April 7, 2015 by Billy Henehan

Agents of SHIELD – S2E14 – Love in the Time of Hydra – Recap

We open on a diner. Ward and Agent 33 are on a date? This is the second diner scene in as many weeks. They’re really getting good use out of that set. Ward and Agent 33 go all Pumpkin and Honey Bunny on the patrons when they jump on the tables and rob the diner Pulp Fiction style. Samuel L Jackson is not in this diner. What a missed opportunity! Oh wait, they’re not robbing the place, they’re kidnapping a plastic surgeon?

Somebody tell Agent 33, “Bitch, be cool.”

FitzSimmons is checking out Skye’s broken arms. Skye refers to herself being on the DL. Fitz doesn’t know that DL means disabled list and not down low. He’s adorable.

Coulson and May are meeting. These Coulson and May meetings are great for anyone who missed an episode, as they constantly seem to be debating what’s going on with the team. May has changed her mind about Skye being on the team. It seems like Simmons and May want her off and Fitz and Coulson want her on. Luckily for Skye, Coulson is in charge.

Back to Ward and Agent 33. Oh, that wasn’t a plastic surgeon that they kidnapped. It was an engineer…who is kind of like a plastic surgeon since he fixed Agent 33’s digital mask.s mask. She can now look normal again…though it seems like May is still her normal face. She can’t take the mask off. Oh crap, is Agent 33 the Marvel Cinematic Universe version of Madame Masque? For those of you not familar with her, Madame Masque is an Iron Man villain named Courtney Whitmore. She hides behind a golden mask because she was once beautiful but had been horribly disfigured…or was it all in her head? Some writers have made it recently that Courtney was not actually disfigured, but suffered a psychological break and only thinks she is disfigured.

Madame Masque

We’re introduced to Edward James Olmos, who plays Gonzalez, the head of the “Real” SHIELD. Real SHIELD reminds me of the Original Ghostbusters and Real Ghostbusters cartoons that went up against each other in the 1980s.

Lance is unimpressed with Real SHIELD. He’s clearly grew up an Original Ghostbusters fan. Lance gets the best line of the episode when describing Coulson. He says that Coulson “tends to hog the mic during karaoke nights.” Lance is shocked that Bobbie is a part of Real SHIELD. I wonder if she really is. Maybe she’s a triple agent. Hunter also gets the second best line of the episode when he turns to Bobbie and says, “Maybe we could have discussed this alone without all of Hufflepuff looking on.” I can’t think of a bigger Harry Potter related insult than being called a Hufflepuff. They’re like the short bus of the Harry Potter universe.

Gonzalez explains the formation of Real SHIELD and why it’s necessary. They didn’t trust Fury and they don’t trust Coulson post-alien injection. They think Coulson is being driven insane by the alien injection. It’s funny; if this conversation was happening a few episodes back, they’d be right.

Coulson and Skye go on a road trip.Well…air trip. They’re talking in the rear hold of what I believe is The Bus. They share a cute moment eating some Twizzlers together. But wait a minute…who is flying this plane?!

Agent 33 is trying on new faces. Ward killed the doctor. Note: Ward is still a very bad man. Agent 33 puts on Skye’s face…with May’s hair, and starts making out with Ward. This is some weird shit. Why did she keep May’s hair? She can control her hair along with her face. Ward realizes it’s weird. I think it’s weird the Skye lookalike still has May’s voice…and hair.

Gonzalez is asking Bobbie about Hunter. He’s worried Hunter might turn her. Bobbie thinks she can get through to Hunter.

Ward gives Agent 33 his origin story. He finishes by saying he got over his issues by having a heart to heart with his family. He doesn’t mention that heart to heart means killing them all. It’s amazing how Ward has transformed into a total psycho. He’s not Kyle McLaughlin level crazy, but he’s up there. He wants 33 to have a similar “heart to heart” with Bakshi that Ward had with his family. For those who haven’t been paying attention, it was Bakshi who prepped Agent 33 for Whitehall.

To break into Bakshi’s prison, Agent 33 disguises herself as Talbot’s wife. Luckily no one there seems to know what Mrs. Talbot’s voice sounds like, because she still sounds like May. I could have sworn the engineer said she could change the sound of her voice now. Maybe I heard that line wrong.

Coulson has taken Skye to a cabin in the woods. It’s isolated. He brought her here so that she could heal and hone her powers. Simmons designed gloves for Skye to wear. They will help her control her powers, but there are side effects…Coulson isn’t saying what they are. Skye’s supposed to FaceTime with Simmons later to get the deets.

Agent 33/Mrs. Talbot switches into an Air Force Major disguise. Ward somehow just walks right in the facility. Seriously, how did he get in. Agent 33 has to get waved him by Talbot while pretending to be Talbot’s wife while Ward kind of just shows up in the middles of the facility. The real Mrs. Talbot calls saying she’s stuck in traffic. Ruh-roh. Talbot puts two and two together very quickly. There’s a reason Talbot’s a general. Talbot rounds up every female on the base. He lectures them, saying how he cannot stand a spy in his house.

Cut to Mac at Coulson’s base. Well played, SHIELD editor. Well played.

