Agents of SHIELD -Episode 21

We’re treated to a flash back 15 years in the past of when Ward met Garret. Ward was in juvie after busting out of military school to burn down his father’s house. They’re playing up this traumatic childhood angle. They kind of already jumped the shark with that with Skye’s background.

The remaining Agents of SHIELD… well, Agents of Nothing, are regrouping. Skye reveals that she implanted tracking software into the hard drive that Ward took from her (which also has the info on the alien DNA that Garrett desperately wants). But there’s another step. A flash drive to activate it needs to be inserted into one of their computers. 

Coulson shows how it’s all connected

Triplett shows up with some antique gadgets. Spy gear borrowed from his Grandpa. The rest geek out, Fitz lights the drapes on fire and May worries about their capability to function as a team. Fitz is wondering what drove Ward to betray them, he hypothesizes that Ward has a killswitch in his eye, or something. Skye says that “he’s evil” that’s it. Which seems odd. She began as a double agent after all, she knows life is more complicated. People have all sorts of reasons. Even if they aren’t good ones.

15 years ago: “Speak up son, I’m not a mind reader” Garrett left Ward in the woods to forage for himself. So this is going to be a “he taught me how to be a man” story.

Coulson and May working together undercover is awesome. They get in to Cybertech and they find that Garrett was the first Deathlok. They throw the whole filing cabinet out a window and they escape. And then have pizza.

Garrett collapses. His organs are failing around the biomechanics. 

Coulson tells Skye that she did the right thing not letting Deathlok kill Ward. Skye still thinks that May has “no feelings” but she opens up that she’s furious, she’s just saving it to take Ward down.

But Fitz still thinks Ward is the victim, and is looking for a reason why. It makes sense for his character. Young, naive, few close friends, good natured: he doesn’t understand why ANYONE would choose to be dishonest when they have a great job and great friends. But seriously… Ward was such an asshole to him. You all hate Ward now, but I’ve hated Ward since he threw Fitz’s sandwich. Since he rubbed it in Fitz’s face that he saved Gemma when Fitz couldn’t. Showoff. Weak and self aggrandizing.

15 years ago: Garrett goes back to the mountains 6 months later with tacos and finds a more capable Ward. Then he shoots all Ward’s stuff. Dude’s a dick.

Gemma and Fitz find Garrett and Ward, Coulson tells them DNE. Gemma wants to throw down. Ward finds them.

10 Years Ago: Garrett and Ward are still in the damn woods. Garrett tells Ward about how SHIELD wasn’t loyal to him when he was blown up by an IED in Sarajevo. How Garrett became HYDRA.

On the plane Fitz pulls out the “buzzer” and electrifies the plane. Garrett collapses. “Ward. Let him die.” Dying Garrett orders Ward to kill Fitz and Gemma, and then we flash to the “final test” of younger Ward in the woods being told to shoot Buddy, the dog who has lived with him in the woods for 5 years. Garrett leads him to believe that compassion is a weakness (the opposite of what Coulson related to Skye earlier “Compassion is harder”). It shows Fitz and Gemma in between Ward not being able to shoot the dog. He shoots into the air and the dog takes off.  But then we see the dog through a scope and it’s implied that Garrett shot Buddy anyway.

“It’s not a weakness, is it.” 

Gemma and Fitz are thrown into the ocean. Coulson, May, Trip and Skye are surrounded by centipede supersoldiers and Ian Quinn pedals his tech to the US gov. Garrett gets juiced up by Flowers and he’ll live to see the finale (Samuel L Jackson will be there)

Somewhere in there Deathlok reminded us that he’s still good dad Mike Peterson under the shiny weaponry, Raina (Flowers) reveals she’s involved out of curiosity. That she can’t resist “special people” (can’t say mutants) and that she feels connected to Skye. She also found out that Skye’s parents were “Monsters” (can’t say mutants)

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! 

