Agents of SHIELD. Season 1 Discussion Thread

[Turtletrekker]

"This is wrong. This is not... the guy I met. He was... He just needs a break."

Which is, I think, the kind of insight/talent Skye has that Coulson referred to.

Wow...the specialness of her specialness overwhelms me.

It's the kind of insight that anyone might have if they'd been the only one on the team who'd actually met the guy at that point.

You're also conveniently leaving out how, in her first scene with him, she was encouraging him to become a super-hero, which actually fed his power-induced delusions of grandeur, making him dangerous.

Coulson's main reason for recruiting Skye at that point may have been to keep her off the streets.

I wasn't trying to 'wow you with her specialness'. I was refuting your claim that she had never shown the empathy and insight that Coulson pointed out in this episode before. And that's something that YOU are conveniently leaving out.

And I don't have to point out that Skye fucked up with Mike Peterson, because Coulson did it for me. He said that this was a chance to see it done right.

 

[The Old Mixer]

Empathy and insight that anyone who'd met Peterson at that point could have demonstrated. The line that you quoted doesn't make a case for her having a special talent for it.

That was several rounds ago for me, so I'm happy to follow Alidar and Christopher's examples and let the Skye issue go at this point. In her better moments I like the character just fine, and find the actress's portrayal entertaining, but I feel that the realization of this character has been problematic, and hope that future material won't emphasize the weaker aspects of the character, as this episode did in my opinion.

 

[Turtletrekker]

That was several rounds ago for me,

Well sure, but I only just now returned to the thread and saw that I had been snarked.

 

[The Old Mixer]

Yeah, I was in full defensive mode then. The usual anti-Skye crowd seems to have been out Black Friday shopping and left me here to fend for myself.

 

[Forbin]

Chess.

Subliminally we all play this game that forces black vs. white, us vs. them and Good vs. Evil.

Don't the sets depicting red vs. Yellow look weird?

No, there were plenty of Kung Fu episodes where he fought Indians.

 

[Venardhi]

No, she definitely isn't as useful as Fitz-Simmons or everyone else, but she has proven her resourcefulness as a hacker or infiltrator on a few occasions.

The biggest issue for me is that while there is a lot of talk about how good she is at hacking, that aspect of her seems to exist in a vacuum. It is like a superpower that she just has, rather than a skill she has to develop and practice. Her hacking is the sonic screwdriver they pull out when they need to solve a problem with the plot.

Chloe seems plenty capable, but the material is weak and frustrating. I can only hope they have her possessed by an inter-dimensional alien already and move past the mistake of the Skye character.

 

[RJDiogenes]

I'm flashing back to the halcyon days of Enterprise here.

If anything a role Skye fills is the Cabbage Head. The every-man who has to have the techy stuff explained to them since she's surrounded by experts who have no reason to explain these things to themselves.

And yet she also says things that the others don't understand.

 

[trekkiebaggio]

I enjoyed the episode but I thought it was weaker than the last few. I though it was weird how Skye suddenly worked out that Tobias was in love with the woman from the mention of the word 'childish'. Not really sure I followed the thought process there. They seem to be hinting that she has some gift so perhaps that is a part of it.

The other bit I thought was a bit strange was how they left it. So Tobias is just stranded in another dimension now? I mean, he's not actually dead. Are they going to try and find a way to bring him back?

The ending kinda reminded me of some Trek episodes, where there was a bit of a sad conclusion to the episode but then the crew were on the bridge making jokes.

 

[Tosk]

I enjoyed the episode but I thought it was weaker than the last few. I though it was weird how Skye suddenly worked out that Tobias was in love with the woman from the mention of the word 'childish'. Not really sure I followed the thought process there. They seem to be hinting that she has some gift so perhaps that is a part of it.

Because sometimes all it takes is one word to start off a train of thought. Children tend to show affection for a child of the opposite sex by actually being mean to them...I took it to mean that that stray thought got her thinking about love as opposed to anger. All just in my opinion, naturally.

 

[Luminus]

I enjoyed the episode but I thought it was weaker than the last few. I though it was weird how Skye suddenly worked out that Tobias was in love with the woman from the mention of the word 'childish'. Not really sure I followed the thought process there. They seem to be hinting that she has some gift so perhaps that is a part of it.

The other bit I thought was a bit strange was how they left it. So Tobias is just stranded in another dimension now? I mean, he's not actually dead. Are they going to try and find a way to bring him back?

The ending kinda reminded me of some Trek episodes, where there was a bit of a sad conclusion to the episode but then the crew were on the bridge making jokes.

Well since I strongly believe that Skye is actually Jessica Drew, I guess that would explain it. As for Tobias, it would be REALLY COOL if he showed up in the next Thor movie. We could just see him wandering Muspelheim when Thor comes across him and saves him. 5 minutes of awesome continuity.