Talbot starts grilling people, asking them trick questions. Go with the trick answer, Agent 33! Meanwhile Ward is shooting up the place. Oh hey, Agent 33 is a dude now. Haha, take that Talbot! She’s not even in the room! They open up Bakshi’s cell. He thinks she’s here to break him out…until he sees Ward and starts putting things together. Bakshi tries activating her brainwashing, but 33 punches him in the face before it can take effect.

Talbot pulls a gun on his own wife, his real wife. Geez, Talbot! She’s just bringing you tacos for Taco Tuesday. She even brought your favorite sauce!

Bobbie and Hunter have a heart to heart. It sounds like Bobbie is 100% New SHIELD…just what a triple agent would say. Hunter decides he’s leaving. Bobbie won’t stop him (I’m guessing because she’s a triple agent). But all the armed guards will stop him. Or they’ll try. Oh wait, no need. They’re on a aircraft carrier out to sea. Bobbie pursues. Hunter is nowhere to be seen. Oh wait, there’s like 50 aircraft that Hunter could escape on. Still, how could he possible get off undetected?

Fitz confronts Coulson about Skye. Coulson won’t tell him where she is. Fitz then confronts Simmons about how she’s treating Skye. Fitz calls her out on how she’s changed, even though Fitz and Skye have changed, neither has changed more than Simmons. That gets to Simmons.

Talbot FaceTimes Coulson and May. At least I think it’s Talbot. It has to be. Why would Agent 33 tell Coulson that Agent 33 broke into a base with Ward? Okay, that’s the real Talbot.

Hunter managed to escape in a submersible pod. Way to go, “Real” SHIELD. Bobbie wants to go back in to Coulson’s base. “Real” SHIELD debates and approves.

Coulson and May have both come to the conclusion that they don’t believe Mac. They aim to confront him. They don’t seem to suspect Bobbie yet.

Agent 33 goes back to her real face. It’s majorly scarred. Oh wow, she is definitely Madame Masque! Ward and Agent 33 have Bakshi tied up. They’re going to brainwash him. Things are definitely getting interesting…

Finally, I have to say, I really like this week’s title, Love in the Time of Hydra. First, because it references Love in the Time of Cholera, and second because this episode did a great job on focusing on the various couples on the show. You have Agent 33 and Ward as the outlaw couple. FitzSimmons is trying (and constantly failing) to get back into the groove of where they were last season. Bobbie and Hunter are the Romeo and Juliet of the spy world…if Romeo and Juliet bickered constantly. This season of Agents of SHIELD has been spot on. I can’t wait to see how the show will tie into Avengers: Age of Ultron in one month!

January 7, 2015 by Billy Henehan

SHIELD #1 – Review

When I saw that Agents of SHIELD wasn’t returning to my TV until March, saying I was disappointed would have been an understatement. This season, Agents of SHIELD has been so good that I didn’t want to have to wait that long for the next new episode. Thankfully, Marvel has brought Team Coulson into the Marvel Universe in their new comic SHIELD. With the success of the Agents of SHIELD TV show, it shouldn’t be surprising that Marvel brought Coulson and his team to the main Maravel comic book universe, aka Marvel-616. The new comic launched on New Year’s Day. Marvel enlisted a very high quality creative team, signing on Mark Waid as the writer and Carlos Pacheco on art.

The comic focuses on the core of Coulson’s team from the Agents of SHIELD TV show: Phil Coulson, Melinda May, Leo Fitz and Jemma Simmons. There’s no sign of Grant Ward, which makes sense considering his status with the team since the end of season one. Also, none of the new team members from this season are here. I did think Mockingbird was the mystery lady on the plane, but that turned out to be a far more powerful character. I won’t spoil the reveal here, except to say it’s definitely not Mockingbird.

The walls between the nine realms (aka Asgard, Hel, etc – think Thor stuff) is fading, and gods and monsters are appearing all over the world. While the world’s major superheroes deal with the big bads, Coulson’s team is sent to the Middle East to find the cause of the problem. Once the cause of the problem is revealed, the identities of the new, mysterious field agents for this mission also are, and their being there goes to show what a great tactician Phil Coulson is.

Mark Waid writes an excellent Phil Coulson. The first few pages establish Coulson as a human encyclopedia for superhero knowledge. It almost feels like Waid is writing himself as Phil Coulson. Waid is the guy who has competed (and won) at superhero trivia at multiple comic cons. Because of this, he really seems like the perfect writer for this comic.

I’ve missed Carlos Pacheco’s art. He was one of my favorite artists of the 1990s, but he seemed to disappear sometime in the 2000s. I hope he stays on SHIELD for a while. If the rest of the series is similar to this first issue, Pacheco staying on the book means fans of his art will be able to see his take on some Marvel characters for the first time.

If I have any quibble with the comic, it’s when Coulson calls Fitz by his first name, Leo. It just seems to read so unnatural. I feel like he’s Fitz, not Leo. It only happened once, and during a moment of quiet downtime, but for some reason, it just jutted out at me as not being right. But who knows, maybe Coulson has called Fitz by his first name on the show and I just don’t remember it.

The second issue of SHIELD is coming out next Wednesday, January 14 and guest stars my favorite new character, Kamala Khan, aka Ms. Marvel (which was one of my top comics of 2014). I will definitely be back for issue #2. If you’re a fan of Agents of SHIELD going to withdrawal, you should definitely pick up this comic.

