S.H.I.E.L.D., April 8 - Turn, Turn, Turn

Warning – spoilers ahead

And so, “Agents” are coming onto the new level of their existence (as characters of a show) – facing-off against their opposite number, the Hydra. Named after the multiheaded beast of Greek myths (and yes, the show had their laughs in discussing head vs. “head”, ha-ha), this evil organization is set on dominating the world, as evidenced by Marvel’s latest movie, “Captain America: The Winter Soldier”. No, seriously, Whedon is a genius – he keeps the Marvel-verse tightly combined, unlike his own opposite number in the DC-verse (Batman, Superman, etc). Unlike other Marvel threats, Hydra is not a single opponent (like, say, Loki), that can be defeated in a single battle; it is a powerful organization whose members are interchangeable and who can always be ‘reborn’ in new and different ways. This makes it a worthy adversary for S.H.I.E.L.D., whose own agents are quite versatile themselves... 

But, anyways, back to the episode itself. As before, it is a good episode, but not a great one. Why? Let us see.

As it had started in the previous episode, “Turn, Turn, Turn” was all about trust – whom to trust, whom to believe, whose loyalty is the strongest. This is always a powerful motive in any spy thriller, which is what S.H.I.E.L.D. appears to be for the moment – a spy thriller. All of the multiple levels of trust & distrust featured in this episode are fine... to a point, but “Turn, Turn, Turn” turns this situation almost into a game of “Find the Hydra”: it’s Hand, no – it’s Coulson; no – Garrick and Ward...

Aye, Ward appears to have joined the Dark Side in this episode (especially since Coulson’s team has escaped from the Helicarrier in a very Star Wars™ ep IV way) but all of those facial shots make one wonder if something is going on with his head, his heart, or the filming crew of the show were just feeling artsy...

The rest of the team. They have been shaken up; May revealed to be colonel Fury’s personal contact, whose role was to keep an eye on Coulson, and if things were to go south with him – she and Ward were to take him down; only she didn’t. Why? Because they had history together, May trusted him.

Trust is another topic of the episode; the titular agents had to learn to trust each other ever since the episode “0-8-4”, and so they had – with various successes. In the last two episodes, however, this trust was put to its severest test, as May proved that she had secrets of her own, and Ward’s relationship with the other agents is also ambiguous (even without him shooting agent Hand at the end of the ep).

On the other hand, what Fitz and Simmons had was a conflict of ‘greater’ vs. ‘lesser’ duty; also the trials and anxieties of separation: “Turn, Turn, Turn” was the first episode where they express their feelings for each other so openly.

Back to duty. Agent Hand embodied the ‘greater’ duty – not just to your team, but also to your country, or at least the entire S.H.I.E.L.D. Her mojo was to do anything in order to prevent a greater disaster or to achieve a greater good (as it was shown in “The Hub”), and that’s why, while her death at agent Ward’s hands was over-the-top, it was also karmic – at least in that it was in the line of duty.

So: agent Ward has either joined the dark side, or something else is going on. The rest of the team has to pull themselves together or Hydra will pull them apart for good. Oh, and agent Hand is dead. In short, this was a very good episode.

S.H.I.E.L.D., April 1 - End of the Beginning

And so, we are back with S.H.I.E.L.D.’s more mainstream streak after Sif took away Lorelei back to Asgard. May has broken up with Ward, and Fitz & Simmons duo are having their own problems – Simmons wants to move to the Hub in order to study Skye’s (and maybe Coulson’s) blood in greater detail as well as the cure that had made them the people they are – but more about this later. 

Firstly, Deathlok. He was very impressive in this episode, becoming more and more robotic as the show progresses; in fact, the entirety of Clairvoyant’s scheme is apparently to build a more and more improved cyberwarrior: it started with the centipede augmentation device and continued to take over more and more of the host’s human body, requiring greater and greater body space – and developing ever greater sophistication. Deathlok by now is very reminiscent of robots from “I, robot” film, based on Asimov’s works, but very different. Also, “there is no Mike Peterson, there is also Deathlok” bit? It is very reminiscent of Joker coming into his own in the first, very first, Batman movie – nice tribute.