 

[Mr Light]

Skye as Jessica Drew?! Interesting! She's definitely got the look for it.

 

[Christopher]

The biggest issue for me is that while there is a lot of talk about how good she is at hacking, that aspect of her seems to exist in a vacuum. It is like a superpower that she just has, rather than a skill she has to develop and practice. Her hacking is the sonic screwdriver they pull out when they need to solve a problem with the plot.

And this is different from 99% of all TV/movie hackers how?

I enjoyed the episode but I thought it was weaker than the last few. I though it was weird how Skye suddenly worked out that Tobias was in love with the woman from the mention of the word 'childish'. Not really sure I followed the thought process there. They seem to be hinting that she has some gift so perhaps that is a part of it.

Because sometimes all it takes is one word to start off a train of thought. Children tend to show affection for a child of the opposite sex by actually being mean to them...I took it to mean that that stray thought got her thinking about love as opposed to anger. All just in my opinion, naturally.

Except he wasn't being mean to her, he was attacking other people who were being mean to her. He was trying to protect her in a childishly excessive and ill-considered manner, and was too immature to realize how much he was frightening her in the process.

I think by that point the team had enough evidence to piece that together; it wasn't exactly hard to deduce that it was the people around her who were being attacked when they started to threaten her. At first the team thought she was trying to protect herself, but once it became clear someone else was lashing out at the people threatening her, it was really kind of a no-brainer that he thought he was protecting her. If anything, it's not that Skye showed any unusual insight; rather, it's surprising the rest of the team didn't see it. But perhaps that's because they were too much in their SHIELD-trained "go after the enemy" mindset, seeing him as an aggressor, and not considering what his actual motives might be.

 

[Forbin]

The biggest issue for me is that while there is a lot of talk about how good she is at hacking, that aspect of her seems to exist in a vacuum. It is like a superpower that she just has, rather than a skill she has to develop and practice. Her hacking is the sonic screwdriver they pull out when they need to solve a problem with the plot.

And this is different from 99% of all TV/movie hackers how?

For some reason that made me think of Riptide, the 1980s surfer/detective series with the big pink helicopter. Even then they had a hacker character who could do almost anything with his trusty giant laptop (and a portable satellite antenna to log on with).

 

[Christopher]

Movie/TV computer hacking = magic. Give a movie hacker a laptop and he can bring down an entire alien armada.

 

[Tosk]

Except he wasn't being mean to her, he was attacking other people who were being mean to her.

I know that. I wasn't describing what was actually happening, only saying that the thought is what led Skye off in the right direction. (And until that moment, none of the team had entertained the notion that he was protecting her, so that wasn't a factor yet.)

I wasn't arguing that's how it should be viewed, only that I chose to do so.

 

[Venardhi]

Movie/TV computer hacking = magic. Give a movie hacker a laptop and he can bring down an entire alien armada.

Somehow, Jeff Goldblum is slightly more convincing in the role. As is Simon Pegg, Carrie-Anne Moss, Noomi Rapace, Jesse Eisenberg, Jeff Bridges, and a few dozen others who have played the 'hacker' role in TV and film over the last 40 years.

I'm pretty much over the excuse of "Well, everybody does it." She is a main character in this show. It might be amusing every once in a while for a miracle-working hacker to pull off the impossible with a blackberry and some twine as if it is nothing at all, but when they're one of the primary protagonists in the story I expect better.

 

[Nerys Myk]

I enjoyed the episode but I thought it was weaker than the last few. I though it was weird how Skye suddenly worked out that Tobias was in love with the woman from the mention of the word 'childish'. Not really sure I followed the thought process there. They seem to be hinting that she has some gift so perhaps that is a part of it.

The other bit I thought was a bit strange was how they left it. So Tobias is just stranded in another dimension now? I mean, he's not actually dead. Are they going to try and find a way to bring him back?

The ending kinda reminded me of some Trek episodes, where there was a bit of a sad conclusion to the episode but then the crew were on the bridge making jokes.

Well since I strongly believe that Skye is actually Jessica Drew, I guess that would explain it. As for Tobias, it would be REALLY COOL if he showed up in the next Thor movie. We could just see him wandering Muspelheim when Thor comes across him and saves him. 5 minutes of awesome continuity.

Skye as Jessica Drew?! Interesting! She's definitely got the look for it.

Jessica Drew? Explain that. Other than being an attractive brunette,I don't see Jessica.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

It helps when there are two people on the same keyboard as well

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8qgehH3kEQ[/yt]

 

[Mr Light]

<<Jessica Drew? Explain that. Other than being an attractive brunette,I don't see Jessica. >>
I was going solely off looks

 

[Nerys Myk]

<<Jessica Drew? Explain that. Other than being an attractive brunette,I don't see Jessica. >>
I was going solely off looks

She doesn't look like an Infantino girl.