.L.D. was reminiscent of Hydra’s actions in S1, save that it was done on a liter scale; the emphasis here is on ‘lite’. Yes, Mack and Bobbi seem to have made their peace with Coulson, (though their friends on Gonzales’ side, including the man himself, had died because of Coulson’s ideas, BTW), but this still was a repetition of what Ward and Garrett and other Hydra agents had done back in S1 – so it was up to the InHuman plotline to carry the day...and they failed. S2 finale was a bloodbath – an unnecessary bloodbath, and it did not get better in S3. Ward’s plotline doesn’t get resolved (he may be a villain, but not a very formidable one, if the site information is correct), the show is struggling with balancing InHuman and Hydra plotlines in general, and Andrew is really a repetition of Ward & Cal from the previous seasons – this isn’t very original, frankly.

And his resolution...it is something else. AoS was dealing the whole redemption angle rather badly, ever since the end of S1. For a while the show’s writers made redemption sound like a big deal, right out there next to teamwork, but then...

No, it is not about Ward, though the way Coulson had handled him in mid-season 2 was not very smart or logical. This is about Jiaying too – Coulson did offer her a chance to solve things peacefully with Gonzales and co., and she threw it back into his face and in a very nasty way too, not to mention deadly. Yes, she was killed, but Lincoln came back, or rather – helped in the first place – of his own will, S.H.I.E.L.D. got nothing to do with it...

By S3 AoS seems to have abandoned the redemption plot altogether. The good guys are good, the bad guys are bad...and they die. Kebo in particular, though von Strucker seems to have gone into a coma instead. This is simple, this works, but it is somewhat disappointing, in a simplified way. AoS already has to deal with competition that was inspired by its initial success, from ‘Killjoys’ to “Dark Matter’, from ‘Supergirl’ to ‘Blindspot’, and those shows are quite successful and dramatic, especially ‘Blindspot’, but none of them have any excessive plot twists as AoS does. ‘Blindspot’, for example, has a very ‘noir’ feeling lately, but it is not dependant on plot twists as AoS is.

And speaking of repetition, drama and relationships – Will, Jemma’s new cough friend cough back from ‘4722 hours’ is some sort of an evil doer? Gasp, shocking. Seriously, how this is (or will be once Will is back on Earth himself) different (if you look past the secondary details) of what Skye went with Grant or Melinda with Andrew? Not really. This is more of the same, and the same is not always good. AoS’ ratings continue to go down, and this is very sad, for it is a very good show – but all good things must come to an end...let us just hope that AoS will not end any time soon.

So: the Lash situation is resumed, and now it seems that it will be Ward’s turn next. Hopefully, the scriptwriters will do something more original to him rather than turn him into Hellfire. 

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., 4722 - Oct 27

And so, yet another fine S.H.I.E.L.D. episode came to an end, featuring the show at its best - coherent. The previous 4 episodes had been done in ‘Angel & Faith’ format rather than the BtVS one; the action continuously alternated between the InHuman and Hydra plotline, with the main action being directed more towards the InHumans. It is hard to tell who was Angel and who was Faith, though the odds are towards Phil and May, but it is not the point. The fact that ‘4722’ hours have made Jemma into Winifred Burke is more like that, with her NASA companion being, perhaps, her Illyria...or not. Analogues tend to be weird, especially if taken too far, but Will, perhaps, is more than what he appears, especially if you look at the episode’s finale – perhaps he is some sort of a night bringer, hm?

 Back to AoS proper, ‘4722’ has made a break in the abovementioned ‘A&F’ format, plus it had introduced, perhaps, a whole new plotline for Fitz & Simmons, as they still cannot be a couple. Seriously, Ward turned out to be evil, and Lincoln is absent, so poor Skye, and Phil and Mel just cannot seem to be pull their shit together, thanks to Ms. Price (it’ll be fun to see if she isn’t evil – then maybe the plot line of ‘AoS’ can get even more interesting), so this just leaves Fitz & Simmons – and they are having problems of their own. Fitz seems to be competing with someone, perhaps Thanos, or even Galactus, for Jemma’s heart, and of course, being the stalwart knight that he is, he’ll let her go, or at least – let her help ‘Will’ get back to Earth from her misguided love to her – or perhaps not so misguided (it seems that everyone gets a second chance with S.H.I.E.L.D., even Ward did, sort of, and if Coulson hadn’t been such a moron, then who knows?)...

