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howtotrainyouragents · 4 years

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Agent H’s AOS Rewatch

Season 3 Pro’s and Con’s

We’re done with the season 4 rewatch, and I’m over here still trying to process season 3. First time watching, it was my least favorite season and I nearly stopped watching the show because of it. Second time watching…it’s still probably my least favorite just by comparison, but I have infinite more respect for it. Anyway, I needed to sort out my thoughts on this, so it’s all under “keep reading” and don’t get mad at me.

Cons (because let’s get the bad stuff out of the way)

-I really dislike revenge stories, so all the revenge stuff with Hunter and Coulson and Ward and all did not sit well with me and felt even OOC.

-Speaking of, from the S2 finale through most of this season, there’s this theme of the men protecting and revenging their wounded or fridged girlfriends. It’s not super fun because this is a show where the women are clearly just as, if not more, competent than the men, but they’re not given the same opportunity to protect/revenge the men, much less given the same importance even in their own stories. I’m blanking on what MCU movies were going on around the time of this season, but I remember seeing this even in the movies. If I remember correctly there was a head of MCU who was later removed, but was apparently responsible.

-The use of Ward is muddled. I’m cool with his takeover of HYDRA, that seemed natural. But you expect it to lead to a huge standoff with SHIELD because he, their worst enemy, is now head of their worst enemy organization. Instead, he gets converted to the HYDRA religion and literally becomes a vessel. Which is fine, but the transition was really hurriedly and poorly done. This is a man who has complex views of loyalty (Garrett not HYDRA. Skye and Coulson but not SHIELD), so I’m gonna need a lot more convincing that he’d believe Gideon’s HYDRA.

-This will be on both lists: I’m disappointed about how after three seasons HYDRA is taken out so quietly and quickly.

-I don’t know where to put this, but: I didn’t actually hate the space boyfriend arc as much the second time around, but the potential overall got squandered and I dislike that.

-Rosalind’s death and possibly her whole arc was pointless. She was literally created and killed to serve Coulson’s character. Gross. And it’s a shame because it would have been really cool to use her as an actual foe-turned-friend for SHIELD throughout the season; she could have easily taken Mace’s place in S4 and that way at least would have been important for two seasons

-Okay, this is ABC’s fault not AOS’s. But like I remember how hard they advertised for Secret Warriors. Like that was the name of the arc. And. Then. They were a team FOR AN EPISODE. Imagine my disappointment. Also, there really weren’t enough Inhumans this season to suit me.

-Bobbi and Hunter leave for a failed spinoff and I will never forgive Marvel for doing that.

-I mean…I appreciate that they give Andrew a noble death, but like…was it really necessary to have him turn and later die? Really? It gives Ming Na Wen and Blair Underwood opportunities to do extraordinary acting and they nail it, but like maybe don’t kill a guy to solve your inevitable ship? Don’t kill off your second black actor?

-The time jump in the season finale is too sudden. Like we barely get to grieve over Lincoln and they hit us with a time jump and Daisy on the run and new director in charge. Uncool.

-This was the season I started to dislike Fitzsimmons. Don’t hate me. To me there’s an undercurrent in the writing that seems to favor Fitz over Simmons. FS’s subject to the same sexism that I mentioned in the first bullet. Like the story post-Simmons’ return focuses a lot more on Fitz’s feelings than on hers. He’s the one who has to stop her from getting tortured. He’s the one who saves Will, when it makes way more sense for her to go. He’s the one they all turn to for answers, when it should be both of them combined. And Simmons just gets a little pushed aside in her own story arc, but she just goes along with it anyway.

-I had to write this last because this is the thing that hurts the season the most for me: Lincoln’s treatment. Okay, first, he’s a great character who got a major personality change between seasons. I don’t like the personality change, but I’d be okay with it if they didn’t do worse. For starters, we barely know him. His life and backstory are so vague, the guy he visits in 3x03 is just “a friend”, and like we get zero information on how they know each other. They spend the entire season having everyone in SHIELD (except Daisy) be against him, dislike him, belittle him, and mistrust him WHEN HE DESERVED NONE OF IT. Like they make it really obvious that Coulson dislikes him father-style because of his relationship with Daisy. They make him petulant and act out to prove that Mack and May are right to mistrust him when really given the fact that he was an Inhuman guide and a medical doctor and a recovered addict, he’d be a lot more under control. They make Fitzsimmons talk down to him just because no one can be smart except Fitzsimmons, when clearly he would know more about Inhuman biology and medicine in general THAN THE BIOCHEM PHD (sorry that one will always bug me). Like they make some work on him with Coulson and May, and that’s good, but overall he is not allowed to have a solid relationship with anyone but Daisy. I think the writers 1) knew he was gonna die and decided not to invest in him or his relationships. 2) were trying to get a moody bad boy in the cast, and decided to cast him as it when it didn’t really make sense. Also, while talking about Lincoln, I really wish they did some more interesting things with his powers than lightning blasts. He has electric powers!! There’s so much you can do!!

-Okay, this one is just real personal. LINCOLN IS A MEDICAL DOCTOR. Or at least a medical student or resident or fellow (I mean, he’s in the hospital doing rounds). TREAT HIM AS SUCH. HE WANTED TO HELP PEOPLE, LET HIM HELP PEOPLE. LET HIM DO THE SURGERIES AND KNOW THE STUFF ABOUT BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE. LET HIM RETURN TO HIS OLD LIFE AS A DOCTOR. You had such a good character who turned himself around from addiction, dedicated his life to saving lives, got thrown multiple curve balls, and now has to decide how will he continue to serve others. Yes, he’s a hero in the end. But all that in between time, he could have been saving lives too.

Pros (because there is good stuff, I promise)

-Someone mentioned that this is the first season to have a unified storyline throughout, and that’s so true and it’s so well done!

-There’s a good natural continuation of the HYDRA and Inhuman storylines from S1 and S2. I think we can look at AOS as two large arcs: S1-S3 is about powered people and HYDRA. S4-S7 is about bending the limits of reality with Ghost Rider, LMDs, Framework, Space, and Time Travel,. S1 was about introducing us to powered people and HYDRA, S2 was about developing the history and politics of them respectively and how they relate to SHIELD. S3 is when Inhumans get involved with SHIELD and with the world directly and the fallout from that. For HYDRA it’s when we get the history and reasoning of the group, and even if it’s a retcon, I appreciate that it introduces the background of HYDRA as a way to end this arc

-Overall, I really do appreciate how this season fills out a lot of worldbuilding. We get a complete history on HYDRA, and we get way more info on Inhumans, but we also get to see how the human world is reacting to and divided on Inhumans, which carries over into the net season

-On both lists: It’s good that they take HYDRA out so quickly and quietly. That plotline had run its course, and it was so bittersweet because they finally had defeated their biggest enemy, but now they had even bigger problems to deal with it. That scene of Coulson and May watching HYDRA fall is one of my favorites because it mirrors that S1 scene of watching HYDRA takeover, but it’s so quiet and not celebratory like it should be.

