Category Archives: Agents of Shield

Agents of Shield S3 E13, E14, E15, E16, E17

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I got a chunk of episodes from season three watched tonight as I continue to try and fight my way through this cold that is kicking my butt.

“Parting Shot”

Starting off with the end of Bobbi and Hunter. They were originally written off the show to star in their own spin off Marvel’s Most Wanted, but it never got past the planning stages. It was a shame because I really liked these two…even though, technically, Bobbi Morse was not Mockingbird in the MCU. They were awesome members of the team and the story that wrote them out was strong.

The bar scene with the “Spy’s Goodbye” was one of the best scenes of the series.

“Watchdogs”

We get a little background on Mack as we are introduced to his brother and discover the lies that he has been telling him about his career. The Watchdogs are a new hate group formed to go after Inhumans… very much “mutant-esque.” In fact, they could easily have been the Friends of Humanity from the X-Men group.

“Spacetime”

We get an Inhuman who can glimpse into the future and show another person whom he touched the future. As with all futures, you only get a glimpse and so it is difficult to understand exactly what the images mean.

The team discovered that Ward is back during this episode, which really threw their plans out the window. Of course, it is not Grant Ward, but the Hydra “god” from the other planet, but with the face he showed, the buttons were drastically pushed.

“Paradise Lost”

This gives us a background episode for Malick as we see how he betrayed his brother in the traveler contest.

This led to Ward, or Hive- as he would become known, killing Malick’s daughter as a sacrifice. It also led to the Agents of Shield (non-Inhumans) to be captured.

“The Team”

Because of the team being captured, Daisy called in the Secret Warriors to help. Unfortunately, it also turned out to be a huge mistake, as we discover that Hive is able to mind control Inhumans. The mission of the Secret Warriors to rescue everyone is now in question as Malick indicated that Hive may have compromised that team.

The paranoia is rampant and led to a lot of mistrust to be spread. Turned out it was Daisy herself who was turned by Hive, and she and Lincoln left the base together as Daisy was ripping it down with the others inside.

This is a great stretch of the series, but my memory is that I was ready to be done with Ward. There are still several episodes of the season to go.

Agents of Shield S3 E11, E12

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“Bouncing Back”

“The Inside Man”

A sick day allowed me to watch a couple more Agents of Shield in season three. The ongoing Inhumans story continued through these two.

President Ellis named General Talbot the new head of the ATCU, but promises Coulson that Talbot would follow Coulson’s lead. Not necessarily how this was going to turn out.

We meet “Yo-Yo” Elena Rodriguez, who is a new Inhuman with super speed, and she will become a regular later on in the series. They started the relationship between her and Mac, which becomes more important later on.

They brought back Crusher Creel, the Absorbing Man, and put him with Talbot. It created uncertainty about what Creel’s plans were.

Hydra blackmailed Talbot by grabbing his son. It was a way to make Talbot turn away from Coulson without making him the bad guy.

Agents of Shield S3 E4, E5, E6, E7, E8, E9, E10

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“Devils You Know”

“4,722 Hours”

“Among Us Hidden”

“Chaos Theory”

“Many Hands, One Tale”

“Closure”

“Maveth”

So I watched a chunk of season three episodes of Agents of Shield over the last couple of days. During this run of episodes, we got quite a few storylines that made some serious progress. In this stretch, we got to learn what life was like for Jemma on the alien planet, we saw the truth behind the ATCU, we lost Rosalind Price at the hands of sniper Ward, we discovered the truth behind Lash, and we brought to the forefront a new Hydra villain: Hive, the evil from the planet that escaped by taking over the dead body of Grant Ward.

The death of Rosalind Price was a surprise, considering that they had set her up as a new love interest for Coulson. It sent Coulson on a revenge mission, but, to be fair, he did not necessarily do anything that required him to give up the Director of Shield position.

I did not remember Lash’s true identity until Daisy saw the shadows changing shape. It was at that point that I remembered that it was Dr. Garner, as played by Blair Underwood. It continued to be a rough path for poor May. Lash killed a bunch of Inhumans in these episodes, several of which Jemma will clearly blame herself for.

The relationship between Daisy and Lincoln did not feel right. It seemed to be forced. Particularly because they did not spend much time together this season.

Mac has really stepped up his game as he took on the mantel of interim Director of Shield while Coulson went after Ward. Mac seemed to have more chemistry with Daisy than Lincoln ever did.

I love Bobbi and Hunter, but I know their time is drawing short. They were originally intended to lead a spin off called Marvel’s Most Wanted, but it never saw the light of day, and they had been written off this show.

