Agents of SHIELD. Season 1 Discussion Thread

[Christopher]

Word around the web is that Hydra is behind The Rising Tide.

That doesn't exactly make it any clearer.

In the 2nd episode, which mentions Hydra, Skye makes a speech about 100 people having 1% of the answer (i.e. multiple heads of the mythological Hydra).

Good grief, what an enormous stretch. She was talking about crowdsourcing, about the increasingly popular -- and populist -- notion that the collective expertise and inspiration of the public as a whole can solve any problem. It's exactly the mentality that would be expressed by a member of a group like the Rising Tide or the real-life groups it's based on. Plus it was presented as a positive idea in the context of the story, the mindset that saved everyone's lives in the climax when they worked together, so it's strange to read it as some sinister portent of evil.

Besides, the key thing about the Hydra's heads in mythology isn't simply that there are many of them, but that they multiply -- if one is cut off, two more will spawn. Which is, in fact, the intent behind the organization HYDRA's choice of the name, to convey the idea of their indestructibility and the futility of any attempt to defeat them. So it's a different concept altogether from the one that Skye was expressing.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

The crowd in crowdsourcing = the beast with many heads; the number of heads increasing = rising. Most members not realizing they are being manipulated would be expected, and it is a trait of cults that everything sounds good at first.

I can see it, but that doesn't mean that I think that's what it means. "Could be a clue" means also "might not be a clue."

 

[Christopher]

Well, I think it's a profound misreading of Joss Whedon to think he'd portray the populist group skeptical of government power as the villains. Ever since Buffy, he's been prone to make his villains members of powerful, entrenched establishments -- Principal Snyder, Mayor Wilkins, the Initiative, Wolfram & Hart, the Alliance, Captain Hammer, the Rossum Corporation. His heroes tend to be the underdogs. And Skye is the underdog who's challenging the entrenched authority of SHIELD. So I'd be staggered if her group, the populist movement challenging authority, turned out to be just a front for an evil organization.

 

[The Old Mixer]

It sounds like a big stretch IMO.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Is Skye real?

What if she's a sleeper?

 

[Mr Light]

If Rising Tide is connected to Hydra, I fully expect them to have no idea of that fact. Kind of like the way 99% of the people in SHIELD had no idea that Hydra was pulling their strings all along.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

That's because it's only been a couple of episodes since then, and they've been focused more on other characters. By analogy, on USA Network's White Collar, Neal Caffrey is a con man on probation and wears a tracking anklet, and there are some episodes where the anklet is a significant plot point, but there are others where it never gets mentioned at all.

I think my problem is it compounds the "what does it do" problem. She obviously had no problems using computers to do research in The Well. She could mess with the holographic image in last week's episode. When it was first introduced, it was implied that computers as a whole would be difficult to use. That doesn't seem to be the case. When they eventually let her go, it's hard to tell exactly what she can now do that she couldn't do before (besides "not have her wrist magnetized to a SHIELD door).

Word around the web is that Hydra is behind The Rising Tide. In the 2nd episode, which mentions Hydra, Skye makes a speech about 100 people having 1% of the answer (i.e. multiple heads of the mythological Hydra).

Well, in order for that to make sense, Skye would have to know the organization is the front for Hydra and that seems highly unlikely. For whoever came up with the idea, it might have made more sense after only two episodes and we didn't know what Skye's motivations were, but it just seems implausible now.

 

[Trekker4747]

You're talking about not believing a girl can be an expert hacker because it's so far fetched in a world where getting hit with gamma rays can make you a big green monster, a Norse God has a magic hammer, a spider bite can give a teen powers, cosmic rays can make one of four be able to turn invisible, another to turn into rock, another into flame and the fourth be elastic. And you can't believe a 20 year old girl in 2013 can hack computers?

Well, to be fair, none of that has been established to be possible in the MCU.

I think my problem is it compounds the "what does it do" problem. She obviously had no problems using computers to do research in The Well. She could mess with the holographic image in last week's episode. When it was first introduced, it was implied that computers as a whole would be difficult to use. That doesn't seem to be the case. When they eventually let her go, it's hard to tell exactly what she can now do that she couldn't do before (besides "not have her wrist magnetized to a SHIELD door).

It's possible the bracelet just "lo-jacks" her at the very least. Allowing SHIELD to monitor or restrict her activity. Each bracelet could also be specialized her buddy's bracelet restricting him from computer use. Restricting Skye from computer use would be silly since that's the whole reason why Coulson brought her on board.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Well, in order for that to make sense, Skye would have to know the organization is the front for Hydra and that seems highly unlikely. For whoever came up with the idea, it might have made more sense after only two episodes and we didn't know what Skye's motivations were, but it just seems implausible now.

Oh, no, I disagree. I think it's probable that she doesn't believe that Hydra is behind the Rising Tide, even if it really is.

Most members not realizing they are being manipulated would be expected, and it is a trait of cults that everything sounds good at first.

My point in the latter part of what I said there is that the crowdsourcing plug could just be a motto that she picked up from the group, since it does make sense on its own merits, not realizing that it's really just the tip of a rhetorical iceberg, meant to draw you in deeper and to prepare you for conditioning to the HYDRA manifesto.

I'm not buying that HYDRA's really pulling the strings, at least not at this point, but it's also worth mentioning that the idea has the virtue of being somewhat outside of the box.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

OK, the idea of it being a motto would at least be a way for her to say that without knowing what the organization is. That at least mostly works (although I definitely don't think it's the case). Part of the reason I don't think it's the case is that the Rising Tide hasn't been shown to be villains. They're a nuisance at worst. They also haven't been useful yet, but I don't know if they're supposed to be. They're a way to reference the modern, changing world while being an allegory to the changing world where people know there are superheroes and super villains.

 

[Turtletrekker]

I think it far more likely that the Centipede group will have connections to HYDRA than Rising Tide.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Is Skye real?

What if she's a sleeper?

A giant robot with Red Skull's face on it?

 

[The Old Mixer]

Is Skye real?

What if she's a sleeper?

A giant robot with Red Skull's face on it?

Even if she's revealed to be exactly that, I'm sure that Coulson will give her another chance at the end of the episode.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Even robotic WMDs with the face of a Nazi war criminal deserve a second chance.

 

[Photoman15]

You're talking about not believing a girl can be an expert hacker because it's so far fetched in a world where getting hit with gamma rays can make you a big green monster, a Norse God has a magic hammer, a spider bite can give a teen powers, cosmic rays can make one of four be able to turn invisible, another to turn into rock, another into flame and the fourth be elastic. And you can't believe a 20 year old girl in 2013 can hack computers?

Well, to be fair, none of that has been established to be possible in the MCU.

But The Hulk and Thor have.

 

[propita]

Did I miss seeing a discussion of "Let the girl go/Let go of the girl"?

So, in Bahrain, a civilian girl was among the hostages. I assume this is the girl Coulson told May to let go of, either physically or emotionally. Any chance this was a baby Skye, since there seems to be some connection between baby-Skye and May?

 

[Turtletrekker]

I have to say that I just don't see where people are finding this supposed connection between Skye and May.

 

[propita]

I thought there was something implied about Skye being dropped off at the orphanage or whatever. And that May was somehow involved. May dropped her off? Knew the mother/parents? Killed the mother/parents?

Some connection was implied. Imo

 

[Guy Gardener]

Unknown S.H.I.E.L.D. agents put Skye in an orphanage.

Coulson continues to dig.

 

[kitik]

Why is Tuesday night's episode a repeat?