Agents of SHIELD: Season 3 - Discussion (SPOILERS LIKELY)

[The Old Mixer]

Anyone else like to see Ward dealt with once and for all by the end of this season?

Yes, or at least demoted from series regular status. He'd probably be more enjoyable as a recurring character who popped up from time to time across the series rather than getting shoehorned into major plotlines because he's a regular.

I don't think his current story has reached its logical end yet. Right now, he's still bent on revenge, but I think it's clear that he's got to learn how to be a true Hydra leader and go for world domination or something like that.

I don't think that Brett Dalton has the chops to pull off that level of villain. It gets all the more obvious when they bring in an accomplice like Boothe to thoroughly out-gravitas him.

 

[kitik]

Yes, or at least demoted from series regular status. He'd probably be more enjoyable as a recurring character who popped up from time to time across the series rather than getting shoehorned into major plotlines because he's a regular.

There definitey has to be more to Ward's story than what we've been getting so far this season. It all has to be leading somewhere.

 

[Star Wolf]

Anyone else like to see Ward dealt with once and for all by the end of this season?

Yes, or at least demoted from series regular status. He'd probably be more enjoyable as a recurring character who popped up from time to time across the series rather than getting shoehorned into major plotlines because he's a regular.

I don't think his current story has reached its logical end yet. Right now, he's still bent on revenge, but I think it's clear that he's got to learn how to be a true Hydra leader and go for world domination or something like that.

I don't think that Brett Dalton has the chops to pull off that level of villain. It gets all the more obvious when they bring in an accomplice like Boothe to thoroughly out-gravitas him.

Or maybe Director Ward agrees that Gideon Malick is the big boss and folds his wing of the many headed Hydra into whatever Councilman Malick is doing

 

[Lyon_Wonder]

My guess is the ATCU is disbanded after the government learns it’s been infiltrated by Hydra and later adopts the Superhuman Registration Act for inhumans and other powered people since the ATCU and it’s putting inhumans in stasis is discredited. Though I think Rosalind probably doesn't realize that Gideon Malick’s Hydra, I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the people working for her at the ATCU are knowingly Hydra operatives.

 

[RJDiogenes]

I've wanted Ward gone for a long time.

Well, this was like the special all-love episode of SHIELD. Heartaches all around. Poor Fitz and Gemma, although I think there will be something weird about Daniels that will make things easier-- he doesn't seem to have aged since 2001. And poor May and Andrew-- he's not quite a split personality, but the Terrigen Dust definitely changed him (and that was quite a revelation that his ability to change is temporary). At least he wasn't working for the ATCU. Nothing bad happened between Hunter and Bobbi, though-- which is good news given their pending spin off. And, wow, Coulson and Rosalind did indeed bond. Cool. She's definitely a good match for him, assuming she doesn't turn out to be PURE EVIL. I'm not sure if that last conversation was really incriminating, because she may not know that he is HYDRA. Probably not all HYDRA moles were revealed. I hope she turns out to be good, because I do think they make a great couple.

 

[Grendelsbayne]

What more to the story is there regarding Lash?

Well, the fact that he's frozen and not dead is pretty much a guarantee that he'll be back. Likely there will be a storyline about attempting to cure him at some point, unless Rosalind was flat out lying about that research happening, or unless he escapes first. Certainly there are unanswered questions that would be relevant for anyone trying to learn about Inhumans: why did his transformation drive him insane when no one else's does? Why was he able to delay his full transformation when others are changed instantly?

Personally, I hope he stays gone for a while - this whole storyline is easily one of the most disappointing of the series, but having it locked away in the freezer so fast is at least a pleasant surprise.

There's plenty of other far more interesting things to deal with in the mean time.

I've had the feeling every step of the way that Rosalind really was playing Coulson with layer upon layer of cover stories. But I'm still not entirely sure whether or not she really is Hydra. I'm very curious to see where that goes.

And I'm most curious about that expedition: Fitz's discovery seems confirmation that whatever group that was in the ancient castle still exists (or at least did in 2001). I doubt they have anything to do with Hydra, unless Hydra performed a hostile takeover in recent decades, but there's clearly some really weird junk going on there.

One thought I did wonder about is why use the symbol of their secret order for the mission patch? Unless there's something important about that symbol and its relationship to the planet/monster. Did anyone notice anything on the previous portal travelers that looked similar? Like it could be some sort of sacrificial mark or something?

