Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D S03E10: Maveth

Cafe Society
#1

“Maveth”
Directed by Vincent Misiano
Written by Jeffrey Bell

Did I miss it when the planet is named? I guess so. So yeah, after last week’s (AWESOME) cliffhanger we get to find out what is happening on Maveth! This is the Winter Finale. So, I am hoping for some answer. But, probably we will mostly get questions.

I haven’t had as much time to ruminate on episodes after they air, as I had been able to in previous seasons. Which is unfortunate, because I think this might be the best season, yet. There have been several terrific episodes this season. (Last week’s and the episode with Jemma on Maveth are two of my favorites.)

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D S03E01: Laws of Nature
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D S03E02: Purpose in The Machine
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D S03E03:A Wanted (Inhu)man
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D S03E04: Devils You Know
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D S03E05: 4,722 Hours
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D S03E06: Among Us Hide…
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D S03E07: Chaos Theory
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D S03E08: Many Heads, One Tale
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D S03E08: Many Heads, One Tale

#2

Wow! I did not see that coming!
Mind you, the show doesn’t air here for another 4 hours, but I trust the showrunners to leave me with a number of twists and a helluva cliffhanger.

#3

So - wait:

Ward’s dead?

Yes, did not see that coming…

#4

Ah, just got the last bit. So how did that happen?

#5

Wow, I found myself tearing up a little when everyone got back aboard the bus and started huggin’ and stuff.

And yeah, I don’t understand how you know who managed to end up you know where right at the end, but whatever. Well played, showrunners.

#6

I missed the first part of the show (everything up to Coulson waking up). Can I get a recap?

My guess is the real Ward is dead and what we saw in the final scene was the “It”. We already saw it was able to impersonate Will.

#7

I gather it was possessing Will and had access to his memories, but could not heal the damage to Will’s body, hence the necrotic leg injury. I get that Ward isn’t really Ward (but they get to keep the actor) but if it’s consistent, the alien is stuck with the physical damage to Ward’s body as well, including two bullet wounds and a crushed sternum. I have to admit not finding the ending shocking, since it was kind of predictable once it was established the alien had this ability.

For all its presumably impressive power, the alien’s human host isn’t a fraction as unkillable as Lash.

#8

Someone on another board suggested that the thing hitching a ride in Ward’s body will wind up finding another host in Baron Zemo as a tie-in to Civil War. I have my doubts about that, but I wish it were true.

#9

I think it is okay to ask in this thread: with regards to the original comics, does Civil War include a Baron Zemo who is possessed by an alien presence?

Along the same lines: does this Thing have a counterpart in the comics world? It is an “ancient evil” - is it Kree or otherwise related to Inhumans or Thanos or something?
Also: http://www.avclub.com/tvclub/agents-shields-fall-finale-brings-all-its-various--229515 A summary and commentary on the episode from AVClub.

#10

And it’s got Coulson’s hand. I know that’s going to come into play at some point.

#11

They definitely found an interesting way to tie up the Ward storyline without having to write out the actor.

The big question is, will they run with Fitz’s “This is a snark hunt” line, and call the monster a Boojum when the season picks up again?

Jenna’s decision to release Andrew resulted in the very predictable death of all the captured Inhumans - I wonder if that will become a conflict between her and Daisy, or at least her and Joey & Lincoln.

It doesn’t impersonate - it takes over & reanimates dead bodies, and apparently gets access to their memories as well. Apparently enough physical damage makes the dead bodies unusable. That’s why we saw the a worm like creature exit Will’s charred skull, and something crawling under Ward’s facial skin in the last scene.

#12

Someone suggested it is going to be based on the Secret Warriors villain Hive.

#13

Why did “It” play along with Fitz? He risked Will’s body getting re-killed by Ward in the cave, and fighting Ward’s men in the No Fly Zone. My guess is that it didn’t know who to trust and was playing the angles as evil forces are wont to do. Once it realized that Fitz could get it to the portal it worked that angle.

#14

This week on S.H.I.E.L.D SG-1 Ward gets infected by a Goa’uld symbiont.

#15

Eh, I’m sick of these second-hand plotlines…

Get it? Second hand?

Anyway, it doesn’t look like the return was that big a deal at all - open a portal, keep it open, and anybody or anything could just ride back to Earth. What was the problem - trying to predict where on the alien planet the portal would appear? That doesn’t seem like such a huge technical challenge, more like a tricky math problem.

#16

Agreed, but let’s just call it a McGuffin and move on. :slight_smile:

#17

Okay, so is the stranded astronaut dude dead and or screwed?

Because to be honest that is the guy I was really rooting for here.

#18

Yeah, my interpretation that they needed Daisy to return was completely wrong.

It took one of the AoS supergeniuses to predict the next portal location, so I guess it was a huge technical challenge. Plus, until someone came back, Hydra had no idea that the problem was that the portal kept opening in a different location on the planet. Maybe that’s why they sent a bunch of scientists on the NASA team - to figure out why returning was so hard.

Of course, Simmon’s work was completely overshadowed by the fact that she actually returned by luckily being in the right place at the right time.

But what was the big deal with the 12 hour deadline? Why not just reopen the portal every hour on the hour? Worst comes to worst, they can travel to a location that it scheduled to open in 24 hours, and wait a while.

#19

I believe he’s dead. Specifically, “It” killed Bill when Simmons came back, but It took over his body and accessed his memories.

After Fitz burned him to a crisp with the flare gun, It took over Ward’s recently dead body, so Bill is now just a corpse on a dead planet.

#20

Yeah, that sounds like it.

Sucks, but I guess I have soft place for such characters.

PS. I’m STILL pissed the second in command on the Red October died. That dude should still be RVing his ass all across America.