S.H.I.E.L.D., Afterlife - April 7

And so it happened that yet another episode of “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” was aired on TV. Awesome! But first – few other bits of info.

First of all – real life here – we appear to have acquired a couple of pigeons on our balcony. We have no idea of how to get rid of them, and barely more intentions if we want to in the first place. So far it seems that the pigeons are roosting there, and not nesting, but I would not bet on it, so for the moment the pigeons are there to stay.

Second – also real life here – it seems that the scientists (paleontologists) have decided that Brontosaurus and Apatosaurus are two different dinosaurs. Leaving aside that the Apatosaurus family accounts for up to 4 different species, this is really exciting news; it seems that the main different between the cousins is that the Apatosaurus is the slightly bigger and bulker dinosaur. Neat.

Third – here we go to TV land – is that the fifth season of MLP: FIM has begun to air. The season starter concerning the cutie marks was good – it introduced a new villain into that universe, the Mane 6 weren’t the ones to save the day, actually – and MLP: FIM in general has changed its tune: now the villain isn’t bringing chaos and change into Equestria, she – Starlight Glimmer – is bringing order and monotony instead. Clever move on Hasbro management, maybe they have experienced some change of their own...

Finally, about the latest “Agents” episode, “Afterlife”. In this particular episode, several things happened – primarily Skye has arrived at the titular destination; fortunately, it isn’t what one expects, but rather some sort of a Shangri-La-like place, where Skye should be able learn how to use her powers in peace. The catch is that both Raina and Cal are there as well – let us talk about them for a bit.

It is easy to dislike Raina – all she did had been stirring up trouble for Skye/Daisy and her coworkers, but conversely she had always been dominated by someone else (like Cal) and she was always in Skye’s shadows, a replacement, and not a very good one, perhaps. It is always bad to be perpetually stuck in second place, and to add an injury to the insult, Skye, who had never wanted it, has become something of a prototype superhero (agent Quake from the comic-verse, perhaps?), while Raina, who had been always eager, has become a chupacabra instead. One could start to feel sympathy for Raina here, you know?

With Cal it is more straightforward – just like his comic-verse counterpart, Mr. Hyde, Cal is insane, selfish, and bipolar. However, Gordon (the grimlock to Raina’s chupacabra) apparently can handle him well enough, as can Cal’s wife (Skye’s biological mother?). Her character has just made an appearance, but there is already something of a Fu Manchu vibe about her, suggesting that there is a snake in Aftermath’s paradise, so to speak.

Then again, Skye already does not seem to find Aftermath to her liking – it is too static and quiet for her: she is a woman of action, of strong ideas and ideals, and the quiet and serene retreat of Aftermath just may not be the place that she’ll want to stay permanently – though perhaps she could be persuaded to stay awhile...

And while she stays, Coulson and Hunter are planning to find and rescue her (and given the universe of “Agents” their attempt will probably not be misguided). To do that, they will need help – and it comes in the shape of Deathlok, also known as Mike Petersen. This is really good, for Deathlok was very important in the previous season, and so far he has proven to be more formidable than before. That is good, because Coulson and Hunter will also need Grant Ward to help, and as it was shown in the “Love” episode, Grant has apparently cooled his ardor for Skye quite a bit, and his parting with Coulson was even worse. Odds are, this is the sink or swim moment for Grant’s character – he will either start returning to the good guys’ side and become a proper S.H.I.E.L.D. agent once more, or will become fully a villain and probably die soon enough (Simmons, for example, wants to kill him). Considering that “Agents” tend to provide the unexpected it can go either way.

As for the rest of the team... Fitz and Simmons have made up, and have smuggled Fury’s toolbox – a vibranium cube – out of the Playground. Captain Gonzales and his people may be quite competent, (and apparently they got the numbers on their side too), but so are Fitz and Simmons – they have come a long way since their naive debut back in S1. They may no longer be able to talk in synch, as they have done before, but they have become much more mature as well – Mack, Morse and others will not know what hit them.

But finally we have Melinda May, who has issues of her own – and since the next episode deals with her back-story, well...let us leave her for next week as well. 

So: Deathlok is back, Coulson is starting to fight back and to recollect his team, Fitz and Simmons have proved their mettle, Grant may get a last chance to get his, Skye is going to get rescued whether he wants to or not, and May will get a special episode about her next week.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

S.H.I.E.L.D., Aftershocks - March 3

And so it happened that “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” have come back. No offense to “Agent Carter”, but her show just was not on par with this one.