-Like I said, I hate revenge arcs, but I do appreciate how it came full circle at the end with Coulson admitting his mistake and regret in seeking revenge. That’s much more on brand with Coulson and MCU even I had to sit through a painful arc just to get to that point.

-Episode 1, Daisy’s entrance and, for that matter, Fitz’s entrance. HOT DAMN.

-One of my favorite things about AOS is the way that they mix up pairings and everyone feels like friends and family. This season did a fantastic job on that with like Fitz/Bobbi, Mack/Daisy, Hunter/May, and way more.

-I complain that there wasn’t enough Inhumans to suit me, but also I really enjoyed the ones we got. I expected them to do Inhumans with basic powers like water, fire, plants, shrinking. But AoS writers were like nah, how about a guy who melts metal?? How about Medusa eyes?? How about a guy who can predict deaths? Like they just went straight to the extremes and I respect that. And yes, we have our typical speedster and fire guy, but the sheer joy that comes from those characters makes up for the predictability of their powers.

-We get Joey and Yoyo who are the effin’ best and deserve the world. And with Lincoln and Daisy we got SECRET WARRIORS!!!!

-First time, we get introduced to Charles and Robin and manipulating time, which obviously becomes important later, so I like that they introduce it so early in the show.

-I also love the way things come full circle with Lash. I wish he didn’t die, but the reveal of his true purpose was amazing

-THE FITZSIMMONS KISS. THE FITZSIMMONS SEX SCENE. Do I really need to say more?

-THAT FITZ vs MONOLITH SCENE. That is top like five moments of the show for me, and I’m gonna need the Emmys to give Iain de Castecker his belated Best Actor award any day now.

-4722 Hours was a work of art, and Elizabeth Henstridge, I will be getting you that Best Actress Emmy one way or another.

-Brett Dalton’s acting. This rewatch served to highlight how brilliantly he developed Ward’s evilness over the course of the three seasons and then the way he flipped the switch and played a completely different character as Hydra. You can feel it in his voice and mannerisms, it’s a totally different person even if it’s still technically Ward’s body. And to top it off, that finale where he pulls of a brilliant two-minute psychotic breakdown and a kickass fight scene. Standing ovation, good sir. I miss you.

-After S2 fridged three women of color, I do appreciate how this season chooses to take out four of its white characters even if I’m sad that they had to go.

-The Star Wars references were so effin’ funny

-Spy’s Goodbye. I will never be okay about this.

#idk if should tag this #but i want it in my tags #hope no one hates me #aos #aos s3 #aos rewatch #agent aos rewatch #aos s3 rewatch #aos season 3 rewatch #agent h #agent report

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ayankun · 4 years

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AoS S2 Rewatch Briefest of Thoughts

Maybe watching a thing five times is too many times lololol

First I have to admit, I found myself spacing out through a lot of this season. I mean, my annual rewatches are typically always in the background of other activities, but this time through I definitely just didn’t pay attention to a lot of it.

Even so, here is a list of Things I Noticed This Time:

Not sure if watching S1 directly before this really made a difference or not, but this time I have a much clearer understanding of “S2″ and “S3.” When I first started watching this show, I shotgunned 2 and 3 back to back, and have done that once a year since, causing the two seasons to feel like one mega-season in my mind. Not this time!

A lot of the stuff I consider to be “the show” is introduced in S2, sure, but isn’t developed until S3.

Daisy Johnson

Terrigenesis & the Kree (wow my new band name)

Mack and Daisy brotp

FitzSimmons as an actual item

Collecting/protecting Inhumans

Talbot and Creel

The Monolith

Lincoln (gross)

And a lot of the stuff in S2 doesn’t even make it into S3!

Cal :<

Raina :<<<

Afterlife and all those poor fools who just wanted to grow up and get wings or whatever

Edward James Olmos

Agent 33 lol GOOD

Fitz’s brain injury

And of course there’s also big S3 specific stuff that hits you right away in the season opener, like Rosalind and Maveth.

I feel like ultimately I’ll have to say from now on that S3 is my favorite season. More on this as it develops -- only just started ep 2 today.

A note about Lincoln. Since actually he’s going to be way more important in S3 than he was in S2, let’s talk about his introduction. So far, there’s really nothing about the character that warrants my knee-jerk dislike. The character is supposed to be good for Daisy! He’s soft and patient and sort of cool and is one of the first people she’s met who is honestly supportive of her new situation, a situation that he understands from experience.

I guess maybe I don’t like the trope of pairing people up with their primary physician? There’s a conflict of interest there, I think.

Also that dude’s performance rubs me the wrong way (and I only found out like 35 minutes ago that he’s Australian so I’m going to blame it on the fake American accent?).

There’s no narrative symmetry in the structure of S2. I got really excited at first because there’s a ship in ep 3 and I know that the season ends on Edward James Olmos’ ship, but that was about it.

However, they did purposefully split it down the middle, 10 eps and a break for Agent Carter, and then the last 12 eps.

The story of part 1 takes us to Daisy and Raina’s Terrigenesis, and part 2 is about A) Daisy has superpowers now whoops and B) Edward James Olmos is in charge whoops and these two storylines smash together at the end.

But the story of the whole season is trust. Not an exploration of the concept, not “what does it mean to trust” or “how is trust earned” but a literal “man nobody trusts nobody and it’s probably for the best.”

Heck the season straight up tells us we shouldn’t trust anything by opening with with Team Coulson monitoring a black market deal between an ex-SHIELD agent and some mercs -- the mercs are also SHIELD agents and it’s a sting -- the sting team doesn’t know Team Coulson was sent as backup etc etc

Ward swears never to lie to Daisy ever again

Fitz can’t trust his own physical self

Nobody can trust Simmons because she’s undercover at Hydra

Nobody can trust Coulson because he’s whacka-doodle (see what I did there) cray cray

Hunter whining about his she-devil ex-wife, but she’s delightful and perfect

Hunter’s ongoing and ACTUALLY QUITE VALID protestations that he can’t trust Bobbi when it comes to her angle on their relationship

Brainwashing is a thing now

Hydra’s still doing Hydra things and blaming them on SHIELD

Man, anything either of the Ward brothers say at any moment is to be distrusted as a Rule

The heads of Hydra can’t trust each other

Daisy gets powers and she and Fitz decide they can’t trust anybody else with this information because errybody acken’ cray cray

Simmons is SO MAD that Fitz didn’t trust her with this information

Daisy is never quite sure if she can trust her dad (because he cray for sure)

You can’t trust May because half the time she’s Agent 33

You can’t trust Bobbi and Mack because they’re working for Edward James Olmos

Edward James Olmos doesn’t trust Coulson AND doesn’t trust that Fury left SHIELD to Coulson and also I guess just doesn’t trust Fury

Turns out Coulson was doing some secret stuff, too, so better not trust him even if he’s not crazy anymore

Nobody can ever trust Ward, no matter which side you’re on, even if he’s actively helping you at the moment

You can’t trust Raina’s vision until you can

You can’t trust Jiaying after all!! Edward James Olmos wasn’t going to be the bad guy!!!