In the greater scheme of all things AoS, ‘4722’ is closer related to InHumans than to Hydra – and not just because of the obvious, but because Randolph, S.H.I.E.L.D.’s resident Asgardian (seriously, he really should have more than just one episode), seems to have some know-how back in 3x02, and it wasn’t particularly good one. He also had shared it with Coulson, but not with the audience, so we do not know what exactly that he knows, but given the fact that Jemma’s new friend just may be either an extra-powerful InHuman or a pureblooded alien of some sort (like Loki or Thor, just not an Asgardian) then yes, the new FitzSimmons plotline is closer to the InHuman plotline rather than to the Hydra one.

Incidentally, so far Ward’s Hydra is noticeably lackluster, if compared to Whitehall’s, for example. So far Ward’s leadership hasn’t been very impressive, so if everything goes smoothly, the next episode should spell the end of Hydra...but things don’t often go according to anyone’s plan in the world of AoS, and as long as the scriptwriters don’t go over the top with this (as they had at the end of S2, putting in an unnecessary hackfest/bloodbath there too), it’ll work. Plus...plus if this episode can be considered alien/InHuman ‘heavy’, then the next episode should probably be Hydra ‘heavy’, just to keep things balance. S.H.I.E.L.D. the show loves to keep things balanced, thus we will have to wait and see.

So: a major update on Simmons, a not so major, but still important, update on her relationship with Fitz...and that’s it, really. Today’s episode was very good and very important, but in a restricted, more narrow kind of way. Will this trend continue with S.H.I.E.L.D. episodes? We will just have to wait and see. 

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., Wanted - Oct 13

“A Wanted (InHu)man is an interesting and well-written episode. In many ways, it is a very impressive and solid S.H.I.E.L.D. episode. The actors are delivering fully what they mean to deliver; the script is solid and well rounded; the setting is very realistic, and the drama of the episode itself keeps the audience intrigued, tense and guessing what happened next until the end – when Jemma declares that she must go back...in short it is everything that “Laws of Nature” was not.

For example...the beginning of this episode begins in the middle of action, in media res, with Lincoln doing his own thing, his past development in “Laws...” having been not so much discarded, as ignored. The episode 3x01 is mentioned, and there are tie-ins to it, but mostly – it is ignored. Perhaps, even S.H.I.E.L.D. scriptwriters/producers/etc were embarrassed of the heavy-handed clichés and the rushed plot that occurred back there.

Episode 3x03 has no such clichés, and indeed Lincoln/Daisy situation is treated much more interestingly here; so early in the S3, there is no happy conclusion for Daisy and Lincoln yet; there were some proclamations of love, but still nothing certain. If Daisy and Lincoln are to work it out, they will really have to work it out...or not, because at the moment this does not appear to be very likely...

On the other hand, Coulson and Ms. Rosalyn? They seem to be hitting it off. Coulson – or rather the show’s scriptwriters – have realised that they must not make ATCU a remake of the ‘real S.H.I.E.L.D.’ from S2, and are trying to make something new here; the fact that Ms. Rosalyn appears to be something of a female Coulson – or at least a woman that Coulson can relate to.

And yet...such details are secondary. The truth is, “...Wanted...” was carried not just by the actors and their acting, but also by the plot itself. The cast is very good, of course, but so are the people behind the scene, so to speak. On this Tuesday, they too have delivered something right and proper, and the audiences got to enjoy another solid and satisfying episode of ‘S.H.I.E.L.D.’. (And the infamy of “Laws...” finally got its karmic comeuppance.) 

S.H.I.E.L.D., Purpose - Oct 6

What makes a show worthwhile watching, maybe even inspiring?

The actors and the acting, for one thing. S.H.I.E.L.D. still got it covered. The touching reunion between Fitz and Simmons, the way the entire team pulled together to make that possible – it was superb, complete with some definitely Gothic settings (and professor Randolph, from Asgard, to break the tension on occasion) and an interesting prequel (of the 19^th century).

Other interactions between the characters were worthwhile too. Hunter finally got May out of her funk, while May seems to be on the out with her ex-husband – again. Maybe there is hope for Philinda still. (FitzSimmons are back together, and Daisy is with Lincoln now). Garner, however, is not very impressed with Coulson, so perhaps there are seeds for a potential conflict ahead, and maybe the team will go through some further reworking – necessary this time (cough conflict between Lincoln and Daisy cough).