Then we got the team. Once again, “Agents” emphasize the teamwork and trust in S.H.I.E.L.D. – the agents are all but forced to cooperate, which they do with a very great efficiency, as they battle Deathlok. One on one, Deathlok is superior to any of them, but as a team the agents managed to put him on the run, leaving his master, Thomas Nash the Clairvoyant, behind. Only, it is not him – the Clairvoyant is a clairvoyant (a psychic seer of the future; think Trelawney from Harry Potter or Drusilla from BtVS), but an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. itself, and as “Yes Men” have revealed, agent May is its’ patsy. Or agent, if you like it better.

This is very important. In “Girl in the Flower Dress” Skye betrayed the team to Miles because of the history they have shared together, and because her bond with the rest of the team were not as strong as they are now. May’s history with S.H.I.E.L.D. goes much deeper than Skye’s, so her treason bites much deeper, especially to Coulson, who has professional history with May, it seems. 

Of course, May can point out that she is either a) a dupe, or b) loyal to S.H.I.E.L.D., just not to Coulson’s part of it. “The Hub” and “The Magical Place” episode shows that there are at least two separate branches of S.H.I.E.L.D., working parallel to each other, but...nothing more. “End of the Beginning” only reinforces this impression further: there are two teams, they know about each other – but only in theory, not in practice or in the field – and this episode gives them field experience in spades – but not enough. Team “Coulson’s” aircraft is hijacked and agent Hand declares that as soon as the plane lands everyone is to be killed, making her a strong subject to be the Clairvoyant instead of the late Thomas Nash, who was killed by Ward – an act that pissed on Coulson.

To elaborate, by the last third of this episode, Coulson’s team began to fall apart, as they were at the beginning of the series: Coulson and Ward were about to have an alpha male showdown, May is working for someone else in S.H.I.E.L.D., and Fitz is not very happy with Simmons on one hand and has exposed May on the other. May has to act fast and think faster if she is to clear her name and regain the loyalty of her team (in her team), which is very necessary as agent Hand is about to kill them all instead.

So: the Clairvoyant may be down to his (or hers) last tricks – most potent ones yet; Mike Peterson is dead – there is only Deathlok; and Coulson’s team about to face their most strenuous test yet! The next episodes are going to be tense, and this episode was a very good one as well.

S.H.I.E.L.D., March 11 - Yes Men

A minor LG-related trivia note: before Rainer was the name to one of the guest characters of S4, it was the name of a one-episode villain back in S2 – a sign that between 3^rd and 4^th seasons LG underwent some change in management, not just in mythology – but couldn’t they have checked the names? Joe-Bob obviously wasn’t going to cut it, but being caught like this with Rainer? Embarrassing! 

Now, back to S.H.I.E.L.D. The brave and courageous S.H.I.E.L.D. agents have encountered lady Sif (pronounced lady Shif half the time during the episode). And they also met Lorelei – Sif”s archnemesis, ones supposes: the episode does not divulge, but there is history between the two Asgardian ladies, and it was a painful one, emotionally, if not physically: as far as sword prowess goes, Lorelei was no match for Sif. 

Norse speaking aliens’ aside, the team has undergone some new developments. For a start, Simmons has actually spoken up to Coulson, reminding him, perhaps, that she had a greater duty beyond even loyalty to him as the team leader. Also, the Fitz & Simmons duo had split up during this episode – this is important, because in earlier episodes, such as “Seeds”, the duo was almost like peas in a pod. In “Yes Men”, however, they were not – a minor detail, but an important one.