 

[CorporalCaptain]

The thought crossed my mind that perhaps Lash will eventually turn out to be some sort of good guy.

For example, maybe he was only going after Inhumans who were predisposed to use their powers for evil. Perhaps his "function" in Inhuman society would be to act as a kind of good/evil detector. He seemed to be compelled to do what he did, almost like it was his special power to act the way he did.

Or, maybe once he stabilizes, his compulsion will become something else, such as less compulsory or less murderous.

Such developments would constitute a continuation of his story.

 

[Sean_McCormick]

...

One thought I did wonder about is why use the symbol of their secret order for the mission patch? Unless there's something important about that symbol and its relationship to the planet/monster. Did anyone notice anything on the previous portal travelers that looked similar? Like it could be some sort of sacrificial mark or something?

Those things happen in real life too. Secret ("Black") divisions in the US military and secret agencies have seals, mission and unit patches. If i remember correctly there was an incident, where the NRO needed to advise their people to not put orbital data of their seret spy satelites onto mission patches.

This is a talk by an artist/activists who works on making secrets visible by their traces in public information. The section about unit patches begins ca 30 minutes in.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j56s46e97Lo

 

[Star Wolf]

The thought crossed my mind that perhaps Lash will eventually turn out to be some sort of good guy.

For example, maybe he was only going after Inhumans who were predisposed to use their powers for evil. Perhaps his "function" in Inhuman society would be to act as a kind of good/evil detector. He seemed to be compelled to do what he did, almost like it was his special power to act the way he did.

Or, maybe once he stabilizes, his compulsion will become something else, such as less compulsory or less murderous.

Such developments would constitute a continuation of his story.

Lash/Andrew was not part of Inhuman society he was part of SHIELD society, a contractor brought in to help determine if the enhanced, which we now know are mostly Inhumans, can be trusted to work for the good. Lincoln and those who went through Afterlife and refused Gonzales's demand to be indexed and studied by SHIELD thus became the enemy. It was his study of Afterlife, probably after the debriefs of the SHIELD vs. Inhuman War which brought him records of Inhuman society

 

[Briet]

Everyone talks about Gideon Malick being Hydra lika fact, but I'm not so sure that he is. I think he is part of that secret group and played Hydra and now he is using Ward for some yet unknown end. Probably he created the ATCU as well.

And Rosalind was a little too perfect for Coulson don't you think? She infultrated at least half a dozen organizations, you have to be qiute a chameleon for that. But I hope she comes around to our side.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Lash is an argument for intelligent design, or more accurate the intelligence who did design these "people" is still at the wheel.

Andrew appears, who is compulsively driven to kill (eat he life force of?) other inhumans in step with AS their numbers begin to increase geometrically?

 

[Reverend]

...

One thought I did wonder about is why use the symbol of their secret order for the mission patch? Unless there's something important about that symbol and its relationship to the planet/monster. Did anyone notice anything on the previous portal travelers that looked similar? Like it could be some sort of sacrificial mark or something?

Those things happen in real life too. Secret ("Black") divisions in the US military and secret agencies have seals, mission and unit patches. If i remember correctly there was an incident, where the NRO needed to advise their people to not put orbital data of their seret spy satelites onto mission patches.

This is a talk by an artist/activists who works on making secrets visible by their traces in public information. The section about unit patches begins ca 30 minutes in.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j56s46e97Lo

Now see this is exactly why (back when I was doing Star Trek logo) I flatly refused to do a Section 31 patch. The idea just seemed utterly moronic.

That said, these illuminanti/freemason/skull & bones type secret societies just *love* their secret symbols, so I can see it making historical sense in this context.

 

[Forbin]

Those things happen in real life too. Secret ("Black") divisions in the US military and secret agencies have seals, mission and unit patches. If i remember correctly there was an incident, where the NRO needed to advise their people to not put orbital data of their seret spy satelites onto mission patches.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j56s46e97Lo

I may hypothetically know a graphic artist who may hypothetically work for a military contractor, who may have hypothetically been creating a program patch at the request of a project engineer, who was suddenly told to stop work and destroy his hypothetical material, because the program manager saw the design, and the engineer's sketch for the hypothetical patch showed exactly what the hypothetical classified program was all about! Hypothetically.

Another graphic artist I may hypothetically know in the same hypothetical company may have had the same thing happen with a hypothetical proposal cover. One again, an engineer (may have) submitted the sketch for the cover, which may have turned out to be a diagram of exactly how the hypothetical classified system may have hypothetically worked. Hypoth... Oh, you get the idea.

