Agents of SHIELD- episode 17

This episode begins with so much tension between our team. Coulson still thinks May is reporting to the Clairvoyant, she says the line goes directly to Fury who Coulson hasn’t been able to reach in months, why would May try to shoot Fitz and why was Fitz snooping around there anyway?!

Fitz confesses that he wanted to talk to Simmons who has been trying to uncover what Coulson and Skye have been hiding. Fitz looks like he’s going to cry the whole time. Everyone is defensive and tense and confused. They’re also taking fire and Coulson ends up icing May and dumping her with Ward in the holding cell while Coulson saves Agent Garrett and figures out that HYDRA is behind all this. Oh snap, But we saw Cap 2, right? So y’all knew that. And you weren’t surprised when Fitz fixed May’s line and the person on the other end said that Fury was dead. 

There are so many twists that my head hurts even trying to recount them. 

“I assembled this team!” -Agent May

Agent May and Coulson are still at odds, but they end up getting closer with the secrets out. It really breaks her out of her ice-queen persona.  Also enjoyed her calling out Ward for shooting the wrong man. Coulson chooses to trust her and she walks around looking extra bad-ass with her sleeve ripped off and a bandaged up arm. Ward and Skye make out in a closet because, unlike May, she thinks that him shooting an innocent man was romantic. 

The action scenes are intense. 

Triplett and Simmons spend some quality time. They’re distrustful of each other, though. Trip makes a move that saves both their hides. But at the end of the episode his Hydra status is unknown.

Agent Garrett is revealed to be the Clairvoyant, he slips up and says something that wasn’t in Coulson’s file, his exchange with Coulson is overheard by Agent Hand (who was never Hydra- she just thought Coulson was Hydra). So Hand and Coulson get back to being buds. For a moment. That scene was awesome, Garrett is being brought in, armed agents arrive, the Hydra aligned over take the true SHIELD agents and it all seems bad. Fitz cries. Then they all kick some serious ass before Hand busts in.

As Garrett is walked out Triplett and Ward appear shocked this scene has music playing over it rather than dialogue. Then Hand takes Ward as well, he will face charges rather than it being dismissed as a romantic gesture. AND I SAID “GOOD!”

But on the plane, Hand arms Ward, asks him if he wants to kill the real Clairvoyant. And he shoots everyone except his Supervising Officer. So… he killed Hand. Well then. So Ward is Hydra. Which is good, because I hate him. He can leave and Agent Triplett can join the team. The Simmons can have a love triangle and Skye can think about her poor taste in men. Yeah, yeah, May didn’t know either. And I’m extra concerned since she assembled the team after all. I’m not saying this is trying to show female incompetence, no one knew. Even Fury didn’t know. 

It was great to see the way they worked in everything Agents of SHIELD being at the Hub while Cap was at the Triskelion. The continuity! #itsallconnected Anyway, certainly adding to the fun but still either worked on it’s own (but why not do both if you have the option). This show has certainly hit it’s stride. Red herrings everywhere these past two episodes. Except… I did call Ward as Hydra. That’s why he shot out the fake Clairvoyant so that it would be all “problem solved” …not because of Skye. Garrett’s smack talk about Skye was just a motive. So how much of his backstory is a lie? And how hard is Melinda May going to fucking kick him.

I bet there’s some sappy reason why he stayed around with Garrett. Hydra has his brother and he ends up confiding in Skye. There’s still 5 more this season. It could happen.

Fury’s back in the finale! 

Secret Avengers #1

Save the Empire!

“Run the mission. Don’t get seen. Save the world.”

SHIELD director Maria Hill has assembled a black ops squad to deal with things that cannot publically involve the Avengers. Maria selects Nick Fury, Phil Coulson, Spider-Woman and Black Widow. …and SHIELD informant turned developer MODOK. …And Hawkeye accidentally joins up.

