The Bus was built with such a conduit because its builders understood that in the universe it occupies It Would Be Needed At Some Point™. The Bad Guys don’t suspect because Really, Who Would Be Dumb Enough To Put One Of Those in Such An Important Place?™
Coulson’s the kind of guy who actually reads the tech manuals, o he knows this.
You doubt Fitz and Simmons can slap together a makeshift one between commercials?
They can’t do anything TAHITI related because they blew the alien up. I doubt FitzSimmons can put together one of those.
After all the weeks of heavy drama, I was glad to see some of the humor return in this episode. And I was especially thrilled to see Coulson’s character return to form. I was surprised with Coulson’s certainty that he could take Ward. We saw Ward handle a hall-full of SHIELD agents single-handed as well as fought May almost to a draw, and Coulson is that certain he can take him out by himself? Wow.
I thought Skye’s refusal to let Ward die was perfectly in character. After all, she’s only been working with SHIELD for a few months now. She’d still be packing some old personality traits with her. It shows that as far as she’s come, she still has a ways to go.
The picture thing bothered me. I expected it to be an electronic screen, and that Skye would have hacked into it displaying more information about what had happened, and perhaps some idea of what she’d be trying to do. “Ward is Hydra”? That’s it? Seriously?
I don’t think Simmons is Hydra. However, the possibility that she is is sure to present some team tension down the line.
I doubt Ward is going to get killed, or that he is going to be redeemed. They are going to need a good recurring villain in the series, and Deathlok is just not evil enough to fill that role. Especially considering in the comics the Deathloks have been good guys. It’s more likely that he will be saved than Ward.
Little things:
“Huh.” - Brilliant. That’s the Coulson we know and love, not the crazed one we had seen recently.
I like the touch of Coulson unbuttoning his jacket when he and Maria were getting ready to attack the commandos. Could be the making of a signature move. “Uh-oh. Coulson just unbuttoned his jacket. Someone’s getting their ass kicked.”
It seemed kind of strange that Hill kept insisting that Fury was dead, and that Coulson never called her on it. They both know he isn’t, but they don’t know the other one knows.
They must be using the same logic that has contractors build air ducts - designed for moving air - that are large enough and sturdy enough for human beings to crawl through.
I wonder if any Avenger might appear, Stark maybe?
Who was Hill talking to?
Did anyone else hear the eyecandy joke?
Hill was talking to Pepper Potts.
I can see those two hitting it off.
Mmmmm, I could get behind that!
IIRC, there are a number of current airliner designs that have access panels from the wheel wells into the cargo holds. Even without one, Coulson has access to a Mousehole device, remember? Swipe, swipe and he’s in.
Didn’t Coulson say early on in the series that he had a hand in designing The Bus? I seem to remember hearing him tell someone (Skye?) that.
Finally was able to watch this episode online today.
I find it very difficult to accept that Ward was able to fly and land The Bus anywhere near L.A. without getting to meet most of a tactical fighter wing. Just an episode or two ago, SHIELD demonstrated the ability to hijack that airplane via remote control, and apparently the Air Force has taken over whatever’s left of SHIELD. Even failing that, the airplane has to have a pretty unique radar signature, and you don’t just go flying something the size of a commercial jetliner through restricted airspace any more than you walk into Mordor.
Otherwise, it was another solid episode, with perhaps the best acting we’ve seen to date from Skye and Ward. I kinda wish this was an HBO series so Skye could have said “Heil Hydra, Motherfucker”. On ABC, I’d have settled for “Heil Hydra, Asshole.”
Wondering what her surprise is…
Also wondering if maybe there’s going to be an appearance by the Black Widow. They keep name-checking her in episode after episode. It would be sweet to have her show up and kick Ward’s ass in the season finale…
I think she was attempting to deceive Ward not mock him. Ward had been trying to maintain the facade that he was a loyal Shield agent. Skye started that rant about betraying Garrett which could be about betraying people who trusted him but could also be taken at face value - that she was specifically angry about Ward betraying a Hydra agent. Then she revealed she had turned Ward in - as a fugitive Shield agent - and said “Hail Hydra” before making a run for it.
If Peterson hadn’t been there, she’d have gotten away from Ward. And Ward would have been left with the idea that Skye was the same as him - a Hydra sleeper. He would have been thinking “All this time she was acting weird it wasn’t because she thought I was a Hydra agent. It was because she thought I actually was the Shield agent I was pretending to be. I could have gotten everything I wanted at any time just be telling her we we’re on the same side.”
So it was Skye trying to mess with Ward’s head.
Huh. That never occurred to me, but now that you mention it, I can see it that way…
I thought it was obvious. Ward did not realise what she had done till the plane.
As Skye was running away and the police were closing in, Ward yelled “Wait, no, you don’t understand.” I figured he was trying to tell her he was on the same side he now thought she was on.
My thoughts exactly, until it occurred to me that all Ward would have to do is switch on the (spoofed) transponder. Then the Bus would show up as whatever the transponder said. That would get them into LA and on the ground. At that point, of course, they would be spotted. Which is pretty much what happened, otherwise Hill wouldn’t have known where to find them for the stall.
I really didn’t get that at all. It felt to me like she was letting him know that she was on to his Hydra loyalties, and this was her way of turning him. There’s nothing in that exchange that would indicate to me that she was trying to convince him she was Hydra. The whole exchange about hiding your real self, references to Garrett, turning on your fake friends; that was Skye letting Ward know she was on to him before turning him in.
I think you’re reading too much into that exchange.
Ward claims his actions are based on his devotion to Garrett, not HYDRA ideology. I think he was trying to explain that- that he was a good guy who was loyal to a person who saved him, not a traitor loyal to an enemy organization. That’s what, I think, he wants Skye to understand. Of course he deluding himself that this is reason enough for what he’s done and that she would possibly understand.
I thought Skye’s reveal, that she knew Ward was HYDRA and was disgusted with him, was really well done.