S.H.I.E.L.D. TV series by Marvel (and Whedon) at ABC

[MrTerrorist]

^Not really. Agent Carter was great to me.
Possibly because it's set in the 1940s and Carter and Jarvis adventures are fun to watch.

[FlareKnight]

I'll agree that Trip's death could heave meant more....if his character meant more. He was just never that important. Early on they teased a potential thing with Simmons, but otherwise he was just there. He needed more focus if they wanted to kill him off.

The rest was ok. Though I did think Simmons "must murder all abnormalities!" She'd be a great person to have in the X-Men franchise ready to sign up on killing all mutants. It kind of felt like this was a pretty extreme shift for her out of nowhere. If they happen to kill Reina it's not the worst thing in the world? I mean you could say that since she wasn't a great person anyways, but geeze talk about being heavy handed.

Thank god for Fitz. That guy is saving the day in all sorts of ways. Rising up to one of my favorites in the show. Even though he figured out what was wrong he also made sure to cover for Sky. He's just been a great guy to have everywhere. Maybe because of all he's gone through this season, he can relate to everyone who has gone through things they can't handle or understand.

And wow pretty well annihilated Hydra in an episode...I mean obviously there are still people left, but they are seriously weakened having all those leaders killed at the same time.

[GDB]

At first, Simmons' rant and such seemed very odd and out of place. But when you consider it from her point of view, in that this could be a contagion and cause untold amounts of devastation, it makes sense. You have the Obelisk that killed dozens, if not hundreds, of SHIELD agents and innocent bystanders, you have the earthquake that caused untold damage to the town, you have Reina shredding people's necks with thorns that are growing out of her, you have Colson and the others who were going insane, etc.

These are all things that she was captivated by because it was unknown, and as a scientist she wanted to explore the unknown. But then she got too close and realized it was Pandora's Box and it was better left unopened. She's not proclaiming that, for example, the Avengers should be eradicated, just these unknown alien artifacts and such.

[FlareKnight]

Originally Posted by GDB

At first, Simmons' rant and such seemed very odd and out of place. But when you consider it from her point of view, in that this could be a contagion and cause untold amounts of devastation, it makes sense. You have the Obelisk that killed dozens, if not hundreds, of SHIELD agents and innocent bystanders, you have the earthquake that caused untold damage to the town, you have Reina shredding people's necks with thorns that are growing out of her, you have Colson and the others who were going insane, etc.

These are all things that she was captivated by because it was unknown, and as a scientist she wanted to explore the unknown. But then she got too close and realized it was Pandora's Box and it was better left unopened. She's not proclaiming that, for example, the Avengers should be eradicated, just these unknown alien artifacts and such.

I get it on the surface. But the timing feels too much like "we need Sky to feel super isolated so....Simmons go nuts!"

At some point I wouldn't be surprised to have her go down this route. Though maybe not this very moment or this extremely. I think they could have had her go this way slower or maybe even before this exact incident then I would have bought it better.

Plus I'm not really sure she isn't suggesting they eradicate the Avengers....Her anti-abnormal came off so strong that frankly I could buy it if they went there .

[Wandering Soul]

It doesn't seem like she was suggesting they do anything against the avengers though . She out right acknowledges that if the avengers shouldn't have to be cleaning up any messes if it weren't for them.

[GDB]

Plus, she had specified that the things she wants to exterminate are the same things that they sought out and unleashed, which would be the alien stuff.

And also two things to keep in mind: she did seem to have some attraction to Tripp, so seeing his remains like that probably got to her a bit, and she was also the only one to see Reina and what she did. Imagine seeing some new animal in a cave that was like a bear crossed with a hedgehog, and that animal just mauled 2-3 members of your crew to death and another 3 into critical condition. Would you be all for capturing and studying it, or putting it down before it can hurt anyone else? Especially if you suspected it might be a carrier for an unknown disease with origins linked to another disease that killed dozens/hundreds of people?

[Galaxian]

Fitz might often blend in the background, but when the spotlight shines on him, you take notice. The first time I was really surprise by him was in the episode "Turn, Turn, Turn" and he threatens Garret despite facing execution, his action during season 1's finale, the scene in Ward's cell at the beginning of season 2, and now this episode where he completely steels the show in 3 separate occasions. Slowly but surely, Fitz is becoming one of my favorite characters.

Also, props to the actor to Iain De Caestecker for giving Fitz so much depth.

[Shinji103]

Finally got around to watching the latest episode.

