November 18, 2014 by Billy Henehan

Tuesday Night Comics Podcast – Episode 46 – Dave returns! Multiversity Preview! Wytches 2 Review!

Dave is back! Fresh from his honeymoon, Dave has returned to the Tuesday Night Comics podcast to talk new comics with Billy. The guys preview new comic books coming out the week of Wednesday, November 19, 2014, including Multiversity: Pax Americana, Batman 66: The Lost Episode and Batman and Robin #36 . They also go into DC’s upcoming Convergence, delve into budgeting your comics buying, and review some recent books, including Scott Snyder and Jock’s excellent Wytches from Image Comics.

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November 11, 2014 by Billy Henehan

Agents of SHIELD – S2E5 – A Hen in the Wolf House – Recap

The episode opens on a wedding. There’s a lot of guys in uniform at this wedding. The wedding guests, and the TV viewing audience, are being subjected to a terrible best man speech. One lady asks the waiter for something stronger than champagne, but the bartender gives him a stern “No way, Jose” look. That, and the fact that the catering staff is totally jacked has me thinking something is up. At the end of the toast, everyone drinks their champagne…everyone except the booze hound lady looking for something stronger. She made the right call, as the champagne has been poisoned. It looks like they drank liquid obelisk. For some reason, this scene reminds me of the Foo Fighters Learn to Fly video.

The catering crew takes off. They’re all Hydra agents reporting to that Hydra dude that works for Dr. Whitehall.

At the SHIELD hideout, May, Skye, Trip and Hunter give us some exposition on the dead wedding guests. A bunch of them were in a Navy anti-Hydra unit. When they enter Coulson’s office, he’s scratching his weird alien script into his desk. Skye notices and asks what it is. Coulson covers, and asks Skye if she found any info as to where the obelisk is located. She says that she put some feelers out to her Rising Tide contacts. Hey, remember Rising Tide? They were the group Skye was affiliated with when she was living out of her van at the start of the series. That’s a name we haven’t heard in some time.

In some back alley surgery room, Kyle MacLachlan, aka Skye’s dad, is removing a bullet from some dude while the dude’s friends watch. Raina enters. Those guys aren’t cool about it. Apparently, this is Kyle MacLachlan’s job, back alley surgeon. Raina begs him to give her the obelisk back. If he doesn’t, Daniel Whitehall will kill her. We get some weird insight into Raina’s past. Apparently Kyle MacLachlan found her on the street “clinging to some stories her grandmother told her.” It gets weird when she counters with, “You told me you’d make them come true.” I can’t wait for a Raina origin episode. Lesson learned in this scene: don’t piss Kyle MacLachlan off. He almost kills Raina by strangulation when she tells him things he doesn’t want to hear. Sorry Raina, but Kyle is keeping the obelisk. He suggests she beg to Daniel Whitehall (Hydra silver fox) instead of to him when Raina tells him that Daniel will kill her if she doesn’t return with it. The most interesting line of dialogue comes when Raina says “I really wanted to bring you Skye,” and Kyle responds, “That is not her name.” It would be kind of funny if her name is actually Sky. Or Skie. Speaking of names, I can’t remember Kyle MacLachlan’s character’s name at all. Were we ever told it?

Over at Hydra Inc, Simmons and her boss are pulled into a meeting by Whitehall’s #2. I really wish I could remember his name. Whitehall is at the meeting too. Simmons’s boss tells her who Daniel Whitehall is, “one of Hydra’s new heads!” Hydra! Head! Get it? Oh man, that Simmons’s boss. Such a master of puns. Whitehall explains that the poisoned champagne was created by using cells of the obelisk’s victims. Whitehall wants the obelisk. Whitehall calls out Simmons. He asks her where the doctor who created the obelisk champagne went wrong. Simmons makes it out of the meeting with her head intact. Simmons’s boss takes affront to Whitehall knowing her name and not his. But just when you feel bad for this piece of Hydra middle management, Simmons asks him if he understands that if they weaponize the obelisk, they may kill millions or billions of people, and he responds with, “Pretty awesome, huh?” Suddenly I won’t feel bad about this guy dying at some point in the future.

At Coulson’s SHIELD hideaway, Fitz notices Skye walk off with the painting from last episode, the one with the alien markings on the back. FigSimmons (FIGment of Fitz’s imagination SIMMONS) changes the topic to Mac’s physique and how nice it is. Fitz realizes that he must also think it’s nice, since FigSimmons is a figment of his imagination. But he doesn’t notice that she changed the topic away from Skye walking off with the painting, as if part of Fitz condoned what Skye was doing. FigSimmons is excited that Fitz admitted she’s not real. She suggest he move on from her and embrace the real world.

Skye and Hunter are checking out the painting. Hunter once again mentions how much he and his ex fought. Enough already! We get it. Seriously, that’s 90% of his dialogue this episode and last. When he finally takes a break from complaining about his ex, he suggests Skye interrogate Ward.

Ward is creepily happy to see Skye. Ward tells Skye that Raina knows her father. Skye doesn’t believe him, and doesn’t want to hear any more about her father. She shows him a photo of the alien markings and asks him what he knows. He first saw it in Belarus and later when Garrett started etching it in glass. I wonder who the previous etching carver was. Skye is surprised to hear that Garrett carved markings like this. Ward shows concern when he thinks that Skye is making these, but she tells him that she isn’t the one making them.

Raina enters Hydra Inc and sees Simmons in the lobby. Raina is clearly intrigued by this. In a park, Simmons talks into a takeout menu that is actually a SHIELD communicator, warning them of Hydra’s plans to weaponize the obelisk. Raina watches from some trees.

Skye confronts Coulson. She figured out the Coulson is the one making the carvings. He explains that the first time he saw Garrett’s writings, it triggered something in him. He thinks it’s from his being injected with the GH formula, that alien formula that brought Coulson back fromt he dead. Skye points out she was injected with it too and hasn’t started carving any symbols. Coulson responds with that’s either very good or “an all-different kind of scary.” He admits that he’s been keeping Skye under observation. He suggests to Skye that she might have alien DNA. Skye doesn’t take the news that she might be an alien very well. May interrupts. There’s a call waiting for him. It’s Raina.

At Hydra Inc, an alarm blares. Whitehall’s #2 is joined by…hey waitaminute is that Tyra from Friday Night Lights?!? It is Tyra from Friday Night Lights! Alright, Adrianne Palicki is on the show! She’s some kind of Hyrdra security chief. They order everyone away from their computers and announce they have a mole. Tyra (I’m going to keep calling her by her FNL character name until we’re told what her name is here) has Simmons’s takeout menu communicator. Simmons glances down at her open drawer, which has another takeout menu communicator sititing on top. Uh-oh.

