The last two episodes have been top-notch. Just watched Rise & Shine, and it made me forgive a lot of the meandering earlier in the season. Starting to feel like things are full steam again.
Hale’s backstory flashback was amazing (Where did they find a kid that looked so much like Sitwell that I instantly knew who he was before they used his name? That was cool.) Talbot’s scene in the hospital was terrifying, and almost made him a real character instead of a cartoon for once. (though he slid back a bit with “Calamari Mata Hari”. That was a bit of a stretch.) I continue to be thrilled by them bringing back characters we haven’t seen in years. (Whitehall!)
I loved how Coulson was almost convinced that Hale was right… almost… Until she mentioned the Destroyer of Worlds. yeah… about that…
The Daisy/Fitz showdown was awesome too… We fans of genre shows say it all the time, but can Iain de Caestecker PLEASE get some kind of award? Emmy, SAG, Golden Globe, something? I find it hard to believe that any boring show without killer robots and time travel has an example of acting as gut-wrenchingly amazing as what he’s done this season. SO GOOD!
I have rarely been happier to eat my own words, but here are some from long ago that I should chow down on:
(from the pilot)
(from S01E03)
Man, I was harsh on them… and now they are some of my fave characters of all time…
I liked the episode, but less so than you. My big problem is that I find the characters of Hale and Ruby to be completely boring. I recognize that they’re important and fairly strong characters, but they just don’t click with me.
That aside, lots of plot development and some good stuff. They used the best way to show that Coulson is a bad ass, not rising to the bait of following or interacting with Ruby in the cafeteria. The trip to the Confederacy was a silly throwaway, did Hale think that it would change Coulson’s mind?
I generally hate time travel stories, and having two pocket knives is an example why. I mean, there’s also a sleeping Fitz underground somewhere. Why not dig him up and use him now? I hope they do something interesting with the “invincibility” idea, since it also leads to the idea that you can’t change the earth getting all blowed up.
Yeah, the “We’re invincible” thing practically screams “One of these characters is gonna die!” Probably Fitz, since he’s all dark and edgy now, and they might try to give him some kind of redemptive death.
I would like to compliment the casting department on finding a young actor who looked almost exactly like Jasper Sitwell. That was good casting.
This I will give you, though I think this ep fleshed Hale out quite a bit, but as adversaries go, she’s no Ada, or Hive, or even Rosalind Price.
a) because he’s in space on Enoch’s ship. and b) if they somehow got there and did so, they either create a paradox, and/or undo his efforts in the future that brought them back, stranding everyone else in the future again.
This was a pretty good episode. Again, lots more plot development and a few surprise twists. Things I liked - Coulson teaming up with Creel and Talbot, Robin and her mother dealing with Mother May I, some interesting treatment of the time travel loop indestructibility factor, Strucker playing a bigger role and Deke. Things I didn’t like - Hale (even in her leather pants with her hair down, I guess she’s not Air Force any more) and Ruby still come off as weak characters, the scene with Simmons, Yo-Yo, Mack, and Fitz, and most scenes with Daisy.
“This is my inside voice!”
“You die more than any man I’ve met.”
Talbot is a great character in limited doses.
At least were finally getting some movement on deciding exactly who the Destroyer of Worlds will be. It’s coming to a showdown between Daisy and Ruby, which leads me to believe it will be neither of them.
This team has a hard time respecting the chain of command - why does it matter who’s in charge of SHIELD if no one ever follows orders?
Nice flashback at the end, seeing Riana and Quinn, but who else was going to be “in” the gravitonium. There’s someone else in there with him, trying to get out, and my prediction is that they sucked in Quinn to help escape, and now they’re trying something else to escape. Wasn’t someone else from season 1 consumed by the gravitonium?
Heck, didn’t somebody get sucked into something in season 2 of Agent Carter? Whoever that was could return, and it wouldn’t matter if the events in that series were ~70 years ago.
If it happens, I kind of hope they take in some refugees from the Inhumans show since a second season isn’t happening. Make Crystal and Karnak have some excuse to hang around the with the gang.
I read an article that ABC had tried to cancel it a season ago and Disney basically said, “No, you can’t.” They look at AoS as an infomercial for the movies and don’t care how bad the ratings are. If this is true, I think it will be around a while.
On the one hand, I couldn’t be more thrilled if the show’s renewed. On the other hand, it’s a little sad that they pulled all the throwbacks this season, thinking it was wrapping up, making it feel like a final season (Robyn, Hunter, Kreel, Talbot, Whitehall, Raina, Quinn, Hall, Deathlok, Lash, Hive, the Astronaut, LMDs, Superior, Strucker…). On the other other hand (yes, I have 3, I’m inhuman…), I have every confidence that the writers will find a way to make the final season feel equally Epic, whenever it may come.
I was on vacation last week and finally caught on the last two episodes.
Stuff I liked:
Ruby and Strucker finally do something, rebelling against Hale after simply being boring and annoying
Resolution of Ivanov storyline?
Deke’s medically displayed puppy love of Daisy and subsequent fan boy attitude
Yo-Yo’s arms not working with her super speed, but how could she have not tried that until now?
Ruby showing some Gravitonium powers
Yo-Yo killing Ruby - decisive and correct actions
Strucker’s death - that was cool and I didn’t like the character anyway
Daisy didn’t piss me off in these episodes - she was a working as a good leader, not always right but decisive and headed in the right direction. Except for trying to save Ruby near the end. However she needs to end all fights with her powers rather than go kung-fu Quake.
Lots of call outs to previous episodes and characters
Stuff I didn’t like:
Hale becoming a sworn enemy of SHIELD again because her evil and dangerous daughter was killed. Sorry, she should have already been prepared for that.
FitzSimmons fixing the machine - Fitz was willing to let the ends justify the means when he went all evil but he can’t make the sacrifice here to save the world? And same question to Jemma.
Talbot didn’t get redemption, although he didn’t kill anyone. I guess Mack iced him so he’s not dead. It still leaves room for redemption.
Hale still sucks as a protagonist, Ruby was even worse.
Why was Talbot’s wife there with Hale’s flunky at the perfect time? What’s her motivation for working with them to trigger Talbot’s programming?
Gravitonium - this magic exotic substance, can be piped through a garden hose. Although they did acknowledge that it was not expected to work like that.
How many secret bases are there out there?
The final scene with the Confederacy guy, just another powerful but ill-defined group
I’m tired of FitzSimmons being able to build or fix everything
Mack and Piper becoming emergency surgeons, but the dialog was fun
Stuff I’m not sure about:
Philinda - it could be good, it could be crap. It can’t end happy.
Daisy Deke - I like the Deke character but right now it’s just lightweight infatuation
Talbot’s story arc - I really want him to get redemption and live - he’s now one of my favorite characters.
Shouldn’t Coulson be dead by now? Not sure how they plan to resolve this. It *should * end in Coulson’s death, but again I like the character a lot. I suspect we’ll get a return of Ghost Rider to resolve it.
Overall I’m looking forward to see how they conclude this season, and possibly the series. We only have Daisy left as the possible destroyer of worlds, unless they throw a curveball and have someone else get the gravitonium enema. Has the timeline been changed yet? I doubt it since it seems to resolve around not saving Coulson.
My prediction is that the message from future Yo-Yo was that the solution is to not try to save Coulson. It doesn’t mean that he doesn’t live but that the team can’t try to save him. They stay focused on the task at hand or allow him to sacrifice himself, and someone else (Ghost Rider?) will save him.