The duo of May & Ward, on the other hand, has mostly stopped existing: May, apparently, cannot forgive Ward for being unable to break from Lorelei’s spell, even though Sif warned her about it. Yet perhaps May just used Lorelei as an excuse to push Ward away: after all, she is spying on Coulson and/or Skye and/or other members of the team for the sake of Fury or some other party. Considering that “Agents” (as a show) are based on mutual trust and cooperation May’s actions imply that she may have fallen into the dark side – cue the March of the Empire...

On the other hand, Coulson and Skye have fallen into something, encountered something different as well – they may not be thinking of striking against S.H.I.E.L.D. yet, but they clearly are not going to be following the party line precisely. Between then, May doing that double-agent action, and Simmons involving Coulson in the discussion of greater good vs. more regular good, the titular team just may be spiting up along several lines.

Ward...this was not his best episode: he fell under Lorelei’s thrall and beat up May, for whom he has actual feelings – at least for now. When May’s own flaws will be revealed, it may be harder to figure out just where Ward’s feelings for May lie. In truth, of course, Whedon may have planned something like this from the start: the relationship between Ward and May was mainly physical without any in-depth bonding; May may have it with Coulson instead, but as this episode showed, that has its’ own problems. And yes, no relationship can survive based on physical attraction alone. And yes, May is proud of her skills and does not take kindly to being beaten (both literally and physically), and pride is a sin (one of the seven originals), which makes her a flawed character (and a good guy), but still, this is not probably the time to go into in-depth characters study either. 

Oh, and Fitz? Sadly, he was mostly the comic relief for this episode. So was Simmons, but she, at least, had that confrontation with Coulson by the end of the episode that was more serious than funny. Skye too was mostly in the background for this episode – but then again, she had not quite recovered from the events in “T.R.A.C.K.S.”, so that is reasonable.

In short, May has all but broken up with Ward and revealed her inner darkness, Coulson and Skye are about to go on a crusade for light and justice, Simmons may got onto her own crusade and recruit Fitz for the ride (they are a duo, after all) and Ward was charmed and enchanted by Lorelei. Oh, and we had a tie-in with the Thor movie series too. Cool.

S.H.I.E.L.D., March 4 - T.A.H.I.T.I.

Sadly, due to unexpected circumstances, I was unable to see this episode last night and so I will have to fully review it at a later date. (This infection is killing me)

Lost Girl, Feb 16 - Dark Horse

And so, the last episode of S4 of LG had arrived, and it was good! Was it great, however? Sadly no, and here are the reasons why.

For one thing, the series’ characters did not appear to come and go into nowhere as they did in the previous episode. Mind you, “Origin” and “Dark Horse” were shaped to be a two-parter, even though the series did not acknowledge this for some reason. “Dark Horse” continues directly from where “Origins” ended, including the mention of Rosette. Frankly, it is not surprising that Bo was not surprised – after her misadventures with the crows, more of late Rainer’s treacherous minions, she was subconsciously expected Rosette not to be any different from them.

Why Rainer’s late? Because the druid killed him. LG tried to make him sound like Tolkien’s Gollum at one point, but he came across more like BtVS Warren Mears from S6, including invulnerability and insanity. And yes, it worked, even if he and Lauren just flickered from location to location, and why did he take Lauren? One may think because the Morrighan, his mother, commanded him to, but the latter not only helped Bo and Lauren to stop (and kill) him, but she also spent a good amount of time at Trick’s getting drunk. Yes, that was a break in the tension, but also a break in the plot, and it gave no good excuse as to why the druid just took Lauren almost everywhere – yes, he was lonely, but not in that manner, sadly.

On the other hand, Bo did kill him at the end, distracting and tricking him long enough for Lauren to steal the twig of Zamora and destroy it, making the druid vulnerable and mortal. Comment: Hale is not the last of Zamora, back in S2 he had a father and a sister...who had not been seen since. Interhouse warfare, maybe? 