December 7, 2014 by Billy Henehan

Agents of SHIELD – Season 2, Episode 9 – Ye Who Enter Here – Recap

When the episode opens, Skye is in a white flower-print dress running barefoot running down a hall. It’s the dreaming? It kind of looks like she is. She’s yelling for Coulson. She can’t find anyone. She turns when she hears some chimes. This is one freaky dream. Coulson is now with her, staring at at a box. It’s a music box. Coulson and May are holding a baby. They’re dressed like suburbanites. May says “Sacrifices have to be made. Poison tree, poisoned fruit.” They leave the baby. The music box is the obelisk. When Skye touches it, it withers her.

She wakes up int he bus, freaked out. The team has arrived at its destination.

Mac is controlling a remote control Lucy (Coulson’s car, not Lucille Ball). He runs it into Fitz, who is impressed with the detail Mac put into this remote control car. He asks if it flies (it doesn’t). Mac is looking at Bobbie and Hunter being all chummy. Mac says a storm’s coming. Fitz takes him literally, and says he doesn’t think that’s in the forecast. Fitz was looking for Mac for a reason. He wants Mac to be a go between for him and Simmons. Mac suggests talking to her directly. Fitz blows Mac off.

Simmons is bandaging up Trip, who is shirtless. Um, his eyes are up here, Simmons. Skye walks in just as Trip calls Skye’s dad nutty. Classic Trip…

Coulson briefs his team. They basically walk through Hydra’s plans from the past few episodes and why they have to reach the temple in the secret city before Hydra does. There’s a LOT of exposition. I guess it’s handy if you’re someone who is just coming back to SHIELD after weeks of your friends telling you how good it is right now and you need to catch up.

Trip asks if the secret city related to the Bermuda Triangle. Coulson says they figured out the Bermuda Triangle back in the 80s. They’re headed to Puerto Rico.

In Vancouver, Raina is in a cafe with some white haired dude who is not Daniel Whitehall. New boyfriend? May is at the cafe too. Raina confronts her. Wait a second, it’s not May. It’s some severely facially bruised lady who is working for Whitehall. Raina bolts. Koenig spots her and tells her which way to go. Oh wow, there are lots of Koenig brothers around here, as another one of the Koenig clan grabs Raina. He envelops her in a cloaking umbrella. I want one of those. Raina is getting recruited by SHIELD!

Coulson is filled in by Billy Koenig (Sam is the other Koenig). They need an extraction team to get Raina out of Vancouver. Agent 33 is stuck looking like a bruised May ever since May electrocuted her while she wearing that digital May mask. So…the mask is stuck to her? Part of her now?

May and Skye watch a news story on Christian’s Ward’s death. They both know Ward did it. Skye wants to take him down.

Coulson is splitting up the team. May is headed to Vancouver to grab Raina. Bobbie, Mac and FitzSimmons are coming with Coulson. Coulson doesn’t want Skye anywhere near her Loony Toons dad.

Bobbie asks Simmons how long she and Fitz were a thing. Simmons denies it, poorly. Simmons says she’s been freaked ever since Fitz said she loved her, saved her life and went into a coma. Simmons said she never thought of him as anything more than a friend. Bobbie gives her some love advice that could have easily come from Tyra on Friday Night Lights. She could have been talking about Riggins as much as she was talking about Hunter.

Speaking of Hunter, Bobbie tells him, “Don’t die out there.” Hunter’s response? “It’s Canada.” HA!

Mac asks Bobbie if she “brought Hunter in on that other thing.” She says she didn’t. Wait, what other thing??? Are Mac and Bobbie double agents? Triple agents?

One of the Koenigs is walking down a street in Vancouver. A bald dude in a suit follows him. Hunter takes the bald bad guy down and walks off with the Koenig brother, who turns out to be Sam (“Billy is the shorter one”). May takes out two more agents. Billy and Raina are in a hideaway. Skye meets up with them. He tells her, “I’m Billy. Sam is the shorter one” Agent 33, aka Not-May, ambushes them. Wow, Skye has become a really good fighter. Seriously, when did Skye become such a skilled fighter? She’s almost May-like. Agent 33 eventually get the better of her. Luckily for Skye, Hunter drops Agent 33 before she can shoot Skye in the face. Hunter’s reaction to her looking like May “And I thought the Koenigs were creepy.” Hunter has the best lines this episode!

In San Juan, Bobbie and Coulson pull up in a jeep. They walk through a market. Coulson tries on a fedora. Bobbie is wondering why Coulson is so unfazed by the prospect of blowing up an underground city located under the streets of San Juan. She wants to make sure they’re there to destroy any weapons in the underground city, not recover them. Coulson gives a speech. His number of acceptable losses is zero. No one is dying on his watch here.

Simmons and Fitz have it out. Fitz is going to leave the lab so that Simmons can run the science division. He’s going to the garage on the bus to work with Mac. Don’t break up FitzSimmons! Fitz says he can work for her, but not with her. Ugh, you’re killing us, Fitz! Simmons just kind of nods her head and stares at the wall as Fitz leaves the room.

Bobbie and Coulson walking around San Juan makes me really want to visit San Juan. Wow, it is just beautiful.

Skye is guarding Raina. Raina realizes Hydra doesn’t want to kill her, they need her because Raina can hold the diviner. Raina tells Skye that she thinks Skye would live if she touched it too. Raina tries to hail the Hydra goons, but a Koenig runs down the Hydra guys in his van. Hunter and May pull Skye and Raina in the van.