I do not remember Gutierrez and his metal shaping powers much in the future of the team, so I wonder what his fate is going to be. He came through big time during episode ten, saving Daisy.

The episode “4,722 Hours” was one of the best of the season. The episode revealing the time that Jemma spent on the alien planet with Will was some of the best of the series. We already knew how Fitz had saved her, but seeing this part of the story filled in a lot of extra steps.

I’m not sure I liked the arrival of Hive. It did not make a lot of sense and was done, seemingly so, as a way to just keep Ward on the show.

I kept wondering why Mac and the Agents of Shield did not call the Avengers for help when they were storming the Hydra castle to take back the portal. I guess the budget would not work.

Agents of Shield S3 E1, E2, E3

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“Laws of Nature”

“Purpose in the Machine”

“A Wanted (Inhu)man”

Third season rewatch is underway with the team scattered about and everyone trying to face the possibility that Simmons was killed by being sucked into the monolith. Of course, Fitz never gave up and he was taking risk after even greater risk to prove that Simmons was alive.

I actually did not remember Simmons being brought back from the alien planet so quickly, but I know there is an episode coming up that is dedicated to the time she spent on the alien planet.

I am not 100% sure why May is doing what she is doing at the beginning of the season or why she decided to accompany Hunter on his mission. It has to be more than just the opportunity to kill Ward. However, the scene of May kicking the ass of the three brutes in a backroom of a fight club was awesome.

A new agency was formed by the President to deal with “alien” threats, meaning specifically Inhumans. The ATCU is led by Rosalind Price, and she and Coulson have some interactions.

Lincoln is being pursued by both the ATCU and Shield, and Daisy has her own personal feelings involved. It has been a rough three episodes for poor Lincoln.

Grant Ward recruited the son of Baron Von Strucker, Werner Von Strucker. I remember this character being a big piece over the seasons. Ward’s recruitment of Hydra agents does not seem to have gone very well so far.

We see the first appearance of the Inhuman named Lash. He was quite the powerhouse and a dangerous force.

Simmons struggled to readjust to earth, but she also seemed to want to go back to the planet. I do not remember why so I am curious to the answer.

Good start to the season and Dr. Garner even named dropped “Secret Warriors.”

Agents of Shield S2 E19, E20, E21, E22

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“The Dirty Half Dozen”

“Scars”

“S.O.S. (Part One)”

“S.O.S. (Part Two)”

The Inhumans arc of Agents of Shield wrapped up with the last few episodes. Jiaying and the Inhumans tried to start a war with Shield only to find that things were not going to go in a positive way.

Lots of arcs were resolved in these episodes including:

  • Kyle MacLachlan’s run as Daisy’s father, Cal. His ending is kind of happy, even though the idea of mindwiping someone is iffy at best.
  • Skye officially began calling herself Daisy Johnson.
  • Raina, who had been an antagonist through most of the first two seasons of the show is killed by Jiaying in a way to keep her quiet.
  • Robert Gonzalez is murdered via the Terrigan crystals at the hands of Jiaying. See ya later Edward James Olmos.
  • Agent 33 and her crazed vengeance on Bobbi came to a close when Ward accidentally killed her thinking she was May.
  • Ward apparently is the new head of Hydra.
  • Post credit of the monolith swallowing up Simmons was creepy as all get out.
  • Coulson had his left arm chopped off by Mac to prevent the spread of the Terrigen after Coulson caught the crystal, preventing it from breaking and killing the rest of them.
  • Coulson talked about forming a small team of powered individuals (aka Secret Avengers)
  • Lincoln turned on the other Inhumans to help Daisy and the Shield agents.
  • Mac joined back up with Shield despite his initial doubts.
  • Fitz and Simmons were the Jin/Sun (from LOST) of this show, something always happening to keep them apart.

Kyle MacLachlan is a tremendous actor. He could bring unbelievable levels to a crazed killer. He was basically Mr. Hyde from Marvel Comics, but I could understand and relate to everything he did. I think he was a fabulous character and I was pleased that he had such a strong arc this season.

The whole Agents of Shield connection to Avengers: Age of Ultron with the arrival of the Helicarrier felt a touch awkward since much of the action around the reveal of the Helicarrier and the secrets Coulson was keeping played out in the movie. Because of that, the storylines felt a touch anticlimactic. Still, the season did a great job of wading through the stuff that was necessary and still created some tense moments of action and exciting scenes.

Agents of Shield S2 E15, E16, E17, E18

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“One Door Closes”

“Afterlife”

“Melinda”

“Frenemy of my Enemy”

Season two continues to be fire as multiple storylines are combining into some excellent action and storytelling.