I think a lot about how this show has such active characters. Like, there aren’t just plots for plots sake or characters for characters sake*, events happen to shape character motivations, and then character motivations go on to shape events. I’m thinking about how Fitz’s condition in the first half is almost complete plot-less -- he’s just a character living through some stuff, and it effects ... his interactions with other characters, mostly. There’s no narrative “point” or payoff to it (other than to remind that Ward Is Bad), until -- until Daisy comes through the mist and

12 episodes of frustrated aphasia, feeling like he’s letting the team down and they’re letting him down, of struggling to cope with Simmons’ abandoning him and then struggling even more with her return ... until ep 12, the only real, uh, utility Fitz’s condition brings to the story is as a means to introduce Mack as 100% Best Guy.

And then ep 12, getting to see these two beloved OG characters have this moment that only the two of them can have

.... as far as moments go, second best only to the Skimmons quake/hug in 4x15. My ship sails, my dudes.

I got way off track here, sorry

Anyway my point is sometimes, in other shows, giving a lead character a brain injury is probably a Major Plot Point that is Meant To Be Resolved (and within 40 minutes if at all possible), but on our perfect show, characters are allowed to Just Be -- and the things that they Are will always manifest in narratively satisfying turns of events.

I’m trying to think of any of my “this time I noticed” items and

Not to be all down on 2/3 of my OT3, but especially after watching their siblings dynamic in S1, and seeing just how painfully awkward their relationship is throughout S2, the Simmons-has-feelings-for-Fitz moment REALLY came out of left field.

S1 gave you the Exact Moment that Fitz realized that his crush was on Simmons instead of Skye, and you saw him live with that information for like 16 episodes.

Knowing that they end up together AND always starting my series rewatch with S2 makes her coming to him at the end not just reasonable but inevitable.

But lol no? They literally never talk about it for the duration of the season? Fitz talks to Mack and Simmons talks to Bobbi, but they never talk to each other. Her change of heart is strictly subtext. Which isn’t the worst, but given their literal text is either antagonistic (see: his reaction to her abandoning him; her reaction to his hiding the truth about Skye) or just ... their regular schtick.

They’re antagonistic until Edward James Olmos comes on the scene, at which point they bond enough to play the I’m-on-to-your-plan doublespeak shenanigan, and the sandwich moment is arguably the best thing to happen to this ship up until that point BUT she made him away mission sandwiches when he was just her friend too so!!!

Ok when they see each other next there is a specific moment mentioning The Sandwich in the context of love that makes sense (unlike whatever it is that Agent 33 and Ward have) -- but it’s very subtle and the scene is really just a set up to Simmons’ plan to splinter-bomb the hell out of Ward as revenge.

Their next scene together is bonafide FitzSkimmons OT3 grilling Sky about her time at Afterlife which, again is vanilla S1 schtick, and it’s immediately hijacked by Ward and Mission Talk anyway.

It goes straight into the mission where their only interaction is Fitz telling Jemma to be careful but not in a way where she can hear.

Next they debrief Mike Peterson after rescuing him, which is just an excuse to see Simmons not own up to her killing Bakshi on accident.

New episode, now they’re just stalking Skye and (rightfully) giving her new boyfriend the stink eye, then they talk to Agent 33 about her brainwashing -- just a moment for Simmons to feel guilty about never admitting to killing Bakshi/setting up the fact that Bobbi saved Simmons and not Agent 33 so that Agent 33 has a revenge plot for the remaining 2.5 episodes of the season

THEIR NEXT SCENE TOGETHER IS ANOTHER OT3 MOMENT WHERE SIMMONS PRESENTS SKYE WITH THE HULA GIRL ORNAMENT FROM SKYE’S VAN AND FITZ RIBS SKYE ABOUT HAVE EARTHQUAKE POWERS -- FITZSIMMONS DON’T EVEN DIRECTLY ADDRESS ONE ANOTHER.

Ok and then Fitz makes up a reason to go talk to Simmons, and opens up to her about how he’d have tried to kill Ward if he’d been a lesser man, only to find out that Simmons DID try to kill Ward and is actively upset that she failed, so they’re still at odds, philosophically at least, at this point.

Then they split up again and aren’t on the same continent until a third of the way into the next episode, where they’re STILL talking about Agent 33.

The only other thing they do on screen together in this episode is to fight Skye’s dad like they’re on Scooby Doo running away from a guy in a monster mask

Season finale, they have two scenes working with Coulson on mission stuff in which they don’t speak directly to one another, and then

As Fitz is gearing up for his mission, Simmons pops up out of nowhere and drops her bombshell on him

ok, no lie, as I started compiling this and getting closer and closer to the end, I figured it out:

everyone was so collectively heartbroken at the prospect of Bobbi not making it that they all had to go talk to their loved ones before it’s too late. May does it, too, and it’s framed with Hunter standing over Bobbi’s hospital bed in the background, and Simmons goes directly from Bobbi’s bedside to Fitz to say “because I just saw Hunter with Bobbi, and it made me realize” --

ok, my bad. I did state up front that I wasn’t always paying attention, okay?!

I take everything back. We do see the moment Simmons realizes she has feelings for Fitz. It just comes at the tail end of a string of episodes where they barely interact, is all.

Man, I gotta pay better attention next time.

Anyway this is not as brief as I thought it would be, nor have I covered all the thoughts I had. Real quick, though:

Agent 33 is the worst. I’m not sure what else they would have given Ward to do (gross double entendre intentional :< ) this season, though. But did it have to be this? Did you notice that when she picked faces, it was either May or Daisy? And then used them on Ward, someone who sexually and/or emotionally manipulated both these women in the previous season? Gross gross gross. And obviously the grossness of this pairing is literally called out by several in-world observers, but, still. I’m not sure that they actually wanted me to believe that there was still some humanity in Ward, that there was still a person who could settle down and buy succulents to put on windowsills in houses he shared domestically with another human being, but mostly I’m wondering why they thought they wanted to want me to believe that.

*as stated previously, one of the weaker parts of S2, that I still find weak having rewatched S2, is the use of the character of Trip. POOR GUY. Watching S1 first doesn’t do him any favors, either. At least when you forget exactly the contents of S1, his being in S2 just feels like “guess this is how things always were, oh wait, sucks he's dead now.” BUT NO things were NEVER like this. We don’t know who this guy is at all!!

His purpose in S1 is to be Not!Ward,

and his utility is to have some sort of internal logic to the team getting their hands on the low-tech WWII spy gadgets.

and he’s a very slight catalyst to Fitz’s needing to get his act together and get Simmons off the market before it’s too late (which is a couple of different yikes in my book, as far as "here’s what this character’s here for”)

So I kept my eye on him in S2 and the results were not good. I think the only time he had lines was to ask questions to allow another character to respond with exposition, or to make jokes that any character could have been on screen to make.