Coulson and Nick Fury are sent to a space station where they end up in over their heads with THE Fury (an immensely powerful cybiote programmed to exterminate all life). This interrupts Black Widow and Siper-Woman’s spa day. …Well, TECHNICALLY Hawkeye accidentally busting in to escape AIM agents does (there’s a lot of nip slips covered up by ‘classic hero stickers’ it’s really fun). Natasha Romanova had been trying to teach Jessica Drew how to unwind when all hell broke loose. 

Maria Hill sends the trio to space to assist Coulson and Fury while Maria and MODOK get blindsided by a Latverian Hitman. 

So there’s a bunch of things happening at once. I’m at least peripherally aware of these characters. Sneaked in snippets of backstory were all that I really needed here. Maria Hill is doing a lot, maybe too much, and it shows. Hawkeye stumbles comedically through life threatening situations. Coulson is more reckless than the decisive Nick Fury.  MODOK is always being MODOK. It was funny. Very Funny. 

I’m really into Michael Walsh’s quirkier art style, Matthew Wilson adds the colors and its somewhere between looking like 80s comics and a Samurai Jack cartoon. It’s really awesome, that’s the kind of thing I like, some people enjoy more realistic interpretations… Well, I don’t. It carries along Ales Kot’s somewhat slapstick and action packed script perfectly. 

And it was fun to see Coulson in the books. 

Agents of SHIELD Episode 13

Our favorite comic book secret agents are back after too long.

Skye and Coulson are bound and determined to track down Quinn and get revenge for torturing Coulson/find out what’s going on after all. They plan an elaborate scheme on a train to track him down.The pair ups get shaken as Coulson and Ward get ejected and see the train vanish, badass woman Agent May goes it alone, Gemma gets left behind and Skye and Fitz get their action hero on. 

This episode got pretty innovative, showing the events from multiple view points before meeting back up so we see whats happening rather than dialog and lengthy explanations. The agents are striken by an airborne gas version of “the night night gun” which leaves them with different concepts and timelines.

While every one is spending time with someone unusual things get rough. The beginning of the op begins with Simmons concocting a soap operatic cover story for her and “dad” Coulson which gets crashed by Stan Lee dressed like Hugh Hefner with a babe on each arm (who scolds him for having too many hos). Later Ward tells Coulson it’s “just sex” between him and May (but even more immaturely, not in those words), Coulson patches up May after she’s stabbed in interrogation by a European operative who’s sold them out, while Ward looks on he seems… jealous? suspicious? Gemma gets knocked out after taking one for the team so Fitz and Skye leave her behind well armed and take off  after Quinn themselves. Skye goes in, Fitz is left to disable the vehicles. Skye finds Mike Peterson -complete with cyborg leg -Deathlok confirmed, he ignores Skye. She also finds Quinn.. who shoots her. Twice. 

I know, right? The rest of the team arrives on the scene. They hear a struggle (Deathlok fighting Cybertek for leading SHIELD directly to them under the orders of the Clairvoyant). Mike leaves before anyone else sees him after getting a message (in his eye) not to engage SHIELD. They throw down, Ward goes in guns blazing, Coulson beats down Quinn, then he finds Skye shot. Simmons gives orders for them to put her in a cryo-chamber (Mike had been in it) but nothing happens.. yet… 

And I thought she was gonna go all 084 and show off her alien powers. Damn.

Ward gets pissed about what’s happened to Skye, seems to blame Fitz, but it was Skye’s call. He’d do better to be mad at Coulson, she went after Quinn for him, after all… Ward’s kind of a jerk. May could do better. Skye’s the only one who saw Mike, so no one knows what has happened to him and she didn’t get to tell anyone, now she’s on ice fighting for her life.

And we all get to hang in stasis like Skye until March 4 when SHIELD returns. 

Check out this cute pic of Chloe Bennet and Brett Dalton live tweeting on set 🙂

 

After some iffy epsodes this show has really hit its stride.. too bad it is an eternity between episodes. But with J August Richards back, and relationships getting closer and tense without being bogged down by angst, nerd cookies from all around the Marvel universe and some genuine giggles (Brett Dalton using the holotable? awesome.) it’s worth the wait. For the record, i think Ward’s gonna drop May for Skye… I’m not going to like it, but I think with her near death he’s going to have SO MANY FEELINGS and May gave him that “I said ready the plane!” in that voice that said clearly *this is grown woman business* ..I could actually care less about Ward’s relationship status but I like May and Coulson. Just me. How about you? Anyone ship Skitz?

