Agents of SHIELD. Season 1 Discussion Thread

[Guy Gardener]

The C.I.A. kills bad guys.

The F.B.I. arrests bad guys within legal limits.

If they really wanted to make Amy feel safe, Simmons should have said that they were N.C.I.S..

 

[Yminale]

No, that's the chief reason a Marvel TV series exists. The reason that show ended up being Agents of SHIELD instead of AKA Jessica Jones or Mockingbird or any of the various other proposals they considered and rejected is because of the popularity of the Coulson character.

First I don't remember Coulson being so popular that people wanted a TV show about him (he's not as popular as you think).

Second its Agents of SHIELD not Phil Coulson, Agent of SHIELD. It's an ensemble cast that can change if the producers chose to.

But it would be very been-there, done-that. We've already had one main character and one recurring guest exposed as HYDRA agents. It would be cheap and lazy to repeat that revelation with Simmons or Coulson or whoever.

Joss Wheldon is famous for being cheap and lazy. Besides I see this as perfect "revenge" for ABC/Disney forcing him to bring Coulson back from the dead. Besides it makes perfect sense. Who recruited Stillwell and Garett in the first place? Who monitored Fury and other high level agenst for HYDRA? Why was Fury so obsessed in bringing Coulson back from the dead and why was Fury equally obsessed in monitoring him? Finally why would someone so obsessed with agency rules have an outside relationship that would be frowned upon by that agency (as a HYDRA agent he knew SHIELD was finished therefore he wasn't going to get in trouble)?

 

[Yminale]

If there were other Hydra agents on the team, yes they could be sacrificed if there were a good reason, but they should certainly be utilized if possible.

I think it's clear that Coulson is not an active member of HYDRA. As you stated, HYDRA leadership may have concluded that Coulson is no longer recoverable.

 

[Christopher]

Or maybe they wanted to trade on the popularity of the MCU with someone who was in the films, cheap enough to get, and missing any SFX-requiring special powers. Similar to Sif guest-starring - "This week, the MCU character we could afford."

Sure, that's part of it, but as dansigal said, if you paid attention to the early news about the show, it was always self-evident that it was being built around Coulson's popularity. I mean, most things have more than one reason. Correctly citing one reason does not rule out others.

 

[Turtletrekker]

Yeah, I remember Joss saying things like, "We knew that Clark Gregg's Phil Coulson were the keys to the kingdom", and that the show was centered on Coulson from moment one and stuff like that.

As for Joss being "famous for being cheap and lazy"?, yeah, I'm going to write that off right now as the most ridiculous thing I'll hear all day.

And Joss' "revenge" for ABC "forcing" him to use Gregg/Coulson? Maybe it was also revenge on himself for forcing himself to use Gregg in his own "Much Ado About Nothing" as well.

 

[Yminale]

As for Joss being "famous for being cheap and lazy"?, yeah, I'm going to write that off right now as the most ridiculous thing I'll hear all day.

Making Coulson a HYDRA agent is classic Wheldon. People will complain about it for months but they will still think Wheldon is brilliant.

 

[LaxScrutiny]

Who recruited Stillwell

Sorry, but I bought the Nick Fury agents of SHIELD comic that introduced him when it came out. It was actually a big deal at the time, since this was the first major character that wasn't a Howling Commando. His name is Sitwell. Jasper Sitwell. Not Stillwell.

I will remain disappointed that he was portrayed as a Hydra agent, but I have to go with flow. However, at least get his name right.

 

[Turtletrekker]

As for Joss being "famous for being cheap and lazy"?, yeah, I'm going to write that off right now as the most ridiculous thing I'll hear all day.

Making Coulson a HYDRA agent is classic Wheldon.

K.

 

[Yminale]

I will remain disappointed that he was portrayed as a Hydra agent, but I have to go with flow. However, at least get his name right.

Geez calm down. Not all of us have an encyclopedic knowledge of how names are spelled.

 

[Yminale]

As for Joss being "famous for being cheap and lazy"?, yeah, I'm going to write that off right now as the most ridiculous thing I'll hear all day.

Making Coulson a HYDRA agent is classic Wheldon.

K.

Comes from nowhere, makes absolutely no sense (at least initially) and induces mass rage. Yep classic Wheldon. You have to admit it's better than Willow's magic addiction that turned her in to an evil lesbian.