Thankfully, Tyra says that dude that reports to Whitehall’s name. It’s Bakshi. That’s much easier than “that dude that reports to Whitehall.” Tyra questions Simmons while Hydra agents search desks. What’s up with Tyra’s outfit. She’s wearing this weird Sgt. Pepper’s-esque jacket. Tyra asks about Gemma’s SHIELD background. Simmons says that her loyalty is to Hydra. She opens up Simmons’s drawer….no menu communicator! A Hydra agent does find one in Simmons’s boss’s desk. Wow, good job Simmons! Moving the menu during the commercial break from your desk to your boss’s without anyone noticing, despite being in a room full of armed Hydra agents. Move Simmons out of the lab and into the field. Simmons’s boss gets dragged off. Yeah, I don’t feel bad…

Cut to a fancy restaurant. Coulson is dining alone. Hunter is observing him from another table. Skye and May look on from the kitchen, much to the chef’s chagrin. Raina joins Coulson. He asks her where the obelisk is. She’s not forthcoming with its location. Raina threatens to email Hydra a picture of Simmons with the communicatior menu.

Simmons is calming herself down in the bathroom when Tyra creeps up on her and tells her she looks nervous. Simmons very rightfully points out that it might because she’s lurking right outside her stall. Tyra questions Simmons some more and calls her a bad liar.

At the restaurant, Coulson and Raina continue their standoff. Raina won’t send the pic to Hydra if Coulson gives her Skye. To show she’s serious, she starts a two minute timer. Raina tells Coulson that she wants to take Skye to meet her dad. Skye, listening in, understandably freaks. Coulson tells Raina no deal. Skye wants to give herself up. May isn’t about to let that happen. With second left…Coulson lets the timer hit zero. Man, that dude has balls.

Simmons returns from the bathroom just in time for everyone to get that email. Ruh-roh. Bakshi orders his team to drop her. Simmons books. As she rounds the corner, she sees Tyra and two guards approaching her. Oh no. Tyra whips out two escrima sticks and gives a beat down to her own men. Oh man, Adrianne Palicki’s Gi Joe training really paid off. But what’s with that pose at the end? Don’t get me wrong, it’s bad ass and all, but it seemed about as pointless as if she said “Ta-da!” Actually, I kind of wish she said “Ta-da!” while striking this pose here. Tyra tells Simmons not to worry, Coulson has a plan.

At the restaurant, Raina is freaking out and Coulson is 100% calm. Raina can’t believe that Coulson would sacrifice a member of his team like that. Raina begs for Coulson to take her in, as Whitehall will kill her if she doesn’t bring him the obelisk.

At Hydra Inc, Tyra tells Simmons that she’s Bobbie Morse. Coulson sent her to keep an eye on Simmons. For those of you who don’t read comics, Bobbie Morse is the secret identity of Avengers member and former SHIELD agent Mockingbird. In the comics, she was married to Hawkeye for a while, but then she died, and then he died, and then they were both resurrected, and they decided to go their separate ways.

Bobbie leads Simmons to the roof, taking out Hydra agents along the way, including Bakshi. In the middle of a firefight on the roof, Bobbie and Simmons jump off the side of the building, landing on top of a cloaked Quinjet piloted by Trip. Simmons and Bobbie bond in the plane. I really hope Bobbie is a regular on the show. I was a fan of Mockingbird growing up, and I loved Friday Night Lights.

Raina gave Coulson Skye’s father’s address. While Coulson and May discuss their next move, Skye sneaks off to that address. She searches the place room to room, but doesn’t find him. He does find his picture on the ground, holding a baby who I assume is Skye. A hand reaches for her. It’s Coulson. Skye’s dad is watching in his car on his iPad from the feed from a hidden camera in a clock.

Skye gets the best line of the night when Hunter enters. She asks if he’s been drinking. He says he was working and needed to maintain his cover. Her response: “Your cover as what? Ron Burgundy?” May finds the bodies of the guy Skye’s dad was operating on, and his friends’ bodies too. May points out that two of them were killed with pure strength. Coulson notices a camera and stares at it. Skye’s dad finishes her line when she calls him a monster. Hmm, was he calling himself a monster or Coulson? Either way, he smashes the iPad and drives off.

At SHIELD’s secret base, Coulson greats Simmons, Bobbie and Trip. Simmons is psyched to be back. Coulson announces that he asked Bobbie to join the team. YES!

FitzSimmons reunite! YES! Fitz has to ask if it’s really her. She says of course it is. Hey, it’s a fair question all things considered.

Mac and Bobbie know each other. Apparently, Mac and Bobbie both like “three olive martinis. Hold the olives.” Wait, what? Why would you hold the olives? Crazy people. Hunter also knows Bobbie. They really know each other. Oh man, Bobbie is Lance Hunter’s ex-wife. Hahahaha, this is going to be good. I’m guessing Agents Morse and Barton (Hawkeye) haven’t been a couple in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Okay, quick Friday Night Lights connection here and then back to the show. On Friday Night Lights, Adrianne Palicki as Tyra dated Landry, who was always called Lance by Coach Taylor. Now on Agents of SHIELD, Adrianne Palicki’s Bobbie Morse is the ex-wife of Lance Hunter. I wonder if naming him Lance was an on purpose nod to FNL.

Landry forever.

Coulson comes clean to Skye about his alien carvings, all of them. It’s a lot. He did a whole wall yesterday. He has no idea why he’s doing it or what it means. Skye has a theory. It’s a map. Dun! Dun! Dun!

Whitehall and Bakshi are overseeing the breaking down of the Hydra Inc lab when who walks in? Skye’s dad! For some reason, he walks with a bumbling walk. Not sure what that’s about. He stabs one guard and beats the other to death with a briefcase. He then wipes some blood off Whitehall’s desk with his sleeve. He looks crazier than Norman Osborn post-goblin serum. Inside the case in the obelisk. Skye’s dad tells Whitehall that in its native language, it’s called the Diviner. He even offers Whitehall to teach him how to survive its effects. Why? Because Skye’s dad wants help “killing Phil Coulson and…everyone else.” Okay, yeah, he’s cray cray.

November 10, 2014 by Billy Henehan

Agents of SHIELD – S2E4 – Face My Enemy – Recap

Man, compared to last season, this season of Agents of SHIELD is so good! I don’t know if it just takes a season for the writers and actors to really discover the characters, or if it’s the fact that Coulson and his team are the underdogs this season. Maybe it’s a combination of the two.

This episode focuses mainly on Coulson and May, as the two most experienced members of the team, crash a very fancy house party in order to retrieve a painting that on its backside has the same weird alien wingdings that Coulson has been drawing. There’s a small, but major complication to this when they show up and see that Talbot is at the same party. Oh, and did I mention that the party is at a Hydra house? And that Talbot seems to be in league with the Hydra guy whose party it is. Oh boy.

But the biggest problem really is just Talbot being there, whether or not he’s in league with Hydra. Coulson and May are at the party under assumed identities. If Talbot spots them, their cover is completely blown.

Before discovering Talbot is at the party, Coulson and May have one of the coolest scenes in the history of this show. They’re dancing together, but using every turn, dip and spin to scope out the room, taking notes of cameras and guards while reminiscing on past adventures together.

Coulson confronts Talbot, telling him that he’s on a mission at this party that could benefit them both. Talbot is surprisingly receptive to the idea.

