Agents of SHIELD. Season 1 Discussion Thread

[Gryffindorian]

Oaktown gets honorable mention tonight. The twin Federal building is a few blocks from where I work.

Simmons is funny, getting flirty with Mike. Fitz goes, "You realize we have equipment that takes digital measurements."

I don't understand why May is so harsh to Skye. She can be very abrasive, even with Ward. But he put her in her right place, "I didn't take a punch for you. Don't flatter yourself."

Coulson getting taken by Raina and her minions - I didn't see that coming at all. Looks like Mike is gone.

 

[CorporalClegg]

Honestly, if this show doesn't greatly improve (and quickly), I don't see it making it through next season.

I literally fell asleep with this one. And the ending was a poor facsimile of a Whedon cliffhanger.

It's sort of like the show is to a Whedon series what Squire is to Fender.

 

[The Old Mixer]

I don't understand why May is so harsh to Skye.

I totally got it...Skye was being particularly obnoxious with the "yeah, yeah, forget the boring mission stuff, let's talk about finding my parents" angle last night and needed to be put in her place.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

There also seems to be a recent tension between them building off of last week.

 

[DEWLine]

Also, noting: "Ohio State Gaming Commission" is like "Canadian Ministry of Defence" or "Maggia", an alias chosen to stand in for a real organization to avert lawsuits or worse.

 

[DEWLine]

And...just got to the end of the episode. The ad blurb wasn't kidding. "It's all connected."

 

[DEWLine]

I don't understand why May is so harsh to Skye. She can be very abrasive, even with Ward. But he put her in her right place, "I didn't take a punch for you. Don't flatter yourself.

I don't know about that, but it did seem like she was taking anger for several reasons - some of longer standing than others - out on Skye.

I can't see Coulson not looking into that further for reasons of personal ethics, operational cohesion, and so on. Especially if he overheard what May said.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

^ I kind of wonder if May's lighter self had any similarities to Skye that is causing her to react even more harshly to her. Hard to say just yet, that's mostly speculation.

And...just got to the end of the episode. The ad blurb wasn't kidding. "It's all connected."

Yeah, it's part of the reason that I think the rich guy from Malta is behind this. So far we have:

Pilot - The "Organization"
0-8-4 - Argentine government
The Asset - Rich Guy
Eye Spy - The "Organization"
Girl in the Flower Dress - The "Organization"
F.Z.Z.T. - Natural forces/virus
The Hub - South Ossetian separatists
The Well - Neo-Pagan Hate Group
Repairs - Guy who was victim of accident
The Bridge - The "Organization"

Of these, F.Z.Z.T. and Repairs likely have no connection whatsoever (one caveat for Repairs). I suspect the Neo-Pagan group in The Well is also unconnected (with one other possible caveat). However, if the "organization" has ties to various governments, it's entirely possible they were involved with the Argentinian government and the South Ossetian separatists.

Now suppose that the organization is Hydra (or AIM, which could amount to the same thing). Then it's entirely possible that the Neo-Pagan group could be theoretically involved (although I'm still doubtful). In addition, the particle accelerator in the small town in Repairs could have been a Hydra/AIM research project (they may not know why they're involved, though).

I'm curious to see, going forward, how connected things are.

 

[DEWLine]

Peruvian, not Argentinean.

As for the idea of Ian Quinn backing "Centipede", he's certainly a potentially interested party. I doubt that he'll be alone in this, considering that party he organized in Malta. Probably multiple backers, and given the Extremis connection, it means we're looking at the survivors of AIM that the USGov didn't catch in the wake of Iron Man 3 as well.

Not sure that I'd buy into a resurrected HYDRA. That, they'll save for a Captain America movie.

 

[Forbin]

re the fake college - Peter Parker went to "Empire State University", which also doesn't exist. I'd also assume it's all just to avoid any remote possibility of a lawsuit.

 

[Christopher]

^Well, yes, that's a given if the institution is featured in a major way or in a negative light. Going with ESU is better than a real university because then you can have stories about faculty members turning out to be supervillains or conducting reckless experiments. But my point, which I thought I did make clear, was that this "University of Ohio" was such a minor part of the story, just the backdrop for a single scene, that I couldn't see any basis for offense or infringement. It seems like an excess of caution, or just a failure of research.

 

[sojourner]

I forget, has the show explained away why Tony Stark hasn't been called in to deal with Extremis since in IM3 he apparently can "cure" it by the end of the movie?

 

[Christopher]

Tony seemed to go into retirement at the end of IM3 -- at least as Iron Man, and maybe as a SHIELD consultant altogether. I figure he's taken himself off the board and it will be the events of Age of Ultron that bring him back into play. (Indeed, maybe he's spending the time between films in seclusion as he creates Ultron.)

Besides, the Centipede formula isn't just Extremis, it's a gamma-irradiated hybrid of Extremis and Erskine formula enhanced by Chitauri technology. Hmm... maybe instead of Centipede, they should call themselves Turducken.

 

[DEWLine]

You might have a point re: the "turducken" recipe. I doubt that their foot-soldiers will appreciate it should the point arise in conversation, but even so...

One wonders what Tony's idea of a "cure" for the problems posed by the Extremis formula will turn out to be. And whether it would be useful to any of SHIELD's purposes, for that matter.

 

[Mister Fandango]

Tony seemed to go into retirement at the end of IM3 -- at least as Iron Man, and maybe as a SHIELD consultant altogether.

Why do people keep saying this? It was pretty clear during his final scene (where he lovingly kisses one of his old screwdrivers he recovered and drives off towing a cart full of supplies to start over from scratch) that he wasn't going to be able to break that addiction to being Iron Man any more than his drinking one.

 

[Greg Cox]

I don't understand why May is so harsh to Skye. She can be very abrasive, even with Ward. But he put her in her right place, "I didn't take a punch for you. Don't flatter yourself.

I don't know about that, but it did seem like she was taking anger for several reasons - some of longer standing than others - out on Skye.

I can't see Coulson not looking into that further for reasons of personal ethics, operational cohesion, and so on. Especially if he overheard what May said.

I think May is also understandably pissed about being put in a very awkward position here. She supposed to "help" Skye while deliberately hiding the truth from her.

And given that Coulson put May in that position, and without even consulting her first, he can hardly complain if she's a bit grumpy about it . . . .

 

[DEWLine]

His own fault if he chooses badly as to which secrets should stay secret...

 

[Turtletrekker]

In addition, the particle accelerator in the small town in Repairs could have been a Hydra/AIM research project (they may not know why they're involved, though).

According to a newspaper article that you can only read if you freeze frame or seek out a screencap, the company that owned the particle accelerator complex was a subsidiary of the evil Roxxon Corporation (The gas station that blew up at the beginning of the ep was Roxxon as well).

As for Ian Quinn, I'm sure we'll see him again, but in connection to Graviton, not Centipede.

 

[DEWLine]

Speaking of screencaps:

This one places the lab where the Centipede craziness in Hong Kong happened in a district called Hok Un. (The Wikipedia article uses a different transliteration.)

 

[The Old Mixer]

I can't see Coulson not looking into that further for reasons of personal ethics, operational cohesion, and so on. Especially if he overheard what May said.

Seriously? Seems like he'd have to take a hard look at Skye's (lack of) professionalism first...that's what May was taking her to task for, and rightly so. If Skye really wants to be a SHIELD agent, and isn't just there to find out about her parents, then she needs to straighten her priorities and get her head in the game.

Hmm... maybe instead of Centipede, they should call themselves Turducken.

This thread is making me hungry.