This is beside the point, however: Hale is dead, the druid is dead, Vex has apparently fled to London (but all of S4 is famous by not having all of the LG characters in its’ episodes) and Kenzi has self-sacrificed herself to save the world. One can guess that Ksenia Solo (Kenzi), just as K.C. Collins (Hale) and maybe Paul Amos (Vex) had had enough of LG and decided to leave. Fair enough; IP’s Primeval, for example, was notorious for the cast changes; and the already-mentioned BtVS changed its cast a lot since S3, actually.

In any case, Vex went to London, Hale went stabbed from behind, and Kenzi went through self-sacrifice, dying to prevent Bo’s father, the titular Dark Horse, from coming into the world. It was wonderfully done, but Kenzi/Ksenia’s parting smile was supposed to be kindly, understanding and forgiving – instead it was slightly serpentine and creepy. Ah well, that happens; Kenzi still died, and Tamsin took her to Valhalla.

And yes, Valhalla (and Hel) was discussed previously, but firstly, “Dark Horse” once more showed it a) with vaguely Christian connotations (a Norse Valkyrie is not a Christian angel) and b) with one of its entrances in a Toronto seedy alley. That is just weird.

Also Dyson carried Tamsin away from the gates of Valhalla (they took Kenzi’s corpse in, but did not accept Tamsin herself?) bridal-style. Since one of LG’s trademarks is the tangled love interests between the main characters, we are seeing the beginnings of a new love triangle, especially since Lauren may be dropping out of the old one and taking care of the Morrighan/Evonie for now.

Sigh. The last love interest of Lauren’s that was not Bo was the waitress (Crystal) at the beginning of S4 – and she probably ended up made into sushi or burgers by the Dark Fae. The Morrighan is doomed. 

Finally, Mr. Trick. It was very noble of him to come to aid of Team Bo at the end of this episode, but he also was the new Ash, or the substitute Ash, or something. He could have at least tried to get some of the Light Fae to help save the world, but instead he spent his time with the Morrighan and Vex with mixed results. Does he even take his new job seriously, or has he quit with the death of the Una Mens? If so, then the Fae world may start to experience anarchy, and Bo is subconsciously already ready to step in.

To elaborate: S4 has changed the Fae society by adding the Una Mens, who apparently were beyond the Fae council as shown by lord Blackthorn back in S2. Bo, with Rainer’s help, killed the Una Mens, and was later acknowledged as Queen by Dyson, Tamsin, possibly Lauren – she is the granddaughter of a King, so the title is hers by blood too. And with Una Mens gone, a Queen just might be the right person/entity to take charge of everyone, especially since the scriptwriters, including Michelle Lovretta, has largely forgotten about the council from S2 by now, so what happens next is anyone’s guess.

So: Kenzi and Hale are gone, Vex may also be gone, after being mostly a semi-convenient plot device from time to time, Lauren may’ve found herself a new girlfriend, Bo, Dyson and Tamsin may be forming a new triangle, and Trick has told Bo the circumstances of her conception. That, incidentally, raises the question of when did this happen and how – if Bo’s father is trapped in another direction, how he was able to conceive Bo? And if he is not trapped, then the whole season 4 just does not make sense – and this is why “Dark Horse”, just like “Origins”, is a good episode, but not a great one.

Lost Girl, Feb 9 - Origins

And so, let us talk LG once more. Last week’s episode, “Origins”, proved to be a very good episode, but...not downright great.

The main problem of “Origins” can be embodied by the character of Rosette, Rainer’s traitorous lieutenant: to the audience she came out of nowhere, but to the other characters – she had history. This created a discrepancy that just did not work. Some visual back history could have helped: Rosette, for example, supposedly tried long and hard to free Rainer from his train? Then some flashbacks could have helped. Rosette had a conflict with sister Epona before? Again – flashbacks can help. But there are none, and the audience must accept Rosette without any back history, just upon some say-so from the characters, and that just is not the same.

Sadly, this sort of phenomenon has plagued all of the LG characters featured in “Origins”: if previous episodes of S4 featured just some of the characters per episode, “Origins” tried to feature all of them, but just like Rosette, who appeared out of nowhere just to fill-in a role that could’ve been done by a more regular character, like Acacia, they appeared and/or vanished into nowhere.