Once the mission gets underway, we get some serious Mission: Impossible action going down. May flirts with a guy and tells Coulson to take their picture. But what Coulson is really doing is scanning his retinal patterns to bypass a lock later. Unfortunately, when they go for the painting, their cover is blown and the painting is nowhere to be found. Skye alerts them that the US government has the painting. Coulson meets with Talbot, and Talbot agrees to let Coulson see the painting…but only if they’ll meet him a secure location. Talbot also seems to be working with a bad guy here behind Coulson’s back. Uh-oh…

May checks out the secure location and is ambushed by the brainwashed Agent 33, who uses this digital mask thing to copy May’s face onto her own. Where does Hydra get these wonderful toys? The disguised-as-May Agent 33 arrives at the Bus, convinces Coulson to go to the secure location with her, and manages to install some nasty devise onto the Bus’s mainframe.

Agent 33’s device sends the Bus into lock down mode. Coulson’s entire team is trapped inside the Bus. Crap. Oh, and the Bus is going to explode. Double crap.

At the hotel that is the secure location, Coulson figures out May is an imposter when she agrees to get a cup of coffee with him when this is all over. The real May hates coffee. Real May frees herself and it’s a May on May fight to determine who may walk away. It’s a fantastic fight scene. I hope they include a making of for this scene in the DVD release of season two. The real May wins the fight. Coulson recovers the painting.

On the Bus, Fitz manages to save the day. This gets both Fitz and the rest of the team to believe in Fitz a little more. Fitz had been standoffish around the others earlier in the episode. But once he saves the day, he is ready to interact with the team again on a personal level. They’re all bitching about exes. Fitz joins in to complain about a girl who left once she found out how her felt about her.

So that was never Talbot. It was a Hydra guy in a Talbot mask all episode. When Coulson gets hold of the real Talbot, Talbot is amused that Coulson didn’t find it odd that he would just go along with this plan. Coulson’s team makes a discovery about the painting: it’s old, but the carvings aren’t. That means unless Garrett did this before he went completely Loony Toons, someone else is out there making these weirdo alien carvings too.

As the outro for the episode, Raina is taken by the Hydra silver fox from last week. He wants the obelisk, and wants her help retrieving it. To entice her to see things his way, he tortures her with some device and tells her she has 48 hours to bring it to him.

October 16, 2014 by Billy Henehan

Agents of SHIELD – S2E3 – Making Friends and Influencing People – Recap

We open on some dude that kinda looks like the Silver Fox from Mad Men, but with glasses. It’s not him. He’s a scotch collector. Seriously, he loves his scotch, going on and on about how he bought a case for $10 when he first enlisted and let it mature. “$10 seemed so expensive back then.” Wait a minute, I think this guys ages like Captain America, in that he doesn’t. He has a metronome going in his apartment. Metronomes signify evil, right? No upstanding sane person just has a metronome going all day, well no upstanding sane person outside of the music field, I mean. Oh, he has a woman strapped to some machinery and has her eyes forced open with wire. Okay, this is definitely not a good guy. I wonder if we’re looking at a character from Cap’s past or a new character for the show. He brainwashing a SHIELD agent named Agent 33. She’s adamant that she won’t break.

On a brighter note, Simmons is back! The real Simmons, I mean, not just the Fitz’s imaginary friend Simmons. Simmons’s intro really reminds me of the intro to Desmond on season two of Lost. On a side note, this song that’s playing during her reintroduction montage is God Help The Girl by God Help The Girl. I’ve really been digging this lately. You should check it out too.

Wait a minute…Simmons is working for Hydra?!! And they’re pretty blatant about putting their logo out and about, like “let’s hang a three foot version of our secret group’s logo on this wall” blatant.

May is teaching Skye how to shoot. Skye likes to pretend that the targets are all Ward. Skye is wearing a FitBit like bracelet to monitor her heart rate. Apple should have totally jumped on season two of SHIELD for branding their Applewatch. May warns Skye that “Experience doesn’t make it any easier to take someone out.” If you didn’t watch season one of SHIELD, Skye does a great job of summing it up for Lance in about 10 seconds.

Coulson returns to the base. Coulson was after Agent 33, but Hydra got to her first.

Simmons’s boss is total middle management. He’s getting on Simmons’s ass about needing some info for a presentation. Simmons glances at his folder and sees Donnie Gill’s photo. You might remember Donnie from such things as almost destroying the SHIELD Academy, aka SHIELDwarts, last season with his weather-machine/bomb.

Donnie’s now in Marrakesh. He trades fixing old radios for coffee. It’s a living. He also has ice powers. When the barista starts acting suspicious, Donnie freezes him solid. Two SHIELD (or Hydra…who can tell these days?) agents come out of hiding and ask him to stand down. He freezes one of them. The other runs off. Donnie freezes the guy so solidly that when he tips over, he shatters. Yet the guy’s phone doesn’t freeze and works fine. Here that, Apple?

Simmons comes home and hears someone in her apartment. She pulls out her gun and almost shoots Coulson. Coulson goes all Queer Eye for the Straight Guy on her fridge, and cooks her dinner as she fills him in. Coulson is both charming and shows excellent cooking skill in this scene. No wonder that cellist in Portland fell for him. Simmons is clearly glad to see Coulson. I’m clearly glad to see Simmons. She fills him in on Donnie, and how he’s basically Iceman now.

Back at the base, Coulson fills the team in on Hydra going after Gill. Interestingly, he goes out of his way not to say that it was Simmons who gave him the information. Look at Phil, keeping it close to the vest. Join my team and betray me once, shame on you. Join my team and betray me twice, shame on me. Fitz is asked about Gill. He suggests asking Simmons if they know how to contact her.

MING-NA WEN, HENRY SIMMONS, NICK BLOOD, CHLOE BENNET

Skye misses the meeting, because she’s questioning Ward. He’s about to tell Skye about her dad when Skye cuts him off, asking Ward about how Hydra deals with recruiting gifted people. Ward explains that Hydra goes by the convince, capture or kill method.

In Casablanca, Donnie is wandering the docks. He uses his ice powers to freeze a a boat in place. Um, Donnie, it’s already anchored.

Simmons is taken upstairs by security. This can’t be good. They’re on to her. Even her boss is afraid for her. Simmons has to prove her loyalty to Hydra. She’s being questioned by the Silver Fox’s friend whose name I didn’t catch at the start of the episode. He accuses her of lying to them before the show cuts to commercial. Dun dun dun!

Back from the break, and Simmons is still being questioned. Donnie Gill is being referred to as Project: Blizzard. For you home-gamers, Blizzard is an Iron Man villain with ice powers. Simmons plays the part of the cold-hearted scientist to prove her loyalty to Hydra and separate herself from SHIELD.

Agent 33 is still being brainwashed by the Silver Fox. She’s trying to pry herself lose. She gets one hand free, but the Silver Fox catches her. She doesn’t have the willpower to fight back. Agent 33 is still trying to fight back, even if she can’t escape. The Silver Fox doesn’t even bother to re-restrain her.

Coulson’s team goes to investigate Donnie’s icecap around a boat, leaving Mac and Fitz behind. Mac suggests they use this time to work on Fitz. Mac is like the Sean Maguire to Fitz’s Will Hunting. It’s not your fault, Fitz. It’s not your fault.

Hydra and Simmons are heading to Gill too. Donnie wants to be left alone. He really likes freezing people. Donnie plans to kill every Hydra agent they send. Hydra sends Simmons. Don’t kill Simmons, Donnie!