Skye is reunited with her mother in Afterlife, the location where the Inhumans are living. Sure, there is not any of the named Inhumans like Black Bolt or Medusa, but there are several intriguing characters. We are introduced to Lincoln, who becomes more important in the Shield series.

Skye is training, trying to control her quake powers. I remember not being a fan of her changing her name but this time through, I am not bothered by it. While she has not officially changed to Daisy Johnson yet, I believe in it more. It could be that I actually spent more time with Daisy Johnson than Skye (Five more seasons).

The show was trying desperately to make Coulson look like he was dirty, keeping all these horrible secrets and even betraying those around him. I hate the idea that May seemingly is being convinced. Still, it is clear that Coulson is the hero that he always has been.

We get the final reveal about what happened with May in the situation that led to the nickname “The Cavalry” and why she hated that name so much. It was an emotional situation where she had to kill an Inhuman girl to save everyone. It changed May for the longest time, costing her May’s marriage and her ability to be in the field.

Ward back and “sort of” working with Coulson has provided some tense moments, including Fitz’s reaction. Hunter has his share of funny lines. I remember why I liked Hunter as much as I did.

Just four more episodes of season 2. Lots of things happening.

Agents of Shield S2 E7, E8, E9, E10

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“The Writing on the Wall”

“The Things We Bury”

“…Ye Who Enter Here”

“What They Become”

The story of the Obelisk and its destiny is in full swing, bringing Skye and Raina into an underground cavern and turning them.

Poor Trip, we barely knew thee.

So much for Legacy characters.

The Inhumans arc kicks off big time with the Obelisk triggering the Inhuman transformation in Skye.

Or should I say Daisy?

Cal and Skye have their father-daughter reunion at gunpoint as Grant kidnapped Skye from the Bus. Cal dropped Skye’s true name, the name we would know her by as the series continued: Daisy Johnson.

Ward had a big stretch during these episodes too as he murdered his brother and parents, making it look like a murder-suicide. He rejoined Hydra, but he had his own motivations.

We learned that Cal wanted to murder Whitehall because he dissected Cal’s wife, giving him the ability to not age. However, Coulson shot Whitehall first, causing Cal to attack Coulson violently.

I am happy that the “Crazy” Coulson arc seems to be done now that they figured out what the weird writing was. Since Skye never had it happen to her, does that mean her Inhuman traits allowed her to avoid the crazy Kree messages in her head?

Dramatic episodes as the show is finding its pace.

Agents of Shield S2 E1, E2, E3, E4, E5, E6

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“Shadows”

“Heavy is the Head”

“Making Friends and Influencing People”

“Face My Enemy”

“A Hen in the Wolf House”

“A Fractured House”

The second season of Agents of Shield starts off with new team members and characters leading to the Inhuman story- tied to Skye’s arc.

With Shield, Mac has arrived. Mac becomes a major force on this show moving forward. At this point, he is just a semi-regular, but he will become more as the years go on. Trip remained with the team after the end of last season. Bobbi Morse arrived in episode six. Morse is the name of the Marvel comics character Mockingbird, but the TV show never called her that. Lance Hunter was a merc at first when he arrived with Lucy Lawless. Lucy did not make it though as she wound up dead at the hands of the Absorbing Man. Turned out Bobbi and Hunter were formerly married. I remembered how much I loved these two. They were not on this show long enough.

Kyle MacLachlan joined the show as Skye’s mysterious father. He dropped the first hint about a new name for Skye. We learn later that he is basically the character of Mr. Hyde. He played a wonderful crazy.

Jemma went undercover at HYDRA. It did not last too long, but it helped bring us Bobbi. It is also a way to show the problems being faced by Fitz. Fitz was struggling during his recovery from the water trap from last season.

Raina is having troubles all over the place. Karma is surely mucking her up badly. She is scared of Skye’s father and Hydra’s new baddie, Daniel Whitehall, who was actually tied to an object from the Peggy Carter days.

Ward is being held in a cell in the cellar of the Shield base. They were using him as info. Then his older brother came back into the arc in episode six.

Melinda May is still such a bad ass. I loved her episode where she had to fight herself.

Agents of Shield S1 E18, E19, E20, E21, E22

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“Providence”

“The Only Light in the Darkness”

“Nothing Personal”

“Ragtag”

“Beginning of the End”

Season one of Agents of Shield was wrapped up tonight as the storyline with Hydra and Shield came to a conclusion.

The truth behind Ward being part of Hydra came to light and he teamed up with Garrett, Raina and Deathlok to try and recreate the GH-325 that was used in TAHITI.