Agents of SHIELD- episode 16

The most intense episode YET. Last week, Maurissa Tancharoen addressed fans’ unrealistic expectations for Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD, saying “People were expecting to see a Marvel movie every week.” And, as pointed out on the Mary Sue, that may be valid.. and may be dismissive and insulting but either way, this week fans got a Marvel movie. Surprise twists were a minute by minute occurrence.

Deathlok busts in to Bill Paxton/Agent Garrett and BJ Britt/Agent Triplett’s dwelling.. then, once being met with more firepower than he was ready for: busts out, through the ceiling. Coulson calls a gaggle of senior SHIELD agents together. Including Agent Hand and Agent Blake. They think that the Clairvoyant is a former SHIELD Agent who was dismissed. All hands on deck.. even (Brian Michael Bendis created character) Hand. Meanwhile, FitzSimmons are trying to figure what healed Skye so fast. (Bill Paxton also makes inquiries more subtly later.) They make Skye’s an agent, a Level 1 agent as Hand points out. Ward sneaks coy looks at her while everyone says their congratulations.

Skye designs how they are going to find the agents that made the shortlist of who could be the Clairvoyant without giving away enough info to any one agent that they could use to tip off the Clairvoyant.

Agent Blake gets choked by Deathlok as May arrives. Blake fired 6 shots into him. 5 bullets and one tracker. Blake ends up in critical condition. Paxton keeps calling Agent Hand “Vic” and she gets pissed, she blames Coulson for not sharing how dangerous Deathlok was and getting them into an unknown situation. Hand is a control freak and this was very in character. But the rest of them get back to tracking Deathlok in hopes of finding the Clairvoyant. Except Gemma and Triplett who head for the Hub (where Gemma plans to covertly analyze Skye’s blood sample in their cushier lab and with Triplett! *squee* I actually dig Fitz, I think he takes a lot of unnecessary crap from Ward -who is about to get LESS boring- and I like the quirky underdog academic thing. But I would ship Trimmons. Maybe I just want the brainy chick to get a love triangle…)

Anyway, they bust out their big guns and their shiny toys and find Deathlok. Fitz gets and X-Ray and the tech is all under his skin like Cyborg on Smallville. Which I’m sure made nerds on the internet and their cries of “He doesn’t look like Deathlok! You didn’t read the comics! What are they doing!” cease for ten frigging seconds. I love so much nerd shit, but some of y’alls give me a headache above my right eye. They chase him around, the action is awesome, Deathlok jumps down 6 flights of stairs to escape Melinda May, and Deathlok leads Coulson and Garrett to the Clairvoyant. Or at least.. a disabled man in a wheelchair who is unable to speak in a room full of computers who is taunting Coulson, saying he watched him watch Skye bleed in his arms knowing it was his fault. But Skye has something he wants.. and she’ll die for it.

And Ward shoots him.

Goody frigging two-shoes shoots a disabled man in cold blood. And Coulson doesn’t think he was the Clairvoyant. He didn’t talk, the computers spoke for him. Skye finds that the Clairvoyant has only known things that were in the agents’ files. Stuff from psych evals. Like, he didn’t know that Coulson died because Fury never allowed that in the file.

So Coulson confronts Ward “I don’t want your apologies, I don’t want your excuses, did someone order you to kill the Clairvoyant?!” (And I wouldn’t have considered that, but Agent Triplett talked about killing the Clairvoyant for his ax to grind earlier in the ep, I thought maybe he implanted the idea)

The next twist is seconds later as Fitz attempts to contact Simmons and finds that May has a secret line (the one she’s been using to give someone updates about Coulson) he gets spooked when May comes in and he tells Skye, who tells him to cut it. He does AND MAY FOLLOWS HIM WITH A GUN. But Skye finds Coulson and they pursue May (who I think COULD have shot both of them). The gun is just an icer, but Coulson says he’ll shoot her and does the “Who do you work for?!” bit again. He yells at her about the Clairvoyant and she is baffled. But she can’t talk about it here. Then the plane gets hijacked.