Agent 33 calls Whitehall. They failed to abduct Raina, but Raina does have a tracker on her. Whitehall says he’ll get his best man on it.

Koenig is talking to Trip and says it must be weird for May seeing someone with her face. And then the other Koenig walks in. I love this episode. Trip asks how many Koenig brothers there are. They say 13 in unison. Trip flips. It’s just a joke, Trip…I think.

May tells Coulson that Raina says she can touch the obelisk without being harmed. In San Juan, Bobbie’s contact is afraid of the secret city and won’t join them. Coulson, Mac, FitzSimmons and Bobbie head down there. It looks like Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade down there. Fitz sends some drones down a big hole to survey the tunnel. Simmons is finishing his sentences He doesn’t seem to mind that much. Uh oh, the drones just failed.

Raina gets her very own SHIELD lanyard. She and Skye talk over tea on the Bus. Raina tells Skye that her dad delivered her. Skye counters that he’s a murderer and almost killed her friend, Trip. Skye does want to understand her dad though. Raina tells Skye about how she first met him in Thailand. She was a con artist. Skye’s dad took her in. During the story, Raina calls the aliens the Kree! Raina names the Kree! Eeeee! This is huge! SHIELD really has become the stealthy background of building the biggest movies!

Raina is in Skye’s head. Skye wants to call Coulson and the team back to the Bus, but there’s no signal. Whitehall hails them. He’s jamming them. He wants Raina. Hand her over or be shot down. The bus is surrounded by Hydra Quinjets.

Mac hits the bottom of the tunnel. When Mac touches the ground, the symbols from the obelisk appear there, and then on his hand. He’s in pain, like “shoot me now” kind of pain. Oh man, I like Mac! Don’t kill him!

Coulson and company pull Mac out. He’s having a heart attack or something. Then he’s fine. Now, he’s not. His eyes are red. Mac says, “Run” and then proceeds to super-punch Coulson across the room. Ruh roh.

Ward leads in some Hydra goons onto the bus. Hey, a reunion! Skye tells Ward to pick a side. He ignores her and tells Raina, “Let’s go.” Raina is cool with leaving. But then Ward announces that he wants Skye too.

Bobbie fighting Mac is like Rey Mysterio fighting the Rock or Big Show. Fitz zaps Mac with an electroshock before she has the chance to crush Bobbie’s larynx…but it has no effect.

Back at the Mexican standoff on the Bus, guns are drawn and Ward tells Skye that if she comes, no one dies. A Koenig points out that Ward killed his brother. But Skye agrees to go.

Coulson pulls Mac off Bobbie. Simmons is almost thrown down into the pit. Coulson saves her. Fitz is about to shoot Mac, but tries talking him down. Bobbie electrocutes him. He falls down into the tunnel. Coulson tells her to seal the tunnel. She’s stunned, but Coulson yells, “That’s not Mack!” So much for zero acceptable losses.

Agent 33 gets in Whitehall’s car. She tells him Ward has Raina, however there was a complication, he also took Skye. Whitehall okay with it, noting that at least Ward shot the SHIELD plane down. Agent 33 basically says, “Yeah…he didn’t.” Whitehall gives the command, which Agent 33 relays to some Hydra guys: shoot down the plane. Her robotic voice really freaks me out.

And that’s it! Oh man, we only have one more episode before the mid-season break! Expect excitement next week!

November 21, 2014 by Billy Henehan

Agents of SHIELD – S2E6 – A Fractured House – Recap

The episode opens at the UN. Talbot talking about being in New York City during the battle for New York, aka The Avengers movie. In his speech, he stomps SHIELD into a mudhole. The Italian diplomat stands up to him. A squad busts in led by a guy who I thought was Batroc the Leaper (he’s not, pity) and starts hitting diplomats with those discs that obelisk people. Is obelisk a verb? It is now. The discs don’t turn people into obelisks, but it has the same effect that touching it, or you know, drinking champagne laced with the cells of its victims does. Not-Batroc and his people are wearing clothes sporting the SHIELD logo. Not-Batroc announces “SHIELD is done hiding” as tries to kill Talbot with one of those discs. Oh boy.

Ward opens his eyes like he’s Jack in the opening of the pilot of Lost. He then goes through the Desmond workout from the opening of the first episode of the second season of Lost. I’m starting to think I know what show the Agents of SHIELD writer like the most. Hint: it rhymes with “LOST.” Ward has an insane workout routine. Skye and Gemma are watching the Ward channel. Gemma admits to watching it every day, but she manages to say it in a wholly scientific and non-sexy way. May comes in to announce to them that there’s been an attack on the UN. Coulson figures out it’s Hydra immediately.

Coulson wants coffee and finds a grumpy cat mug. “Did someone bring this from home?” That’s a good question. How does a Grumpy Cat mug end up in a hidden SHIELD base. I thought everything was only allowed to have the SHIELD logo on it. I kind of wish that mug did have both Grumpy Cat and a SHIELD logo on it. Coulson tells Skye to put the alien writing deciphering on the back burner for now. Bobbie Morse, in a purple Star Wars t-shirt, shows up with some intel. I have never loved Star Wars more. She says Marcus Scarlotti is the name of guy I thought was Batroc. Coulson tells Bobbie to join Hunter and May to take on the developer of the obelisk weapon. Neither Hunter nor Bobbie are feeling good about this team-up. Coulson basically says get over it or get out.

