That would’ve made things interesting. “Director Fury, I recognize that you made a decision – but given that it was a stupid-ass decision, I elected to ignore it.”
I expected that too, especially since she jumped out from right next to it. Ward could have hit the release button, jumped into Lola as she slid out the door, and zipped down to the rescue. Then they both would have had to face Coulson’s wrath.
I think it was a bit of both. I think it hit him that she’s in love with him, but he also realized he has feelings for her.
This isn’t the “Flash” problem, though - that was a person with superpowers fighting common criminals. If you have SHIELD taking down supervillians, you’re saying the Marvelverse doesn’t need superheros. That leads to the “Angel” problem where you build up a mythos that the threat can only be dealt with by superheros (one girl per generation with the ability to kill vampires), then have multiple vampires taken down by what’s essentially the neighborhood watch.
I liked:
[ul]
[li]Mai “questioning” the boy scout - first by quietly intimidating him, then by offering him a cookie. Not very original, but I enjoyed it anyway.[/li][li]All of the personal character drama - this isn’t a “game changer” type of show, but it did have a feel of “it just got good.” Kind of like the “Hero of Canton, the man they call Jayne!” episode of Firefly.[/li][li]Fitz preparing to jump out of the Bus to chase down Simmons, then Ward pushing him aside and skydiving himself. Great stunt! Again, not original, but I enjoyed it anyway.[/li][li]Huggies b/w Skye and Simmons. It’s nice to see how these people are growing to care for one another.[/li][li]Agent Ward impressions from Fitz and Simmons.[/li][li]“The gun was still an ounce off.”…… “I know.”[/li][li]The scenes at the firehouse. Very touching.[/li][li]Mai and Coulson’s slightly creepily erotic interaction. Happy Halloween![/li][li]More insight into Mai. It seems that she was dead once, too. [/li][/ul]
I didn’t like:
[ul]
[li]Agent Ward’s self-impression. Way too awkward.[/li][li]The Chitauri helmet. I was cooking dinner and not paying attention. I thought it was an Ultron helmet. Don’t want Ultron![/li][li]Killing off Simmons that way (or so I thought). I don’t object to killing characters I’ve finally started to like, but at least do it right. The sequence of events was a freaking mess. “The cure doesn’t work! I’ll knock my boyfriend out and kill myself!”….“Wait! The cure did work! I’ll pound on the glass and yell instead of pointing calmly at the mouse!”….“Geronimo!” Thankfully, the “Its comics” rule took over and saved the character.[/li][li]The overly melodramatic trailer leading up to this episode.[/li][li]Fitz being all goggly over Miss Perky Boobs. I know she’s hot sexy Chinese pop star Chloe Wang, but seriously, dude. Simmons![/li][/ul]
For Comics Superhero Nerds Only - what I want for Christmas!
[ul]
[li]More alien races, like Kree and Skrulls (Chitauri?) and Watchers and Inhumans. No triangle-haired Shi’ar, however.[/li][li]Carol Danvers! If they’re not putting Ms. Marvel in the MovieVerse, at least put her in the TV show. Don’t tell me you need a good reason for a hot blonde with big hair, etc. to show up.[/li][li]Norman Osborne! Just kidding. I hate that guy. [/li][li]Power Man, Iron Fist, Shang-Chi, Daredevil, Moon Knight, Taskmaster… All those Marvel Knights that may or may not have S.H.I.E.L.D. training.[/li][li]Basically, just more characters we know from 50 years of comics.[/li][/ul]
Yeah. I’ll probably stick it out until the Thor tie-in, but this show is really failing to deliver.
I was pleased to see lots of positive reactions to the episode on the internet… and then watched it and it turned out to be a bottle episode (with a few location shots). The end action scene really didn’t make up for that.
But this show’s problem continues to be that there is no MARVEL in Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD. It doesn’t have to be a superhero show – but put some of the damn Marvel IP into the damn show already! Chitauri helmet is not cutting it; this was a generic SyFy show plotline with the word “Chitauri” bolted on at an appropriate point. I half expect the Thor tie-in episode to be them standing around dialoguing about a Mjolnir divot.
I liked it. A better episode. If they keep it up, this series might find its groove soon.
Your criticisms are all valid. I think part of the problem is that we’re getting used to the calibre of shows on HBO and Netflix and AMC and the BBC and this second-rate clichéd tripe just isn’t cutting it.
More to follow, but for now - how did they get back on the plane?
Let’s have somebody knit a hat for…I’m gonna say The Cavalry.
And I agree, more characters from the Marvel Universe. BTW, Carol Danvers is calling herself Captain Marvel now, according to a graphic novel I just read.
Oh, and Ron Glass was in the pilot, playing a doctor. I wouldn’t mind seeing his character show up again.
I was very pleased with this episode. What I’ve wanted form this show is more about how “Regular people” deal with a world full of Super Powers, Aliens, Monsters and Death rays. I was really glad when they revealed the source of the problem. Leave the super villains to the movies (for the most part), I want more stories like this.
After all, Fury himself defied orders in The Avengers. But that may have been what the show was hinting at; Fury is not the ultimate authority at Shield. There are higher political people Fury and Shield have to answer to. I’ve speculated before that Fury may have set up Coulson’s team as an essentially hidden group within Shield - a team that can do things Fury doesn’t want his superiors to know about.
There was a line by Coulson on how he hated dealing with the Morrocan navy.
Chitauri.
My understanding is that the FF Franchise has “Skrulls”. Also, I suspect they’d have Inhumans and Watchers. (Kree first appeared in FF, but they’re more of an Avengers thing). Shi’ar belong to the X-Franchise.
With the floating bodies, why didn’t anybody bring up the gravity-manipulating mineral? And neither of the two supergenii thought to check the mouse’s vitals?
This, I think, adequately explains why Simmons pulls the “I’m going to knock him out and jump out of the plane maneuver.”
[Simmons voice]ANTISERUM![/Simmons voice]
Not the best episode, but I like where they’re going with Coulson and the character development on Fitz & Simmons. Going to keep watching for a bit. Especially given the people involved, I’m willing to give it about a season to hit its stride.
I recall, but they landed in the Atlantic somewhere off the west coast of Africa without survival gear, and they got back on the plane and the helmet still hadn’t been delivered?
So the plane alerted the Moroccan navy that two people were in the ocean, somewhere, and then the plane landed, somewhere, and then waited around for the Moroccan navy to find the castaways, rescue them, deliver them, and only then did they continue on to the sandbox which at the point of the jumping, was only about two hours away, anyway?
“Okay, we’ve got an extremely dangerous alien artifact in transit and nearly at destination, but we’ll take a day or two out for a quick search-and-rescue, except it won’t be us doing the actual rescuing, is that okay?”
I want my next pet to be a hovermouse.
In a world where bodies float in the sky due to a “virus” transferred by electric shocks, this is where you can’t suspend disbelief? 
Really? Who was Xander? Beyond, “I’m gonna say vampires are bad.” No, that’s unfair. He got a big piece of development in the first two episodes, but he was pretty much That Guy for a long time.
Hey, Whedons? Just do the opposite of what this guy asks, OK?
I can’t imitate myself. How many non-actors can? “Ah, but he is an actor,” you say. Ward isn’t.
I’m with you, Quimby.
Yes, he (the actor) was going an intentionally bad impersonation. He wasn’t trying to impersonate himself. He was impersonating her impersonation of himself. And he was doing it for a comedic reaction to show he wasn’t bothered by her trying to put one past him.