Amph Agents of SHIELD Discussion Thread (and Slingshot)

Even more surprisingly, he looks like the kid who played him in the flashback

 

Spoiler

Now we know which powerful Senator is aiding Talbot

 

Spoiler

In his last scene with Raina, the guy made some comment about how she needed to deliver his daughter.

 

I didn't notice this in the first episode, but their new base appears to be the SSR base from the Agent Carter short. Coulson's office is the office Peggy was working out of.

 

I don't get how theres any confusion on that. I've seen a lot of people confused about it, but I can't for the life of me understand why. We found out the bloody hand guy was Skye's father in the season finale, the producers have confirmed that Kyle MacLachlan's character is Skye's father and now he's asking for Raina to deliver his daughter while wiping blood off his hands. Its not exactly rocket science to connect the dots

 

He had a cityscape in the background of his window. I didn't check the skyline, but I think it's meant to be the same base just outside New York. You can tell in the lab scenes with Fitz and Science Rock that it's supposed to be a 40s-era building, too, if you look at the architecture in the background. I doubt they'd go for that look if it wasn't a deliberate tie-in to Agent Carter coming down the pike; I'm betting something will come of using her old facility that can help set up the midseason swap. Behind the scenes it makes sense too to cut costs by sharing sets.

 

I really dig Head Simmons. She has this underlying creepy vibe to her cheerful mental projection disposition that is actually kinda menacing. I wish Fitz's forgetting the right word disease would take a somewhat quicker direction that enables him to spit out dialogue faster, but I still enjoy him chattering away to a Simmons who isn't there. Hell, I kinda hope they keep the "real" Simmons away until, like, the season finale. That would just be trippy.

 

The Gray Hulk's fight with Creel was a bit interesting.

 

****!

Found a Ward/Skye preview in a following clip (Italian subtitles with it)

 

I'm sure I would have been surprised by this week's reveal on Agents of SHIELD but I was watching the Bills game this afternoon and every other ad break was a promo for this week's AoS. So, nevermind!

 

Another nice episode.

Spoiler

I hate, hate, HATE, brainwashing plots and I feared the episode was going to end up with Simmons being brainwashed, but apparently not for now. Oh, and I like that they took the time to clarify Ward was never brainwashed.

 

I liked this episode a lot better than the first two.

 

A lot to like here:

Spoiler

I love the new May/Skye dynamic. It gives more for May to do but it also gives Skye a great teacher. The whole lesson about being calm at all times was nicely done. And clearly May's not a bad teacher looking at Skye's target results.
Simmons was great. I think we all knew she wasn't truly turning, so having her be Coulson's mole was a very nice twist and I like that they are playing a long game with it. I did chuckle at the cheery opening as she goes off to work for HYDRA. But the black labcoat sort of gave things away. Seriously HYDRA, we know you're evil, but you really need to have black labcoats? Is it to show you're too cool for white ones?
I also really enjoy the new Mac/Fitz dynamic. It seems to have helped Fitz's progress- which even Coulson acknowledges and perhaps tonight was the final episode for hallucination Simmons now that Fitz acknowledges she isn't real.
Ward and Fitz was a great scene. I love how Fitz decides to show Ward what was done to him. Ward looked suitably terrified given how unstable Fitz seemed.
+1 for SHIELD: HYDRA doesn't know who the director is. I guess Fury's survival remains a secret then. And I'm glad to see SHIELD more in the shadows where they belong.
Did anyone else think Agent 33 was Mockingbird at first? Apparently Agent 33 is: Kara Lynn Palamas – Researcher; recruited Hercules for operation against Ares and Warhawks.

Lastly, I love that Ward admits that he wasn't brainwashed and did everything good or bad on his own. No excuses, no escape for Ward. Hopefully no redemption either.

 

Loved the reveal of What Simmons Is Up To and I think it'll give the actress a hellova lot to do. I actually think she may be one of the most underrated with her thespian chops, Simmons had a few solid moments in S1 (when she was locked up in the tech room and close to dying was great) and I think where they put her can give the character and actress a lot of stuff to work with. And the main Very Old Hydra Bad Guy (still haven't gotten his name yet) is also a very good actor, his whole rant about aged whiskey was fantastic, and it'll be fun to see him interact with Simmons.

One of my favourite parts of the episode was the cutting from inside the freighter to the guy playing X-Box. Easy gag but it worked.

If Ward basically ends up like Theon Greyjoy / Reek on "Game of Thrones" as every week Fitz goes down there to devise a new way to torture him, I would be okay with that.

 

If SHIELD uses Xbox does that mean HYDRA supports Sony or Nintendo?!

 

I would believe that Hydra are members of the Glorious PC Master Race.

 

That's Daniel Whitehall, aka Kraken.

 

FYI: while Ward has said he would never lie to Skye -- and I do believe that -- I absolutely don't believe that's true with anyone else and he was lying to try and get inside Fitz's head, much to his chagrin later...

 

Not really. Look at him when he realizes he has to eliminate them. He doesn't want to do it and instead as he pointed out, chose to not shoot them. He had no problem shooting Hand and the others, but he did with those that he considered his friends.

 

Not buying it.