For example, Mr. Trick. At the beginning of this episode, he was talking to the Morrigan (with Lauren eavesdropping) about making a united front against Rainer/not Rainer and putting their differences aside. That is it. After this scene he was not seen again. So...what’s the point? Bo and Dyson took the druid to his pub, for crying aloud, and where was he? Now that Mr. Trick is acting as a substitute Ash, he no longer cares about his place of business? Apparently not, or Rick Howland (who plays Mr. Trick) just wanted to be featured in this episode – who knows?

Dyson and co. had their own share of problems this episode. Firstly, Dyson’s memorial speech for Hale was really smooth – i.e. Hale was a conservative but with liberal ideas, an old soul with a young heart, et cetera. All that was missing was “Hale believed in equal chances for everybody, but thinks that Rob Ford is entitled to his own opinions” or something like that. Smooth, Dyson, smooth, but OOC for you, and not in a good way.

Then we got the initial capture of the druid. He was not killed because he whispered something into Dyson’s ear...what? Who his mother was? Then why didn’t Dyson tell this to Kenzi? Kenzi was very devastated by Hale’s death, unreasonably so, but to keep her out of the loop did not make it better. And instead of sharing some information with Kenzi, Dyson just took the druid in, making Kenzi only angrier and crazier. That is really stupid and low, and for Dyson? Again OOC, and not in a good way.

The same can be said about Bo’s acceptance of that fact. If Kenzi just got mad at Dyson’s actions, Bo... half-ignored, half-discarded them, being busy with Rainer and the new prophecy instead. Kenzi’s accusation that Bo does not have much time for her anymore has more than just a kernel of truth, you know?

Aside from the druid-capturing scene, Dyson, alongside with Tamsin, served mainly as council to Bo, her brain tank, now that she and Lauren are on the outs, again. Tamsin, it should be noted, looked really good in her business suit, quite different from her regular clothing. That said, her and Dyson’s scenes just didn’t feel fully connected with the other scenes of “Origins” Bo just appeared to be running back and forth between the two of them and Rainer & Rosette while the other four just patiently agreed with that – highly unrealistic! Kenzi, at least, had enough of Bo’s action of running back and forth between everybody and split, signalling a very drastic change in LG-verse.

Or, more precisely, Kenzi has up and left, leaving Bo behind, coercing Bo to withdraw her claim of protection over Kenzi. This happened in part because Dyson (and Bo) would not let Kenzi kill the druid, and Vex, when Kenzi seemingly persuaded him into killed the druid, double-crossed her, because the druid was his ward, or something like that. Yet Vex’s actions make more sense than Dyson’s, because Vex, at least, explained them to Kenzi (and to the audience). Now the only question regarding Vex is...is he going to stay in Toronto, or is he going to London, England? Originally, that was his plan – to take his ward and to go to England, but then the Morrigan, who is the druid’s mother, called, and the druid came running to her. If the latter is true, then Vex (Paul Amos) is the second character after Kenzi (Ksenia Solo) to leave the LG-verse (or at least LG-verse’s Toronto). Vex may just be saving his hide; Kenzi – because she wants to start a new life (again), but both of them are leaving all the same.

One final note about Kenzi – what was she wearing? Admittedly, Ksenia Solo may have gotten fed-up with her character wearing one and the same thing all the time, but the bizarre – and shapeless – mourning clothes that Kenzi was wearing in “Origins” were not an improvement – they actually rivalled Bo’s corsage/skirt combo and Tamsin’s bizarre clothing in “Sleeping Beauty School”. Why can’t Kenzi wear regular clothing? Would that disturb her inner Zen or something?