Yes, Fitz's performance was astounding this episode; he totally faked me out thinking he was going to be with Jenna about the superpowers thing, and then he comes back and fakes Skye's blood sample an gives his support for her. The trailers for the episode totally lead us to believe that everybody was going to find out right away, so I was surprised that the team went to the end of the episode completely oblivious.

Now, I would have said that the preview for this week's episode indicated that they find out this time, but then there's the episode blurb that says Sif shows up with no memories, so I'd bet that all the lines of "we need to protect ourselves from her" and "if you want her you'll have to go through me" are actually about Sif and not Skye. Though it looks like at least Coulson will be finding out about Skye's powers.

After Simmons' rant about the "superpower virus," if they really do cover the superhero civil war in Captain America 3, and it effects Agents of SHIELD, I wouldn't be surprised to see Simmons take Stark's side.

As for Hydra, the leadership may have been gutted, but there's still that one guy who wasn't assassinated out there, and the other branch that has the Maximoff twins, but I'd guess we won't be seeing much of them again this season as this was probably done to clear the stage for whatever this group of superhumans are that took Raina.

But I'm surprised we saw nothing of Ward this week at all after how we saw him left off in the last episode.

[GDB]

Originally Posted by Shinji103

As for Hydra, the leadership may have been gutted, but there's still that one guy who wasn't assassinated out there, and the other branch that has the Maximoff twins, but I'd guess we won't be seeing much of them again this season as this was probably done to clear the stage for whatever this group of superhumans are that took Raina.

Weren't those the same? I thought the guy who survived was the scientist/right hand that worked for Von Strucker?

[SuitUp]

Hydra can't be dead, ain't Baron Von Strucker slated to appear on Age of Ultron?

[Shinji103]

Originally Posted by GDB

Weren't those the same? I thought the guy who survived was the scientist/right hand that worked for Von Strucker?

The guy I'm taking about is the one who glasses guy was talking to on the video call before he pulled the "trigger" on the assassins.

Originally Posted by SuitUp

Hydra can't be dead, ain't Baron Von Strucker slated to appear on Age of Ultron?

Yes he is.

[james0246]

Originally Posted by GDB

Plus, she had specified that the things she wants to exterminate are the same things that they sought out and unleashed, which would be the alien stuff.

And also two things to keep in mind: she did seem to have some attraction to Tripp, so seeing his remains like that probably got to her a bit, and she was also the only one to see Reina and what she did. Imagine seeing some new animal in a cave that was like a bear crossed with a hedgehog, and that animal just mauled 2-3 members of your crew to death and another 3 into critical condition. Would you be all for capturing and studying it, or putting it down before it can hurt anyone else? Especially if you suspected it might be a carrier for an unknown disease with origins linked to another disease that killed dozens/hundreds of people?

I don't know. When it gets right down to it, besides the alien virus she picked up from the Chitauri, almost all of her woes have come about from humans doing bad things (and you really do not need alien artifacts to convince humans do to awful things to each other). Hydra's agents have definitely done more personally against her than any specific alien artifact that Hydra has uncovered. But, she's never come across this paranoid over the super spies as she has over the recent alien encounter.

Ultimately, it was simply bad writing-the motivations may be sound, but the set-up is distinctly lacking. This turn is rooted in the writers need for drama, rather than the thought process of Simmons. (Plus, this is so obviously a way to deny the fans there Skimmons fix...).

[Galaxian]

Lol, Agents of SHIELD became Men in Black at the end of the episode with their on version of the neuralizer.

Fitz continues to own it!

[FlareKnight]

Well things continue to get messy here.

Looking forward to getting some information about what the heck Bobbi is up to. Exactly who are they working for here? Seems important enough that they are basically acting as Hydra, even if they consider their actions here to be different.

Also not sure this solution was as clean as they want it to be. Sure if you toss the device that guy can't use it to recover his memories. But wouldn't the Kree who invented the darn thing have a device that could restore his memories? Or at they going to just write it as the only device that can restore the memories is the one that took them? Plus what about that nurse? Is she just going to be left without her memories?

And as expected Sky is pushed into a corner and now is basically living in Ward's cell. I suppose the guy would like that, but regardless this isn't good.

Also yeah, Fitz remains the best character in the show. Awesome guy.

[Shinji103]

Huh, so all those scenes from the preview for this episode were about Skye after all. A bit of a fakeout there.

It sounded like whoever this "backup" is that Bobbi and Mack were talking about and Hunter was asking about, they may be some superpowered people themselves from the way Bobbi was saying they should call them to help with the Kree. Either way we'll probably find out soon, as this season has been doing a good job of not keeping secrets for too long and Mack just had to knock Hunter unconscious to keep his cover from being blown. Clearly that's not a long-term solution.

