Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D

Cyia said:

Am I the only one getting a HYDRA buzz off Simmons?

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She *is* getting better at lying.

Awe no more Patton Oswalt

After hearing Ward's childhood abuse ret-con, I think that Garret is either his older brother, or - more likely - he's the one that finally put older brother down, making him the man Ward "owes everything" to. And I'm assuming Skye left Eric's tablet for Coulson and the others to track her with, along with a note outing Ward as Hydra.

Even if the writers dashed all of my hopes by making Coulson's cellist not Wanda Maximoff, he and Audrey were adorable. *sniffle*

And was I the only one expecting May to make a "cavalry" style appearance at the end and hand Ward his own entrails whilst saving Skye (Mary Sue Poots?! Why would the orphanage hate her that much? WHY???) and Eric?

Also - Yes, a TARDIS in a box WOULD be the best thing to find on a desert island, if one was looking for a way off.

Max Vaehling said:

"Play this blandly. We'll tell you why, later." Works for me.

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That's what I was thinking. Direction is everything.

Cyia said:

And was I the only one expecting May to make a "cavalry" style appearance at the end and hand Ward his own entrails whilst saving Skye...

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Nope. The person I was watching with said (as May was leaving the bunker): "And she'll be back to save the day!"

I am very happy that this episode kept a really strong pace. The series really has gotten better with the hydra takeover.

Also, the cellist scene playing over Ward hunting for Skye and Skye finding the dead body was a nice touch.

Cyia said:

Awe no more Patton Oswalt

After hearing Ward's childhood abuse ret-con, I think that Garret is either his older brother, or - more likely - he's the one that finally put older brother down, making him the man Ward "owes everything" to. And I'm assuming Skye left Eric's tablet for Coulson and the others to track her with, along with a note outing Ward as Hydra.

Even if the writers dashed all of my hopes by making Coulson's cellist not Wanda Maximoff, he and Audrey were adorable. *sniffle*

And was I the only one expecting May to make a "cavalry" style appearance at the end and hand Ward his own entrails whilst saving Skye (Mary Sue Poots?! Why would the orphanage hate her that much? WHY???) and Eric?

Also - Yes, a TARDIS in a box WOULD be the best thing to find on a desert island, if one was looking for a way off.

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I think more likely that Garrett is the one who pulled Ward out of his family, and as much as Ward clearly is not an agent of SHIELD, he takes the ideas of loyalty and duty very seriously. I'm enjoying him immensely as a villain for those reasons--everything he says is true, it just doesn't apply the way we thought it did.

Same goes for his feelings for Skye--I believed it when he said he wanted to stay in the bunker and forget everything else.

I hope they don't kill him off soon, yet I'm not terribly eager for a redemption plot either.

During every episode, I'm like, now would be a good time to get Tony Stark's help. Surely he's got a spare suit lying around they could use! C'mon, Bruce Banner' s not busy! Why can't he help out?

I wasn't sure I'd enjoy that episode when it started with a superdude being supervillain-y, but it turned out to be a very fun, character-development-heavy episode. I'm still amazed at how much this show's picked up.

RichardGarfinkle said:

But I do regret the loss of Patten Oswalt, Agent of Shield. I liked the lie detector duel between him and Ward.

And it does look like Triplett is Ward's replacement, what with the Howling Commando grandfather and all.

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I was actually a little disappointed with how they handeled Ward's lie detector test. With how obsessed Oswalt's character had been about secrecy and trust, the idea that the test would go that nuts and he'd give Ward *so* many chances to come up with an acceptable answer and then not flag him in any way felt a little forced to me. I guess it beats him magically just beating the test, but it didn't quite work for me.

Luckily basically everything else in the episode did!

I can't even put into words how excited I was when we heard Triplett was a legacy. Not that legacy characters won't and can't go bad, but I'm so hoping he'll permanantly join the team

I was actually a little disappointed with how they handeled Ward's lie detector test. With how obsessed Oswalt's character had been about secrecy and trust, the idea that the test would go that nuts and he'd give Ward *so* many chances to come up with an acceptable answer and then not flag him in any way felt a little forced to me. I guess it beats him magically just beating the test, but it didn't quite work for me.

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I agree this was forced, but it was a nice moment for character development across the team. Perhaps if Patton's character had heard of Ward before, like he knew who Coulson was, it could have made more sense. This goes back to Hand, too, for as adamant as she was about not trusting anyone (including Coulson!), she never tried questioning Ward.