Agents of SHIELD- episode 11

The team is now being led by Agent Hand since Coulson was kidnapped. And they are in pursuit of someone, but not just to lock him up. They need him to get closer to Coulson

Hand kicks Skye off the op. “You’re a distraction and you’re gone.”

Ward steps up. May says Skye will be of no use. 

Coulson is still dreaming of Tahiti. But he starts telling his kidnappers that we was dreaming of Michael Jordan and a game winning dunk. The man holding him says that he knows that Coulson went cold. A telepathic associate told him so. But now he is different. He can’t get a read on him anymore. 

Skye tries to hack in from a cafe. No luck. So she steals an SUV and crashes it. Mr. Rafman comes home where Skye has had the car towed. As an intimidation: she impersonates Agent May. Sweet. After reading a headline 

Hand gets suspicious about why SHIELD is using so many resources on Coulson. “Why is he so important?” she wonders…

And Ward is mad about Skye and says to May: “Why didn’t you stick up for her?”

May: “Excuse me?”

But it turns out that May snubs her so Skye could work how she works best. Not under anyone’s thumb, without attention from other agents. May scolds Ward for thinking the worst of her.

Skye is doing well on her own. She takes her new role as badass agent seriously. She orders Rafman to type his corporate ID into a secure swiss bank account. Security shows up and they get easily disarmed.

Meanwhile: Coulson’s original handler gets his face electrocuted by Raina’s employer. The Clairvoyant. Coulson tries to ask her what the point is. Why she’s doing this. She reminds him that the government, SHIELD, et al., have been creating super soldiers for years. She’s just trying to level the playing field. She wants to know what happened to him… and he does, too, right?

Skye gets the transaction records that she needs and takes off in Millionaire Dude’s Lamborghini. $BLSYALL

Raina plays more headgames with Coulson and he blurts out “It’s a magical plane,” then, “I keep saying that.” Raina: “Don’t you want to know why?” and then he gets back in the machine.

Skye calls Simmons. Simmons is the worst liar ever so May kicks out any interlopers to check on what she has found. Then they confront Hand, tell her about Skye’s tip. Hand says there is activity at the lab. May says they can split up. The team is following Skye’s tip. Hand is caught off guard that May is going against direction to team up with Skye, Hand reminds May that she backed the decision to kick Skye off the plane.

May: “Seems like it worked out.”

Hand: “Seems like you played me.”

 Skye finds the houses in the desert and starts looking around. She’s spotted, but the Calvary and company show up in time.Skye hears Coulson scream and rushes to find him. Raina tries to stop her saying that “it’s for his own good.” His flash back is of two doctors and a robot with many fingers electrocuting his brain. He kept screaming “Let me die! Just let me die!” one doctor says, “Listen to him! Who ordered this?!” Nick Fury himself. The damage was catastrophic. What he’s remembering turns out to be the 7th operation. He gets to confront the doctor at the end of the episode (and removes Skye’s tracker).

Too bad “The Clairvoyant” isn’t really Public Domain Superhero Claire Voyant. Would be interesting, just a thought. 

J. August Richards is ALIVE. But badly burned, missing a leg and has one of those killswitch cameras in his eye. Oh man. Mike Peterson, that’s a tight spot. Are they setting him up to be rescued, take out the SHIELD team, become a villain?! That was probably the most suspenseful ending yet. Can’t wait til next week! Welcome back Agents of SHIELD!!

Agents of SHIELD episode 10

The first ever 2 parter gets the series back to it’s beginnings as the team goes after Centipede!

A prisoner is busted out of a locked cell by soldiers sporting centipedes on their arms, the likes of which were seen in the first episode.