I want to say he was a side character dressed as a lead character, but HELL he shared scenes with a Koenig and those fools got WAY more character building/backstory/motivation over the course of the series than what Trip got.

Dearest Trip, our very own Red Shirt. Rest In Pieces

#Agents of Shield #a long and winding rant #about nothing in particular

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blancasplayground · 6 years

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Best and Worst of AoS Season 5

Here is my season five postmortem, in the form of a roundup of what I loved and didn't love. It got really long, so I won't spend too much time on the intro. Let's just dive in. Obviously, major spoilers for the entirety of the season follow.

Best: The Future

For the first half of season five it felt like the team was stuck in a dystopian YA novel. In a good way. It was a bold move to completely change the look and feel of the show, but it worked from both a narrative and production standpoint. Not only did it make the best use of the reduced budget, since they could film primarily indoors on smaller-scale sets, but they didn't have to deal with the goings on in the MCU back home (that would come later -- and it's not on the "best" list). Creating a future from scratch requires tremendous imagination and planning, and they delivered a rich backdrop. I was sorry to leave behind the characters we met there, like Tess and Flint. Of course, they had to return to the present eventually, but they did a really good job of world-building for those episodes.

Worst: Contradicting Time Theories

The showrunners have said in interviews that there were a lot of heated discussions in the writer's room about time travel logic, and it shows. Back in the season-three episode "Spacetime" they gave us one answer (which happened to be one I really liked) -- time is an illusion. As Fitz explained, the past, present and future happen simultaneously. We just experience it in a linear way because we're limited to the third dimension. So it cannot be changed. But when they blew up the Earth for the season’s main storyline, they also blew up that theory, because they HAD to change the future now. They weren't going to allow the world to be cracked apart. It's not that kind of show. Plus, they’re still tied to the MCU, so they couldn't let that future play out. And yet, when they returned to the past they had characters still behaving as if it were fixed (the whole "invincible three" idea, which so many people disliked), but trying to change it anyway. Either the future is pre-determined or it isn't. Trying to have it both ways makes for sloppy and confusing stories. It also gives viewers a headache.

Best: Fitz's Journey

Fitz's absence was notable in the first few episodes, but to make up for it we got "Rewind," one of the best episodes of the season. We saw Fitz struggling with his dark side, only to have to embrace it in the future to save Jemma and Daisy in the most badass way (a total "baller move" as Daisy put it). The blend of pre- and post-Framework Fitz was exactly what they needed at the time. Unfortunately, it may have opened the door for The Doctor to take control in "The Devil Complex." He got a chance to marry the love of his life, but that happiness was short lived. His psychological break (which was an incredible reveal and riveting to watch from an acting standpoint) and what he did to Daisy split the team and the audience, sparking a lot of debate about the nature of good and evil both on screen and off. Which, I think, was exactly the point. Was he redeemable? Could he have learned to control his dark side? Could the team ever learn to accept this new version of Fitz and his morally questionable, yet undeniably effective, methods? We'll never know. Which brings me to . . .

Worst: Fitz's Death

(Jemma gif because I can’t watch that death scene anymore.)

(But this is almost as bad.)

We've been over this, and the wounds are still fresh, so I won't rehash what so many others have said more eloquently. I will point out that the issue is not with the death itself. They had to do it in order to bring back Cryo Fitz (or perhaps because they knew they could), who hasn't experienced the majority of season five. It's an intriguing idea, and should open up a lot of pathways for his story next season. Also, it gave Iain another chance to show off his crazy talent (like he needed more this season, but whatever, we're grateful). It's just the way they did it, and the fact that anyone thought this would be an acceptable sendoff for a fan-favorite character if it really was the last episode. The fake-out (which wasn't even a proper fake out because they REALLY DID have to bury Fitz) undercut what should have been a bigger moment -- Phil's departure and impending death as well. They botched it, plain and simple, and there's no taking that back.

Best: Philinda Endgame

They took their time getting there, but May and Coulson finally expressed their feelings for each other (at least, the human versions), each in their own signature way. May finally telling Phil she loved him just to shut him up was classic May. And that kiss behind the shield ought to go down as one of most iconic TV kisses in history. I sincerely hope they get lots of parasailing in, and, despite it being a lovely sendoff, that we'll see one or both of them back next season. Incidentally, I believe the fact that Robin drew the two of them on the beach in Tahiti before they changed the future means that they wound up together in the previous version of the loop too. Of course, Phil had to be gone to allow May to become Robin's mom, and now I'm giving myself a headache again. See what you've done, season five!

Worst: Team Infighting

This show is never better than when the characters work together as a team, whether it's on an action-packed mission or simply solving a problem on the ground. Which makes the decision to split everyone up along multiple fault lines later in the season a confusing and super frustrating move that wasn't at all fun to watch. Families fight, sure, but the divisions this year were deep, involving the loss of trust and respect, and the questioning of each other's core moral principles. These are not minor squabbles. I'm not sure what they were trying to accomplish by stepping up the tension and having them take sides against each other in the face of their greatest challenge yet, but I don't think it worked out the way they wanted it to. I would love to see everyone come back together and be a family again, as long as it's done realistically without sacrificing characterization.

Best: Graviton

With this season possibly being the last, the writers took the opportunity to pick up a thread they'd left dangling in episode three. Ever since the introduction of gravitonium way back when, fans have been wondering if the show would follow through and deliver the major comic-book villain Graviton. Considering this season could have been the show's swan song, it was a good time to deliver on that promise. And they did, in a way that was surprising yet somehow fitting. Glenn Talbot has been a thorn in Coulson's side since he showed at the end of season one, so to have him become the final Big Bad is a satisfying, if tragic, fate for the character. Especially since, in his twisted mind, he believed he was doing the right thing, right up until the end.

Worst: Ruby Red Herring

Sorry Dove Cameron fans, but the show let your girl down. Despite the potential in her first few episodes, Ruby never lived up to the compelling, cutthroat (or cut-arm, haha) villain they set her up to be (her hooded alter ego never even got a cool villain nickname). As it turned out, she was only there as a distraction, to confuse the characters and the audience about the real identity of the Destroyer of Worlds. And just as she was getting interesting -- the way she watched and mimicked Fitzsimmons alone told us more about her cold upbringing and the lack of human connection in a few moments than we got in all her episodes before that -- they killed her off to give the team something else to fight about.

Best: Nostalgic Callbacks and Fan Service

We got so many callbacks to previous seasons throughout season five. Maybe it's because the writers knew there was a chance this would be the last year, so they packed in as many references to the history of the show as they could. There was also the milestone 100th episode, which naturally lent itself to looking back. In addition to paying off older plot points (see above re: Graviton) they directly acknowledged their loyal viewers with that "small but active fan base" line. It was exciting seeing Mike again. And good to have Davis back too, with his mysterious survival story (that I hope they never reveal). Not to mention Hunter (which I will, down below). These were all gifts to long-time fans and we ate them up.