By Hand.

And with episode I am glad that I was liking this show while others were hating. Skye got stuff to do. Coulson got appropriately paranoid, FitzSimmons didn’t follow orders like good little lab geeks, there was a kick ass villain, a billion genuine anxiety producing plot twists and they rectified the biggest social justice fail on the show. With a competent black agent (who might possibly be a love interest *fingerscrossed*). Because up until this point, black people have been villains and victims. That shit is not inclusion, think about it if you haven’t. If you really need that explained to you, leave a comment I will help you. Because you might need it.

BJ Britt is kind of awesome. I need more of him. J. August Richards is doing a fucking awesome job. The Clairvoyant said he cut Deathlok’s feed so I’m wondering where that will lead in upcoming episodes. Is he still going to be pissed at SHIELD and supes for getting him into this? Will he see his son? Will he Go after the Clairvoyant and team back up with Coulson? Possibilities.

Greatest episode ever.

Agents of SHIELD- episode 15

Yes Men AKA “The Lady Sif episode”

Lorelei, Amora’s kid sister, Loki’s friend and sometime love interest; shifts her focus from random newlywed to a gang of bikers to start her army. Similarly to Loki, Lorelei is the younger sibling that never lives up to expectations, Lorelei has recently been confined and unable to speak, so when she gets loose she really blows the doors off of things.

Back at the plane, Skye is still stuck in bed at the prodding of Agents Simmons who is desperately trying to find out more about the “wonder drug.” Ward comes in to visit Skye and makes cute smiles at her while she complains that “she must look hideous” (she’s wearing an awful lot of makeup for someone who ‘hasn’t seen a mirror’). Anyway, Coulson is trying to find Director Fury but no one will let him near him. Suspicion grows! But while Coulson is gone, Agent May holds down the fort. They get a call about incoming Asgardian activity.

They find Lady Sif in the middle of the desert via the bifrost. Lorelei entered unnoticed via one of Loki’s secret pathways. Lady Sif explains that they are up against a sorceress that can bend men’s wills. Lorelei is used to commanding armies and starting wars. She also explains that Lorelei’s power only works on men… they have an inherent weakness..

Is the weakness a Y chromosome?

The implication is, of course, that no MAN can resist her feminine wiles. But so… even men who are gay? But not women who are gay?

Because I have got to tell you. This would have been a better episode if Simmons was bi and helped Lorelei take down the team. No one would have expected that and we would have gotten some LGBT visibility over here -in the comic book genre/Marvel Universe/primetime network TV realm where there’s not much. And in this case, it wouldn’t have been “inclusion cookies” it would have actually added depth to the episode.

Because I honestly called the rest of this shit.

The Team + Lady Sif heads to the biker bar where Lorelei is setting up her empire, and I already know that 1/2 the team is men and of that team there are only 3 that really get out of the plane and 2/3 of them are men. If Lorelei is after the greatest warriors then she will head for Ward (even though that makes less sense since Coulson is actually “the leader” but we need angst here people!) and Ward will fall hard and by the time Lorelei squeezed his arm I was already like “We can pack this up here. He won’t betray Lorelei for May but Skye will bring him around.”

So, Simmons gets sidetracked (because she’s been tending to Skye instead of being in the field and having more involvement in the Lorelei situation) and says that she needs outside help to identify the Wonder Drug. I love driven academic types. Coulson shoots it down. Ward and Lorelei head for Vegas. There Ward references that he cares for a member of the team but that she’s nothing next to Lorelei…

The the two have a sexy clothes ripping hook up. After she feeds him the line “You’re a real man with the rage of a berserker inside.” Which reminds us that the fury brought on by the berserker staff is still very much alive in Ward (yeah, so in Melinda May, too)

Meanwhile Sif and May bond over weaponry and losing their men to vixens. Sif warns her that Ward, the real Ward is lost to Lorelei’s will. May says “Ward won’t kill me. He might try to kill me, but he won’t.”

