Agents of SHIELD. Season 1 Discussion Thread

[Gryffindorian]

I liked this episode, which shed some light on Skye's past, although it focused more on the circumstances under which she was found/discovered as an infant. Whaddaya know? She was an object of unknown origin.

I also liked the visit to the nerd academy and how Fitz and Simmons were hailed as academic legends. Fitz saw a piece of himself in the loner/genius. At least the technobabble exchange wasn't entirely cryptic, but I wonder how much of that was actual science.

 

[Yminale]

The speech wasn't about her hacking skills, it was about her resilience. I didn't take Coulson to say that she was the only resilient person in the world, just that her resilience inspired him. That seemed reasonable to me, but I'd be curious to see why you disagreed.

But that speech was once again Coulson telling us she's so great and not showing us.

Where was the Bucky Barnes reference again?

You're missing the point. Skye's resilience INSPIRED Coulson. The episode wasn't about Skye's origin per se but Coulson dealing with the fallout of the previous episode.

There is one possible plot hole. The Clairvoyant doesn't seem interested in Skye.

 

[Yminale]

Either way, he would have seen Dr. Streiten performing surgery or he would have read someone's mind depending on exactly what powers he has. Coulson being a blackhole to him only matters for things that Coulson did without involving others.

I agree. The Clairvoyant obviously thinks that Coulson did something on his own separate from SHEILD's action to return. This make Coulson's return more mysterious, since he didn't want to comeback.

 

[The Old Mixer]

A baby classified as an "object of unknown origin"? Someone needs to tell SHIELD about the birds and the bees....

Interesting that SHIELD's Wall of Valor has names on it, unlike the CIA equivalent, which has anonymous stars.

 

[Trekker4747]

The speech wasn't about her hacking skills, it was about her resilience. I didn't take Coulson to say that she was the only resilient person in the world, just that her resilience inspired him. That seemed reasonable to me, but I'd be curious to see why you disagreed.

But that speech was once again Coulson telling us she's so great and not showing us.

Where was the Bucky Barnes reference again?

Skye reads it off the memorial wall at the Academy.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

As for Skye, the obvious question to me is "what is her power and why has she not (as far as we know) manifested it since she was an infant?"

My guess is that her hacking skills are somehow related to whatever it is she can do. I guess we'll have to find out.

Also, I know this is a loooooooong shot but I'm kind of hoping her real name turns out to be Carol Danvers.

That would piss off so many people...

It would also be a bit confusing because we'd have to start debating whether to call her Skye (the name we're used to) or Carol.

BTW, where did they say the baby was found again?

Skye reads it off the memorial wall at the Academy.

Yeah. It's essentially a name drop to show you a famous dead person in the SHIELD agency who clearly died during World War II

 

[Turtletrekker]

The wall probably takes into account fallen SSR agents as well.

 

[Christopher]

BTW, where did they say the baby was found again?

Hunan Province, China.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

OK, that's what I thought. Nice to see Chloe Bennet's Chinese heritage acknowledged finally.

 

[Mister Fandango]

So, Skrull?

 

[DEWLine]

Not while Fox holds the FF rights, no.

And so far as anyone's been able to tell from examining her, she's Earth-baseline-human. Doesn't mean there isn't something that renders her "gifted", but still human.

 

[Christopher]

The Chitauri are the Skrull, essentially. They're the Ultimate Universe equivalent of the Skrull, at any rate.

 

[Reverend]

There is one possible plot hole. The Clairvoyant doesn't seem interested in Skye.

That's assuming he's even aware of her in the first place. For all we know part of what makes her an 0-8-4 makes her invisible to him. As we saw even Heimdall's vision has it limits.

As for Skye, the obvious question to me is "what is her power and why has she not (as far as we know) manifested it since she was an infant?"

My guess is that her hacking skills are somehow related to whatever it is she can do. I guess we'll have to find out.

How would a newborn baby demonstrate hacking abilities out in the middle of nowhere? Even if that were the case I just can't see that as a credible justification for wiping out a whole village and hunting down the Shield agents that took her.

I mean it'd have to be something bloody spectacular to justify making all that noise. Besides, hacking isn't a superpower, it's a skill. It's not as if she can control computers with her mind or anything.

Also, I know this is a loooooooong shot but I'm kind of hoping her real name turns out to be Carol Danvers.