Worst: Infinity War Tie-In

If you're going to go there (and yeah, they had to, given the show's history), then fully commit to it, rather than using the cop out of ending the season just before the movie's biggest moment. Anyone who's seen it knows that the ending could potentially have a major impact on the show. So embrace that (imagine Phil handing Mack the keys to Lola, only to watch them fall to the ground). Or they could have used the multiverse to disconnect from the MCU once and for all. There were already so many questions going into the finale, whether they would or wouldn't go through with the snap was one debate I could have lived without. And it's still up in the air as to whether it will be a factor next season. Given that the airdate is after the next movie comes out, I'm inclined to think not, but I kind of wish we didn't even have to worry about it.

Bonus Bests:

The Return of Lance Hunter

Every single moment he was in was pure gold. I really hope we haven't seen the last of him.

Fitzsimmons Wedding

I mean, obviously. So beautiful and emotional. A shining moment of light to balance the darkness of the rest of the season..

Deke

I love Deke. End of story. He is still around and he will be back. See my explanation post here. I have no official confirmation of this, I'm just thinking positively.

One final note: These gifs were pulled from all over. I’m still rather new to Tumblr, so if you see something that’s yours and would like credit, let me know (and also if you could let me know how to do it that would be great).

#agents of shield #agents of shield s5 #aos #fitzsimmons #philinda #phil coulson #daisy johnson #leo fitz #jemma simmons #alphonso mackenzie #yoyo rodriguez #deke shaw

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dilkirani · 6 years

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5x22

The thing is, I actually predicted the killing Fitz/saving cryo!Fitz thing from practically the beginning (and people kept telling me I was wrongggg) because it seemed like something JedMo would do, to have a very emotional death and yet be able to have it not “stick.” It also seemed like a cheap way to not have to deal with 5x14 and Daisy saying she’d never forgive Fitz, which I never believed they’d really address, so there you go. And, tbh, Fitz is my favorite character and FS is my fave relationship, so I honestly would take anything that means he’s still alive on the show.

But I didn’t think they would have such an emotional death and then have the team be like lol we have another Fitz so it’s okay? I feel like Jemma’s in shock and we got that Mack/Fitz moment and May’s reaction, but Fitz actually died--their teammate and family member and Jemma’s husband actually died, shaking and in shock and almost alone, and rescuing the other version of him doesn’t negate what he went through? Not to mention it erases all of the character development from s5. Also, what happened to his body? Did they bury him? Did Jemma take the ring? She still had to experience that. I can’t even believe that after a season of “never leaving each other’s side” Fitz died without her and Jemma has to live with all of this, and that doesn’t go away even if/when they do wake Fitz up.

The X-Files was way worse, but it felt similar because Scully thinks her kid (who was never really hers so it’s fine?) dies, but it’s okay because she’s pregnant with a new, presumably better kid. The fact that a Fitz survived doesn’t negate that one died, and the writing of the aftermath was so sloppy. And now I’m mad because I’m sure I’ll spend the next year writing the same goddamn sad fic over and over because I’m obsessive like that.

Side note, how come everyone is saying Fitz’s death was meaningless because the loop broke? Those creatures were still attacking Mack and Polly so for all we know if Fitz hadn’t thought to go after them they would have still died, loop broken or not.

Also, I never want to hear shit about FS being the only selfish ones again after certain things that happened in this ep, thanks.

Honestly, there were things I felt really worked for a series finale. It felt poignant to have Coulson and May hand over the reins while enjoying the time they have left in Tahiti, because they deserve it. Elena broke my heart in the beginning, asking why they were making her the bad guy and not listening to her. But the way they handled Fitz/FS would have been such an unbelievably awful ending and this is why I don’t trust them. And why couldn’t we get a scene with Deke & his GRANDPARENTS instead of with Daisy??

(another side note: where did they get all their stuff from? like Daisy’s hula girl and Jemma’s framed pic...did Enoch deliver it at some point? this whole time I thought they were just dumped in the lighthouse with nothing haha.)

So....that was a finale. Somehow despite everything I have to hope there will be some addressing of this next season, but based on past events... Anyway, I’m sad now.

(By the way, could Iain kindly be a worse actor? That death scene could have been corny done by anyone else but instead it really fucked me up, so thanks for that, Iain. Thanks.)

#aos spoilers #leopold fitz deserved better #so did Jemma Simmons #and me #Iain de Caestecker is ruining my life #as are JedMo tbh #I'm just so tired guys #I was all excited to do a rewatch once the season was over HAHAHA #I'm sure I'll feel better in time but wow #otp: you're more than that #x-files spoilers #???

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agl03 · 7 years

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Why do you think the writers hate seeing Fitz simmons happy ? I used to think they just don't know how to write a happy couple and integrate it into the show. But then in the finale we got a satisfying conclusion for Mack and Elena and even robbie and daisy (I know they're not a couple but it was sweet how they fought together and had scenes and dialog together)

Anonymous said:I keep seeing things (starting last season) about how Fitz might ‘hold on to some darkness from the framework’ and how Fitzsimmons as a couple 'will always love each other but might not survive what happened in the framework’. Anyway, what do you think the chances of this grimmer prognosis being endgame after season 5?

Hi Anons!

I hope you don’t mind I combined since these both have similar points I will address.

First up: Why do the writers hate seeing Fitzsimmons happy?

Its not that they don’t like seeing Fitzsimmons happy, its that they want to keep their story ‘interesting’. I don’t need Fitzsimmons to have horrid amounts of angst, impossible love triangles, or road block after road block to be interesting. I’ve said time and time again I’d love to see them working through the crazy as an actual couple. But for the writers they need to do things like that to keep the audience hooked and rooting for them. Most people are rooting for Fitzsimmons to be together.

However, the writers have gone well past ‘keeping it interesting’ to the point where the road blocks have frustrated some fans to the point of leaving. Yes, its fun to root for a favorite ship but they have crossed that line from fun to frustrating and haven’t had enough positive to offset the pain of things like the Framework Arc for Fitz.

Some drama is okay, but I’d rather have Fitzsimmons fighting to stay together…together than them continually physically separated (though I am prepared for that early in 5 due to Iain coming back late) with a crazy pants love triangle.

Also remember they only put obstacles in the way to delay the inevitable.

But then in the finale we got a satisfying conclusion for Mack and Elena and even robbie and daisy (I know they’re not a couple but it was sweet how they fought together and had scenes and dialog together)

Those that follow me know I’m very worried that something terrible is coming for Mackelena. If you look at the end of Season 3, Fitzsimmons had the ‘happy ending’ and look at the fun that they had in Season 4. Starting off a season in a super good place as a couple usually isn’t a good sign, and its not only AOS that has that.

I keep seeing things (starting last season) about how Fitz might 'hold on to some darkness from the framework’ and how Fitzsimmons as a couple 'will always love each other but might not survive what happened in the framework’. Anyway, what do you think the chances of this grimmer prognosis being endgame after season 5?