Back at Coulson City (that’s what I’m now calling Coulson’s team’s base), Fitz is having a deep convo with imaginary Simmons. I love this episode. We’re getting double the Simmons! It’s funny how different season 1 (imaginary) Simmons and season 2 (real) Simmons dress. Fitz tells Simmons she’s not really here. He then heads to Ward’s cell to confront him. Fitz immediately can’t handle it and starts to have a breakdown. It’s not your fault, Fitz. It’s not your fault.

Coulson has an invisible jet! Take that, Wonder Woman!

Lance flirts with Skye as they gets ready to parachute with May out of the Bus. Everyone’s flirting with Skye…

Ward explains that he wasn’t trying to kill FitzSimmons when he dropped them in the ocean, he was trying to save them. Fitz shows Ward what hypoxia feels like by killing the oxygen in Ward’s cell. Oh boy. Ward warns Fitz about Donnie. Donnie is a trap! I think!

Simmons searches the ship for Donnie. She plays the “Hey, we hung out a SHIELDwarts that one time they you almost blew up the place” card.

May, Skye and Lance storm the boat. Skye gets the best line of the week when she tells Lance, “You don’t give the orders, Trainspotting.” His response: “I’m not Scottish.” They take out some Hydra agents. Elsewhere, Mac takes out some enemy soldiers in a video game. Fitz gets his attention by unplugging everything.

Simmons meets up with Donnie. She’s trying to recruit him for Hydra…because she doesn’t want to be shot…or frozen. Her Hydra handler gives Simmons something to tell him. It’s his brainwash program phrase. She repeats it to him a couple of times.

Fitz explains to Coulson that Donnie’s already been brainwashed by Hydra and they’re reactivating him. Lance has an open shot on the Hydra agent talking to Donnie. Don’t shoot, that’s Simmons! May shoots Lance, which ruins Lance’s shot and freaks Donnie out and ruins Lance’s shot. Donnie almost freezes Simmons. Simmons runs back to her Hydra boss, who patiently waits for Donnie. He tells Donnie his program phrase. It totally brainwashes Donnie. Donnie is now 100% Hydra. Simmons, her boss and the Hydra crew get to the chopper and Donnie is left behind to ice everyone else.

Lance tries shooting his way out of a frozen door. It doesn’t work. Ice is overtaking the ship when Skye takes out Donnie with a sniper rifle. He falls into the water and is encapsulated by ice Captain America style. Simmons saves her boss from another of Skye’s sniper rifle shot. That keeps Simmons’s cover maintained. Skye radios into Trip. They both know that Skye is under deep cover. I’m confused. I thought Skye was pissed at Simmons last week. Oooo, good one Skye. Way to be all secret agenty around your friends.

Skye asks May about Simmons. As it turns out, Skye did not know Simmons was undercover before the boat. May did though.

Coulson recovers a bunch of Hydra cargo. No one finds Gill’s body.

Coulson has it out with Fitz. Coulson knows he almost killed Ward. Fitz uses the “but I didn’t” excuse. Coulson tells Fitz about Simmons. Fitz asks if she wanted to leave. Coulson gives him a non-answer.

The Silver Fox is the new Hydra big shot. He asks Simmons’s boss who is in charge at SHIELD. He doesn’t know. Agent 33 walks in with some paperwork, which is in a Hydra logo embossed folder. Seriously guys, way to go on the whole secret organization stuff. Agent 33 is 100% Hydra. Simmon’s boss wants to bring Simmons upstairs to the top floor, and says that if she betrays them, they’ll brainwash her too.

Skye meets up with Ward. Ward tells her that he was never brainwashed. Ward also tells her that her dad is alive. Skye freaks and runs away. Her watch shows her heart rate spiking. And that’s it! Come back next episode…and buy a FitBit in the meantime, just like Skye!

October 15, 2014 by Billy Henehan

Agents of SHIELD – S2E2 – Heavy Is the Head – Recap

I completely did not realize that Lucy Lawless was the new agent who was introduced and killed off last episode. I vaguely remember hearing that she was going to be on SHIELD this season, but man, I totally did not realize that was her. Man, we’re far away from the days of Xena: Warrior Princess…

But on with the show. This episode starts off pretty much when were last week left off. Two of the new agents are dead. May saves the new British agent. His name is Brit until I’m told otherwise. Well, she doesn’t really saves him. She tries to free him from the flipped over jeep, but he tells her to go after Creel. May motorcycles after Creel, but does give Brit a laser torch so that he can cut his way out. Unfortunately, just as he cuts his way free, the army shows up.

May chases Creel. Coulson is on the other end of her com and tells her not to engage. May questions his orders, but reluctantly pulls back. I really do love that the most bad-ass character on this show is a woman. May really is the Wolverine of the show.

Back at the base, the Quinjet arrives with Skye and Triplett. Am I the only one feeling a Trip-Skye-Ward love triangle? Last season, it looked like Trip was going to get between Fitz and Simmons, but this season, it looks like he’s good-Ward.

Coulson wants the Bus outfitted with the Quinjet’s cloaking hardware and tells Skye to put Mac on it. I’m assuming Mac is one of the new people? Skye tells Coulson that there were symbols on the McGuffin from last episode, and they match the symbols Coulson’s been drawing when he zones out.

Ah, Brit’s name is Lance Hunter. The solders that captured him drop him off in a field. Immediately after that, a helicopter lands and General Talbot gets out. That Talbot sure likes to make an entrance. He could have just as easily had his men just deliver Lance directly to him.

Skye is pissed at Simmons for bailing on Coulson’s team. Fitz shows up as she’s venting. Fitz is seriously out of it. He sounds like he’s on heavy duty painkillers. This scene just makes me think that man…I miss FitzSimmons.

Talbot wants Lance to sell out Coulson. It doesn’t look like he’s going to sell out, until he gets Talbot to agree to clear Harley (Harvey?) and give her a proper funeral. Harley is Lucy Lawless for those of you having an equally hard time of keeping track of the new characters names. So let me get this straight. Mercenary Lance is willing to sell out the living in order to help the dead…interesting.

Coulson is using one of those 3D computer monitor thingies where you swipe the air. He pulls up Agent Carter’s file and says “Hmmm,” as in “Hmmm, this could be a good spin off. Agent Carter coming in 2015 to ABC!” He sets a reminder to look out for the mystery weapon from last week the way I set reminders about where I parked my car.

Skye wants to head to the field. Coulson won’t let her go to the field. He’s worreid about Skye dying. She feels he’s being overprotective, but in his defense, between the end of last season and the start of this one, Coulson doesn’t have a great track record in keeping his people alive. Skye recommends that Coulson try yoga in order to relax. Coulson has his best line of the episode here, with “I tried it, but I’m really not flexible.” So much subtext…

Fitz is still seeing imaginary Simmons. Amazingly, she’s still dressed like a prep school student. Why aren’t you imagining her in a bikini fitz?Imaginary Simmons points out that Absorbing Man’s DNA is just sitting there on the printer and tells him he should go check it out. Imaginary Simmons is like a very prim and proper devil sitting on Fitz’s shoulder.