Talbot is now in an arm sling. I’m guessing the disintegrater disc missed him. He meets with government honcho. Talbot tells him he thinks it wasn’t actually SHIELD. And then we find out that this government dude is Ward’s brother, Christian Ward. DUN DUN DUN!

Coulson and Skye watch Ward’s brother on TV announce he wants to dismantle SHIELD. He calls SHIELD terrorists. Coulson shows Skye a map of the remaining SHIELD operatives. There aren’t many dots on that map.

Coulson contacts Agent Walters int he Netherlands. He tells her to go dark. Hmmm…could this be Jen Walters? For those of you who don’t read comics, Jennifer Walters is the cousin of Bruce Banner, aka The Incredible Hulk. Because she desperately needed a blood transfusion to save her life, Bruce agreed to go against his better judgement and donate his blood. This blood transfusion transformed her into the sometimes savage, sometimes sensational She-Hulk. At one time, She-Hulk worked for SHIELD.

On the flight to Japan, Bobbie and Hunter try to have a civil conversation. Bobbie is slightly better at it than Hunter is. Bobbie is surprised that Hunter has stuck around. Once the conversation gets a little more passive aggressive, Bobbie goes to the cockpit to talk to May. She asks May if she’s ever been married and if she still talks to her ex. May answers her with silence to both questions.

Fitz is mumbling to himself in his lab. Simmons (the real one) visits him. I wonder if he was talking to fake Simmons just before this. He was definitely talking to himself, so maybe. Simmons asks Fitz for help figuring out something. Woo, FitzSimmons is back! Simmons sees just how bad Fitz’s condition is. It clearly gets to her.

Skye asks Ward about his older brother, the Senator. I wonder how the third Ward brother will one day play into the series. Ward tells her to stay away from him. The way Ward describes him, Christian is a worse guy than he is, and SHIELD/Hydra Ward is pretty bad.

In Japan, May, Bobbie and Hunter try to figure out how to take down Toshiro. Bobbie suggests going in under her Hydra cover. Hunter backs her up with some passive aggressiveness thrown in for old time’s sake. Toshiro’s men check Bobbie for weapons, as May and Hunter watch from the Van.

Bobbie and Toshiro meet. Bobbie speaks Japanese…and then starts making out with Toshiro. That must be fun for Hunter to watch. Toshiro then asks Bobbie if she is working for SHIELD. Bobbie deflects and asks about Scarlotti’s weapons. May and Hunter give running commentary. Toshiro calls them splinter bombs. Bobbie wants some, but he’s shipped them all out to Hydra.

Hunter intercepts an incoming message to Toshiro’s people. It’s alerting them at Bobbie is SHIELD. Hunter stops a gunman from shooting Bobbie in the back of the head. She’s pissed, claiming she totally knew about the guy walking directly behind her with a gun. Uh-huh. After taking out Toshiro’s men, they head to Belguim.

Fitz is looking at Blackbird files. He has a hard time getting his thoughts out and gets frustrated when Simmons tries to finish his sentences. Fitz lashes out at Simmons for leaving when she did. It doesn’t end well. Simmons leaves, just as Mac arrives.

Coulson is in Christian Ward’s office when Christian walks in. Christian won’t shake his hand. Maybe he’s just a germophobe. Coulson wants to clear the air regarding the UN attack, saying it wasn’t his team. Coulson basically gives up Ward to Christian.

Skye visits Ward again. She tells him no one is watching.

Coulson tells Christian that he knows about the well. Christian paints the picture that Ward is just a big fat liar.

Ward tells the same thing about Christian. That’s he’s worse than Ward is.

Christian tells Coulson a story about finding Grant standing over Thomas with s screw driver. Thomas is the third Ward brother we haven’t met yet. Christian basically paints Grant Ward to be a sociopath. He plays Coulson right into his hands, telling him that he’s spent too much of his life trying to unravel his lies and that he always finds someone to believe them. Coulson feels the same way about Ward.

Cut to Ward possibly lying to Skye. This show needs a Lying Cat. Lying Cat would be so helpful here.

Coulson offers Christian a deal.

Ward tells Skye about her dad. Ward sounds super creepy during this scene. He tells her that the people who died when Skye was found in the Hunan province were Hydra agents, not villagers. Hydra killed Skye’s mother. Skye’s father then killed all of the Hydra agents. Ward wants to go on the run with Skye. Skye thanks him for telling him everything he knows and that it’s time to get him out of there…because they’re giving him to his brother.

Mac and Fitz figure out these bombs go back to a design from the 1940s, designed by Vincent Beckers…the same Beckers May is going heading to? Is he another guy who doesn’t age? Simmons says we have to tell Coulson now!

Ward is pleading his case to Coulson. Coulson isn’t having it. Coulson has it out on Ward, telling him the laundry list of things he’s done: almost killing FitzSimmons, killing Victoria Hand and Ezra Koenig. Trip pulls Coulson out. Christian’s men are here for Ward. .

Vincent Beckers is Julian’s grandfather. Ah, got it. Coulson relaizes they’ve been played. In Belguim, Beckers is waiting for Agents Walters in the safe house. He’s killed the SHIELD agents in the house. Wait, how? Is he a superhuman. Oh, Beckers has a Hydra team with him. Scarlottie comes in with a knife. Walters headbutts him. He discs her in the stomach and she turns to dust. Okay, definitely not Jennifer Walters. False alarm. No She-Hulk here.