This is the fun time pre season where we start to see all sorts of things pop up but be VERY careful with click bait articles and old interviews. The Click Bait articles know just as much (and in some cases less) than we do. We literally have NOTHING on Fitz right now except he was with Hunter at some point in 5. That is it. The only time he’s been seen at work was in Lil’s Harvey video. We know he’s in 6 at some point because his double is there…oh joy.

The writers likely had an idea of where they would take Season 5 so there is a bit of truth to the end of season quotes. But things change, stories go a different direction, and most of those quotes were from Jed and Jeph who we have to take with a chunk of salt.

Everyone has Light and Dark in them, even Fitz. They warned us way back in 1.12 how dangerous it would be for Fitz to go evil. First the talk of potential, then the cautionary tale with Donnie, and the fact Donnie/Seth lured Fitz there to help them solve the power problem. We had more foreshadowing in the discussion about AIDA and Fitz brought up that Electricity could be dangerous yet it also powered our hospitals. Fitz always had that potential to go evil (as does every other character) and when given the choice, he didn’t. It was only after his choice was taken from him and he was subjected to a lifetime of manipulation and even abuse in the Framework that he did.

I also feel “The Doctor” and “The Darkness” are two different things.

Fitz showed no indications of “The Doctor” once he was free and had his agency back, not even towards Ophelia who hurt him so much. It would also be tough to have Fitz fighting “The Doctor” when you have 3 other main cast members that were in there too. The writers would need for Coulson, Mack and May to also be dealing with their Framework selves and I just don’t see them having time for that fitting into the story.

I feel the better story with Fitz and how “The Darkness” can linger, is him being scared to create/build because of what happened last season, to have him worried whatever he does will hurt others. Have that be the shadow he has to overcome. Essentially it could a twist on the ‘loss of powers’ and or “scared of ones powers” trope that we see so often.

I can also see a second avenue to this in that Fitz is a lot more reluctant to trust anyone new they come across. Even if there is someone genuinely good that needs his help, he’s been burned by Radcliffe and won’t want to make that mistake again.

As for the Fitzsimmons relationship. Again, we know squat at this point but after last season, I have put my expectations back in the gutter like they were in Seasons 2 and 3.

One of our big take aways from Season 4 is that it left NO question that Fitzsimmons loved each other and the lengths they would go to protect the other. “Theirs is a forever love,” there is no one else.

However, they both did things in trying to protect the other (and the team) that it nearly cost them the other forever (most of the team did this and everything everyone did in an effort to protect the others blew up in an epic fashion…moral of the story….they need to work together). On the Fitzsimmons side of things, Fitz helped build AIDA and the Framework. Jemma took the promotion with Mace. What needs to happen is they need to do what works best for them, working TOGETHER to stay together and heal. You hear me writers!

I am not saying Fitzsimmons will be sunshine and roses when we come back. There is still a lot of fall out to deal with but Jemma’s Amen made it clear she didn’t blame Fitz. She knows he was manipulated and twisted just like the others were. She knows that wasn’t him in there. I feel more of the burden may go to Fitz in forgiving himself and allowing himself to move on.

Everyone also needs to be prepared for Fitzsimmons to possibly be physically separated at some point in the early eps. Iain didn’t get back until filming for 3 and yes he can make up scenes but its easier to isolate him somehow and minimize how much they had to go back and do.

So going in here my expectations for things like kisses, screen time together, and emotional healing conversations are low. But my overall prognosis for Fitzsimmons is good. We have a whole season to heal and set up for a big moment. I have my eye on the 100th ep and finale for something like that. Since we are back sooner than expected there could be something good or bad before the only hiatus we’ll have over the Holidays.

#aos spoilers #aos speculation #ask agl03 #fitzsimmons #team engineering #engineering vs biochem

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wanderingthroughwickford · 7 years

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Agents of Shield Season 4 Episodes 16 and 17: What If and Identity and Change

It’s too late and I’m too tired/overwhelmed from this episode to do a long, thorough write-up like I normally do - plus, the tag is already full of posts saying most of the same things I would - so I’m just going to jot down a few of my opinions/reactions that I haven’t seen much of so far, or that I felt particularly strongly about. Forget that this is going to be super long-winded and I have no regrets. Still going to focus on more specific things rather than an overall review though. Obviously contains spoilers.

I’m ... not sure exactly how much free will the show is implying the characters in the Framework have - i.e. whether Fitz, May, etc. are truly being themselves. I’m completely averse to the idea that not knowing Jemma or not killing the little girl in Bahrain would turn these good people into remorseless, Fascistic murderers, so I’m just going with the belief that they’re essentially ‘brainwashed.’ Programmed. I don’t see this as “what would have happened” if things had been different, I’m seeing this as how AIDA thinks things would have wound up.

My sister pointed out to me that it’s not terribly different to Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, which I really disliked due to the plot twist that Cedric Diggory would have become evil if he’d been humiliated in the Triwizard Tournament. But I don’t feel the same towards AoS as I do HP, and I can’t quite pinpoint why. I guess it’s because this is a virtual world so it doesn’t seem as real, and it can have been programmed, whereas Cursed Child was simply an altered timeline, implying that it would have been 100% real if things had gone differently.

Something else I don’t know quite how I feel about is AIDA. I started out liking her in early Season 4; she was interesting and innocent-seeming, and I was glad that (in the first 6 or so eps at least) she didn’t seem to be going down the ‘evil AI’ route. After the reveal at the end of 4x08, I was still hopeful because I wanted to see where they would go with this. I enjoyed her in that arc because she still seemed somewhat childlike, like she didn’t really understand that what she was doing was wrong, and was just going along with Radcliffe’s misguided but ultimately well-intentioned goals. But after this ... idk man, I just can’t really find it in myself to like her much anymore, at least not as anything but a hateable villain. If she’d just forced the protagonists into a fake but benign world, it wouldn’t be so bad, but the world she’s constructed (or at least help bring into being) is horrible, and the characters are doing evil things they never normally would. Plus, I’ve just ... never been into any sort of ‘seductress’ villain, and that’s essentially what she’s doing with Fitz.

This was the same thing that happened with Jiaying; I started out liking her but over the course of Season 2 I realized she’d crossed a line that I couldn’t forgive. I still like her as a villain, just not as a person, at least outside of AUs. And sort of the same with Andrew, although his was less a ‘descent into villainy’ arc and just ... weirdly-written character assassination, in my opinion.

And not to be completely fucking annoying but I think this is part of the reason I’m able to genuinely like Lucy Bauer in a way I don’t any other AoS villain, because - as unrepentantly bad as she was - she didn’t have any sort of evil master plan, to control the world or wipe out most of humanity. It was all about getting her body back and having revenge on one person, who himself was no saint.

Despite never having been a Ward fan myself, I’m actually kind of happy for his fanbase that they can see him going through a redemption arc. There’s nothing wrong with the act of being a Ward fan in and of itself, and after years of disappointment I feel like that fandom deserves /something/. Plus, my mom really loves Ward, and it was adorable to see her so happy and excited over his turn-around.