Speaking of Creel, he’s in a diner. That weird metal from last week’s McGuffin messed up his powers. He keeps turning into that metal, but it looks pretty painful and cracks his skin. He’s rude to a waitress. I hope she isn’t expecting a tip from him. May is waiting outside for Creel. When she hears a scream, she rushes in. The waitress who touched Creel rots like Harley did last week, except it’s just her arm. Her whole body rots like she picked the wrong holy grail to drink from. Creel has kind of turned into the Grey Gargoyle. For those of you who don’t read comics, The Grey Gargoyle is a Hulk villain who can turn people to stone with a touch.

Coulson gets an alert. We cut to Triplett, who meets up with Lance and take him to Coulson. Lance is not happy when Coulson blames Harley’s death on Harley. Lance tells Coulson he didn’t rat on him. I don’t exactly believe him. I don’t think Coulson does either.

Fitz analyzes the data on Creel. Simmons makes some suggestions. I’m actually likeing that Fitz’s smarts are coming through imaginary Simmons.

Creel gets in a truck where he keeps different objects. Huh, that’s a gool idea. Why didn’t the Absorbing Man in the comics ever do this. His powers are acting all wonky. He can’t absorb anything past his forearm. He gets a phone call from a Hydra guy sitting around dead bodies…it’s the dead bodies of the people Creel has touched, I’m guessing. So is this Hydra guy in SHIELD? The army? Or just working on his own?

Oh hey, Raina, aka the girl in the flower dress, is back. She’s trying to recruit Creel for something. She presents him with a ring. It’s carbide, a rare form of carbon found in stardust. 3x harder than diamond. And it can store energy. She’ll trade it for the obelisk from last week. As Creel threatens Raina, his powers act up again. He snatches the carbide from Flower dress and hops in his truck. Raina calls Coulson. Raina reveals that she no longer works for Hydra.

Fitz is trying to figure out the secret to stopping Creel and keeps saying “I didn’t design this today.” Mac deciphers what Fitz’s “I didn’t design this today” means. Mac is like his…mentor?

Creel meets with his Hydra backer. May, Lance and Skye are spying on him. That’s when Lance turns on them, stunning Skye and May and radioing to Talbot. Trip has a sniper rifle on Creel. Lance temporarily takes him out. Creel yoga breathes his power troubles away. Lance shoots a slow mo bullet at Creel that bounces off his alloy head. Creel gives chase. The Hydra dude looks around for the package with the obelisk, but Raina has grabbed it and it strutting away.

Creel is about to hit Lance with a killing blow when Coulson shows up and zaps him with Fitz’s device. It makes him go wonky and he turns to stone.

We cut to Lucy Laweless’s funeral. Lance watches from a far. He gets in the passenger side of a car. Oh wait, he just broke into a car. He puts a chain on the mirror. I think it belonged to Harley. Coulson does his best Batman by showing up out of nowhere. Coulson wants to recruit Lance…to sell Coulson out? Oh Phil, you so crazy.

Mac is working with Fitz some more. He brings up Simmon’s leaving to Fitz. Fitz’s brain does not like that.

Raina and Coulson talk. She talks about Garrett carving weird symbols after he injected himself with the alien blood that brought Coulson back from the grave. You know, the same Garrett who thought he had a star inside his head. Coulson is intrigued

Coulson and May meet. Coulson takes out a sheet and a knife, takes off his shoes and starts digging his weird shapes into the wall again. What is going on with you, Phil? May just watches and take photos. Before this, May points out that Coulson hasn’t zoned out and carved in a while. So he’s let her in this part of him. Interesting.

Kyle McLauchin is Rainia’s new boss. According to IMDB, he’s also Skye’s dad! WTF!!! He has Raina toouch the obelisk. She doesn’t want to, on account of it killing people. But she does touch it. The obelisk doesn’t kill her. It just ligths up. According to Kyle, it “let “her live. She wants to know how it works. Kyle want Raina to get him Skye.

Coulson meets with Talbot. Talbot asks “Where’s Lance?” Coulson offers Talbot a deal. Talbot can have Creel wrapped in a stasis field bow. All Coulson wants is Talbot off his and his team’s back. Talbot decides instead that since Coulson is only one man, he can just arrest Coulson right now…except Coulson has the Bus back and it’s cloaked! And the Quinjet too! Coulson gets away. Oh man, Talbot, you just got Philled!

September 24, 2014 by Billy Henehan

Agents of SHIELD – S2E1 – Shadows – Recap

Annnnnnd here we go! Agents of SHIELD is back and so our our recaps of the show. Lest you’ve forgotten, at the end of last season, SHIELD was in shambles. The fallout from Captain America: The Winter Soldier was severe. Hydra infiltration of SHIELD ran very deep. To the world at large, Hydra and SHIELD are one and the same. Coulson’s team isn’t faring much better. Ward was revealed to be a Hydra agent. Fitz has suffered brain trauma thanks to Ward dumping him and Simmons in the ocean. And Coulson is scribbling alien language on the walls of his bedroom. Which brings us to…now…well, actually World War II.

We’re given a sneak peak at the new Agent Carter TV series at the start of this episode. Agent Carter and her team are raiding a Hydra lab towards the tail end of World War II. Hey, that’s Dum Dum Dugan standing next to Agent Carter! It looks like the Agent Carter series will be Agent Carter and her Howling Commandos. I’m guessing that once the series launches, there will be many crossovers with Agents of SHIELD, with Agent Carter dealing with a Hydra threat in WWII that pops up in the present to plague Coulson’s team in Agents of SHIELD.

Case in point, Agent Carter and her team lock up some super-tech in WWII, whose location is for sale in a shady deal in the present. May and Skye are staking out the deal. Side note: Skye’s hair is really cute. Some girls disappear into a carton of Ben & Jerry’s when it’s revealed their boyfriend is a double agent. Not Skye, she got herself some post-Ward hair.

The deal goes bad when a third party shows up and makes off with the info. That third party being a bald man impervious to bullets. Who is he, you ask? None other Crusher Creel, The Absorbing Man. I’m pretty sure he’s played by Penny’s ex-boyfriend on Big Bang Theory. You know, the guy who dressed like Tarzan at the Halloween party, the one Leonard had to get Penny’s TV back from.

It turns out that the buyers in this deal were working for Coulson. May and Skye weren’t there to break up the deal. They were there as back up. We’ve got four new faces on Coulson’s team, SHIELD agents from a different group, and I swear I cannot remember their names at all. For now, they’re the four new guys to me.

Coulson and his team are living in one of Nick Fury’s secret bases. I was happy to see Patton Oswalt return as this base’s resident Koenig brother. Speaking of which, after this episode, I’m thinking that the Koenigs are life model decoys. Hear me out. There are at least three of them, and they all seem to be assigned to one of Fury’s secret bases. I think there are more than three Koenig brothers, that there’s one at every one of Fury’s bases. That’s just a hunch though.

Coulson’s team is being hunted by Brigadier General Talbot. Coulson arranges a meeting with him by sneakily kidnapping him in the middle of the day. Seriously, the army has nothing on SHIELD. Talbot is convinced that Coulson is not on the up and up, despite anything Coulson says or does. Coulson wants to help Talbot take down Creel and Hydra, but I get the feeling that Talbot would just as gladly take down Coulson and call it a day.