Skye’s looking for her mom, investigating SHIELD files, agent identities and the like. Coulson tells her it’ll be a long road, not to get her hopes up. Skye says it would be easier if she didn’t have a tracking bracelet. Coulson refuses to remove it, says he has Agent May looking into it.

Mike Peterson, played by J August Richards, returns! He was the single dad from the first episode who put himself through the centipede program to provide for his son. He’s trained to be an agent and is stabilized.

Ward makes snarky comments about what an out of control maniac he is and goes on about how Mike can’t be trusted …ummm… two episodes ago, when Ward came into contact with the Berserker staff, HE was an out of control unstable maniac… so stop it, Ward.

Ruth Negga comes back (she was The Girl in the Flower Dress) and it turns out she was the one who recruited Mike for the centipede experiment. Raina also visited the man who was broken out of prison.

FitzSimmons makes a suit for Peterson that monitors his vitals and what not, as they head out on their mission to track down the escaped convict. Ward makes a cheap comment that Peterson having superpowers is cheating… Ward’s need to be THE Alphamale is boring. Anyway, they go, they fight. Coulson does nothing in some convoluted attempt to test Peterson (again, even though he asked Peterson for help, but he continuously make Peterson prove how much he wants to be there. Ooookay). Peterson gets stabbed, but jumps up to defend Coulson from a soldier. Peterson takes the man down and then Coulson screams at the soldier “Who runs centipede?!” And the man’s eyeball explodes. Just like Akela’s eye would have in that long ago episode.

Kill switch.

We find out that Raina is under the escaped prisoners thumb, too.

May makes Skye cry. Now THAT wasn’t nice.

Coulson convinces Mike to call his son, that his son won’t see him as a monster. Mike’s son has been living with his sister since Mike was contained/relocated by SHIELD. He calls, but Raina has shown up there. She offers to trade Mike’s son, Ace, for Mike. They gear up, no comms, no artillery except Ward ready to shoot from a rooftop.

Coulson goes to make the exchange, but the deal wasn’t for Mike it was for Coulson. Centipede does not want Mike. Mike tries to take Raina as a hostage, but Raina’s boss wouldn’t care so Mike’s son would die. Coulson goes willingly but they tranquilize him anyway.

The team is dumbfounded.

Agent May calls for copters as Mike tries to run back after them after getting his son to safety.

The bridge erupts in explosions, Mike is dead (presumably). Coulson, Raina and henchmen get away in a jet and Ward gets shot down from his sniping position on a nearby rooftop.

What?!

But in the previews for the next episode -January 7th!!!- we see Ward and Coulson alive… but not Mike. So they brought him back, which the fans wanted… insulted him, made him beg for forgiveness and then… they killed him? They better not have. That’s so bullshit. Bring him back just to make his son an orphan… yuck.

And Skye’s big boo hoo, like we should feel bad for her after all the insults that she’s been hurling around about May? What goes around, comes around. At least she said it to your face. May knows more about Skye than she is letting on, she doesn’t want Skye hurt and she doesn’t like Coulson’s approach. I like her with Ward, even though I think Ward is boring as unsalted butter on wonderbread.

The helicopter shooting Ward was a genuine shock, but then they gave away that he would be alright in the previews. Seriously… what? Media manager, promotion specialist… you are fired.

And J. August Richards had BETTER come back.

Agents of SHIELD- episode 7

Coulson is kidnapped by Russian military, Coulson has a man on the inside, Agent Shaw. “The Calvary” Agent May arrives and starts kicking in faces and they escape to the tundra above. Simmons shoves a probe up Agent Shaw’s nose and recovers the intel. The intel is classified. Level 8 (they’re level 7, remember?) Skye offers to help decrypt it, but they decline and they head to “the Hub” Skye is eager to look for info on her parents. Coulson tries to keep her in line. Of course, that won’t work so they leaves her behind. 

Turns out the intel was on a Russian separatist group, looking to secede who have a device that can send vibrations and trigger any weapon. Expecting Ward and May to be dispatched, Agent Hand (played by Saffron Burrows) requests Fitz. Simmons dotes over him and makes him his favorite sandwich, he tells her not to do anything rash like jump out of an airplane. He even gets sassy with Agent Ward. 

