Agents of SHIELD. Season 1 Discussion Thread

[Masiral]

As for the people suggesting that Ward might still be a good guy who's just really deep undercover, can I assume that tonight's episode removed any last glimmer of hope from your minds? Guards in the elevator are dead, he looted pretty much everything from the Fridge.

He even looted the secret level that Garrett didn't even know about, which would be unnecessary if he was really a good guy.

 

[Christopher]

There is no point in Ward being loyal to Garrett no matter what. Ward is then an extension of Garrett, just a duplicate, in terms of story.

Ward is working for Garrett now, and certainly has been all along. But he will betray Garrett, or else story-wise, he is really just nothing but Garrett's extension probing into Coulson's holes.

Not at all. Characters don't have to betray each other to have differences of perspective or motivation, or to have tension and conflict. Look at how much diversity there is among the (loyal) members of Coulson's team.

Ward is set up with a conflicting loyalty to Skye and to Garrett. He will attempt to exploit Skye. The trouble is, if Skye is completely fooled, then Skye is ultimately weak and flawed and not the hero she is being built up to be.

So Skye and Ward have to come to terms for both characterizations to have integrity. This confrontation will have to be Ward's downfall and sacrifice, and it will lift Skye up to her potential.

That's hardly the only possibility. Just because she learns of his betrayal, that doesn't mean they'd come to terms or that it would bring his downfall. I mean, why would Ward's exposure mean his downfall under the circumstances? He's on the stronger side. Coulson's team is on the run, with no authority. Once they find out Ward is their enemy, that won't neutralize him as a threat; it'll just make him an overt threat. Skye could rise to her potential by foiling his plans, but he could get away to menace them another day.

In fact, the preview for next week appears to show

Spoiler: next week

Skye being taken prisoner. So it's pretty clear she's going to find out the truth about Ward. Her triumph as a character could be escaping from him, denying him the information he wants.

 

[sojourner]

I totally would like someone with real psychic powers, but there's nobody good that's already established.

Skye would be an obvious choice.

 

[Enterprise1701]

I hope Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s viewership goes back up. These episodes prove that the show can have a really compelling story.

I totally would like someone with real psychic powers, but there's nobody good that's already established.

As for the people suggesting that Ward might still be a good guy who's just really deep undercover, can I assume that tonight's episode removed any last glimmer of hope from your minds? Guards in the elevator are dead, he looted pretty much everything from the Fridge.

And speaking of which, Shield kept insisting all season long that there's no such thing as psychic powers. That's still gotta come into play at some point, doesn't it? Some real clairvoyant is still going to show up.

I guess her powers don't count as psychic only as psionic but

Spoiler: Captain America: The Winter Soldier mid-credits scene

Scarlet Witch appeared as a HYDRA's prisoner and her telekinetic abilities were shown in the mid-credits scene of Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

I suppose since this is Marvel, we can't totally rule out that Ward is somehow Fury's deep-deep-deep-deep-deep cover spy, but that just seems like an unfair story tactic. Then again we just saw Garrett lead the looting of ALL of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s goodies.

So how many S.H.I.E.L.D. bases are we up to now? Triskelion, Hub, Treehouse, Sandbox, Fridge, Cube, the Academies, Guest House, Providence?

 

[Christopher]

Interesting that both Raina and Quinn were upset that Garrett wasn't really clairvoyant. Could those two possibly betray Garrett later on, or were their reactions meant to mirror the audience's reaction to finding out that he wasn't really clairvoyant.

Raina might come around and help the good guys. She's a sympathetic enough character that I'd like to see her redeem herself. Quinn, though, is just a greedy opportunist. Any resentment he felt evaporated the moment Garrett gave him the gravitonium. He'll side with whoever gives him power, and that's not going to be Coulson's team.

And speaking of which, Shield kept insisting all season long that there's no such thing as psychic powers. That's still gotta come into play at some point, doesn't it? Some real clairvoyant is still going to show up.

Not necessarily. I think that it was "in play" all along as a clue that the so-called "Clairvoyant" was nothing of the kind. So it's already had its payoff.

Then again, we now know from the movie that Dr. Strange exists in the MCU and SHIELD knows about him. Does magic fall into the same category as psionics in Marvel terms, or are they assumed to be two different things? I guess Thor already established that what we see as magic is really Asgardian science, the physics and technology of other dimensional planes. So they could fit Dr. Strange in that way.

Also, it doesn't look like they're going to save all the supervillain hints and stuff they've been dropping each episode until a future season, it feels like Garrett wants to unleash it all now.

I'm reminded of the "Breakout" opening of Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, where all the supervillains were broken out at once to provide both an incentive for the Avengers to assemble and a rogues' gallery to challenge them throughout the series. No doubt a bunch of the people Garrett and Ward broke out are going to show up as villains in future episodes.