Lots of cool stuff in these episodes:

  • A sort of Absorbing Man came into play as we meet the cellist that was connected to Coulson.
  • Melinda may returned after leaving the team
  • We got to catch up with Maria Hill.
  • We met Eric Koenig, played by Patton Oswalt, an agent of Shield in Fury’s secret hidden base.
  • Eric was murdered by Ward. Ward was trying to get Skye to decrypt the file she fixed.
  • The show hinted at a storyline for season two, dealing with Skye’s past and the truth that she is an Inhuman.
  • It was revealed that Coulson left a message saying TAHITI “must be shut down because of horrific side effects the drugs had on test subjects, which could only be mitigated by erasing the victim’s memory of what happened.”
  • Raina made a sample of GH-325 and it ended up being given to Garrett, who was revealed as the first test subject in the Deathlok program.
  • Ward trapped Fitz and Simmons in a pod and ejected it into the ocean. They sank to the ocean floor.
  • Nick Fury makes an appearance and rescues Fitz and Simmons.
  • The magic drug started to cause Garrett to go mad.
  • We see where Garrett recruited and trained a young Ward, by leaving him alone in the woods for six months.
  • Skye and Ward had a big showdown at Cybertek.
  • Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury has a cool cameo in the finale.
  • Fury made Coulson the new Director for a new, rebuilt Shield.
  • We see Billy Koenig at the end of the finale show up. He is also played by Patton Oswalt.

Agents of Shield S1 E15, E16, E17

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“Yes Men”

“End of the Beginning”

“Turn, Turn, Turn”

Hail Hydra!

The Agents of Shield TV program caught up with the MCU movies as the episode “Turn, Turn, Turn” came out the week after the release of Captain America: Winter Soldier, which revealed that Shield had been infiltrated by Hydra from the start. It was a massive change in the status quo of the series.

Agent Garrett was revealed to be, not only be Hydra, but also the Clairvoyant. The first half of the season was kind of wrapped up with this block of episodes.

Lady Sif (Jane Alexander) made an appearance in “Yes Men” to take on Lorelei. I am guessing that the show kind of made Lorelei and the Enchantress amalgam with this character. It was good to see Sif again.

Mike Peterson was back, fully designated as Deathlok. He turned into quite a handful too.

Seeing Grant Ward turn and shoot the other Shield agents and Victoria Hand was still shocking. It just felt like it came out of left field and I wonder when he became aware of his character’s duplicitous nature. It seemed as if he were loyal to Coulson and had real feelings for Skye, but having nobody in Coulson’s team a part of Hydra would have seemed weird. It certainly wasn’t going to be Fitz or Simmons. With Coulson out, the only choices were Ward or May. It was fun too when the show was trying to make May look like the traitor, but I am glad that they did not make her the Hydra sleeper agent.

With Shield destroyed in the MCU, everything changed for this series, and this was the start of the switch. Poor Skye just got her official Shield badge and now it is gone.

Agents of Shield S1 E11, E12, E13, E14

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“The Magical Place”

“Seeds”

“T.R.A.C.K.S.”

“T.A.H.I.T.I”

This block of four episodes went into deep details about Tahiti, a magical place… or at least, what it truly was.

The information Coulson was able to ascertain about the mysterious magical place showed him some of the horrors that he went through to bring him back from the dead. He learned that he was dead for several days, not several seconds as it had been told to him. We saw the horror-scape imagery of them working on Coulson’s brain, implanting memories to help him forget the time of his resurrection. That image was truly horrific.

We are introduced to John Garrett, played by the awesome Bill Paxton, whom will become a major issue later this season. Garrett was Ward’s former SO and he came to the Bus to take control of the prisoner, Ian Quinn. Coulson did not want to give him up because he had shot Skye twice, leaving her for dead.

The whole Skye gamut was rough as the team tried to find T.A.H.I.T.I. and hope to find a way to save a dying Skye.

Several tense moments. Several of these episodes, especially T.R.A.C.K.S., played with POV and would go back to different groups of the agents, showing what they saw during the same time frame. It was a clever episode that ended with Skye getting shot.

We learned that the drugs that were created to save Coulson (and eventually Skye) came from the dead body of a Kree, hooked up to a machine inside T.A.H.I.T.I.

I’m still finding more and more times where Ward’s actual Hydra roots came in conflict with what he did. I do not remember much about these episodes, but the questions about him actually being Hydra is absolutely not being hinted at yet.

The team is bonding all the more with every episode. Next episode will be the one to feature Lady Sif, as we saw Lorelei arrive in the post credit scene of episode 14.