The other conflict, of course, is between the ‘new and improved team’ and Ward. He has already recruited von Strucker’s own son for his cause, and is clearly on a roll, intent on rebuilding Hydra from the ashes. Hunter, who talked May into joining his cause, will stop him, of course, but-

But acting aside, the overall plot of S.H.I.E.L.D. has turned predictable. “Purpose in the Machine” is not as rushed or clichéd as “Laws of Nature” had been, but all the same... Ward, on some level, had given the show an element of unpredictability: will he deliver? Won’t he? Now that unpredictability is gone from his character, and it is obvious that he will rebuild Hydra before S.H.I.E.L.D. can stop him, because otherwise there will not be any Hydra and it is a staple of any Marvel™ universe, so yeah. This means a relatively straightforward plotline, with Ward keeping one-step ahead of Hunter and May until he is no longer needed by Hydra, and then-

And then it is anyone’s call, really. His character is based on Angelus, just a bit, so odds are that he will die, though it will be a team effort, because that is how S.H.I.E.L.D. works, or supposed to. (The scripts of S2, speaking of supposed, have gone through some remaking in the process, and it was painfully obvious, even in the beginning, but the scripts of S3 seem to have got it together after all.) The entire BtVS S2 situation, where Angel/us got sent to Hell has already been done by Jemma, and now the team has brought her back, and now Fitz gets to be the fixer out of the two – Jemma does have some karma to work out...but that is pointless. S.H.I.E.L.D. the show does not care about the karma: it is a straightforward live action adaptation of Marvel™ comics, possibly complicated by the interactions of actors and staff behind the scenes that we will never know about. The good are good, the bad are bad, and eventually they are dead. Ward probably has to die, if von Strucker the younger is to inherit Hydra; considering that the beginnings of S2 showed him to be suicidal already, this might be what the character intends to be. (The characters, because Marvel™ and co. do their best to differentiate characters from actors, yeah.)

Anything else? “Purpose in the Machine” was less heavy-handed in integrating the show with MCU, which is a good thing, again. This might change in the next episode, but that does not matter: S.H.I.E.L.D. S3 has found its stride, and it is a fast-paced one: already Randolph has introduced (to Coulson) the greater concept of the InHumans, so perhaps the Secret Warriors of the comics aren’t too far off – with a new twist. This is very exciting, so who knows what the future episodes will bring?

So: great teamwork from the characters, great acting from the actors, and a proper integration into the MCU (not heavy handed as in the previous episode). I.e. this is a very good episode to watch.

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.

May 27 - What's up

What is new?

1) “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” S2 is over. By now all of the couples have split up: Skye has become a full agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. while Grant is firmly Hydra once more; Melinda appears to have gone back to her ex, leaving Coulson behind; and Simmons was eaten by an alien rock, while Fitz wasn’t – so it is anyone’s guess in figuring out how it will go in S3. But for now, “Agents” are over. (If you not count an occasional fanfic, that is).

2) The latest season of “River Monsters”. Make no mistake – I like this show and I like JW. Compared to the other shows on both “Animal Planet” and “Discovery Channel”, RM is certainly hardcore – dealing with nature, exotic and foreign countries, and even showing some forensic science, especially in the earlier seasons. But even now, when compared to other shows on AP, which don’t have animals in them per se (i.e. “Tanked”) or show them in a very specific light (i.e. “Too Cute”), RM is still amazing! ...sadly, it still has to end.

Let me elaborate. On MLP: FIM there is Pinkie Pie, who loves to throw parties, but does not know when to stop (that is her weakness, so to speak) them. RM is like that. Certainly, JW loves the benefits, the prestige, et cetera that it brings him, but enough is enough. He has exhausted the topic, for the seasons of RM are becoming shorter and shorter, with more spectacle and less science, which is not good – not to mention that in the reputed RM S8 JW plans to focus on sea fish instead, thus defeating the actual concept of his show instead. JW, it was a great show while it lasted, but it still must end – if not with a bang, then with a whimper, but still end...

3) And as for MLP: FIM itself, so far it is rather interesting, even as it is determined to return the villains from the previous MLP cartoon incarnation – Tirek, Smooze... Now, of course, there are the Arimaspians, who appear to be based at least in part on Grogan, another villain from the past – but that is not THE interesting part.

THE interesting part is that the entire Arimaspian/Gryphon conflict was taken straight from the classical Greeks, who had both of their monsters in their mythos. The gryphons are, of course, the gryphons, while their enemies were a mythical race of one-eyed people – just think Cyclopes, but human-sized. The Arimaspians constantly tried to steal the gold from the Gryphons..., which brings us back to MLP: FIM. Interesting, no?

...Anyways, this is for this time – “Agents” are “Agents”; RM is getting too successful for its own good; and MLP: FIM is actually using real-life mythology for its episodes. Until next time!