Even though Framework!Fitz and May are awful, there are some things I liked about the Framework versions of other characters. As I’ve said in some of my tags, I really liked seeing a more innocent, fanboyish side of Coulson that’s similar to how he was portrayed in the Avengers. As AoS has become increasingly dark and Coulson has had to make morally grey decisions, he’s become a lot more of a serious character, so it’s nice to see those qualities that first endeared people to him being able to shine through.

I would die for Framework!Mace, he’s hitting so many ‘favorite character’ tropes for me right now and if he dies in a heroic sacrifice it’ll be even more so.

MAAACK sweetheart D: This poor man, just trying to live his life and keep out of trouble with his daughter. I’m not ready for Mack inevitably being forced to realize that the Framework is fake and to leave behind his daughter. I want to say “just let him be happy” but I don’t want him to be trapped in the Framework forever, either. But still, knowing that he’ll have to give up Hope in order to return to the real world ... damn, this might be the cruellest thing AoS has ever done.

I’m hoping that Vijay is still alive in the real world, but it was cool to see him in the Framework as well.

On the one hand, I appreciate the political commentary they’re going for, but on the other I feel like the way it’s conveyed is a little heavy-handed. Like ... you can’t get much more unsubtle than a villainous character outright saying “We’re going to make [x] great again.” Not that all of this isn’t relevant and important, but it just feels a little clumsily-handled sometimes.

I 100% called that Radcliffe would be living in some secluded area with Agnes, and that they’d seek him out and he’d be remorseful but wouldn’t really want to help because it would threaten Agnes. Maybe I’m awful but I kind of feel bad for him; he never wanted any of this. I figure he’s going to help Daisy, Jemma & co. get out and will accept that he has to stay behind, as punishment for what he’s done.

But as for someone who REALLY didn’t deserve what they got, poor Agnes damnit. She was completely innocent in all of this, didn’t even understand what was going on, and got shot for it. :C

On a somewhat more cynical note, I think I understand why the writers had Framework!Fitz kill her - it removes the moral dilemma as to whether or not to destroy the Framework. She was the only actual person in there besides Radcliffe who wouldn’t be able to escape (because her physical body is dead), and with her out of the picture, the protagonists can destroy the virtual world without getting innocent blood on their hands. (Radcliffe is still in there but he’s largely responsible for all of this, plus I feel like he’d choose to stay behind out of guilt anyway, and Framework!Ward isn’t a real person, just a simulation based off memories).

ALSO poor Lincoln. :( “Died during testing” reminds me of every angsty X-Men or Hetalia torture-fic I’ve ever read and I’m not ready to go back to that dark place.

I’m wondering what other characters are doing in this Framework? Not that we /need/ to know - we’ve honestly got so much going on that I don’t want them to just cram every character they can into this - but it’s interesting to speculate about. Like, since AIDA and Radcliffe scanned all their memories, then potentially anyone the Agents of Shield have ever encountered could be virtually recreated in the Framework, and even ones who were dead (like Ward) can be alive, so ... what’s Robbie up to? Bobbi and Hunter? Trip? Andrew? Jiaying and Cal? (Though Jiaying’s probably dead, otherwise she’d most likely be leading the Resistance). Mike Peterson? Yo-Yo? Joey? Raina? Senator Nadeer? Lucy?

I s2g all this pain has to end with everyone (but Radcliffe, since his body’s already dead) getting out of the Framework, a clear acknowledgement that none of the ‘bad’ characters were themselves, all-around friendship and relief, and a beautiful FitzSimmons wedding for me to be satisfied. (I know it won’t, but ... how much more of this can these poor agents take????)

I might not be able to watch again for two weeks, but we’ll see!

#Agents of Shield #AoS #renewagentsofshield #renew Agents of Shield #MCU #Agents of Shield spoilers #AoS spoilers

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nellie-elizabeth · 7 years

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Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Broken Promises (4x09)

Alright, then. I can dig it. Things are heating up in various ways for our cast of characters. What I admired most about this episode was the chemistry between various pairs. Some were predictable, others were not.

Cons:

The plot may have been a little all over the place. Not enough to confuse me, but enough that this story might have benefited from being broken into separate episodes. The A-plot focuses on Aida going rogue, after the Darkhold. Mack, Yo-Yo, Fitz, Coulson, and May (the secret android look-alike, rather) all try and bring her down, and then succeed, only to reveal the plot twist: That was an earlier model of Aida. The current version is safe with Radcliffe, who has been the secret baddie for a couple of weeks now.

The other plot stayed with Mace, Daisy, and Simmons as they looked for Nadeer's brother Vijay. (Sidenote: I have been spelling Nadeer incorrectly as "Nadir" up to this point. I'm not going back to fix it in previous reviews, but I'll use the correct spelling from here on out). Anyway, Simmons helps to get Nadeer's location, and our S.H.I.E.L.D. team moves in. Nadeer ends up killing her brother because she believes all Inhumans are diseased and corrupted. We see in the end credit scene that Vijay might still be alive, as his corpse re-solidifies into stone as he lands at the bottom of a body of water.

So, why did I put the whole plot description in the "Cons" section? It's not a bad plot at all, and in fact I enjoyed several aspects of it. But like I said, things got a bit crowded. So many characters didn't get any real screen-time together. Like Fitz and Simmons, or Coulson and Daisy. Remember, Daisy has only just been brought back into the fold. Wouldn't it have been nice to have a bit of time to reflect on that?

On a more nitpicking note, there's this scene where Simmons gets to be a badass and fight with one of Nadeer's people (a Watchdog, possibly). I get the idea, but I don't really like Simmons punching people and fighting off a guy like that. I don't mean that she should be a damsel in distress, but it would have been more true to her character and skill-set if she'd taken him down with a quick taser shot or something. Not every character in this show needs to be a martial arts master. We've already got May and Daisy to give us that kind of female empowerment stuff. Simmons' gift is her brain.

Pros:

I don't much mind that the episode felt crowded, though, because the stuff it was crowded with was really amazing.

First off, that twist with Radcliffe. It's brilliant because at first you think - wait, has he been evil this whole time? But then, no... it turns out that the Darkhold has corrupted his mind. His affection for Fitz is actually genuine, and his original plans for Aida weren't evil or ambitious, necessarily. Radcliffe is a character that we, as the audience, perhaps began to trust a little too quickly. After all, he was working with Hive last season. I'm glad that Aida's not gone, although I'm not terribly surprised about that part of things. She's far too interesting to do away with. But the fact that our heroes now believe they've neutralized the threat? That's fascinating stuff!

Fitz and Radcliffe have a conversation about sentience and whether or not their quest to stop Aida should be considered murder. In some ways it's your standard AI plot point, but I liked the different levels to this. Fitz, despite himself, is actually fond of Aida as if she were a person. If he starts to buy into that fantasy, it makes him more susceptible to Radcliffe's way of thinking, which in turn positions him opposite the rest of his friends, including Simmons.