They've spent a lot of energy comparing Ward to Romanoff (going back to even the first couple of episodes) in terms of skills, so I've started wondering about that. Although it's a stretch to compare what film vs. tv is capable of, we're supposed to believe that Ward really is the absolute best of the best and, given shared screen time, they would be on the same skill level. I wonder if they are setting up for bigger character-driven comparisons. I don't know a lot about the Black Widow character beyond what happened in The Avengers, but she made a mention in the film about having a bad past and working to redeem. That's where I think we are headed with Ward.

If Ward is evil, why did he save Simmons when she fell out the plane. He didn't have to but he did it anyway. It makes me wonder if this is the direction the show was meant to take from the beginning or whether a rewrite was done due to the negative criticism the show got leading up to its mid season finale.

I wanted to keep Oswalt because it would be nice to have more characters that have... well... "character".

I thought the tragic romance was starting to push Coulson full Mary Sue.

veinglory said:

I wanted to keep Oswalt because it would be nice to have more characters that have... well... "character".

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He was great. Which means in a Whedon world he's marked for dead. Great casting, though. Want someone with immediate likability? Call Oswalt.

I thought the tragic romance was starting to push Coulson full Mary Sue.

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That storyline was disappointing considering how strong the other storyline currently is, not to mentioned the great Amy Acker was wasted. But I hope bringing her in now in a small capacity may allow her to return later with purpose. (Plus she does villainy well.)

RichardGarfinkle said:

That was mentioned specifically in last week's episode. Ward explained that jumping out of the plane showed Coulson and co that he could be trusted.

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That, and I still think she's HYDRA. There were a couple of weighted looks in this one, and her answers on the lie detector were as calculated as Ward's. At this point, assuming she's actually a mole, she's the most dangerous one on the team.

I see a Fitz-Simmons face off in the near future where Fitz will be put into the position of being the only one who can kill her. And he will, tearfully, because -- Whedon. Buffy always has to be the one to stab Angel

Cyia said:

That, and I still think she's HYDRA. There were a couple of weighted looks in this one, and her answers on the lie detector were as calculated as Ward's. At this point, assuming she's actually a mole, she's the most dangerous one on the team.

I see a Fitz-Simmons face off in the near future where Fitz will be put into the position of being the only one who can kill her. And he will, tearfully, because -- Whedon. Buffy always has to be the one to stab Angel

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Even if she is Hydra, I'd be surprised if Ward and Simmons know about each other. Simmons could get her research to Garrett without needing Ward needing Skye to unlock the hard drive. Although I do think we're moving to a space where Garrett doesn't really want the research--he was the embodiment of the research, Skye, and that may not sit well with Ward.

But regardless if she's evil or not, I like what they're doing with Fitz-Simmons. Fitz is growing into his role as agent now that it matters most and Simmons is questioning how much it actually means to her now it's not so cushy. It's a nice dynamic.

I like that Ward has gone full-blown evil. Killing Patton Oswalt after he gave you a lanyard? That's cold, Ward.

And speaking of them, here's something I didn't think I'd be typing a few months ago: Ward and Skye were my favorite part of this episode. Can't wait to see how the Ward\Skye dynamic plays out next episode. That's not to say I disliked Coulson's story, it just wasn't as exciting as what was happening back at the secret base and Amy Acker seemed a little underused. (By the way, if anyone wants to see more Amy Acker, check out Person of Interest if you haven't already. She's been a regular on season 3)

Still not entirely sold on Simmons-as-the-mole, but I do agree that her answers on the lie detector were the most calculated next to Ward's. Interestingly, I'm starting to trust Triplet more.

Coulson's girl trouble didn't bother me because it was something set up in Avengers. I think if it had been a free-standing storyline, it would have come off as over-the-top. (My one gripe is that - I think - in the movie Audrey had just "moved back" to Portland, but in the series it seemed like that was always her home base. Minor stuff.)

The lie detector test gave me the impression that Simmon has been intentionally patterning her personality after Fitz's, but that may just be the way the montage was cut together.

The final three episodes start tonight!


If you want a little mostly spoiler-free finale scoop, check out the link below and scroll down. Apparently there's going to be a "showdown" between Coulson and Garret's respective teams, among other things, and according to the executive producer, "If they win, it comes at a price."

http://www.tvguide.com/special/Finale-Preview/spoilers.aspx

Brandon M Johnson said:

Apparently there's going to be a "showdown" between Coulson and Garret's respective teams, among other things, and according to the executive producer, "If they win, it comes at a price."

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Well, that could simply mean Ward dies.

Personally, they've done a lot of set up with the Garrett/Ward betrayal story and, while I can see losing Garrett in the next 3 episodes, I'll be disappointed if they get rid of Ward so easily.