I woke up with a migraine this morning and while I’m better, otherwise I wouldn’t be writing this post, I still feel rather ill. I know miniposts are a bit of a cop-out, I definitely usually wouldn’t do two in a row, but at least I’m keeping my promise to write something everyday.
Anyway, I just saw last weeks Agents of Shield episode and figured it would make a good post for today. I don’t usually put miniposts under the cut but given that it has only just aired, I don’t want to accidentally spoil anyone should they stumble across my blog somehow.
Warning, there will be spoilers for episode 2, season 2, enter at your own risk.
I still hate Skye
I have to do some sort of mini-title, as it’s under the cut, this seems as good a title as any. To be honest if this season 2, was season 1 then I doubt I would hate her. However, I’ve had the whole of season 1 to form an opinion of her and it won’t easily be changed. Anything that she does that is vaguely annoying won’t get excused, it’ll get jumped on as ‘evidence’ that she’s still Skye and still a pain. In this episode it was her assumption that she should know everything, that Coulson should share, that she had a right to know. I realise I am probably being very unfair but I just really don’t like her.
However, May has clearly worked wonders in tempering her curiosity and in getting her to follow orders. Skye did accept Coulson’s reticence and did as she was asked, a massive improvement over season 1.
Enough moaning about Skye what about the actual important parts of the episode? Well it started off directly where episode 1 finished, which I liked a lot. I really like the character of Lance Hunter, he’s a merc but he’s a merc with a heart. He’s the kind of character that I write, not black, not white, he’s interesting. I realise we should probably be annoyed that he knocked out May, Trip and Skye and jeopardized the operation. However, much like Coulson said at the end when he recruited him, he did it for the right reasons. His judgement might have been flawed, but he’s good at what he does and can think for himself, which is exactly what Shield needs right now.
Oh Fitz, I think he’s starting to realise that his hallucinations of Simmons are exactly that – hallucinations. I wonder whether when he realises exactly how bad he is, he will then be on the road to recovery, or if it’ll spiral down into despair as he won’t have a coping mechanism anymore. I read some reviews of the first episode which said that they didn’t understand why Coulson let Fitz stay around, shouldn’t he have been sent home to his family. Well, there’s a couple of reasons for that. First of all Fitz is technically a wanted man, if he gets sent home then Talbot will find him and Fitz will be in for a bad time. Then, the main reason I suspect, is that Fitz doesn’t want to go. He wants to stay, to contribute, as he still believes that he’s capable of that. Coulson always thought of the team as a kind of family, so he won’t want to crush Fitz, it doesn’t hurt to have him stay and maybe Coulson still hopes that Fitz staying will somehow see him improve.
There may be more to Simmon’s leaving than Coulson intimated last episode. He said that Simmons left because she thought Fitz would recover better without her. I reckoned there was a not insignificant measure of guilt there too, after all Fitz is only like he is because he saved Simmons. Seeing him like he is must have been really hard for her. Skye said that she didn’t just betray Fitz, she betrayed them all by leaving and Trip didn’t correct her. Now Skye makes judgements like that and I know better than to believe her. However, Simmons would be wanted just like the rest of them, so the question has to be asked. Where is she? What is she doing?
May clearly still has Coulson’s back and his trust. The end scene with Coulson sketching out those weird symbols while May watched, she documented them and had her gun ready. Remember her original assignment was to put Coulson down if he proved dangerous. I wonder whether she could actually do it as she obviously cares. I think she probably could but that it would destroy her afterwards.
I can’t remember how Raina got away, though she obviously did. I remember the end scene of season 1 was of her meeting Skye’s father, which I was not thrilled about, yet more mystery about Skye and who cares. However, it’s clearly got something to do with those weird symbols as the device let Raina live. Was it because it sensed the presence of whatever Skye’s father is? Was it because of how Raina approached the artifact? I still reckon that something about this storyline is what will tie Guardian’s of the Galaxy properly into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Right now the Guardian’s are separate, they have no contact with Earth, that is going to have to change at some point or it won’t properly be part of the film series.
Oh and last but not least. That end scene with Coulson meeting Talbot. The Bus with one of those Hellicarrier gun turrets now underneath, just like from the Winter Soldier movie, the Quinjet, it made an impressive spectacle and perhaps Talbot will think Shield has more resources than it does. Coulson’s observation that they needed to finish up the demonstration before they ran out of fuel underscored the fact that Shield is still gutted, they are still the underdogs, but man I got shivers when those two planes appeared. Shield still has it, it may be down but it is not out.
Ooops forgot one more thing. Coulson is the field, May told him off for that, presumably because he’s now the Director. If he falls then what happens? I reminded me of a behind the scenes Stargate interview with Don S. Davis who played General Hammond. He only went through the gate a couple of times because he was the General, he had to stay back and direct the action, he couldn’t risk his life. With Coulson it’s the same, extraordinary circumstances only will see him out there, unless of course they run out of personnel. Shield is gutted and when Fitz and Mac finished that disruptor who was actually left to take it out there? I don’t know what field training Mac has but Fitz couldn’t do it anymore. He made the right call but it’ll be a hard lesson to learn, that he isn’t just leading a team anymore, that he is The Man and he can’t be careless with his own safety.
Yet another fantastic episode. Season 2 is shaping up amazingly, I just hope that will be reflected in the ratings. As it’s opposite NCIS it doesn’t stand a chance in winning it’s timeslot, I just really hope it does well enough that it will get renewed for season 3, and then hopefully many more seasons after that.