That would piss off so many people...

It would also be a bit confusing because we'd have to start debating whether to call her Skye (the name we're used to) or Carol.

Even more confusing if they end up calling her Captain Marvel too.

The wall probably takes into account fallen SSR agents as well.

It did, hence the mention of Bucky and the use of the old SSR badges in the 40's-60's column.

BTW, where did they say the baby was found again?

Hunan Province, China.

So not in a cornfield in Kansas?

OK, that's what I thought. Nice to see Chloe Bennet's Chinese heritage acknowledged finally.

At the risk of sounding narrow minded and possibly a bit racist; could this *possibly* mean she's from Vanaheim like Hogun? Freya perhaps?

Since an Asgardian link appears to be one of the more obvious possibilities, have we ever seen Sky injured? I honestly can't remember.

Aside from her just being a random mutant, the only other possibility that comes to mind is that she's a product of some old Hydra experiment, or the Weapon-X program? The latter would certainly be consistent with the level of slaughter involved, but I don't think they have the rights to that stuff. Does Fox's right to the X-Men IP extend to X-23?

...Maybe she's a Skrull?

 

[DEWLine]

In mainland China?

(Not impossible, given the HYDRA history in the comics as more recently established by Hickman and assorted artistic partners.)

 

[DEWLine]

Is anyone tracking the "Special Thanks" section of the end credits by episode yet?

 

[The Old Mixer]

I haven't seen anyone speculate about something in the teaser for the next episode yet....

Spoiler: Just in case you don't watch next episode teasers

It looks like they might be killing off a main character. Given the recent casting announcement of a new character who's a male combat specialist, my money's on Ward.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

How would a newborn baby demonstrate hacking abilities out in the middle of nowhere? Even if that were the case I just can't see that as a credible justification for wiping out a whole village and hunting down the Shield agents that took her.

Other way around. The hacking is a manifestation of her powers, not her powers. Or not, who knows? It's just a thought.

At the risk of sounding narrow minded and possibly a bit racist; could this *possibly* mean she's from Vanaheim like Hogun? Freya perhaps?

Since an Asgardian link appears to be one of the more obvious possibilities, have we ever seen Sky injured? I honestly can't remember.

Given that they literally had one episode with Asgard and that's it, I'm not sure why Asgardian appears to be more obvious. Hydra, Chitauri, and AIM have been mentioned just as much as Centipede obviously much, much more. Could she be like Hogun? I guess, I don't recall her getting injured (she might have been). Then again, I also don't recall May getting injured. Is May from Vanaheim as well?

Aside from her just being a random mutant, the only other possibility that comes to mind is that she's a product of some old Hydra experiment, or the Weapon-X program? The latter would certainly be consistent with the level of slaughter involved, but I don't think they have the rights to that stuff. Does Fox's right to the X-Men IP extend to X-23?

...Maybe she's a Skrull?

Well, she's not a mutant. They don't have the rights to mutants. That also means she's not from the Weapon-X program, but I feel like the timeline would be off anyway. X-23 looks to be pretty strongly tied to the X-Men. The Skrull to Fantastic Four.

Given that, the product of some experiment is my guess. While they got close with Chang to naturally developing powers (Thor aside), they haven't explicitly given anyone that yet. Instead, everyone has gotten their powers through some kind of natural or man-made catalyst.

 

[Turtletrekker]

With Chang they mentioned that he was nearby when there was fire at nuclear power plant.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

Yep. They left it vague enough for it to be the closest to natural developing powers, but it's clear that they wanted a vaguely generic superhero origin story to go with everything else to fit the idea of him being a potential superhero (before blowing that up because, quite frankly, nobody wants him to be a superhero).

 

[Trekker4747]

You know, before when this was suggest I wasn't so ready to go along with it but after the most recent episode I'm beginning to fall on the side of Skye being, maybe something akin to a "Mary Sue Character." I think I've slightly enough faith in Marvel and the show runners to not do that and there's more to be revealed yet but right now... Oy.

And, really, all of this time I was expecting Agent May to be Skye's mother or something. Hell I think I'm *still* expecting it! Or at least she's connected in some major way.

Waiting to see where we all head next, also this episode struck me a cross between about, oh, half of the episodes of Smallville (especially in the first few seasons) and "First Duty" from TNG.