Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. V: You Joined the Cavalry.

[huttj509]

While watching the episode Huttj509, my parents picked up on them as being flipped as South Bend mentioned with US 41. Also you shouldn't double post like you did Huttj509.

@CandleJack: Always nice to lay connections around the verse.

@Pex: It was just too good a line to pass up.

Sorry, after the prior post, and 40 mins later chatting with a friend about the US 41 thing, which he pointed out 41 was in Indiana, so I checked the range of the episode (mentioned places are South Bend to the east, Naperville IL to the west, couple hours drive between them), it seemed plausible, and I didn't notice I had the prior post. It's not like I was spamming 5 posts in 10 minutes.

Again, when in the episode to they mention US 41? What context? If it's taking 41 to south bend, yeah, that's wrong. If it's in relation to where the bad guys were holed up during the raid, it's plausible, as that location wasn't specified as in South Bend. South Bend was where the imploded facility was.

[GAZ]

An accident on highway 41 was Alfie the insurance adjuster's excuse to his brother to run out and meet Daisy and Fitz.

[Kitten Champion]

I don't think this has been brought up, but Bob Chipman's little spiels on AoS alluded to something I wasn't aware of. Namely the Watchdogs are part of the MU, where they're ultra-right militant pawns of the Red Skull and involved with the jackbooted crazy version of Captain America.

[huttj509]

An accident on highway 41 was Alfie the insurance adjuster's excuse to his brother to run out and meet Daisy and Fitz.

Which would send him in the right direction leaving the house (east of Naperville), since he wouldn't expect his brother to follow him past the state line or whatever. He just needs an excuse to leave, not an excuse to go to South Bend.

[LordRahl6]

Which would send him in the right direction leaving the house (east of Naperville), since he wouldn't expect his brother to follow him past the state line or whatever. He just needs an excuse to leave, not an excuse to go to South Bend.

Huttj509, my mom grew up in Hammond, IN four blocks east of the state line, and US 41 enters into the area by way of the south. Naperville may be to east of Chicago, but there is no way Mack's brother would missed the inconsistency between referencing South Bend and US 41. Its a writer's gaff.

[Bulldog Psion]

And to think that Atlases are a thing.

Of course, any reference to a real location in the U.S. is kind of risky with a U.S. audience; the locals are almost certain to be able to shoot holes in it somewhere.

[ryuplaneswalker]

so

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Skye, yes Skye since her morals have very much backslid to episode 1 has gone full on Ghestoppo on this episode, so not only is she a Black Hat Hacker..she is a Black Hat Hacker working for a Secret Spy Organization who advocates showing up at the door of peoples houses to interrogate them.

GO TEAM GOODGUYS!

Edit : Oh, and later in the episode she shows up to bully one of the people who didn't actually attack anyone and scare them into talking instead of you know.."Hi, I am with the ATCU, we were monitoring your communications and saw that you turned down the chance to hurt people..well you saw the attack, tell us what you know before more people get hurt"

[Kitten Champion]

so

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Skye, yes Skye since her morals have very much backslid to episode 1 has gone full on Ghestoppo on this episode, so not only is she a Black Hat Hacker..she is a Black Hat Hacker working for a Secret Spy Organization who advocates showing up at the door of peoples houses to interrogate them.

GO TEAM GOODGUYS!

Edit : Oh, and later in the episode she shows up to bully one of the people who didn't actually attack anyone and scare them into talking instead of you know.."Hi, I am with the ATCU, we were monitoring your communications and saw that you turned down the chance to hurt people..well you saw the attack, tell us what you know before more people get hurt"

No, that's not how Daisy's character was at all in episode one. Rather she's becoming the type of authoritarian surveillance-state woman-in-black that her whole raison d'etre was to undermine as a hacktivist in the beginning. Skye's hacking was never presented as something nefarious, and her motives were never truly suspect beyond her evidently questionable choice in friends which was presented merely as naivete. It's a large part why people accuse her of being a Mary Sue.

Her current actions are a response to her second season arc, her indoctrination into Inhumanism, the general liberties Coulson has given her because of her actions in the last two and a half seasons, and more than a little reflection of the rigid black & white thinking from her mother - point being, it's something that has built up to this point, not Once Upon a Time-esque "we need drama so let's make that character we just redeemed a few episodes a villain again".