Is it me, or does it look like the special effects budget on the show took a major jump this season? The Absorbing Man looks fantastic is every scene he’s in, especially when he turns to glass in his prison break. Comparing the special effects in this episode to the those in the first episode last season is like comparing night and day. Costume design too. I felt that Deathlok looked pretty cheesy last year, but Absorbing Man looks cool. Yes, he’s basically just a shirtless bald man in pants, but they make his absorbing power look so cool!

Where’s everyone’s favorite SHIELD agent turned traitor? Ward is locked up in Coulson’s secret base. He’s sporting a nice prison beard, and looks pretty gaunt in the face. Coulson sends Skye down to his cell to get some much needed information. Skye’s not terribly happy about this. There is A LOT of tension between Ward and Skye. But Skye basically tells him that they’re never ever getting back together. Like ever. Skye leaves before Ward can tell her that he’s knows about her father (!!).

We also check in on FitzSimmons this episode. Fitz is not himself. The banter with Simmons is gone. He’s no longer happy go lucky. Instead he’s bitter about his impeded brain function. He wants to be better, but he’s having a hard go at it. His language center is messed up. He forgets words. More importantly, his scientific mind is not what it was. He’s tying to build a cloaking system for Coulson, but keeps coming up short. He lashes out a Simmons. Fitz, how could you? You two are FitzSimmons. But the big shock comes at the end of the episode, when it’s revealed that Simmons bolted a while back. The Simmons we’ve seen all episode is a figment of Fitz’s imagination. All episode, he’s just been talking to himself. As someone for whom FitzSimmons is the best part of Agents of SHIELD, this came as a major blow. I really hope Fitz recovers and reunites with Simmons.

Since Fitz can’t build Coulson a cloaking system, Coulson arranges for Skye and May to steal one, in the form of a Quinjet. In the comics, a Quinjet is the Avenger’s supersonic jet, designed by Henry Pym aka Ant Man (aka Giant Man aka Goliath aka Yellowjacket). That’s one in the win column for Coulson.

However, the team suffers a couple of big losses. First, when they hack into Hydra’s communication system, it’ becomes clear that Hydra isn’t broken, just hiding. Hydra cells are still EVERYWHERE. The whole global map is full of them.

The second big loss when three of the four new members are taken out by The Absorbing Man. The super-artifact they’re trying to keep from him is deadly to the touch. When the new woman on the team touches it, she can’t let go, and it turns her hand and arm to rot. They have to remove her arm to keep it from spreading to her whole body. Unfortunately, while they’re dealing with her situation, The Absorbing Man, in all his super-powered glory, takes out their car and steals the artifact. Things are looking good for the new guys. One episode in and one of the four new members is already dead. Suddenly, I don’t feel bad about not immediately learning their names.

Comic Book Connections:

The Absorbing Man first appeared in Journey into Mystery #114. He was initially a Thor villain, but has gone on to plague many heroes in the Marvel Universe. He’s often seen in the company of his girlfriend, the superstrong Titania. The Absorbing Man has the power to absorb the properties of anything he touches, so if he touches steel, he’ll turn into steel. This effect eventually wears off, and he turns back into flesh and bone. The show did a good job of showing this, having a shard of metal sheared from him turn back into rather bloody flesh in the lab. It was a nice nod to the fans having Creel get his hands on a ball and chain, his traditional weapon of choice.

Agent Carter is Peggy Carter, who was the World War 2 girlfriend of Captain America, and ~~sister~~ aunt (possibly grand-aunt now) of Sharon Carter, Captain America’s present day girlfriend. Cap really has a type. Why the change from sister to aunt? Well, the years since World War 2 keep passing, but Captain America and company barely age. When Sharon Carter first appeared, she could have had an older sister in World War 2. But now, not so much. In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it looks like Peggy is taking Nick Fury’s place as the leader of the Howling Commandos.

The Quinjet is the invention of Hank Pym. It’s a super-fast jet capable of deep space travel. The Avengers are constantly making adjustments and improvements to them.

July 3, 2014 by Billy Henehan

Agents of SHIELD – S1E22 – Beginning of the End – Recap

When last we saw FitzSimmons, they were being “saved” by Ward dropping them into the middle of the ocean. We catch up to them now. They’re still in the cargo container/escape pod that Ward jettisoned from the Bus. But now it’s at the bottom of the ocean. Both of the geniuses are trying to figure out to escape and survive…and are coming up with nothing. Eventually, Simmons figures out how they can blow the window and escape, and Fitz figures out how to save Simmons, but at the cost of his own life. We get a sweet scene of FitzSimmons expressing their feelings for one another. The window blows. Simmons, the stronger swimmer of the two, hauls an unconcious Fitz to the surface. Unfortunately, they’re still in the middle of the ocean. That’s when FitzSimmons is saved by…Nick Fury! The opening credits gave away that Samuel L. Jackson, aka Nick Fury, would be in this episode, but I didn’t see this one coming. Fitz isn’t doing well. We actually don’t see him for the rest of the episode.

Over in Hydra/Cybertek central, Garrett is going crazy. When he said last episode that he could see the universe, he wasn’t speaking in metaphors. He thinks his perception and brain power have been significantly enhanced. Maybe they have. Or maybe he’s just coo coo for Cocoa Puffs. He talks about being able to see the universe so much that he starts to remind of me of Katamari Damacy.

Now that I think about it, Garrett makes as much sense as the King of the Cosmos in this episode.

Ward is worried about Garret’s sanity and says as much to Raina. But Raina is all in. She likes Garrett’s new crazy eyes. They kind of match her own.

After Fury saves FitzSimmons, he sticks around and helps Coulson take down Garrett. Fury and Coulson get some closure during this climatic final battle against Garrett, and Coulson’s team emerges victorious. But hold the phone! After Coulson and company think they’ve won and are clearing out, Garrett reemerges more Deathlok-ed out than ever. Ruh-roh. Oh wait, he’s quickly disintegrated by Coulson in what has to be Coulson’s best entrance since the first episode, when he emerged from the shadows and blamed it on a broken light bulb.

Coulson’s team is set up with a new base, and a new Patton Oswalt?!?! Say hello to Eric Koenig’s twin brother Billy! Alright, Patton Oswalt as a series regular in season two!

But all isn’t 100% okay. In the final scene, Coulson is asleep in his new SHIELD base. Garrett’s crazy flowchart is next to him. Coulson either wakes up or is sleepwalking. He then proceeds to start digging into the wall with a tool, recreating Garrett’s flowchart and adding to it. Double ruh-roh. Maybe injecting people with blue alien blood while surgically messing with their brains isn’t the best idea after all…

Well here we are. The end of season one of Agents of SHIELD. I know some people were disappointed by this show, but it really exceeded all of my expectations. Joss, Jed and company really made me care about these new characters. I’m looking forward to season two in the fall very much. If you haven’t jumped back on the Agents of SHIELD train, I definitely recommend doing so, especially the post-Winter Soldier episodes.

June 11, 2014 by Billy Henehan

Agents of SHIELD – S1E21 – Ragtag – Recap

Ragtag by Emma Rios (Art of Level 7)

We learn a lot about Ward’s back story in Ragtag, specifically his relationship to Garrett. Ward was recruited by Garrett straight from juvenile lockup. Ward had been shunned by his family, but I guess that’s to be expected when you ditch military school to set the family home on fire while your brother is still in it. I wonder if we’ll ever see Ward’s brother. I can see him growing up to be a burnt-face enemy assassin, like Game of Thrones’s The Hound or WWE’s Kane.