Coulson and May spend the episode tracking down the evil robot together, reminiscing about the past, and maybe hinting at a romantic future. This is super uncomfortable and super devastating, because of course as we know, that's not really May. This episode threw an interesting wrench into proceedings, though. Does "May" know she's an android? There's a moment when she and Aida confront each other. Coulson is unconscious and nobody else is watching, and yet "May" still opposes Aida, trying to stop her from getting to the Darkhold. Is this because she doesn't know that Radcliffe is still controlling Aida, and that they're both working toward a common goal? Or is this android in May's form actually doing what she can to help Coulson and S.H.I.E.L.D., having been programmed to act in the best interests of that organization to keep Radcliffe's cover strong? I really don't know, and that's fascinating.

Mack and Yo-Yo ended up being my favorite part of this episode, surprisingly. They provided comic relief while also making me understand them better as a couple. Throughout the whole hour, Mack and Yo-Yo discuss how stupid Radcliffe is for making artificial intelligence, citing as evidence all movies on the subject. The best exchange:

Yo-Yo: "Someone needs to make Radcliffe watch all the Terminator movies."

Mack: "Even Salvation?"

Yo-Yo: "He brought this onto himself."

I loved all the joking and the back-and-forth. It made me feel like these two could make a real go of it.

In fact, let's take a moment to highlight the comedy in this episode over all. It was at its cleverest, and really helped to cut through a lot of the darkness surrounding the larger plot. Some favorite lines:

Simmons: "You know how boys can be with their robots."

Daisy: Nods, then looks confused. "No, actually I don't."

Coulson, while looking for the run-away Aida: "I'm checking local APBs. Pointlessly." Ha!

Over in the subplot, stuff with Nadeer and her brother gets serious very quickly. Basically, the two of them had made a murder pact to kill each other if either one ever became Inhuman. But Vijay is displaying no signs of Inhuman skills, so the Senator hesitates to kill him. We find out that he does have powers, some sort of speed/sonic thing that isn't explained very well, but that lets him evade the grip of the Watchdogs. The moment at the end, when Nadeer really did shoot her brother was really emotionally affecting, despite the fact that it wasn't a big surprise. I liked seeing this development of Nadeer's character. She really does love her brother, and she's wrong to be working with the Watchdogs, but she has a set of principles, and she's adhering to them. There's something honorable in that, in a twisted way.

We also get a hint that there's somebody else pulling the strings over in this subplot: one of the Watchdogs refers to "the Superior." I don't know who that is - perhaps somebody we already know I'm anxious to find out!

The Odd Couple of the night was Daisy and Mace. They are both Inhuman, and they are both working for S.H.I.E.L.D., so they clearly have a ton of stuff in common. However, their reasons for distrusting each other are made all too clear by the events of the season up to this point. It makes for an interesting dynamic. We, the audience, know that Mace isn't totally on the up-and-up, but he's not lying about his objectives, either. I'll be interested to see how Daisy deals with this new authority figure in her life. It could be a fascinating way to look back at the way Daisy, then going by Skye, first interacted with Coulson, who later became a father figure to her.

I guess I'll stop there before I ramble on too long. In many ways, this episode was merely a setup for what's to come. I'll miss Robbie from the last half of the season, but Aida and Radcliffe make some formidable enemies, and I can't wait to see how the gang grapples with this fresh set of challenges!

8/10

#review #agents of shield #agents of shield review #agents of s.h.i.e.l.d.#agents of s.h.i.e.l.d. review #aos #marvel

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rozthedragonlady · 5 years

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Thoughts on the Agents of Shield Season 6 Finale

I just finished the episodes and I’m practically vibrating with all kinds of emotions so I just had to write something down. Hopefully it’ll calm me down a little. Spoilers under the cut.

6x12

Overall I really enjoyed the first part of the finale,it had some fun moments and good action scenes.

- I really enjoyed Fitz and Simmon’s scenes with Deke. I find all the domestic bickering highly entertaining. I’m fairly neutral on Deke but I found him likeable in this episode, particularly when he stood up for himself.

- Moreover I liked that we saw Fitz and Simmons interacting in a “normal way”, by which I mean not in their usual “oh whateVER would i DO whitout you jEMMA I LOVE U” dramatic manner, which to be fair is mostly fueled by the ever so popular “let’s separate fitzsimmons” trope which is getting stale.

- I loved the interactions between Sarge, May and Daisy early on in the episode. I’m a sucker for philindaisy, and the show truly got my hopes up. I lived for the moments we saw Phil in Sarge, but especially May and Sarge interacting was very engaging and interesting precisely because he’s not Phil, but someone totally different.

- Sarge stabbing May shook my to my fucking core, I did not expect that at all. I truly thought that she was getting through to him. It was so painful especially after that heartfelt speech. I had gotten my hopes up, and suddenly they were shattered, I felt like I was just stabbed. Ever since that scene I’ve had anxiety humming under my skin.

6x13

All through the second part of the finale I was anxious and stressed because of what had happened in the last seconds of the first part, I couldn’t really concentrate.

- Izel and Sarge’s interactions felt confused and directionless, which they ultimately were. We never got any pay-off on that relationship or on the origins of their race. The dialogue was filled with bad guy cliches and was just VAGUE, which made their scenes frustrating to watch.

- Yoyo getting shriked only added to my stress, I was not enjoying myself. I was pretty sure they wouldn’t kill her because it would’t really add anything to the story except more pointless suffering but I honestly wouldn’t put it past them at this point.

- Timetravel I already saw coming since I’d seen some on-set pictures alluding to the fact. I’m excited about the possibility of seeing Peggy Carter and some other recurring characters from Agent Carter.

- Now to the thing I have the most feelings about: Coulson, Sarge and LMD Coulson. I don’t understand the point of the whole Sarge -saga if it wasn’t to bring Coulson back? Why do it? They baited us with the possibility of salvaging parts of Coulson through Sarge all season, just to kill him off like that? What’s the point? It would have been more impactful it that was the end of it, but no, “coulson comes back anyway, just not in the way we’ve been building up to all season”. Also, my gut reaction to LMD Coulson is definitely anger and sadness. Don’t get me wrong, he’s my favorite character so I for sure want him back but not like this. It just doesn’t feel right. The real Coulson still dead, it’s not him. I wouldn’t be right for them to just replace him and treat him like he’s the same person. They can’t just move past it like that, but at the same time I don’t want to watch them struggle dealing with someone who looks like him ‘cause we just DID THAT FOR A WHOLE ASS SEASON APPARENTLY FOR NOTHING. I won’t concider May ending up with A ROBOT that looks like Coulson “a happy ending”. I can’t think of a single way this could go that could make me happy or even remotely satisfied.

They could just not have killed him and we wouldn’t have this problem in the first place. Oh well, hopefully I’ll feel better in the morning. I gotta go detox from this mess.

#aos spoilers

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