[huttj509]

Huttj509, my mom grew up in Hammond, IN four blocks east of the state line, and US 41 enters into the area by way of the south. Naperville may be to east of Chicago, but there is no way Mack's brother would missed the inconsistency between referencing South Bend and US 41. Its a writer's gaff.

Mack didn't reference South Bend.

He got the call from Coulson.

"Hey, uh, it looks like I need to take off for a couple hours. There was an accident on US 41, I gotta go assess it." "Now?" "It's complicated." "But this is simple. Lunch, beers, bike, remember?"

Mentioning South Bend right after the news of the attack in South Bend woulda been hecka suspicious. Instead he gave an excuse that had him leaving the house in a generally East-Southeast direction, and being gone for a few hours.


Edit: in other news, today in a parking lot I saw an old white on blue Indiana plate. While I was under the impression that we were supposed to switch when sent the new ones, and actually thought we were required to (I got the letter 3 years ago and didn't save it), apparently it's not heavily enforced, at best.

[ryuplaneswalker]

No, that's not how Daisy's character was at all in episode one. Rather she's becoming the type of authoritarian surveillance-state woman-in-black that her whole raison d'etre was to undermine as a hacktivist in the beginning.

It is the same Holier than thou attitude, which really means all of her crap in season 1 was just that. A load of crap she told her self to justify her actions.

[Serenity]

It is the same Holier than thou attitude, which really means all of her crap in season 1 was just that. A load of crap she told her self to justify her actions.

Because it's not like people's opinions develop and change based on altered circumstances over the course of months, even years...

[archon_huskie]

It is the same Holier than thou attitude, which really means all of her crap in season 1 was just that. A load of crap she told her self to justify her actions.

Season 1 - All Information should be available to all
Season 3 - No you should not be making us register and letting others know where we live.

not quite the same attitude as her experiences have led her opinions do a 180.

[Pronounceable]

So a noob question: From what point does this series get good? I haven't actually watched any of it but I remember it started pretty badly received and continued meh before it alledgedly became good at some point. After watching those other cape series (Arrow [gone downhill], Flash [fine and dandy], Daredevil [good except for main protag], Jessica [artificially inflated], Legends [leftovers assemble!]), I'm planning to give SHIELD a watch but I'd prefer to skip the lame parts.
I think I heard the gitgud point was Winter Soldier movie tie in? Maybe not but I'm certain this series wasn't liked much at the start.

[LaZodiac]

So a noob question: From what point does this series get good? I haven't actually watched any of it but I remember it started pretty badly received and continued meh before it alledgedly became good at some point. After watching those other cape series (Arrow [gone downhill], Flash [fine and dandy], Daredevil [good except for main protag], Jessica [artificially inflated], Legends [leftovers assemble!]), I'm planning to give SHIELD a watch but I'd prefer to skip the lame parts.
I think I heard the gitgud point was Winter Soldier movie tie in? Maybe not but I'm certain this series wasn't liked much at the start.

It gets really good around the Winter Soldier tie in, but upon reflection people have realized the earlier episodes weren't BAD, just...slower than expected. They're fairly okay episodes, and I feel it's important to watch them to sort of build up to the good stuff.

[Douglas]

It gets really good around the Winter Soldier tie in, but upon reflection people have realized the earlier episodes weren't BAD, just...slower than expected. They're fairly okay episodes, and I feel it's important to watch them to sort of build up to the good stuff.

For the most part, I agree. The episodes before the Winter Soldier tie in (Turn, Turn, Turn, season 1 episode 17) in general aren't bad, just not amazingly awesome, and a big part of what makes Turn, Turn, Turn and later episodes so great is how they build on what came before.

Except the episode where a villain-of-the-week has male-specific mind control powers, which all of the protagonists know about, and in a fit of astounding idiocy they proceed to NOT keep all male members of the team at least a mile away. That one is terrible in my opinion.

[LaZodiac]

For the most part, I agree. The episodes before the Winter Soldier tie in (Turn, Turn, Turn, season 1 episode 17) in general aren't bad, just not amazingly awesome, and a big part of what makes Turn, Turn, Turn and later episodes so great is how they build on what came before.

Except the episode where a villain-of-the-week has male-specific mind control powers, which all of the protagonists know about, and in a fit of astounding idiocy they proceed to NOT keep all male members of the team at least a mile away. That one is terrible in my opinion.

If I recall the only dude they had, boots on the ground style, was Ward. But yeah maybe I just blocked it out because it was pretty clearly the low point of season 1.