Hunter busts down the door, offering Scarlotti and his people beer. They’re justifiably confused. Bobbie and May burst in. Bobbie whips out her escrima sticks and goes to town. She and Hunter make a good team.

May and Scarlotti fight. He’s got a knife on a chain and knows how to use it. May dodges him well. It’s an exciting fight scene. Man, sometimes I’m watching Mingna Wen kick ass in these fight scenes, it occurs to me that this is the same woman who for the longest time I associated with The Joy Luck Club. Night and day. At some point, May ends up with Scarlotti’s knife.

Bobbie thanks hunter for saving her life three times today. Awww, are they getting back together?

May (mainly May’s knee) takes down Scarlotti. Unforuntatey, every SHIELD agent in the house other than she, Hunter and Bobbie, are dead.

Simmons thanks Mac for helping Fitz. Mac says Fitz doesn’t need any help. He says that Fitz is definitely a different man from the Fitz that Simmons knew, but Mac never knew the old Fitz. He says she needs to get used to the new Fitz. Simmons wants to tell Mac why she left, but Mac doesn’t want to hear it. He says that the only thing that makes Fitz worse is her. She agrees. That’s why she left.

Hunter is leaving the team. Bobbie wishes him well, and hints he should stay.

There’s a big squad of guys there to take Ward form the stronghold. Simmons stares Ward in the eyes while he’s marched out. Simmons tells Ward that she’ll kill him if she ever sees them again. I think she’s serious. Coulson can’t even look Ward in the face.

Talbot takes Scarlotti into custody.

Christian Ward gives a press conference separating SHIELD from Hydra, and stating bluntly that Hydra is the threat. He comes clean about his brother being in Hydra.

Ward says to Coulson,”Tell Skye this doesn’t change anything. I’ll keep my promise.” Yeah, I don’t see Coulson relaying that message. On the truck out of town, Ward dislocates his thumbs, frees himself and fights ALL the guards in the truck with him.

At some tattoo shop, some guys is getting all that alien writing tattooed on himself. Silly guy. Carve that into walls. Wait, who is this guy?

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!

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.

April 11, 2014 by Billy Henehan

Agents of SHIELD – S1E17 – Turn, Turn, Turn – Recap

Unlike The Well, which dealt with the fallout of Thor: The Dark World in a very ancillary way, Turn, Turn, Turn is directly impacted by the events of Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

MAJOR SPOILERS FOLLOW for Agents of SHIELD and Captain America: The Winter Soldier. If you haven’t seen Captain America: The Winter Soldier yet, you might want to see that first. But if you’d like to just read about how Captain America: The Winter Soldier affected Agents of SHIELD heading into this episode, I wrote up a handy guide here. But seriously, SPOILERS start after this Hydra logo.

Hydra really is everywhere. They’ve even taken over the SHIELD Academy, which I lovingly refer to as SHIELDwarts. I’m hoping we get a special Red Dawn-esque webisode of the loyal SHIELDwarts students and staff standing off against the Hydra students and staff.

Before the real traitor was revealed, I was convinced it would be Triplett (aka Ward 2.0). I thought his flirting with Simmons might have been a ploy for getting info on her research into the drug that helped resurrect Coulson. Plus, he’s the agent we knew the least about. When he took out his knife and flashed it at Simmons, I was completely fooled. But Ward 2.0 is on the up and up, or so it seems. I hope he’s not a traitor. After this episode, he seems pretty cool.

I also liked Victoria Hand’s reverse psychology for trying to figure out if Triplett and Simmons were Hydra agents. Besides being a nice swerve about Hand’s allegiance, it was a great, tension filled stand-off and cool action sequence.

Now, onto the real traitor…

WARD!!!! NOOOOOOOOOO! On the one hand, I can’t believe that Ward is Hydra. On the other hand, I have to hand it to the writers of Agents of SHIELD, and Brett Dalton (who plays Grant Ward) for making me care about Ward. After watching the pilot, he was my least favorite character on the show. I felt that way for a few episodes, but then slowly started caring about him. It got to the point, where as of last week, I didn’t want any of Coulson’s crew to be a traitor. But man, now I’m totally back to hating Ward.

Marvel.com has a really good interview with Brett Dalton about Ward’s turn to the dark side.

BILL PAXTON!!!!! NOOOOOOOOOO!!!! Paxton is just so cool as Agent Garrett. But now…he’s not only a traitor, HE’S THE ACTUAL CLAIRVOYANT! WTF?!? Paxton’s been pulling the strings all along! You know what, Paxton? It’s stuff like this that makes everyone like Bill Pullman more than they like you!

You know who would never betray SHIELD?
President Thomas. J. Whitmore, that’s who.

I’m really interested to see where Agents of SHIELD goes from here. Ward revealed his true allegiance mid-air, so his betrayal won’t be immediately known to his team. Other than Agent Garrett, there were other people on that flight who Coulson might think freed Garrett. Or maybe Coulson’s team will think Garrett’s plane was rerouted remotely, the way The Bus was last episode. They might think they’re headed on a rescue and recovery mission, only to find themselves trapped in a den of vipers…or Hydras as the case may be.

