So, you hope I'm wrong about the complete opposite of the other thing you were prematurely freaking out about? No matter what occurs you've completely written off these characters as unsalvageable enemies and a wasted opportunity from a writing standpoint? Well, I guess the old K5's wasn't as wounded as we were led to believe. So, when you're wrong about this and the characters aren't evil or dead, are you going to reconsider your position and say "gee, maybe I shouldn't jump to wild ass conclusions before I have all the facts... again"? Because this is like the ninth time you've done this kind of thing.
I disagree with you, and the sky is falling. I don't like the direction the show is going. You don't have to agree, but trying to degrade my
opinion is just goofy. I'm not saying the show can't recover, or that its destroyed. I'm saying this upcoming arc looks like a stupid repeat of the HYDRA arc, while also pointing out that I personally find several characters to be unlikeable a-holes now. That isn't the "old K5's". I'm not saying the show is dead anything like that. The show will almost certainly survive the arc and come back strong. I am just under no obligation to be super excited for a plot I haven't liked since we first learned that Mac and Mockingbird were spying for someone.
Mockingbird is a regular on the show now. She's not going anywhere for a while. EJO is not going to be some bit character they brought in just to unceremoniously kill off right away.
Well, they killed Lucy Lawless unceremoniously, and I personally consider her a better/more important actor than Olmos, but I get your point, even if I don't think his character is 100% safe. As for Mockingbird, I seem to recall that Ward was a regular on the show, but I haven't seen him much recently. Mockingbird being a regular doesn't mean much. That said, I don't really think you're wrong. Her dying, which the character deserves, is wishful thinking. As is Gonzales and Mac dying. I don't actually think they will, I'm not that lucky. If any of them will die it will probably be Gonzales, but that's probably not likely. Its something I hope happens, not something I think will, unfortunately.
And they didn't say "take Coulson down" like kill him. It's quite clear that there intention is to remove him from power because of the secrets he possesses and because they don't have control of him. You didn't even
interpret the preview right.
Oh yes, because he's just going to quietly let them take out his SHIELD. Maybe he'll go meet back up with his old musical girlfriend, and live a normal life, never thinking about SHIELD again

Coulson isn't going down without a fight, and the fact that Gonzales didn't just, you know, call him on the phone and talk to him shows that Gonzales isn't going to accept anything less extreme than Coulson and his team gone. That could mean dead or in prison, since Gonzales has to know that they won't just disband or become his minions.
Coulson is only the "legitimate SHIELD" in the eyes of former Director Fury and his current batch of agents (and us in the audience), not the federal government, whom he and his group went rogue against, remember? It's possible for two different groups to have equally valid yet competing philosophies that initially put them at odds with each other without one of them being evil, you know? Coulson was right in thinking that he and his core group of loyal SHIELD agents needed to go rogue to hunt down the HYDRA threat in their ranks. The government is right in wanting to return all elements of SHIELD under their oversight so it's no longer a rogue agency. It puts them at odds at first, but like has happened in countless comics and movies and TV shows and novels, eventually they'll realize they're better off working together than at cross purposes.
Well, SHIELD was never a part of the US government, it was an international organization in the first place, so the US Government has probably less right to call a group SHIELD than Coulson does. Nick Fury was basically the only good part of SHIELD command anyway, the higher ups would have massacred New York in Avengers along with probably countless other atrocities we never learned about, so I think he had the legitimate right to say what SHIELD became after the events of the Winter Soldier. Not the US Government that never actually controlled it or had any influence on it, but the one guy that, while definitely doing bad things at times, was the highest ranking SHIELD official who wasn't HYDRA or an idiot.
Also, it's entirely possible for EJO and Coulson to retain command positions together. Alexander Pierce was SHIELD's "secretary" to the World Security Council while Fury was still the director of SHIELD. Gonzalez and Coulson could take up similar positions here. Or if they're looking to get Coulson back into the field permanently, he'll step down/be removed as director and EJO will take over, with Fury possibly returning to the director position after the Avengers: AoU film. There are lots of possibilities if you just wait and see what happens without prematurely freaking out about it.
If that was possible, Gonzales would have just talked to Coulson. Between Coulson's public actions and Mockingbird/Mac's spying, he has to know that Coulson's team are the good guys. The fact that he's still trying to take them out doesn't seem to show any chance of a peaceful resolution between them. Honestly, if they had never done the HYDRA storyline I wouldn't be so ticked off about this. As it is, at the bare minimum Mac and Mockingbird are no better than Ward, and doing a repeat of the "SHIELD is getting taken down from within" storyline is stupid. I wonder if every season from now on is going to end with this plot
I'm going to continue to watch the show and judge it as it goes, but from what I've seen it looks like a painful, but survivable, arc. Regardless of outcome, Mac and Mockingbird are pretty much dead when it comes to being compelling characters (same with Simmons, but for different reasons), but the core cast will probably come though ok. I still like the show, I just wish we didn't have this stupid story arc coming up.