[Douglas]

If I recall the only dude they had, boots on the ground style, was Ward. But yeah maybe I just blocked it out because it was pretty clearly the low point of season 1.

Coulson was also there, even if he didn't get directly in the physical violence, and I think there was a male local police chief beside him. Even disregarding that, putting any male agent in potential range of the mind controller without a countermeasure was incredibly stupid, especially with him being an extraordinarily competent agent. The only reasonable way to use Ward in that scenario is to give him a sniper perch.

[3SecondCultist]

Coulson was also there, even if he didn't get directly in the physical violence, and I think there was a male local police chief beside him. Even disregarding that, putting any male agent in potential range of the mind controller without a countermeasure was incredibly stupid, especially with him being an extraordinarily competent agent. The only reasonable way to use Ward in that scenario is to give him a sniper perch.

What's especially egregious about the script writing in that episode was that Ward had already demonstrated skill with a sniper rifle (in the Pilot, in "The Bridge", etc). But no, they needed him to be brainwashed, so they had him temporarily become an idiot. Ward may have been many things - petty, shortsighted maybe - but never an idiot on a tactical level.

[LaZodiac]

I can think of a few reasons why he may of decided to do it.

Spoiler: Actually pretty big spoilers

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He figures he's too strong willed, a perfectly reasonable assumption given his personality.

He saw it as a potentially easy situation to take down one of the heavy hitters on the team without it being suspicious.

A small part of him wanted to be taken over because it'd give him clarity of purpose, because he really is just a lapdog. A powerful one, but still.

[LaZodiac]

New Episode!

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Pretty good one, I think. Lot of intrigue with the future sight, some great funny moments, and some great touching moments with Andrew and May. We got to see our heroes learn that Ward's body is back, and we got to see Gideon try out a cool power suit type thing. And Lincoln got his face busted open. All in all, a nice solid episode.

[Palanan]

Well, this was an odd episode.

The old "glimpses of the future" approach felt familiar, and yet the episode didn't have the energy or tension I would have expected.

Spoiler: Best Line

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Lincoln: "I actually never saw the original Terminator."
Coulson: "You're off the team."

Spoiler: Best Line from Next Week

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May: "You didn't kill him hard enough."

Spoiler: Most Priceless Expression

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Coulson's face on seeing the security feed of Ward.

That was a masterpiece of Coulson-ism.

Spoiler: The Design of Inhuman Powers

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So if Inhuman powers are designed to fill a need…what possible need could there be for a precog who a) can't control his abilities, b) only foresees the worst moments of people's lives, c) transfers the visions to other people, and d) almost always can't do anything about it?

That's some Rube Goldberg genetic engineering there. Ahh, those wacky Kree, always good for a laugh.

Spoiler: Are We Channeling Star Trek?

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Took me a while to place it, but there's a fifth-season episode of TNG in which the Enterprise repeatedly relives the hours before a collision with the Bozeman. That was a different scenario in most respects, but much of the discussion about whether or not they could change the future was similar to some of the conversation (or hand-wringing) here.

Seems like there have been other "see the future and fight to change it" episodes from other shows, just can't bring them to mind.

Spoiler: Are Gloves That Hard?

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Seriously, if Rogue can wear gloves, why can't Charlie the Helpless Precog?

Maybe I missed some vital bit of plot-pointery, but I had the impression all the precog moments were triggered by skin-to-skin contact. You'd think gloves would be an easy solution.

Spoiler: A Rude Interruption

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Did anyone else have their S.H.I.E.L.D. experience rudely interrupted by a completely pointless news break?

Not sure if I should yell at my local ABC affiliate or if this was something nationwide. Came in the middle of a sentence when Ward was talking to Malik in the boardroom. Talk about breaking tension.

[LaZodiac]

Spoiler: Are Gloves That Hard?

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Seriously, if Rogue can wear gloves, why can't Charlie the Helpless Precog?

Maybe I missed some vital bit of plot-pointery, but I had the impression all the precog moments were triggered by skin-to-skin contact. You'd think gloves would be an easy solution.

Spoiler: A Rude Interruption

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Did anyone else have their S.H.I.E.L.D. experience rudely interrupted by a completely pointless news break?

Not sure if I should yell at my local ABC affiliate or if this was something nationwide. Came in the middle of a sentence when Ward was talking to Malik in the boardroom. Talk about breaking tension.

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I think it might just be any close contact at all, not just skin to skin. Additionally it has the Rogue problem of "it's not real touching".