How many episodes are left this season, 4?

Yup. So probably only some of what we're seeing here will pay off this season, and the rest is set up for the next.

The closest we get is Raina, who seems to have natural powers to manipulate and influence people.

That's not psionics, just charm.

As for the people suggesting that Ward might still be a good guy who's just really deep undercover, can I assume that tonight's episode removed any last glimmer of hope from your minds? Guards in the elevator are dead, he looted pretty much everything from the Fridge.

He even looted the secret level that Garrett didn't even know about, which would be unnecessary if he was really a good guy.

Good point. But I bet some people are still going to try to rationalize it as necessary sacrifices to protect a realllllly deep cover, or something. Or at least argue that he has divided loyalties and will eventually come around and help the good guys -- which is possible, I suppose.

But it does conclusively scuttle the idea that he only just switched sides recently.

 

[Eduardo]

I am liking Ward a lot more now.

Spoiler: Agents of SHIELD current episode

- Quinn & Gravitonium... could we see Graviton, I mean Professor Hall pop up?
- One of the prisoners freed by HYDRA is going after the chellist, by the preview
- Heh, barber shop. Nice homage to comics
- For once I loved that two security guards weren't afraid of having the Big Boss called instead of violating protocol.
- So TAHITI was run by someone else... and only Fury knows who.
- Secret Bases after the Chitauri Invasion... yep, that's Fury alright.
- Talbot goes from Hulk chasing to Coulson chasing.
- Most of SHIELD is down, and HYDRA is ransacking everything.
- The old Hydra Ray is a nice tool.
- Garrett has cyborg implants, and it seems he really wants Skye. Could he be the one that was after her when she was a baby?
- I LOVED that the whole Slingshot was a smokescreen and Fury kept everything.

 

[Samurai8472]

So it looks like Garrett is becoming his cyborg self in the comics soon

 

[bbjeg]

Another great episode, AoS is on a roll. I like the new Ward and now that he gave Garrett basically everything of importance, (as well as his confessed tie to Garrett all along) it will be hard for him to redeem himself. I did expect to see more of Talbot, but he'll probably show up later.

I am curious to see how Coulson and his (May's) team gets out of this one.

 

[Christopher]

- For once I loved that two security guards weren't afraid of having the Big Boss called instead of violating protocol.

Yeah, how refreshing to see competent security guards for a change.

- Garrett has cyborg implants, and it seems he really wants Skye. Could he be the one that was after her when she was a baby?

Garrett showed no interest in Skye until Raina told him that Skye had encrypted the hard drive so that only she could access it. He doesn't want her, he only wants her password. And he had no problem with ordering Skye killed for her investigations of Centipede, as he told Ward.


By the way, I forgot to mention one thing that bugged me: Why didn't they take their flying car to Fury's coordinates rather than trudging through the frozen tundra? Well, maybe Lola was damaged when the ramp was blown open; it dropped to the ground pretty quickly, and that can't have been healthy for the vehicles. But if so, they should've said something about it.

 

[Gryffindorian]

Was that remorse I sensed in Raina when she was talking with Ward? She said Coulson was a good man and that Ward must feel he owed Coulson something.

I have a feeling Flowers is going to turn on Garrett because of his deception.

 

[sojourner]

By the way, I forgot to mention one thing that bugged me: Why didn't they take their flying car to Fury's coordinates rather than trudging through the frozen tundra? Well, maybe Lola was damaged when the ramp was blown open; it dropped to the ground pretty quickly, and that can't have been healthy for the vehicles. But if so, they should've said something about it.

Lola only seats 2. Good thing they didn't take it considering what the defenses do to flying metal objects.

 

[Turtletrekker]

Hey, what if one of the corpses that Raina is working on is Agent Sitwell?

 

[FPAlpha]

And speaking of which, Shield kept insisting all season long that there's no such thing as psychic powers. That's still gotta come into play at some point, doesn't it? Some real clairvoyant is still going to show up.

It doesn't make sense for Shield to state that as fact when you think about the world they live in.

People who turn supersoldier with just a serum, aliens of the good (Asgardians) and evil (Chitauri) variants and who know what else is out there. The only problem in the real world sense is that Marvel can't mention Mutants as these rights are with 20th Century Fox because then it would make even less sense with characters like Prof. X or Emma Frost.

So i fully expect this statement to be a lie because Shield already uses psychics because we know Fury uses every asset he can get his hands on legally and illegally (also very nice side remark that Slingshot is also a ruse and that Fury kept all the toys).

As has been said this show is on a roll now and i am now really looking forward to it all.

