Agents of SHIELD. Season 1 Discussion Thread

[Guy Gardener]

"Ward" is loyal to Garret first, and Hydra somewhere much further down the list.

Just like "Skye" is Loyal to Coulson first and S.H.I.E.L.D. somewhere further down the list.

 

[Christopher]

I accept he's not a true believer in HYDRA, yeah. His actions seem to confirm that. Given this, I don't have much of a reason to doubt his claimed motives.

It makes sense, for the reasons I discussed earlier, for Garrett to be running his own side operation rather than being an integral part of the HYDRA hierarchy. That way the storyline can remain mostly separate from whatever HYDRA arc unfolds in Age of Ultron or Cap 3.

 

[kitik]

That way the storyline can remain mostly separate from whatever HYDRA arc unfolds in Age of Ultron or Cap 3.

Though presumably the people working on Agents Of Shield have full access to all the currently planned out plots for AOU and Cap 3.


The MCU is pretty clearly a case of the right hand knowing what the left hand is doing.

 

[Reverend]

With Pierce dead, I don't think there is a Hydra hierarchy right this moment. Cut off one head, 57.5 more will take it's place and all that. Garrett appears to have rallied mostly footsoldier types to his camp. Indeed, he and Ward appear to be the two most senior agents on that crew.

Doubtless there are other groups out there working in parallel, some with the surviving higher ups, perhaps more in the way of mad scientist types and some true fanatics. Speaking of, yeah, it's pretty clear neither Ward nor Garrett are true believers in anything but themselves. Garrett may have believed in Shield once, long ago, but I doubt Ward ever did.

That way the storyline can remain mostly separate from whatever HYDRA arc unfolds in Age of Ultron or Cap 3.

Though presumably the people working on Agents Of Shield have full access to all the currently planned out plots for AOU and Cap 3.


The MCU is pretty clearly a case of the right hand knowing what the left hand is doing.

I doubt they have "full access". More likely just the broad strokes of where things are headed plus a set or parameters; things to steer clear of, things that are fair game and a few cross-over milestones to synch up to.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Considering Jed is in charge of the day to day and not Joss, I doubt he has full access. What Jed has is a massive list of don'ts, and then he gets yelled at whenever he gives them reason to add something to that list they thought went without saying.

 

[bbjeg]

...
And speaking of reasons...do we accept Garrett's claimed motives for switching from SHIELD to HYDRA in the first place?

I take Garrett as an action junky (like in that story he told) and not a true SHIELD believer like Coulson. It's believable that Hydra picked up on that, approached him laying the situation out for him (more as a scare tactic), in which he switched flags.

I thought the anger, sadness and defiannce Fitz displayed when Garrett was revealed and tried to get him to join willingly was a defining moment for Fitz' character. That scene having happened the way it did, they'd have to do it pretty freaking well to do a "Ward successfully recruits Fitz" story convincingly.

I agree, Fitz didn't give in and even threatened Garrett. Along with his following the guy you trust comment to Simmons, his allegiances are pretty clear.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

I doubt they have "full access". More likely just the broad strokes of where things are headed plus a set or parameters; things to steer clear of, things that are fair game and a few cross-over milestones to synch up to.

They had full access to Captain America scripts as they were written and rough cuts as they were made. They've been explicit about that. Whether the same is true for Thor or Guardians of the Galaxy, I don't know. And, certainly, anything for Captain America 3 is very premature. I do expect they're getting the same kinds of updates for Age of Ultron as they got for TWS, though, just in case it ties in in some specific way (seems unlikely, but still).

 

[Christopher]

That way the storyline can remain mostly separate from whatever HYDRA arc unfolds in Age of Ultron or Cap 3.

Though presumably the people working on Agents Of Shield have full access to all the currently planned out plots for AOU and Cap 3.


The MCU is pretty clearly a case of the right hand knowing what the left hand is doing.

Of course, but as I've been pointing out all day, it's not about what the creators know, it's about what the audience is expected to know. The whole reason to do works in different media is to draw in different audiences. It is a given that not everyone who sees the movies will watch the show, therefore, anything that happens in the movies needs to be independent of the show. Also the moviemakers need the freedom to do what they want without being hemmed in by the show -- while conversely, as others have pointed out today, the show needs to be able to develop its own storylines that aren't purely dependent on the movies.

More basically, even with the close supervision and coordination they have, the movies and the show are from different creative teams operating on different schedules, and that makes close coordination difficult. It's simply more convenient for both sets of creators if they're able to tell their own mostly independent stories with only occasional overlap.

Heck, look at any two Marvel comic book series and you'll see that they do much the same thing, striking largely independent courses with only occasional convergence and cross-reference. Even two series about the same hero at the same time, e.g. J. Michael Straczynski's Amazing Spider-Man and Paul Jenkins's Spectacular Spider-Man, generally run in parallel with each doing its own independent storylines, overlapping minimally. There was a ton of stuff Jenkins was doing in Spectacular that Straczynski never even mentioned in Amazing, even though these stories were all supposedly happening to the same people at the same time.