 

[Jolaris]

"Your only name is Skye?"
"Well the orphanage named me Mary Sue..."

Now they're just trolling us...

A little disappointed nobody mentioned that...

 

[LaxScrutiny]

I will remain disappointed that he was portrayed as a Hydra agent, but I have to go with flow. However, at least get his name right.

Geez calm down. Not all of us have an encyclopedic knowledge of how names are spelled.

I will not calm down. This message board is more than proliferate with examples of demands to be adherents to source material. I will, in fact, become more un-calm with continued demands to "calm down."

"Your only name is Skye?"
"Well the orphanage named me Mary Sue..."

Now they're just trolling us...

A little disappointed nobody mentioned that...

I love you for that.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

Making Coulson a HYDRA agent is classic Wheldon.

K.

Comes from nowhere, makes absolutely no sense (at least initially) and induces mass rage. Yep classic Wheldon. You have to admit it's better than Willow's magic addiction that turned her in to an evil lesbian.

Well, it doesn't come from nowhere, for what it's worth. It was literally suggested last week and they've suggested since Seeds that they could have changed him in other ways in addition to changing his memories.

This is the theory that he's a sleeper agent. I could see that as possible, but I don't think he's an active agent. I could see something in the final episode where Garrett triggers a word or phrase and Coulson becomes brainwashed. It might be a bit cheesy, but it would also be quite intense. It's not beyond the realm of possibility. Of course, once Coulson is stopped and cured, that'll be the end of that. I don't think it's going to be an ongoing thing that he's "part of HYDRA" anymore than Ward was penalized for working with Lorelei.

 

[Enterprise1701]

"Your only name is Skye?"
"Well the orphanage named me Mary Sue..."

Now they're just trolling us...

A little disappointed nobody mentioned that...

I'm annoyed that after she presumably wiped her orphanage-issued identity from the Internet, she chose the name "Skye". Doesn't she still have to get a regular driver's license, credit cards, etc for daily use? Since when can U.S. citizens legally have only one name?

 

[Yminale]

Well, it doesn't come from nowhere, for what it's worth. It was literally suggested last week and they've suggested since Seeds that they could have changed him in other ways in addition to changing his memories.

Thank you for noticing.

This is the theory that he's a sleeper agent.

Granted it's possible but in my opinion it make more sense that he was an active agent and that Fury rewired him to be loyal to SHIELD. Maybe that was the original plan, make him a double agent for SHIELD to infiltrate HYDRA but for some reason it didn't work.

 

[Yminale]

I'm annoyed that after she presumably wiped her orphanage-issued identity from the Internet, she chose the name "Skye". Doesn't she still have to get a regular driver's license, credit cards, etc for daily use? Since when can U.S. citizens legally have only one name?

Since Prince? Anyway she lives "off the grid" and doesn't need government issued ID.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

"Your only name is Skye?"
"Well the orphanage named me Mary Sue..."

Now they're just trolling us...

A little disappointed nobody mentioned that...

I'm annoyed that after she presumably wiped her orphanage-issued identity from the Internet, she chose the name "Skye". Doesn't she still have to get a regular driver's license, credit cards, etc for daily use? Since when can U.S. citizens legally have only one name?

I would be surprised if there's any law prohibiting it. There are still places in the world where people only have one name and some of those people immigrate to the United States. I would be surprised if the law explicitly prevents them from having only one name.

 

[Guy Gardener]

For that to be true Fury had to have known about Hydra and allowed it to persist for years.

(Which is what they did in the comics, Secret Warriors (Teen Superheroes working black ops for S.H.I.E.L.D..), Strucker(?) unveiling that S.H.I.E.L.D. is a shell company working for Hydra all along, and then Fury revealing that Hydra is also just a shell company who had been really working for S.H.I.E.L.D. all along.)

 

[Yminale]

For that to be true Fury had to have known about Hydra and allowed it to persist for years.

Maybe he did. He did support the Avenger Initiative rather than building more advance weapons as desired by world council (who may have been infiltrated by HYDRA).

The one thing I never understood was why did Pierce keep someone as paranoid as Fury around. He of all people would have discovered HYDRA.

 

[USS Intrepid]

Whedon. It's Whedon. No 'L'.