One thing i forgot when watching the new episode is that the team doesn't know about Ward's true allegiance yet. It blew my mind and it may be revealed next week or in the season finale but that has to be the next big suckerpunch for the team, especially Coulson.

Speaking of which i found Gregg a bit overacting in the scene in the forest where he breaks down in front of the team but nevertheless it was a powerful scene for him because Shield was with him nearly all his life and it made him the man he was and now it's gone. His standoff with May was also very tense.. i doubt he could beat May in a straight up hand to hand situation but he could sure lay some in before he went down. Also nicely played by Wen when she is truly shocked how Coulson treats her now.. there is much work to be done if they are to become friends again at some point.

I'm curious how the show will progress now.. immediate story is clear after the episode when they released the prisoners from the Fridge (btw.. i love the codenames for the bases ) and the team has to hunt them down but what then? Fighting against Hydra all of second season? Might be good, could get boring fast.

Another question: How long is Bill Paxton going to be on the show? I seem to recall he only has a set amount of episodes so i wonder what will happen?

It would be cool if Ward kills him and takes over Hydra himself to become the main antagonist of the show.

 

[Turtletrekker]

Both Paxton and B.J. Britt were originally announced as appearing in four episodes, of which this was the fourth.

What? Super-secretive Marvel lied to us? I don't, I can't, I won't believe it!

 

[trekkiebaggio]

Liked the episode, very dramatic but also some great moments of levity, like when Garrett told that goon to put his hands down. Also liked Oswalt's relief when he was able to tell Coulson that Fury is alive.

Pasdar's moustache is incredibly dodgy and distracting.

The way Ward looks now reminds me of how Captain Black looked after he got taken over by Mysterons.

Garrett told that prisoner to "follow your dreams" does anyone know if that character is supposed to be someone from the comics?

 

[Eduardo]

Garrett told that prisoner to "follow your dreams" does anyone know if that character is supposed to be someone from the comics?

If I am not mistaken, that's

Spoiler: villain's identity

Blackout http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackout_(comics), who is going after the Cellist by next week's trailer

 

[Alidar Jarok]

I totally would like someone with real psychic powers, but there's nobody good that's already established.

Skye would be an obvious choice.

I actually meant non-mutant character in the comics. Scarlet Witch might count in the movies and I'd be fine with that (although it doesn't contradict my statement, technically), but that's not someone for Agents of SHIELD.

That's not psionics, just charm.

If your point is that it's not psyonics, I might agree, I'm not sure what it's called. That being said, I disagree with any suggestion that it's just normal human ability.

 

[Christopher]

Hey, what if one of the corpses that Raina is working on is Agent Sitwell?

I doubt there's enough left of him.

Speaking of which i found Gregg a bit overacting in the scene in the forest where he breaks down in front of the team but nevertheless it was a powerful scene for him because Shield was with him nearly all his life and it made him the man he was and now it's gone.

I don't think he was overacting. I just think it's a side of him we've never seen before. He's always been so cool and collected because of his faith in SHIELD. Now everything he believed in has crumbled and he's adrift and afraid and on the verge of falling apart. Gregg conveyed that very well.

Pasdar's moustache is incredibly dodgy and distracting.

Well, Glenn Talbot's a pretty dodgy person, from what I know of him.

That's not psionics, just charm.

If your point is that it's not psyonics, I might agree, I'm not sure what it's called. That being said, I disagree with any suggestion that it's just normal human ability.

I don't understand your basis for that. She's just very good at reading people and saying what they want to hear. Lots of people are like that without needing paranormal powers. Indeed, the way real-world "psychics" fake their abilities is by being good at observation, reading people's body language and making deductions from how they look and dress and talk, and pretending that their deductions come from supernatural insight (i.e. exactly what the lead characters on Psych and The Mentalist do). They prey on people's assumption that any deduction they can't understand must be supernatural, when it's really just unusual perceptiveness.

And she can influence people because she's pretty and sweet. She's your classic seductress. Remember her answer when asked what the deal was behind the flower dresses? "Who doesn't like flowers?" It's part of her calculated presentation of herself as someone appealing and warm and accessible. That's not supernatural power, it's just "that ol' black magic."

 

[Guy Gardener]

Glenn is Eskimo brothers with the Hulk, but I don't think that that relationship works like it is supposed to.

 

[Greg Cox]

Yeah, I don't think Raina is supposed to have any paranormal abilities. The world is full of of persuasive, charismatic, manipulative people who can charm people without any mind-altering super-powers . . ..

Speaking of Raina, note that she was very invested in the "Clairvoyant" being the real deal because there's a specific question she was longing to ask him. I wonder what's that about?

"Where is my long-lost child?" or something like that?