Same. I think they resumed the episode where it cut, however.

[Pex]

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Is it too obvious that Lash's purpose is to kill NotWard?

[LaZodiac]

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Is it too obvious that Lash's purpose is to kill NotWard?

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I don't think it'll actually go that way, but that's an interesting idea.

[Giggling Ghast]

Are we sure that Lash's purpose isn't simply to thin out the Inhuman population?

[Hopeless]

Spoiler: The Design of Inhuman Powers

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So if Inhuman powers are designed to fill a need…what possible need could there be for a precog who a) can't control his abilities, b) only foresees the worst moments of people's lives, c) transfers the visions to other people, and d) almost always can't do anything about it?

That's some Rube Goldberg genetic engineering there. Ahh, those wacky Kree, always good for a laugh.

Spoiler

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It hasn't occurred to you that his powers are perfect if anyone but him requires that information?

Imagine if he actually knew what he can do, how much could he charge simply for the virtue of seeing a little in the future?

[LordRahl6]

Well, this was an odd episode.

The old "glimpses of the future" approach felt familiar, and yet the episode didn't have the energy or tension I would have expected.

Spoiler: Best Line

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Lincoln: "I actually never saw the original Terminator."
Coulson: "You're off the team."

Spoiler: Best Line from Next Week

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May: "You didn't kill him hard enough."

Spoiler: Most Priceless Expression

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Coulson's face on seeing the security feed of Ward.

That was a masterpiece of Coulson-ism.

Spoiler: The Design of Inhuman Powers

Show

So if Inhuman powers are designed to fill a need…what possible need could there be for a precog who a) can't control his abilities, b) only foresees the worst moments of people's lives, c) transfers the visions to other people, and d) almost always can't do anything about it?

That's some Rube Goldberg genetic engineering there. Ahh, those wacky Kree, always good for a laugh.

Spoiler: Are We Channeling Star Trek?

Show

Took me a while to place it, but there's a fifth-season episode of TNG in which the Enterprise repeatedly relives the hours before a collision with the Bozeman. That was a different scenario in most respects, but much of the discussion about whether or not they could change the future was similar to some of the conversation (or hand-wringing) here.

Seems like there have been other "see the future and fight to change it" episodes from other shows, just can't bring them to mind.

Spoiler: A Rude Interruption

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Did anyone else have their S.H.I.E.L.D. experience rudely interrupted by a completely pointless news break?

Not sure if I should yell at my local ABC affiliate or if this was something nationwide. Came in the middle of a sentence when Ward was talking to Malik in the boardroom. Talk about breaking tension.

Spoiler

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Actually, I missed the lead in the line with The Terminator reference what was it exactly?

As for next week and "It" did anyone notice that "It" was wearing a Badass Trench Coat throughout this episode and Mallick was in the dark to how he(?) got better. Can't wait to see "It"'s real form.

Also the appearance of another precog does lend credence Lincoln's story that Inhuman abilities fill a niche. However, I'm not sure what niche is filleed by seeing future deaths everywhere.

I wasn't thinking about TNG episode Cause and Effect, but that works as well as the SGU episode Time.

Yes I kind of hate George Stephanopolous right now for breaking in the middle of an episode and not waiting for a commercial.

Finally, Can't wait to see what "It" really wanted from the buyout if not the exosuit.

[Pex]

Are we sure that Lash's purpose isn't simply to thin out the Inhuman population?

As in NotWard's intended army.

[huttj509]

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Actually, I missed the lead in the line with The Terminator reference what was it exactly?

Spoiler: Terminator

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Coulson: Like, in Terminator. If John Conner's alive and able to send his friend back in time to save his mom to make sure he's born, doesn't that mean he doesn't have to?

Lincoln: I, uh, I never saw the original Terminator.

Coulson: You're off the team.


Of course, the Terminator series varies between being and Oedipus Rex or 12 Monkeys style timeline and being a "branching paths" style timeline. First one is 12 Monkeys/fate style, future ones are branching paths.

[Grytorm]

I had a really weird idea, more Avengers than Heroes of Shield (which I haven't watched). Is it weird that I wish they had cast Lucy Liu as Black Widow? Change the backstory and ethnicity. But still a spy originating in a communist country working for SHIELD. Make the show have a slightly more diverse cast.

Or they could find another Asian-american actress. Or go international with a straight up Asian actress. Just a weird though I had.