And then, while they should be looking for Lorelei, she and Ward take over the plane. This leads to the inevitable May vs. Ward faceoff -where Lorelei reveals that the “beautiful warrior with the heart of ice” is not the one who had his love.

Sif, meanwhile throwing down with Lorelei is antagonized by the redhaired vixen who reminds Sif that she made the love of Sif’s life obey her every command, that Thor thinks of Sif as a man. Sif subdues her and slaps the magic collar on. Ward snaps out of it just in time to not get dead and stuff.

But here’s the fucking thing though, so none of our “strong” chicks get happiness? Ward tries to apologize to May, she waves it off with an “I told you that you didn’t have to worry about that with me.” Which she did, she was really forthcoming with the fact that it would be no strings attached and that it couldn’t get in the way of work. May also has a heart to heart with Coulson, say that he needs to open up about what he saw, even if it’s not to her, even if it’s to Skye. And he does and he tells Skye that the “wonder drug” was alien blood (btw- Sif mentioned the Kree earlier, I’m thinking my theory was right!). In the closing scenes we catch Melinda May listening in… and she calls it in, saying that “Coulson knows.”

So, damn, May knew?

I don’t want Ward and Skye together. I just don’t. And I don’t really hate Skye. I’m tired of this idea that tough and capable women aren’t worthy of love in the way that special snowflake Mary Sues are.

This episode had a lot going on in the background (Coulson divulging about the alien, the obvious cover-up, Melinda’s informing on them.). And a lot of awesome stuff in the foreground (Lorelei recently reappeared in Loki:Agent of Asgard #2, and it was awesome. And who does not love Jaimie Alexander looking all Asgardian? Nerd cookies everywhere!) But this fucking episode also ignored the existence of LGBT people entirely. And it’s even worse because of Lady Sif and Melinda’s implied fist bump over male weakness. Umm.. no. Because it’s not that. It’s that men are socialized to be protectors and unfortunately women are socialized to be damsels. Which is what happened here. Skye was kicked back all helpless, while May was fighting for everyone’s safety …but who does Ward love? Melinda’s showed him tenderness and compassion (as much as she can) but who does Ward love? Women are socialized to believe that being a true equal takes you out of the running for being a love interest. The backstory of both May and Sif in this episode fucking dead on perpetuated that. Shut up. I feel like there’s something in there about Lorelei using her sexuality for empowerment but not being better than the “strong female characters” -but even so, they don’t get the whole package, either.

Someone write me a fanfic where Gemma Simmons falls for Lorelei and she hijacks the plane while the lock Ward in the holding cell which would have been the logical thing to do anyway: WHO BRINGS SOMEONE WHO HAS ZERO CHANCE OF NOT BECOMING A HUMAN WEAPON? Where was Agent Hand and Maria Hill?! If “only men are susceptible” why would you not CALL ALL THE WOMEN?!

Someone help. Send logic.

Agents of SHIELD- episode 14

Skye is still hanging by a thread. The team gets a negative report about the likeliness of her coming out of this intact. Everyone gets sad, May storms off- to beat the crap out of Ian Quinn -billionaire who shot Skye, lackey to the Clairvoyant- she does, Coulson calls her off and then he says he has a plan. SHIELD saved him and he was long dead, Skye is still alive. The doctors who traeted him can help her!

Only another SHIELD team shows up to collect Ian Quinn and stop them for this horribly unsanctioned mission. The agents are Agent Garrett (Bill Paxton) and Agent Triplett (BJ Britt). Bill Paxton was a cranky older agent with a vendetta against Quinn who repeatedly referred to Skye as “the girl” despite the fact that she is an adult woman. BJ Britt is fine as hell and his character got a crush on Simmons.

I will ship Trimmons. No lie. Come back soon Triplett.

