Agents of SHIELD - Season 2 Discussion Threads. (Spoilers Likely)

[Alidar Jarok]

Yeah, the distant captive problem is always a problem for duress. Sometimes it's a defense, sometimes it's not. It's raised quite often in drug trafficking cases where the trafficker claims they are acting under duress because their family is being held hostage. There's no agreement on whether it's successful under those circumstances.

It's not really grounds for a reduced sentence, though, as a matter of law.

Did you deliberately kill someone? Yes. That rules out involuntary manslaughter.
Did that other person provoke you? No, they're just as innocent. That rules out Voluntary Manslaughter.*
Did you plan out how to commit the murder? Yes. That makes it First Degree Murder.

* The exception would be the states that allow Voluntary Manslaughter when the defendant proves that he was acting under the influence of an extreme emotional disturbance. I would love to see the breakdown on which state still follows the Common Law vs. the EED defense.

However, duress is usually justified on policy grounds, not legal grounds. That's why it's often more likely to be successful in non-homicide cases. In murder cases, it may not even be grounds to reduce a sentence (although it would certainly be mitigation if there's any sentencing discretion).

 

[Reverend]

One would suppose that it would all hinge on whether the threat was truly credible and of course being able to prove it as such.

In this case, it's Hydra, so the threat is very credible (their plan to precision murder millions of people from high altitude being leaked all over the net.) So the crux may be proving an individual really did have a relative being imprisoned. One assumes there's plenty of security footage at CyberTek that can attest to that as each cell had a camera and Skye compromised their system before they'd have a chance to scrub anything. Plus of course witness testimony from the freed captives and from any first responders called to the scene once they were out of the building.

Not sure if anyone there would be up for murder anyway. Aiding and abetting the execution of multiple murders, kidnappings, theft, extortion, fraud are probably the worse charges likely to be brought. Most of the actual killing was probably done by people like Mike and Agent Amador. In their case I think a bomb grafted into your skull and a camera transmitting your every move is about as credible a direct threat one can get and again, there's no running or calling for help for the most part.

But then I suppose whoever blew the charge on Amador's handler was probably a Cybertek operator, so maybe there is a case for murder after all.

 

[DEWLine]

And I wonder what "incentives" were in place to ensure the obedience of the person who detonated the charge inside the skull of Amador's handler.

Speaking of Akele Amador...what's she been up to of late? Will we ever get an answer?

 

[bbjeg]

It would suck if Hydra got their hands on her again and put another eye in her. They did break her out of prison before for her skills.

 

[Gaith]

So, uh, great finale and all, but Coulson couldn't tell May about the helicarrier Theta Protocol because... why, again? Since she was pretty much his XO throughout all their time before G-Shield showed up, wouldn't it have made sense to fill her in?

Otherwise, great ep, though unfortunately I'd accidentally been spoiled on Simmons' coda there; would've been a great surprise otherwise. And here's hoping nu-Cal gives Skye a dog... Coulson's Compadres needs a dog almost as much as the Team Arrow does.

 

[Christopher]

So, uh, great finale and all, but Coulson couldn't tell May about the helicarrier Theta Protocol because... why, again? Since she was pretty much his XO throughout all their time before G-Shield showed up, wouldn't it have made sense to fill her in?

Fury and his secrets again, I guess. May didn't need to know. Although it reflects poorly on Coulson that he's still locked in the same secret-keeping mentality -- which is one of the valid criticisms that Gonzales and the council made.

And here's hoping nu-Cal gives Skye a dog... Coulson's Compadres needs a dog almost as much as the Team Arrow does.

Well, she's an Inhuman, so... Lockjaw?

 

[bbjeg]

I'd rather see them get that monkey Fitz wanted.

 

[Christopher]

^In the SHIELD comic book, the Marvel-616 version of Fitz actually does have a helper monkey.

 

[bbjeg]

A monkey can't be that expensive and who doesn't like adorable little monkeys? The series should make that happen.

 

[JD]

I think they can be pretty hard to work with though, so they'd probably be better off not actually bringing in a monkey.

 

[Gaith]

^ True, and, to be clear, I'm not advocating for a dog that has human-like intelligence or actually does anything; I'm just advocating for a dog to sit around and cheer people up. One that Coulson could dictate diary entries to. And then the dog gets sick, and over the course of a night in the medical wing, Simmons has an increasingly feverish Coulson discuss his latent attraction to May...

 

[Christopher]

There's already Bear on Person of Interest. Not sure we need another network primetime SF-action show with a dog in the ensemble.

Unless it's a Corgi like Ein from Cowboy Bebop. That might be cool.

 

[Silvercrest]

Just remember, Gaith, no cheese.

 

[Gaith]

^ Or pissing on one of The Afterlife's trees. Jiaying might not let Coulson off as lightly as the Kreetassans did.

 

[RJDiogenes]

Knowing this show, if Fitz got a monkey it would turn out to be working for the Red Ghost.

 

[shivkala]

I smell spin-off, with each Agent getting their own pet! Marvel's Pets of S.H.I.E.L.D.!

It'll be the closest we'll see to this:

And while we're on suggesting things, I recently re-read the first 21 issues of Busiek's Thunderbolts, where, in every issue as soon as S.H.I.E.L.D. is mentioned for the first time in the issue, they put an editorial note explaining what it stands for. It got to the point where the editor put in a note that "We-gotta-say-it-once-an-issue." I propose someone has to say what it stands for once an episode. It would also serve as a call-back to Coulson in Iron Man.http://www.trekbbs.com//www.pinterest.com/pin/create/extension/

 

[bbjeg]

I recognize three off hand, the Inhuman, Shadowcat's dragon, and Falcon's bird, but who's the cat and the lizard (or who's their owners)?

 

[The Old Mixer]

I don't know how it fits into the continuity of the comic above, but back in the 80s, Walt Simonson did a story in which Thor was transformed into a frog.

 

[Christopher]

I think the "lizard," assuming you mean the red T. Rex, is Jack Kirby's Devil Dinosaur. According to Wikipedia, the cat is Hairball, the pet of Speedball of the New Warriors.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

I recognize three off hand, the Inhuman, Shadowcat's dragon, and Falcon's bird, but who's the cat and the lizard (or who's their owners)?

If, by lizard, you mean frog, it's Throg