Garrett leaves Ward in the woods with nothing but a dog named Buddy and his wits. Garrett checks in him on the seldom side of periodic. Ward and Buddy live in the woods for 5 years. During this time, Ward manages to forage for food and supplies, build himself a cabin and finally get a decent haircut.

Young Ward’s hair is best described as “serial killer-esque.”

What’s really interesting about this back story is the order of Ward’s recruitment by Garrett. Initially when he meets Ward, Garrett says he works for a secret organization. But a few years later, he tells Ward all about Hydra before telling him about SHIELD, making Ward a Hyrdra agent first and a SHIELD agent second.

Back in present, we’re quickly reminded that while Colson’s team is back together, Garrett and Ward have the Bus and Skye’s hard drive. Coulson wants both back. Skye has developed a trojan horse that can take down Garrett’s network. It’s installed on her stolen laptop. Unfortunately, she wasn’t able to finish it. But as long as she can insert a thumb drive with the patch into any Hydra computer, it will launch the malware across their entire network. In order to sneak in Skye’s thumb drive, Coulson and May pose as renegade SHIELD scientists applying for jobs at Cybertek, the company behind Deathlok. This job interview was quite possibly my favorite scene in the episode. Coulson and May are being fed lines by FitzSimmons, causing both of them to fall into brogues as FitzSimmons argue and talk over each other. It was especially great to see a flustered Fitz/Coulson defending his work over a Hydra knock off. Unfortunately, May and Coulson don’t get job or get the job done. There are no computers in the entire building! They do find the file facility on the fourth floor, where they find a cabinet dedicated to the Deathlok program and make a shocking discovery, namely that Garrett is Deathlok 1.0! They download the files the old fashioned way, throwing the entire cabinet out the fourth floor window to Tripplett below.

My other favorite scene came a little earlier when Tripplett retrieved his great-uncle’s Howling Commando gear. It’s all very James Bond by the way of World War II. Coulson is in heaven. And Fitz got to play comic relief by accidentally setting the curtains on fire with a laser cigarette.

The team tracks Garrett to an old SHIELD facility in Havana. FitzSimmons scout for the Bus, while May, Coulson and Tripplett check out the SHIELD base. FitzSimmons are three hours away from the team when they find the Bus in an airfield, too long for Coulson and company to rejoin them before the Bus takes off. FitzSimmons decide to sneak on the Bus. They’re quickly caught. While being questioned by Garrett, Fitz pulls out one of Tripplett’s great-uncle’s toys, a joybuzzer that’s also a short-range EMP. It shorts out the lights and Garrett’s Deathlok systems, giving FitzSimmons a chance to flee.

Garrett is not doing well. His Deathlok parts are fine, but his biological parts are giving out. That’s the entire reason for it all: Centipede, stealing the TAHITI information: it was all to keep him alive. Now that his Deathlok system is shorted out, he’s fading fast. Garrett wants FitzSimmons dead and commands Ward to kill them.

Cut back to the past, where we find out Garrett’s final test for Ward: killing his dog Buddy, whom Ward has been living with for the past 5 years. Ward can’t do it. Out of Garrett’s sight, he shoots his pistol in the air, which sends Buddy running. Ward can’t do it in the present either. He traps FitzSimmons in a cargo hold. When they won’t come out, Fitz’s pleading puppy eyes remind Ward of Buddy, and he ejects the cargo hold they’re in from the plane, seemingly dooming them in the ocean, but really saving them.

Flowers has managed to synthesize a single dose of the alien blood that helped resurrect Coulson. In order to save Garrett, Flowers injects him with the synthesized alien blood, mixing it with the Centipede formula already in his system. For a moment, it looks like he might explode like one of the Extremis soldiers in Iron Man 3, but he cools down and is good as new. Ward tells Garrett that he killed FitzSimmons. You know what? I don’t care that Ward let them live. He can’t be trusted. I don’t want him on Coulson’s team next season. Just sayin’.

Back in Havana, Coulson, May and Tripplett are ambushed by a guy holding what looks like an Asgardian staff. He doesn’t do anything except for smile menacingly. But in the dark room they’re in, suddenly single red eyes burst to life. They’re being ambushed by Deathloks! And it looks from the silhouette like these are classic Luther Manning-style Deathloks! Alright! I can’t wait until the next episode.

In the kicker, Ian Quinn is attempting to sell a Deathlok army to the US government and the higher ups in the military that he’s meeting with look very intrigued.

June 9, 2014 by Billy Henehan

Agents of SHIELD – S1E20 – Nothing Personal – Recap

I have to say, I really like the synergy that Agents of SHIELD and Captain America: The Winter Soldier have together. Having the story from Captain America: The Winter Soldier tie in so much with the last quarter season of Agents of SHIELD has been wonderful.

Nothing Personal by Stephanie Hans (Art of Level 7)

Colbie Smulders guest stars in this episode, reprising her role as Fury’s second-in-command Maria Hill, who when we saw her last at the end of Winter Soldier was taking a job with Tony Stark. Hill is still at Stark. When we catch up to her this episode, she’s heading to her car, and making every agent trailing her along the way. She soon realizes that those agents she made have all been waylaid. For a moment, I thought Blackout had returned from last episode, but it’s quickly revealed to May whose behind the agents being taken out. May quickly explains what’s going on with Coulson and company.

Speaking of Coulson, FitSimmons and Triplett, they’re very surprised when they return to Fury’s secret base only to find everyone gone. They review the tapes and see that May left first heading one way and then Skye and Ward left with the Bus heading the other way. But where is Koenig? FitzSimmons discover the answer to that question, as Fitz finds the “WARD IS HYDRA” scrawled on one of Koenig’s exterior mood photos just as Simmons finds Koenig’s body.

Fitz cannot bring himself to believe that Ward is Hyrdra. He bonded with Ward a lot when they went in the field together. He wants to believe Ward is still a good guy, to the point of questioning what they know about Triplett when Triplett tries calming Fitz down. Fitz makes his way through all five stages of grief fairly quickly, and focuses his anger at Ward in a positive direction, namely getting Skye back.

Speaking of Skye, she and Ward head to the diner where she first met Mike Peterson in the pilot episode. Skye claims that’s where the geolock on the drive can be opened. It’s interesting watching their conversations. On the one hand, it feels like it should be painfully obvious to Ward that Skye is onto her and to Skye that Ward knows she’s onto him, so the diner scene comes off like neither of them wanting to acknowledge it, though Skye sure does get close.

Up north at Fury’s base, ~~Nathan from Heroes~~ , Talbot arrives to arrest Coulson and company just as they’re about to take off to rescue Skye. Coulson gets the best line when he asks Talbot if his men are going to shoot him, because if they are, he’s not going to come out. How’d Talbot and the army find Coulson? Maria Hill led them there as part of her deal. Nice job, Hill. To Hill’s credit, once it’s revealed that Talbot is not going to go lightly on Coulson and his agents, Hill helps them escape. Man, Colbie Smulders is really good at fight scenes. Now that How I Met Your Mother has ended, I hope she becomes a regular fixture on this show.