Where are we standing with “Agents”? When we last saw them, Skye/Daisy and Raina had activated the Obelisk/Diviner, which transformed them, but with different effects. Raina was transformed...into a chupacabra, (no, seriously!), while Skye remained the same externally, yet gained the power to manifest vibrations, powerful enough to shatter glass (and that is just a start!). Her biological faster, Dr. Johnson (a super-villain in his own right), is enthusiastic about this (despite the fact that he is probably bipolar), and plans to involve his former cohorts at the Index to get his daughter to come to him. 

Now, let us leave Skye for the moment (she spent this episode recuperating in the quarantine, so she needs her rest), and turn to Raina. She was not a really sympathetic character, but rather one of the opponents of Coulson and S.H.I.E.L.D. Yet, as some of the earlier (last year’s episodes) had revealed, while Skye had her friends and extended family to support her, Raina had no one; if Garrett had survived the end of S1, things might’ve been different, but he hadn’t so, Raina ended up on her own by the mid-S2 finale, with nothing but her faith in the Diviner to keep her going, and that backfired on her in a big way. Until this episode, Raina may have been ugly on the inside, but she was beautiful on the outside, and now she is ugly (or, at best, exotic) on the outside...and on the inside?

Raina is in quite a fix, but she has been given the opportunity to start a new life – literally. It will be up to her now to decide whether she can be beautiful on the inside, or not. Of course, she can also die, but now that her fellow Inhuman (forget spoilers, let us call them what they are) has saved her (from the lesser agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.), literally swept her off her feet and called her beautiful, she is likely to hang around for another episode or two yet, before she makes her choice or has it made for her, or something.

If the Inhumans are on their way in (Jemma Simmons has already used the word in yesterday’s episode), then Hydra is on its way out – Ward and 33 (Kara Lynn) didn’t even appear in “Aftershocks”, and other Hydra bigwigs were either killed by S.H.I.E.L.D. or by their own, due to an elaborate plot/provocation staged by S.H.I.E.L.D....in a manner similar to how people died in the beginning of S2 due to the Diviner, so some residue of late Whitehall’s involvement with the alien artefacts has seeped down Hydra’s echelons...to their sorrow. Hydra, probably, is not finished per se, but its danger to S.H.I.E.L.D. and the rest of the world has become much lesser... probably. Given the fact how much S.H.I.E.L.D. scriptwriters and producers like twists, Grant Ward might arrive in a nick of time, for example, and revive Hydra at someone else’s expense.

And how did S.H.I.E.L.D. get the better of Hydra in this instance? By teamwork, cooperation and mutual trust. Their team bonds have enabled them to flawlessly fool Bakshi, (though let us not forget that they had him only thanks to Ward), as well as the rest of Hydra. As always, whenever S.H.I.E.L.D. team works together, they are invincible, and as always, they are suffering from internal problems. Nowadays, it Bobbi Morse the Mockingbird and Mack. They may be in some sort of a support group, but Mack has also determined that Coulson has “Fury’s toolbox”, and whatever plans he and Bobbi have up their sleeves, they probably are not benign...

And we also got new fractions (or factions) in the main team. It is Simmons’ turn to befriend Mack over their mutual and new distrust of alien artefacts and technology. Interestingly, in S1 Simmons was all for using alien technology (and anything else) in order to make Earth a better place. Now, she has apparently undergone a 180 degrees turn and wants to destroy it all - including Raina. Skye, has also become someone alien, is less than enthusiastic about this, and has Fitz’s support for some reason. (You would think that Leo would support Mack and Jemma in their new anti-alien enterprise, but no. The ship FitzSimmons has sprung a leak that is more serious than what it looks like at a first glance.)

Let us sum up. Hydra is out. (Except for Ward and 33/Kara Lynn). The Inhumans are in. And S.H.I.E.L.D. is beginning to be split between Mack & Simmons, Fitz & Skye, and Coulson & everyone else. Plus, Mack, and Bobbi, (and maybe Lance Hunter) seem to be following their own agenda – which may belong to another group (i.e. Hydra, AIM), but it may foreshadow, instead, an internal split in S.H.I.E.L.D. rather than an external invasion: Coulson can be toppled and kicked out of power from the inside as well – we’ll just have to wait and see.

Until the next time!