 

[Star Wolf]

Women often are not given a middle name because it is assumed they will use their maiden name as their middle name after they marry.

I can't think of any woman I've ever known who definitely lacked a middle name. That sounds like an older custom, perhaps.

Sounds like the Latin custom. I know it from the Philippines. The woman's middle name would be her mother's maiden name until marriage and upon assuming her husband's name her maiden name becomes the middle name. Many who immigrate to America have problems because our defaults want a middle name and as far as they are concerned they have two first names and especially if she is a Maria which at least one girl in every generation is, she will often use her second first name or mash maria into it for a nickname.

 

[Reverend]

I doubt they have "full access". More likely just the broad strokes of where things are headed plus a set or parameters; things to steer clear of, things that are fair game and a few cross-over milestones to synch up to.

They had full access to Captain America scripts as they were written and rough cuts as they were made. They've been explicit about that. Whether the same is true for Thor or Guardians of the Galaxy, I don't know. And, certainly, anything for Captain America 3 is very premature. I do expect they're getting the same kinds of updates for Age of Ultron as they got for TWS, though, just in case it ties in in some specific way (seems unlikely, but still).

Having the necessary access to a script that directly impacts on the basic premise of the show is one thing, having that same degree on the entire franchise--most of which is only going to be of peripheral relevance--is something else entirely.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

But there's no reason to think they don't touch base to keep apprised of all pertinent information. Given Joss Wheddon's overall role, I doubt his brother's out of the loop. Even with Marvel's secrecy, I think there are enough people in the loop to also include the TV show writers - especially since all the film writers have been shown to be in the loop (the Captain America people get the Avengers script and vice versa).

 

[The Old Mixer]

I'm still anticipating some tying in with GotG, however indirect. I don't think the fact that they gave us a still-mysterious blue alien in a tank is purely coincidental....

 

[Alidar Jarok]

Yeah, I don't either. But I'm not sure how much awareness they even need of the script to have a Kree-centric episode next season.

 

[Guy Gardener]

They could do a fake out with homomermanis.

Get to the end before they accept that these are the wrong blue people.

 

[kitik]

ADVICE:

Do NOT read the article on the lastest Art Of Level 7 print from Stephanie Hans. I obviously haven't seen next week's episode yet, so I don't know exactly how spoilery it really is, but I sure felt like I was being spoiled big time when I read that article. (on Marvel.com)

And frankly, I would probably advise not even looking at the picture.

 

[Mr Light]

<<They could do a fake out with homomermanis.>>

How does the species reproduce, then?

 

[Duncan MacLeod]

Homomermanis as in mermen and mermaids. You know, Prince Namor's people, the Atlanteans.

Don't think so though. Last I heard Universal still had the rights to Submariner. I hadn't heard about them reverting back to Marvel yet.

 

[Campe]

ADVICE:

Do NOT read the article on the lastest Art Of Level 7 print from Stephanie Hans. I obviously haven't seen next week's episode yet, so I don't know exactly how spoilery it really is, but I sure felt like I was being spoiled big time when I read that article. (on Marvel.com)

And frankly, I would probably advise not even looking at the picture.

Meh. We don't know exactly what any of that means in context. I don't think Marvel would let something as spoilery as I think you think that is out of the bag.

 

[Christopher]

Do NOT read the article on the lastest Art Of Level 7 print from Stephanie Hans. I obviously haven't seen next week's episode yet, so I don't know exactly how spoilery it really is, but I sure felt like I was being spoiled big time when I read that article. (on Marvel.com)

And frankly, I would probably advise not even looking at the picture.

If it's the poster I saw this morning, it's no more spoilery than the preview shown at the end of last week's episode.

Anyway, as a rule, if something is genuinely a spoiler -- i.e. something the producers don't want you to know in advance because knowing it would ruin the experience, such as knowing who Ward was really working for or what was going to happen to Hand -- then it won't be included in the advance promotional materials. If it's in the promos, then presumably the creators want us to know about it because they believe it will increase our interest in the story. That makes it a teaser rather than a spoiler.

(Although there are exceptions, since the people making the promos aren't always in the loop about what the filmmakers want to be revealed or hidden. The trailers for How to Train Your Dragon 2 have given away a plot point that the filmmakers intended to be a secret, and they weren't happy about that.)

 

[Gryffindorian]

Women often are not given a middle name because it is assumed they will use their maiden name as their middle name after they marry.

I can't think of any woman I've ever known who definitely lacked a middle name. That sounds like an older custom, perhaps.

Sounds like the Latin custom. I know it from the Philippines. The woman's middle name would be her mother's maiden name until marriage and upon assuming her husband's name her maiden name becomes the middle name. Many who immigrate to America have problems because our defaults want a middle name and as far as they are concerned they have two first names and especially if she is a Maria which at least one girl in every generation is, she will often use her second first name or mash maria into it for a nickname.

True, I can attest to this as someone from that country. However, the younger generation (I'll say those born in the 1980s and later) have compound names now. My oldest nephew Eric has a middle name, Jon.