We just need to keep literal-minded engineers from designing program patches.

 

[intrinsical]

I'm starting to think Fitz and Simmons is suffering from Chief O'Brien's fate in DS9. Except instead of just a single "lets torture O'Brien" episode, its a season-long "lets torment Fitz and Simmons" story.

 

[Silvercrest]

I may hypothetically know a graphic artist who may hypothetically work for a military contractor, who may have hypothetically been creating a program patch at the request of a project engineer, who was suddenly told to stop work and destroy his hypothetical material, because the program manager saw the design, and the engineer's sketch for the hypothetical patch showed exactly what the hypothetical classified program was all about! Hypothetically.

Another graphic artist I may hypothetically know in the same hypothetical company may have had the same thing happen with a hypothetical proposal cover. One again, an engineer (may have) submitted the sketch for the cover, which may have turned out to be a diagram of exactly how the hypothetical classified system may have hypothetically worked. Hypoth... Oh, you get the idea.

We just need to keep literal-minded engineers from designing program patches.

Hypothetically, everyone who knows about this would have to be eliminated for security reasons. Hypothetically, of course.

Hold still for just a second.

 

[Christopher]

why did his transformation drive him insane when no one else's does?

How do we know that no one else's does? Skye/Daisy and Joey were both pretty terrified and freaked out when they turned out to be Inhuman. Maybe they would've had mental breakdowns if there hadn't been anyone to help them understand and cope with their changes.

Remember, until recently, Terrigenesis was something that only happened in controlled conditions, to potential Inhumans who'd been carefully prepared and knew something of what to expect, and who had a support network around them before and after their transformation. Now that it's happening to unprepared people, it stands to reason that those people are going to have difficulty coping with it, and that some will even be driven mad. Those who are open enough with their powers have either been recruited by SHIELD or stuck in the freezer by the ATCU. But Lash/Andrew was able to conceal his change, so there was no one to help him work through it.

Why was he able to delay his full transformation when others are changed instantly?

Maybe because he was triggered by a small, concealed Terrigen crystal used to booby-trap the book, so he didn't get a full dose of the mist? Although the ones getting transformed by the fish oil pills have got to be getting an even more diluted dose, so I don't know if that makes sense.

I may hypothetically know a graphic artist who may hypothetically work for a military contractor, who may have hypothetically been creating a program patch at the request of a project engineer, who was suddenly told to stop work and destroy his hypothetical material, because the program manager saw the design, and the engineer's sketch for the hypothetical patch showed exactly what the hypothetical classified program was all about! Hypothetically.

Were you the guy in the barber shop on this week's iZombie?

 

[CorporalCaptain]

The thought crossed my mind that perhaps Lash will eventually turn out to be some sort of good guy.

For example, maybe he was only going after Inhumans who were predisposed to use their powers for evil. Perhaps his "function" in Inhuman society would be to act as a kind of good/evil detector. He seemed to be compelled to do what he did, almost like it was his special power to act the way he did.

Or, maybe once he stabilizes, his compulsion will become something else, such as less compulsory or less murderous.

Such developments would constitute a continuation of his story.

Lash/Andrew was not part of Inhuman society he was part of SHIELD society, a contractor brought in to help determine if the enhanced, which we now know are mostly Inhumans, can be trusted to work for the good. Lincoln and those who went through Afterlife and refused Gonzales's demand to be indexed and studied by SHIELD thus became the enemy. It was his study of Afterlife, probably after the debriefs of the SHIELD vs. Inhuman War which brought him records of Inhuman society

Well, that completely missed the point of what I was getting at, but it raised an interesting idea of its own. Obviously, there isn't an Inhuman society at all that we've seen yet, apart from the small one where we first met Lincoln. That's why I used the conditional mood (underlined) when discussing it.

 

[Guy Gardener]

King Blackbolt (from the movie that hasn't been made yet) was fine with Jiaying eating people?

 

[CorporalCaptain]

King Blackbolt (from the movie that hasn't been made yet) was fine with Jiaying eating people?

I doubt he says much about it....

 

[Alidar Jarok]

King Blackbolt (from the movie that hasn't been made yet) was fine with Jiaying eating people?

Black Bolt really isn't the King of the Inhumans, he's just King of Attilan. Other Inhuman communities are generally self-governing.