Agents of SHIELD. Season 1 Discussion Thread

Noting the backdrop of Batesville, Utah...I did some checking. Batesville used to exist as a separate community in Utah, but it looks as if it's not such at present...?

(Location info pulled together from the trailer, the teaser as shown online, and the publicity stills released to the public.)

 

I like the nod to the old Capt. America cartoon theme in that one post.

 

At some point, I figured that we'd get another Thor reference, then sure enough we did with the mention of the accident causing world-jumping.

Then I figured that the "demon" was someone the girl knew and sure enough...

Then the extra scene at the end... Good one. Best one yet since Nick Fury. It was a nice cap-off for the May story.

 

Yeah, I really liked the tag-scene a suggestion that the "old" May is still there.

Episode overall was pretty good but, again, it seems odd to ask people if they believe in God or to question a belief in God when, literally, beings who were/are seen as gods have actually visited the planet.

 

A fairly good one, though it was pretty clear from the start that someone invisible was causing the things the woman was being accused of. Still, there was effective character building and interplay.

I was wondering whether Coulson was telling Skye the real story or just telling her another made-up version, not as a prank but because it was what she needed to hear. But since we didn't get it refuted, I suppose it was meant to be real. I guess it's appropriate that May's character exploration would come from others talking about her rather than her talking about herself. Still, I think she had more lines here than she's had in any two prior episodes.

Interesting that they're still dealing with the aftereffects of Thor: The Dark World. We might be seeing that for a while.

I wish TV and movie writers would stop assuming that planes fall out of the sky the moment they lose power. Typically a jet at cruising altitude and speed can glide for something like 70-100 miles, giving them plenty of time to reach an airport. They're designed to stay in the air.

That's not odd at all, because it's understood that they're not gods but aliens. Besides, people who don't believe in Norse gods wouldn't accept them as real gods anyway, any more than a Christian would accept Zeus as a real god.

 

But that's sorta my point.

We, today, look at Norse Gods, Greek Gods and what have you as just being ancient people trying to make some sense of the world around them. Largely why those Gods have mostly faded into myth as we understood things like fire, thunder, and such but -by and large- we've stuck with the idea of "one" being known as "God" and his son Jesus. Some variations and other things out there, sure, but there we have it. And just like we don't believe in Norse or Greek gods anymore many people don't believe in the Christian God, Buddah or other beings and deities.

But here in the Marvel Universe a man once seen as a God has shown up and that alone would reveal that much of the myths and legends in Norse Mythology is true even if they don't have the knowledge we have on other Norse legends being real.

I would think seeing someone who was seen as a god a millennia ago come down and pretty much confirm that those legends and stories were true would have a pretty big impact. Because NOW who's to say the Greek Gods weren't also real, just beings from another realm/plane? Or even Jesus and other Christian figures?

To me it goes along with the "no such thing as ESP" thing, that fantastic things have already shown themselves to be real and true so it's odd to so easily dismiss other things. While things like ESP may not have yet been proven it should atleast remain a blip on the RADAR as being possible given that "gamma radiation" does to people, super-soldier serums and, again, "gods" coming down from other realms to prevent the end of the universe.

So, "Yeah, Thor exists and is damn sexy! But I'm not sure I believe in the Biblical God," seems like an odd position to take.

 

Yeah, I think I'm going to skip this episode. I'll watch episodes that deal with Coulson's thing, and any that actually relate in a semi significant way to the Marvel universe that the show is supposedly a part of, but I'm done with the completely generic spy episodes. Until Extremis comes back, we find out about tahiti, or an actual supervillain based off the comics shows up I feel fine with skipping episodes.

 

I like watching Coulson when he's given screen time. I'll look up episode summaries, and when an episode deals with something besides the super generic spy stuff, i'll watch the episode. So, no more watching generic episodes, or episodes focused on Ward, skye, and nerd/Nerdette, unless they also include substantial Marvel stuff or stuff about Coulson.

 

But that doesn't make sense. Just because one was real doesn't mean they all were equally real. That becomes a possibility, but it's completely unproven without actual evidence. I mean, given the similarities among the various Western pantheons, it's conceivable that Greek and Roman mythologies could have been derived from garbled reports of the Asgardians, say.

I don't see why. It's Skye's position, and we heard Skye last week talking with Coulson about how Thor is actually an extradimensional alien. She does not perceive him as a god. And within the MCU, he is not a god. Odin said out loud in the movie that Asgardians are not gods but are born, grow old, and die. Asgardians are simply aliens whom the Norse mistook for gods. So there's no reason why Skye would see that as being relevant to the question of whether God actually existed. If anything, it would probably promote more skepticism about religion, not less. If one pantheon's gods were really mortal aliens, then maybe other religions have sensible, scientific explanations too.

 

2 Die Hards yesterday. One Die Hard today so far.

Is there an anniversary I am unaware of?

 

Finally, we heard the story behind Agent May's Cavalry nickname, but I'm still a little foggy. Coulson mentioned the incident in Bahrain and said "they" (meaning the SHIELD agents) didn't have any weapons. Does that mean they were held captive by a militant group because they had no way to defend themselves, or May eliminated the threats despite the lack of weapons? Which still begs the question, what was it that was so deplorable that May did to the terrorists or assassins? Did she torch them alive? Made them listen to Justin Bieber?

Anyway, I gathered the impression that Agent Hunk Ward and Agent May have slept before. A half-naked Ward said something to Melinda before she left the hotel room about not rousing others' suspicions.

 

"Ongoing" seems like a strong word.

 

Don't get too attached to the character of Melinda May. I'm calling it now, she's going to die the same way Firefly's Wash died. This is the kind of thing the Wheadon brothers would do.

 

If anyone is going to get whacked, it's going to be Fitz or Simmons.

 

That's what I got. But it's odd since we were told when they were put-up in the hotel last week that that was an uncommon thing since The Bus is their hotel.

 

I think the civilian girl mentioned by Coulson is key to the Bahrain story.

When Coulson asked May what she said to Tobias, her reply was "the same thing you said to me in Bahrain."

What exactly was it she said to Tobias?

"Let the girl go."

There is much more to the Bahrain story than what we got here.