Marvel is releasing a series of limited edition prints called “The Art of Level 7.” The different prints will each be based on an episode of Agents of SHIELD between now and the end of the season, and each one will be released a few days before that episode’s air date. If you’re interested in purchasing the prints, you can find them here: Art of Level 7. The first in the series, pictured above, was for this week’s episode, with art by Mike Del Mundo. I love this image. It’s very Steranko.

Looking at this print, I feel like I should have noticed a rather major clue into the identity of The Clairvoyant based on who is listed in this in the description for the print: Agent Phil Coulson, Agent Melinda May, Skye, Agent Grant Ward, Agent Jemma Simmons, Agent Leo Fitz, Agent Antoine Triplett. Who’s missing? That’s right? Bill Paxton’s Agent Garrett. Then again, so is Victoria Hand. And that traitor, Ward, did make it on the print, so maybe it’s not the best clue after all…

Marvel has also put on sale the print for next week’s episode, Providence, with art by Paolo Rivera.

Such a cool image. I’m tempted to buy it.

Both Samuel L. Jackson and Colbie Smulders are confirmed for upcoming Agents of SHIELD episodes. It will be great to have a face to face confrontation between Fury and Coulson regarding Coulson’s death and resurrection. It will be interesting to see where in the timeline of the Winter Soldier movie these episodes take place. Will Hill already be at Stark when she sees Coulson again? Or will it be before SHIELD’s official disbandment? I like the idea of SHIELD shrinking in size and going deep cover, if that’s an option going forward.

April 4, 2014 by Billy Henehan

Agents of SHIELD – S1E16 – The End of the Beginning – Recap

Big episode this week as Coulson and his team hunt down The Clairvoyant!

Bill ~~Pullman~~ Paxton and Ward 2.0 return at the very start of the episode. They’re checking into a hotel and are ambushed by Deathlok. Deathlok shrugs off gunfire and electric shots. Garrett and Ward 2.0 are quickly overpowered by Deathlok and it looks like this is the end for them. Until Deathlok decides to jump through the room’s ceiling and flee instead of taking them out. Okay, that was weird.

OG Ward and Ward 2.0

Coulson’s crew hooks up with Paxton and Ward 2.0. They’ve narrowed down The Clairvoyant’s ID to three likely suspects. In order to not get the mission compromised by a potential leak, Skye randomly assigns the agents into three teams of two, one agent knowing where they’re going and the other knowing who they’re going after.

May and Blake (The Good Wife’s Titus Welliver) seemingly strike pay dirt attempting to question a catatonic guy in a nursing home. They never reach him, but Deathlok ambushes them, sending Blake to the hospital, but suspiciously not harming May, despite having the drop on her. I don’t know if this was an intentional piece of fan service or not, but Blake asks May if she’s a Scorpio, joking that he guessed they were paired up by their astrological signs. In the comics, Scorpio is the name of a classic SHIELD villain. The original Scorpio was Nick Fury’s brother, Jacob. I wonder if we’ll be seeing Scorpio, either as an individual or as a new villainous group, in Agents of SHIELD. Or maybe this Scorpio line was just a red herring.

Scorpio

The team manages to find a warehouse where they believe the not-quite-comatose dude is hiding out. Garrett leads the charge with one of the best lines of the episode. Ward (1.0) asks him if he’s going to ring the bell or knock. Garrett says he’s going to knock and then blows the door open with a grenade launcher. F-yeah, Bill Paxton!

Skye is monitoring things remotely and spots Deathlok on a camera. I really do not like the way Michael Peterson looks as Deathlok on the show. It’s just a little too boring of a costume right now. I want the classic Luther Manning look with the half-metal head. Those who fall into the same boat as me were given a nice piece of fan service this week when Skye scanned Deathlok, revealing the classic Deathlok look hiding just under skin deep. I hope something happens to Peterson to expose this half-metal head permanently soon.

Garrett, Ward, May and Coulson find The Clairvoyant, who is revealed to be a Stephen Hawking type guy trapped in a wheelchair who communicates through his computer. The robotic voice of The Clairvoyant’s computer mocks Coulson and threatens to kill Skye. Ward snaps and shoots the The Clairvoyant in the heart, killing him. My immediate thought: “This isn’t the real Clairvoyant.” Coulson comes to the same conclusion, noting that The Clairvoyant never actually spoke, his words always coming from the computer. Someone else could have been saying those words and this now dead psuedo-Clairvoyant could have really just been a catatonic patsy.

Coulson comes to the conclusion that The Clairvoyant isn’t psychic, but rather has high-level SHIELD clearance. They’re being taken down from the inside!

Back on the Bus, Coulson interrogates Ward, questioning if Ward shot the man in the wheelchair on his own accord, or if Ward was taking orders from someone else.

While Coulson is interogating Ward, Fitz finds out that May has a private communications line in her cockpit that she’s not supposed to have. From Fitz’s explanation, it sounds like a two-way line that only communicates with one other. Fitz disables it, and it then hunted by a very determined May. In what was the scariest part of the episode for me, May fires at Fitz. Thankfully, he was standing behind bulletproof glass. But knowing Joss Whedon, I really thought Fitz might not have made it out of this episode. Thankfully, Fitz is saved by Coulson who points a gun at May. May explains her gun was loaded with Fitz’s stun bullets. Coulson says his are real. Skye enters with a gun drawn on May, saying May can’t take them both out. May surrenders. As she surrenders, the Bus changes course mid-air. Coulson demands to know what May did to their plane. May claims she did nothing. A cut away from this scene reveals the plane to be in control of Victoria Hand, who sounds ready to take out Coulson and his entire team once the Bus lands.