At least Simmons didn't go all paranoid on Skye for being "infected."

And wow, still nothing on Ward? Whether he comes back to the good guys or not sometime, he's still an important character.

[aohige]

Eh, at this point they made Ward waaaay too much of a creep to have him join the "good guys".
I can see Anti-hero who protects Skye at best.

I do wonder if they ever plan to make him the Taskmaster though.

[Shinji103]

Originally Posted by aohige

Eh, at this point they made Ward waaaay too much of a creep to have him join the "good guys".
I can see Anti-hero who protects Skye at best.

I'd have to disagree; he's had lots of chances to be a real bad guy, only to choose not to be. He could have just shot down the bus back before the season break and wipe out a large chunk of the threat to him, but he let them live. It's not really a bad guy thing to not kill the good guys who want you dead. Whitehall given the order to shoot anyway, but that wasn't in Ward's control.
And why didn't he try to blow up the guys chasing him to that bar back after his escape, using the bomb vest he had on? He could've just strapped that on Bakshi (or anybody in the bar), and boom. But the same thing; he had a good chance to take out his enemies, but he didn't take the shot.

[aohige]

You don't find creepy how he got his confession from his brother about what happened when they were kids, pat him and hug him it's alright as he broke down in tears, seemingly having resolved the issue... Only to find out he burned him and the parents alive off screen?

Yeah no. He's deceived and killed far too many people, both shield agents and not, for a redemption back into the team.
Like I said, "anti-hero" route is pretty much the limit of his redemption.

[Shinji103]

Originally Posted by aohige

You don't find creepy how he got his confession from his brother about what happened when they were kids, pat him and hug him it's alright as he broke down in tears, seemingly having resolved the issue... Only to find out he burned him and the parents alive off screen?

Yeah no. He's deceived and killed far too many people, both shield agents and not, for a redemption back into the team.
Like I said, "anti-hero" route is pretty much the limit of his redemption.

Yeah, about that; no I don't find the thing with his brother creepy. Because I called BS on that way back when the episode aired.
You don't have such an important, character-defining event happen off-screen. Not unless you're trying to hide something about it. Everybody I saw commenting on it (not on these forums) said it was poor writing to have it happen off-screen. I simply bet it happened off-screen because it didn't actually happen. As I said way back then, I wouldn't be at all surprised to see that Ward has just been stashing them somewhere and faked their deaths to get into Hydra, while getting his own personal satisfaction by ruining his brother's career.
Or, in more of a crazy crack theory, we find out that it was actually Ward's brother who killed their parents and was going to frame Ward for it, and Ward killed his brother in self-defence. Remember that his brother has a dang good reason to hate their parents too. (but my money is on the faking their deaths and stashing them theory)
Beyond that he hasn't killed anyone outside of SHIELD, and like I said, for a bad guy killer he's chosen not to kill quite a few people, especially people who are a threat to him and want to see him dead. And that makes me call BS on him killing his family all the more; he smiles about killing his family in a fire, but he won't even try to kill enemy agents who are gunning for him? It makes no sense. If it turns out he really did kill his family while willing to let people trying to kill him get away, then that is bad writing.

[james0246]

While I doubt Ward killed his brother, the brotherly exchange was still, as aohige mentioned, creepy (while I'm not convinced Ward killed his brother and family, I'm also not convinced that the brother's confession was anything more than a desperate bargain from a man thinking he was about to die). Ward has done too much to ever be let back into the team.

I expect Ward will return as a tertiary party that will aid or hinder SHIELD depending on the plot needed for the week. He might even have a similar storyline to Merlyn's from Arrow, but he will never be a member of the team again.

That being said, Vin-Tak was fun, and it is always a pleasure to see Eddie McClintock. He has wonderful comedic timing, but also a decent dramatic range that helped sell the Kree threat quite well (blue skin and all). Jaime Alexander also stepped up her Lady Sif, slowly turning her from more than a simple pretty face (I'm seriously hoping now that she becomes a regular). I also though Chloe Bennet held the dramatic weight a lot better this week; getting her out of that box certainly helped...sadly, she's just been put in another by the end of the episode. And the threat of terragenesis has been drastically increased, making for interesting future episodes (I'm now expecting a mass Inhumanity event by the end of the season, in which hundreds if not thousands of Inhumans are created).

edit: Kyle Maclachlan is coming back next week with an actual supervillain team. Damn that sounds fun.