Anyway, in the journey to find the facility and the doctors, Simmons finds out one compound that might save Skye: gh375. And May gets suspicious about all the unanswered questions in Coulson’s file. But they get to the facility and the security door asks them “How was the drive from Istanbul?” And no one knows so they blast their way in. Coulson gets freaked when he sees the robot thing that poked his brain. Yeah. And he finds what they need for Skye. He sends Garrett off with it, but he needs to see behind the door marked: T.A.H.I.T.I. and behind that door Coulson finds… And Coulson yelled “Don’t give that to Skye!” But Simmons already had. And Skye convulsed, but then she started breathing and her heart beat normally again.

Later, May goes to ask Coulson what he found. And he says it was nothing. Says it was all in his head and he just got freaked out. But the audience is treated to the world’s most absurd flashback… And I can’t really explain it to you…. dude, I don’t even know… someone said a Chitauri cadaver. It looked like a mummy of Dr. Manhattan… I don’t even know. The live tweet exploded with WTFs. Even Marvel didn’t know WHAT.

In the after scenes we see a cocky Asgardian woman enchanting a man away from his wife in the middle of Death Valley. I was thinking it would be Amora banished to Earth by Thor, but it’s Lorelei-

an ally and confidante to Loki. Lady Sif will be coming after the saucy vixen.

This was a great episode back, but it seemed to throw relationships up in the air. May and Ward barely spoke, May showed concern and tenderness for Coulson, Simmons got all doe eyed at Triplett… le sigh… tragedy always tests romance. I’m sure not sure what T.A.H.I.T.I. stands for or WHAT they injected into Skye. I just can’t even… Glad to have the team back though. I hope BJ Britt has A LOT MORE SCREEN TIME. That is all.

8 more episodes this season! Damn, there’s still time to get more fans on board and keep this show going strong!  Do you think Agents of SHIELD has hit it’s stride?

Edited to add @AllanAnthro threw down that the alien might be Kree. There are blue Kree and Pink Kree. it Skye is part alien (thus her 084 status) she might be part pink Kree and thats why the injection helped her, because the transfusion was suitable for her body? Maybe.

 

 

For those of us Fiercely missing Agents of SHIELD

14 long long days until a new episode, TAHITI , where Coulson finds out more about his past and presumably saves Skye. Bill Paxton guest stars on that one, as does BJ Britt (who has guest starred on Vampire Diaries, Grimm and Sons of Anarchy as well as the Wonder Woman TV movie and the flick Vampires Suck).

Of course, you probably don’t care as much about those guest stars as you do about the March 11th episode that features Lady Sif. Jaimie Alexander appears as the awesomely armor-clad Asgaardian in the (hopefully season and not series) finale “Yes Men”

It’s these kind of nerd cookies and side characters and tie-ins to the Marvel Universe that have really been keeping fans entertained. An IGN blogger compiled a list of who they would like to see make a cameo to keep the hype going. I agree, either She-Hulk would be optimal -but Jennifer Walters is a small time character *snort* please. But it seems like everyone from Jezebel to Stan Lee himself has ideas on how to fix the show and keep viewers excited. Is Jaimie Alexander’s appearance getting you hyped? Anyone you’d like to see hit the SHIELD set?

The series debuted with record numbers, but since 6 million less have tuned in.

No news of being officially canceled or renewed yet. But as a belated Valentine’s Day gift: A look at Skye’s -I mean Chloe Wang’s -I mean, Chloe Bennet’s music career debut.

I’m optimistic about where they could go with SHIELD, who they could bring in and how they will use who they’ve got. The second half of the season has brought depth to Agent May’s no-nonsense persona, Skye’s backstory plotline has wrapped itself up and now we have established characters working through their quirks without relying heavily on being cliche archetypes -everyone’s stretching out of their established comfort zone. And that’s good.

