Out of the darkness, into the light. S.H.I.E.L.D. episode 17 discussion thread (spoilers)

[Zontar]

Holy shit. That episode, what the hell. Sure, the agency is alive, if barely, and in better shape then I thought after the movie, but still. Wow.

Victoria is dead? That was unexpected, I thought she would last until at least getting a cameo in the movies. And Ward?! No, S.H.I.E.L.D., why do you do this to me?

Well, that's the jest of how I feel about it.

I can't believe they made Ward a H.Y.D.R.A. member. I thought they where going to get him off the show, but turning him evil? Why. Though then again they never really went into detail about why anyone joined Hydra in the first place in the movie either, so it's not that much of a surprise.

Thoughts?

 

[jab136]

wait, I may be wrong but I could have sworn that agent Hand appeared in TWS. but yah that was an interesting show, how much you wanna bet skye kills ward for his betrayal.

 

[Zontar]

wait, I may be wrong but I could have sworn that agent Hand appeared in TWS. but yah that was an interesting show, how much you wanna bet skye kills ward for his betrayal.

I don't remember seeing her in it, plus didn't she leave for the Hub at the same time Sitwell left for the movie's intro?

Anyway, I'd place my money on Coulson doing the deed, but Skye might as well.

 

[jab136]

wait, I may be wrong but I could have sworn that agent Hand appeared in TWS. but yah that was an interesting show, how much you wanna bet skye kills ward for his betrayal.

I don't remember seeing her in it, plus didn't she leave for the Hub at the same time Sitwell left for the movie's intro?

Anyway, I'd place my money on Coulson doing the deed, but Skye might as well.

also with the way fitz has been acting lately he is also in the running. I will be seeing the movie again this weekend with a few friends and can check if she is in it.

Edit: also moviebob's review tomorrow should be interesting, I wonder if there will be so much he has to cover that he does an emergency big picture, probably not, but one can hope especially since he hasn't had a chance to go into spoiler territory about TWS yet seeing as the regular episode this week was a continuation of last week's episode

 

[Gizmo1990]

I have but one thing to say about this episode. Where has this show been? That was so much better than any other episode I have seen and it had (for me anyway) a completly different feel than the first half of the series.

 

[KoudelkaMorgan]

I loved this episode, even more than usual.

Coulson and I realized simultaneously that bit about Raina standing out as a red flag with Garret.

Sadly I guessed about Ward prematurely because it seemed kind of obvious. As in, there was no foreshadowing, it seems to run counter to his established motivations as a character (much like Garret), and is a lazy way to get a final twist in before the end. Basically Joss Whedon 101 (assuming he still has anything to do with this show).

I was only surprised he didn't say heil Hydra when he was doing it.

 

[IndomitableSam]

Was discussing the movie and what would happen at work yesterday with some people and my theory was that Garret was HYDRA and Ward probably was as well. And that Hand was not, because that would be too obvious.

A few people think Simmons is probably HYDRA - I'm on the fence about it. I don't think Fitz is at all.

Now after watching that, I think Garret's other team member - can't remember his name, the one who likes Simmons - is probably also HYDRA and is a sleeper (as there are many).

As for Ward... I think he's probably declared for HYDRA but isn't actually. He's playing the long con and no one but him knows it. He'll probably get to a HYDRA base and try and kill some higher ranking members and then go back to the rest of the group. Which is disappointing - I don't like Ward as a character and I hope he really is HYDRA and the team gets a shake-up for next season.

As for the acting... I dunno, I was just really impressed with the guy who played Fitz - everyone really seems to have stepped up their game for Uprising and the acting was quite good.

Can't wait for next week.

 

[Crispee]

It was pretty cool that it links to the Winter Soldier film so much. But I dunno about the actual twists, I totally called that Ward was going to secretly be a part of HYDRA, but I was kind of disappointed that the Clairvoyant just turned out to be the suspiciously helpful SHIELD agent that appeared right when they were looking for that miracle drug, though since CENTIPEDE is now confirmed to be a subsection of HYDRA, I guess it means that even the Clairvoyant was just following orders.

What I am wondering though. If HYDRA, as established in the end credits of CA:TWS, is in possession of Loki's mind controlling sceptre, then could they even be using that to have turned some more SHIELD agents to their side? It is weird how HYDRA have been there since SHIELD's inception but haven't revealed themselves until just now. Ward's definitely proven himself to be susceptible to Asgardian mind control afterall.

Either that or Ward's pulling an elaborate triple bluff. Or he's being controlled by the eye camera things. It doesn't presently make sense as to why he'd be a HYDRA agent otherwise.

 

[Therumancer]

Ward was a redundant character for the show, which is why I think a lot of people suspected he was going to be the traitor ahead of time. He pretty much covers the same ground as May as far as doing action/choreography for the team, and it's a Joss Whedon trademark that he tends to prefer having women dishing out the pain. With Skye developing, May, and of course Coulson himself (who is supposed to be tough, even if he doesn't do a lot of choreography), Ward winds up being the obvious odd man out. A TV show can only focus on so many characters at one time, so if they plan to bring any new ones in (like giving the team it's own Dethlok permanently or something) it seems likely they were going to need to remove someone.

That said being TV they can wind up going in any direction with this kind of thing. The way things went down they left enough doors open for Ward to wind up ultimately going either way.

Of course had I been writing things I probably would have made May the bad guy, and turned her into Viper/Lady Hydra who has been a major antagonist (in the comics) for years, has worn the anti-hero hat a few times, and would be the perfect arch-enemy for a SHIELD show. Of course that's not generally how Joss rolls (but don't get me wrong, I love his work) so it makes sense we lose Ward and are going to probably wind up with May and Skye eventually carrying the action stuff. In all likelihood if we ever do see an actual Lady Hydra it will be someone new. May as a character does have the skill set for it though (as Lady Hydra is weapons/physical training).

That said the entire idea is to get everyone talking and wondering, these final moves have pretty much created the hype and involvement the show was criticized for not having to begin with. To be blunt it wouldn't surprise me if everyone is just playing dumb, and this was intended to begin with, and these stingers were exactly why nobody at Marvel was concerned about the slow ratings to begin with. If nothing else the proved the show works beautifully in combination with movies that play off of it.

 

[DeimosMasque]

To be blunt it wouldn't surprise me if everyone is just playing dumb, and this was intended to begin with, and these stingers were exactly why nobody at Marvel was concerned about the slow ratings to begin with. If nothing else the proved the show works beautifully in combination with movies that play off of it.

Funnily Enough from Kevin Feige himself:
On the future of Agents of SHIELD:
"Well, I would say two things. One is, there's an easy way to find out if you're curious, which is to watch the show. [Laughs] But the truth is, this had been in the works for a very long time, long before the TV show came about. When the TV show came up and the TV department said, "Hey, we're thinking about doing this," and Joss called me and said that he wanted to do this, I said, "Hey, that's great. Best of luck, sounds cool, but you need to know one thing..." [Laughs] "You need to know one thing about what we're doing in Captain America 2, and I really don't want to change it." They said, "Okay, you don't have to change it," and I went, "Okay! Thanks." The rest will be history come April 8th."

http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/04/07/marvel-studios-boss-kevin-feige-talks-captain-america-the-winter-soldier-spoilers-and-whats-in-store-for-the-marvel-cinematic-universe

 

[WolfThomas]

So yeah. The show has been pretty mediocre, but that episode was great. It's a huge shake up to the status quo. I'm actually pretty excited by the show.

I hope Garrett stays on as a villain for awhile. Bill Paxton's great as this incredibly menacing/oddly jovial guy. Ward suddenly got heaps more interesting/sexier now too he's evil.