Agents of Shield S1 E7, E8, E9, E10

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“The Hub”

“The Well”

“Repairs”

“The Bridge”

Spoilers

The Agents of Shield worked their way through several missions over these four episodes.

We get some inner depth from May and Ward… not only with their background, but with their own little tryst. We more of the story behind the “Cavalry” nickname as well as Skye’s mysterious parents.

We met an Asgardian who had been on earth for centuries and his staff that causes the wielder to gain super strength while building their rage.

Mike Johnson is brought back to show his current state, training for his super strength.

Coulson is continuing to have questions and doubts about Tahiti, which is, of course, a magical place.

We had a cameo from Shield Agent Sitwell. Again, with the knowledge I have now, I know that Sitwell was a Hydra agent inside Shield, so when Simmons tased him into unconsciousness, it felt like justice.

Raina and Centipede return again to try to keep building super soldiers using the Extremis power. At the end of episode 10, Raina kidnapped Coulson after a failed hostage swap. Centipede is curious as to how Coulson died, but came back.

These episodes are fine, but, looking back, it was clear that the show had to balance up the timing with the revelations of Captain America: Winter Soldier. I wonder when they knew that Ward would be part of Hydra because there are so many things in these episodes that would make you think that he was anything but a traitor.

Agents of Shield is a lot of fun and has some great stories being told.

Agents of Shield S1 E4, E5, E6

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Three more episodes of Agent of Shield, and, if I am being honest, I do not remember any of these. I know I watched this show religiously when it was on ABC, but I do not remember much of anything in them.

I remember Raina, but more during the Inhumans run when she got turned into a cat-like being.

I know I have not watched these episodes multiple times, but, even still, I should have more memory of them than what I do.

The whole Agent Ward leaping out of the Bus with a parachute to save Jemma Simmons was cool, but it made me wonder about his statis as a Hydra agent, which we know will come about soon.

I did not remember Skye’s betrayal of the team because of a former boyfriend from the Rising Tide, but I think I do remember her confession about not knowing her parents or her backstory.

There are plenty of intriguing hints being dropped for these different characters including Coulson’s time dead, May’s traumatic event, and especially Skye.

It was fun seeing Titus Welliver, the Man in Black from LOST, as one of Coulson’s superiors in Agent Blake. I don’t remember what happened to him as a character, whether he died, was Hydra or is out there somewhere.

I guess it is a good thing that I am starting this rewatch because I do not remember much about this series, outside of how much I loved these characters. I am reminded how awesome Fitz and Simmons are, how bad ass May is, and how downright cool Skye (eventually Daisy Johnson) is. I do remember how Ward was the one I liked the least of the crew, and that is still the case.

Of course, above them all was Phil Coulson, who I still state is one of the best characters to come out of the phase 1 MCU.

Agents of Shield S1 E1, E2, E3

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“Pilot”

“0-8-4”

“The Asset”

I began my Agents of Shield rewatch this afternoon with the first three episodes, bringing the team together.

These first three episodes reminded me why I loved this show so much. One of the biggest reasons was Clark Gregg as Agent Phil Coulson. He is so charming and funny and a joy to watch. They set up the mystery of Tahiti (it’s a magical place) right away and they do a fine job of teasing that something was going on.

I love Melinda May, aka The Calvary. She is such a bad ass in this show and her chemistry with Coulson and everyone in the cast is spectacular.

Fitz and Simmons are such cool characters. They are not the type of characters that you would expect in a spy show like this, but their presence is extremely awesome.

Chloe Bennett, who played Skye (at least Skye at this point…. one day to become Daisy Johnson) is another great character who is so easy to root for. There is just enough of uncertainty about Skye to make you wonder what is going to happen.

Grant Ward, on the other hand, is more difficult because I know where his character goes. Watching him in these first episodes, knowing that he was in Hydra, was much more difficult. I wonder when they knew, as a creative team, that Ward would be betraying the team as a Hydra agent. There does not seem to be any signs or hints at this point.

These first episodes are used to bring these characters together in a team, something that did not seem likely to happen in the early part of the show. They were arguing and fighting and did not trust each other, but their plan to sabotage the Shield plane bonded them together.

The Samuel L. Jackson cameo as Nick Fury was awesome too as he yelled at Coulson. Fury’s question about Lola, Coulson’s flying car, was both funny and telling.

I know that this show winds up having to slosh along until the Hydra reveal in Captain America: Winter Soldier, but it has started off strong. I wish that the show had more continuity to the MCU as I would love to see Melinda May appear in MCU films or shows.