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 12

A cadet at one of the SHIELD academies turns the pool into ice water (is he Iceman or a human incarnation of the recent polar vortex?) the cadets are pretty shaken up. It’s the school Fitz-Simmons went to (not the one Ward went to- which is the jock version)

While there Skye has a moment of reflection and uncharacteristically resents how she “hacked her way in” and “didn’t earn her role as a SHIELD agent” -which makes no sense, since by using minimal resources she proved that she could accomplish what others do with constant support and hand holding, but Ward says, “All you need is a dedication to the greater good” and Coulson saw that in her. She earned her spot as well as anyone.

Agent May wrangles the distraught and distracted Coulson and gets him to go on a side quest after she found some info on Skye’s family.

Fitz-Simmons begin a lecture on the importance of brainiacs and during this lecture, one of the students becomes coated in a thick sheet of ice… Fitz-Simmons makes with the medical attention while Skye finds a cannister… she smashes it and the ice fails.

Apparently these are Freshman Pranks… proving genius teens can be damn juvenile, too.

May has a well thought out plan of how she would escape from SHIELD. Coulson asks her why she is talking so much. He knows it’s all to distract him since the big revellation “I know you, Phil. And I knew you before.” He says he still trusts her. He doesn’t want any more secrets…

And May has one:

“Agent Ward and I have been having sex.”

But then there target arrives, and unfazed Coulson runs after him. How did he know right away that “this is about the baby girl” The man found the baby in the arms of a dead agent. The baby was 084, she had powers. Someone killed her family and a handful of agents and he helped get Skye somewhere safe. For obvious reasons, SHIELD isn’t a safe place for him. The man also says that May and Coulson should stay away from Skye because “where ever she goes, death follows” which seems quite presumptuous since he saw her only as a tiny baby and it couldn’t have been her fault. May decides that they can never ever tell anyone. they can never tell Skye.

The kids are hanging out in The Boiler Room, but it’s cooler than when Jordan Catelano and Angela Chase did it. It’s a full damn club. Ward tries to flirt with a girl who reveals that the attacks were staged to get Fitz there.

WHAAAAT?!

And then Fitz doesn’t listen to Simmons and walks in to the geek boy who almost died’s giant snow-cone maker… I mean giant version of the ice cannister amplifier… thing. So any moisture nearby will turn instantly into ice. it’s in the hands of spoiled and/or angsty outcast teens… who are selling it to Ian Quinn.

Coulson tries to give Skye the cold shoulder.

Ian Quinn tries to bail on the deal saying that he wants to see it in action, to be sure since there’s so much heat now. But the ice bomb is bunk.

Coulson confesses that they went to Mexico City to confront someone who knows where Skye came from. Coulson tells her that it’s worse that she imagined. But he tells her anyway. About the massacred SHIELD team, that the woman who dropped her off is dead.

Skye cries and I almost cry as a storm rolls in. Hail pelts the students. And angsty geek says “I did it.”

So the super-nerds in training created the polar vortex… Knew it. The cannister thing gets struck by lightning. Seth (alpha nerd) gets rendered unconscious. The gang flies in. They rush the two boys onto the plane and try to resuscitate Seth. They don’t.

Coulson and May get back to the chat about their side mission. Coulson is still unfazed about May and Ward’s relationship. May knows Coulson told Skye everything. But for Skye now she knows that she didn’t get bounced around from foster home to foster home because no one wanted her but it was because SHIELD was protecting her. So SHIELD was her family all along… awwwwww…. But really Coulson just revealed that her biological family was murdered, as were others who tried to help her and instead of being torn down, she takes from it what she can.

Coulson asks regarding tragedy: “How do you respond? Who do you become?”

A good question for himself, Agent Melinda “the Cavalry” May, Skye, Donny the ice-olated school boy (pun shamelessly stolen from Phantastic Geek) and Mike Peterson -who may or may not be Deathlok.

This episode was genuinely surprising to me. Looking forward to seeing where they go with this “Skye is an alien” thing, glad to have one of the angstier plotlines wrapped up.

As for Donny:

Ironman villain Donny Gill #itsAllConnected

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.