In LA, Skye makes her move. The diner is filling up with cops, fast. Ward notices. Skye plays dumb, but then reveals that she alerted them to Ward’s presence and fugitive status on her laptop. Skye’s been playing Ward the whole time, as the geolock for the drive wasn’t this diner. I really liked when Skye called Ward a Nazi, and then backed it up by pointing out that Hydra was founded by the Red Skull, a Nazi. In the ensuing melee with the police, Skye bolts. Now hold on a second. Aren’t the LAPD a little more trigger happy than the cops shown here? Ward is taking out a room full of cops and none of them shoot him in even the leg? Come on…

Skye steals a police car. Just when she thinks she’s free, Deathlok literally drops in her. Ward and Deathlok return Skye to the Bus. Skye is ready to not tell them anything, until Deathlok induces a heart attack in Ward. Seeing Ward dying gets Skye to talk. Skye tells them that geolock has nothing to do with latitude or longitude, it’s all about altitude. I feel a Jimmy Buffet song coming on…

Actually, can we talk about Deathlok for a minute? I can’t figure this guy out. I get that Garrett is giving him commands in his eyeball all day, but he talks like he’s really into what he’s doing. I just don’t get Mike Peterson these days. There doesn’t seem to be any hesitation in him going along with the villains. I get that he wants to keep his son safe from harm, but you’d like there would be more internal dilemma here. Sure, Garrett is giving Mike commands, and sees through Mike’s eyes, but he can’t see if Mike were to gesture frantically at people or mouth something to them. I’d really love to get an episode told solely from Deathlok’s POV one day, or half told from the Agents’ POV and the other half showing the same events from Deathlok’s POV.

Hill, Coulson and company block their take-off, sort of. The bus can take off vertically, but Hill does threaten to blow them out of the sky if they take off. It’s a Mexican standoff, but Ward gets Hill to blink first, or so Ward thinks. Hill lets him take off, but this was all a distraction so that Coulson could sneak onto the Bus through the landing gear.

Once on the Bus, Coulson finds Skye, who ask him what his plan is for dealing with Deathlok. Coulson’s reaction? “Deathlok’s here?” Deathlok’s here. Coulson and Skye flee to the hanger and jump in Lola. Ward and Deathlok catch up to them and start firing. Ward is definitely trying to take off Coulson’s head. Coulson manages to open the cargo bay door and drop Lola from the Bus. Unfortunately, Lola’s thrusters are all out of whack from being shot at by Coulson and Deathlok. Skye almost goes flying out. Coulson: “I told you to buckle up!” Coulson is the best. Coulson manages to right Lola enough to drop it perfectly in a tight parallel parking spot near the valet outside the Ritz Carlton. Skye’s hair is hilarious, as is the valet nonchalantly asking them for $20. I really wish Rob Huebel played the valet in this scene, even if it was just for one line. Yes, yes, I know we already saw Huebel in the series in a previous episode. I just like the guy so much.

Skye’s free. Coulson has the team back together…yeah, minus Ward, but what can you do? Unfortunately, Maria Hill goes back to Stark. Coulson tells her to say hi for him, but then remembers that Stark still thinks Coulson is dead.

At the end of the episode, May lets a bombshell drop. She shows Coulson the video of who was in charge of TAHITI. It was Coulson! Coulson obviously has no recollection of this, but in the video, he advises Fury to shut down TAHITI. The program was initially devised for bringing back any of the Avengers if they should fall, but Coulson warned that the test subjects are too unstable. Huh, Coulson was in charge of TAHITI, and Fury used it to bring back Coulson even though Coulson warned him against using it. I feel like Coulson can still be mad at Fury if he wants to be.

Comic Book Connection:

Early in the episode, Maria Hill says, “I don’t know even know what a Man-Thing is.” Lucky for you, I do! Man-Thing is a Marvel comic book character created int he 1970s. It lives in the swamps of the Florida Everglades. Think Swamp Thing, but creepier looking…and less interesting. Unlike Swamp Thing, Man-Thing never speaks, making his stories a bit on the dull side in my opinion. Also unlike Swamp Thing, anything that knows fear burns at Man-Thing’s touch, like literally bursts into flames. There aren’t many things that don’t freak out when a giant swamp creature ambles in their direction.

April 25, 2014 by Billy Henehan

Agents of SHIELD – S1E19 – The Only Light in the Darkness – Recap

In the 19th episode of Agents of SHIELD, we finally meet the cellist that Phil Coulson mentioned he was dating in The Avengers. Unfortunately, she, like almost everyone he knew, thinks he’s still dead. The cellist is played by longtime Whedon alum Amy Acker. The way the episode ends leaves the possibility for a return of the cellist, which I’m all for, as I think Amy Acker is super.

I was really hoping for Coulson to revealhis rebirth to his former girlfriend, if only to see just how he would pull that off. He had a few opportunities, but cold feet held him up.

The theme of this episode could be “I just called to say I love you,” except that in almost every case, the person doing the calling chickens out at the last second. Besides Coulson, Fitz finally works up the nerve to tell Simmons how he feels about her…only to chicken out at the last minute. I have to say, I’m really enjoying the Fitz-Simmons-Triplett love triangle. It’s like Ron-Hermione-Krum all over again.

But the absolute best reveal of the episode? That’s when Simmons reveals herself to be a Whovian.

Simmons wants a TARDIS.

Marvel Comics fans were given a couple of cool nods this week. First Agent Triplett reveals that he’s the grandson of a Howling Commando. I’m guessing Gabe Jones. I’m really hoping for a Captain America appearance in a future episode, with half the episode involving Cap working with Triplett and the rest of Coulson’s team in the present and the other half involving Cap working with the Howling Commandos in the past. Season 2, please?

Second, the villain of the week, Marcus Daniels, is an escapee from SHIELD jail who taps into the dark force for his power. He’s the comic book villain Blackout, a mostly small time villain who plagued the likes of Spider-Man and Ghost Rider in the 1990s. He shoots beams of pure darkness from his hands. In the show, this dark force power makes all the lights go out, stopping electrical flow, including in the human brain. He’s much creepier on the show than he is in the comics.

The dark force itself goes back decades in Marvel Comics. It was huge in the 1980s, which many villains and heroes using it as the source of their darkness based powers.

Coulson, Triplett, Fitz and Simmons save the cellist from Blackout by zapping him with Ghostbusters-esque flood lights. I was really hoping for the cellist to play some Ray Parker Jr on her instrument during this scene.

Who ya gonna call? Phil Coulson!

As for the rest of the team, Skye finds out that Ward is a traitor when she finds Patton Oswalt’s dead body inside Providence. Unfortunately for Skye, Coulson has taken most of the team on a mission, leaving her with Ward and May…and May decides to quit the team and skeedaddle right before Skye figures Ward out. Uh-oh. When Coulson returns with the crew, May is AWOL and Ward has taken Skye and the Bus in attempt to crack Skye’s location-based-encrypted hard drive. As for May, she got a ride from her mom (no, really, she did) and is hunting Maria Hill(!). It’s hard to look bad ass when your mom picks you up, but May still pulls it off.

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