Lauren, on the other hand, suffers from the opposite effect – she was wearing some really, really stuffy clothing this episode. She has also turned the Morrigan into a human using science! Admittedly, that was one of the more awesome events that happened in this episode, but why? What is the point? To protect Bo? (This episode reveals that the Morrigan did send her mostly human son the druid after Bo, but that did not work, obviously.) Maybe, but couldn’t she turn the Morrigan into a monkey instead? After all, the Morrigan is dangerous not just because of her powers, but because she is also cunning and clever – probably more cunning and clever than the other enemies of Bo are – as is her son. Yes, the druid comes across as this pathetic and wretched man-child, but he was able to acquire the origin seed from Mr. Trick, as well as a lock of Tamsin’s hair - that is actually impressive! Pity that the Morrigan did not see it this way and just demeaned and humiliated her son as she could...until Lauren returned.

Let us get back to Lauren. Firstly, when she confronted the now-human Morrigan, she proved to be rather evil herself, in a sort of an emotionally detached kind of way. Lauren can be ruthless: Crystal the waitress befriended and the betrayed her in the first episodes of S4 – and Lauren promptly forgotten about her once the Dark Fae got her out of their confinement unit. Considering that they are Dark Fae, who is quite likely to make a captive (uninteresting) human into sushi...that was cold. And the way that Lauren treated the Morrigan once she could not harm Lauren – it was also cold.

But then the druid arrived and had the big moment with his mother and Lauren walked in on them. The next scene – she and the druid are elsewhere (vaguely resembling of a caveman exhibit in some museum) and the Morrigan is not to be seen. Also, Lauren has a cut on her forehead – but because there is no explanation as to how the two scenes are connected (did Lauren just bolt when she saw the druid with his mother?) we are left to wonder at what has happened...

And the same goes for the druid after he swallowed the seed. Sure, he began to transform into a giant serpent (or something to that nature)...but how does that tie-in with the other story lines? More specifically, Bo has to face her father...or the giant dragon-horse...or her father, who is the giant dragon-horse...so how does the druid’s ‘dawning’ tie into this? Is he going to be taken over by the spirit of Bo’s father...or transform into a dragon-horse, maybe? We will have to wait for the next episode (the season’s finale?) to see.

Some final comments. Epona was a Celtic (Gallo-Roman) goddess of horses, donkeys, etc. She was also a goddess of fertility, but that is neither here nor there. Either way, this makes her appropriate to tie-in with the dragon-horse/parapus that Bo might end-up facing – or not, if she ends up facing her father/not the dragon-horse, and the dragon-horse will actually prove to be the druid transformed, in which case Lauren will be devoured, or will defeat him. Hopefully, the latter will be the case – since the beginning of this season, Lauren proved to be increasingly self-reliant and competent, when dealing with Fae, so perhaps she will be able to defeat the druid, especially since he is mentally unbalanced and all.

Finally, about ‘Hel, the opposite of Valhalla’. In Norse mythology, Valhalla was the afterworld of all the Viking warriors slain in battle, a rather joyous, but also gory place – the idea of Heaven for the Vikings. Hel itself was the opposite of Valhalla – a cold and miserable place that was the afterworld of all the people that did not die in battle, evil or not. There was no fire in it, however, unlike, say, the Christian Hell, so the flames that consumed Rosette, Rainer’s traitorous lieutenant (but after the crows’ betrayal Rainer should have expected that) were completely out of place...but after “Destiny’s Child” episode it is obvious that LG just uses names of people and places however it likes.

So: major character and plot developments in this episode. Kenzi leaves Bo; Vex leaves Toronto; Bo gets married to Rainer (wonder how long that lasts); Lauren turns the Morrigan into a human and is captured by the druid who gets transformed into something else. And Bo’s father, apparently, comes to Toronto, and a dragon-horse is somehow involved in this. LG’s S4 finale is going to be very interesting indeed!

S.H.I.E.L.D., Feb 4 - T.R.A.C.K.S.

Sadly, due to unexpected circumstances, I was unable to see this episode last night and so I will have to fully review it at a later date. (That said, the next ep is on March 4th? WTF?!)