On the drive out, Fitz tells nerdy stories about himself and Simmons to Ward, who is bored (but frankly, these stories are more interesting than Agent Ward). Ward, pretending to be looking for Uri is told that Uri is dead and that he has no friends there by a big man brandishing a gun. 

Coulson is talking with Agent Hand about how his recovery is almost over and that he’s one of Fury’s favorites. 

Ward and Fitz are confronted with a big woman who says Uri knew separatists and that she has no reason to trust the two of them. The power goes out just before a trigger gets pulled.

Skye goes to confront Coulson at the Hub and get more info about the boys’ mission. Coulson keeps it hush hush, she quips: “He’s acting like a robot version of himself right now.” har har more LMD jokes.

Skye tries to convince Simmons that they need to know what’s going on, maybe they can help! “I can’t be part of your bad girl shenanigans!” good girl Simmons exclaims, but she comes around when Skye points out that SHIELD sending in operatives in full gear means that their boys are in trouble, what it Fitz is tortured?!

But he’s not. He’s fixing the power, then he’s served a shot, which he downs with great enthusiasm, earning the trust of the Ruskies. 

Coulson watches Agent May do Tai Chi. She doesn’t let herself be interrupted, but Coulson spills his guts, he doesn’t like keeping the level 8 intel to himself. “Trust the system” he works out on his own.

Skye has Simmons on a secret mission, she’s jazzed about it. But an upper level agent recognizes her.

Meanwhile, Ward and Fitz are on the run hiding in a drain pipe. 

Simmons, unable to talk her way out of anything shoots Agent Sitwell with the stun gun. Skye scolds her and they go get Agent May to bail them out. 

Ward throws away Fitz’s sandwich!!! A buffalo mozzarella and prosciutto sandwich with just a hint of pesto aioli.” He says it is because dogs are tracking them, Fitz scolds back that Ward always has to be the hero and no he’s saved them from the world’s most dangerous sandwich. 

Skye is in a race to search for the boys or info on her biological parents. At the last second she chooses Ward and Fitz. There’s a note, their location. No extraction.

Coulson catches her. “You told me to trust the system. And the system sent Ward and Fitz in there to die.”

Finally! The government is not infallible!

Skye is furious that Coulson has kept this a secret from them. He says that “Someday I might need to trust you with a secret, and I need to know that you can keep it.” She hacked a level 8 server, does she really want to be a SHIELD agent?

Ward and Fitz get to their destination. They find the weapon that makes the vibrations. 

Coulson and Hand have a big blow out about who should have known what and when, who was entitled to it and how many times Coulson designed ops with no extraction. 

Fitz is dismantling the machine, time is running out. Ward tells Fitz to go, that he’ll take care of it. Fitz argues that he is every bit the agent that Ward is. As soon as the machine is disconnected the separatists will know that their security has been breached, but Fitz pulls the plug.

Skye has told Simmons and Agent May about Ward and Fitz and they head out. Coulson decides he is down as well. 

Ward AND Fitz kick some ass and get out.

And find… no one… But then the jet flies overhead:

“Extraction team?”

“Better. The Calvary.” 

Skye was dropped off at the orphanage by a SHIELD agent. Still shrouded in secrecy is why. May vows to help Coulson find out the whole truth for Skye, and for himself. He calls SHIELD and requests a file. About an agent. His recovery took place in Tahiti. He’s declined. Suspicious? oh yeah. But I don’t know why we are still dragging this out when anyone who’s ever seen a comicbook knows Coulson is an LMD. Surprise me, TV. Make it good.

Agent Hand appeared in Brian Michael Bendis’ run on Dark Avengers (I’m a big fan of his, he’s been doing rad stuff with the X-Men), I wonder if she’ll be back! 

Good development for Fitz, I liked him being ore than a quirky nerd and great development for May and Coulson’s friendship as well.