Takeaways:

Is May working for The Clairvoyant? My theory is no.

Who is on the other end of May’s phone? I think it’s Nick Fury.

Is Victoria Hand The Clairvoyant? She might be. Or maybe she’s The Clairvoyant’s right hand woman.

January 20, 2014 by Billy Henehan

Agents of SHIELD – S1E12 – “Seeds” – Recap

Last week was Coulson’s turn to find out the truth. This week was Skye’s. While Ward, Skye and FitzSimmons take a trip to SHIELD’s Science Academy, Coulson and May hopped in Lola to track down a major lead regarding Skye’s past. After a fun chase sequence through some South American streets and alleyways that culminates with Coulson levitating in Lola to come face to face with the former agent, who is trying to escape up a fire escape.

Like a good Joss Whedon reveal, the answers this former agent provided about Skye’s origin bring up more questions. This agent’s team was sent to a small Chinese village about 20 years ago to investigate an 0-8-4, which you may remember from episode 2 as being an object of mysterious origin. The 0-8-4 in this mission turns out to be baby Skye. Everyone in the village died to protect her. She’s the lone survivor when SHIELD arrives. Things get weirder as every member of that SHIELD team is slowly picked off one at a time over the years. SHIELD shuffles Skye from foster family to foster family in order to protect her. Once May and Coulson hear this story, May advises Coulson that they keep this information from Skye.

Coulson initially agrees with May, but ends up telling Skye the truth when they reconvene with her and the rest of Coulson’s team. Telling Skye the truth is no doubt a direct result of Coulson finding out very recently that he’s been lied to by his superiors, people whom he trusted. I think that if Coulson heard this story before “The Magical Place,” he would not have told Skye. Pre-“Magical Place” Coulson was much more by the book than post-“Magical Place” Coulson.

Keeping with the theme of truth telling, May tells Coulson that’s she been having sex with Ward. She actually tells him twice, as Coulson didn’t even react the first time May told him. But as it turns out, he heard her the first time, and trusts her to know what she’s doing and be professional. Phil Coulson: Manager of the Year.

Cutting over to the other story, we’re introduced to the SHIELD Science Institute, aka SHIELD Hogwarts. Replace the wands with soldering irons and magical tomes with C++ programming guides and you have the SHIELD Science Institute. I’ve said before that FitzSimmons are the Ron and Hermione of SHIELD and this trip to their alma mater helped drive the point home. FitzSimmons are the youngest graduates of SHIELDwarts, but this new kid, Donnie (no, not that New Kid Donnie) might graduate even earlier. He’s wicked smart, but a bit of an introvert.

The mystery of the week is the agents trying to find out who is trying to knock off students with a freeze bomb. The special effects used for this freezing looked awesome, it should be noted. The special effects in these last two episodes have been top notch all-around.

Like a good Scooby Doo mystery, the two victims were actually the people behind it. And they would have gotten away with it if it wasn’t for you meddling ~~kids~~ FitzSimmons! Donnie and buddy, motivated by greed, test drive a giant version of the freeze bomb, that basically drops a super storm on top of SHIELDwarts.

Marvel Trivia: Donald “Donnie” Gill is the name of Iron Man ice-villain, Blizzard. This episode marks this comic book character’s first appearance in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Blizzard.

December 2, 2013 by Billy Henehan

Agents of SHIELD – S1E9 – Repairs

This week’s episode has an interesting title. Repairs. It wasn’t until the end of the episode, with May smiling in the cockpit, that the meaning behind the title became clear. Repairs didn’t refer to a what, but to a who. Melinda May is the resident BAMF of the Bus. We finally learn the meaning of her nickname, “The Cavalry,” in this episode. First FitzSimmons give Skye a bogus, over-the-top story as part of their pranks, but we later find out from Coulson that the true story is much darker. We also learn that before “The Calvary” incident, May was much more lighthearted, but changed and darkened a lot from that experience. It was nice to see May’s lighter side come out at the very end of Repairs.

Agent May used to be cuddly. True story.

The B-story of FitzSimmons wanting to prank Skye was my favorite part of the episode. I liked that there were callbacks to their pranks, even after the shit hit the fan. Fitz’s scream when the mop fell out of the closet as the closet door opened was priceless, made even funnier by the fact that Fitz was the one who rigged the mop to fall.

We get some follow-up on last week’s ending. Ward and May definitely slept together. May out-dudes Ward when she leaves the hotel room without him as he’s in mid-explanation about them staggering their exits so as not to arouse suspicion. I think we’re going to see an interesting triangle between May, Ward and Skye going forward. Skye and Ward definitely have chemistry. It will be intriguing to see what Skye’s reaction will be when Ward and May are outed, and this being television, they will definitely be outed.

Ditched!

I liked the two-part twist to this week’s threat. Not only was Hannah Hutchins not telekinetic and pyrokinetic, but the man trapped between dimensions who was stalking her was benevolently motivated. This was a cool take on the “Why are these weird things happening all around me?” story.

I’d call this another solid episode. FitzSimmons continue to shine. Hopefully the writers agree that they’re the best parts of the show and give them more screen time in the future.

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