Agents of Shield VI: I am an Agent of SHIELD

[Hopeless]

Is the Gravitonium the MCU version of the Soul Stone?

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by Red Fel
Folks, I am just about checked out on this series. At this point, I am basically watching the last couple of episodes out of a misguided sense of obligation.

I’m right there with you. Although in my case, it’s less obligation than a sense of dogged, weary determination to put this thing to bed.

Originally Posted by Red Fel
There was just too much contrivance, too much cliche, and too much bad directing, for me to enjoy this.

I couldn’t even see the bad directing on account of all the contrivance in the way. I don't doubt you that it's there.

And I honestly think the levitating effects were so clunky and old-school because they burned off most of their effects budget on all the future-Lighthouse sets earlier in the season.

Originally Posted by Joran

Spoiler

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The SHIELD subreddit just pointed out that Ivanov is dead... like actually dead; that was his head on the body. I didn't realize this and thought it was weird that they kept mention[ing] that he was dead. Makes a lot more sense, but the death of a major antagonist really needs to be made more clear.

Spoiler

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I agree it wasn’t nearly as clear as it should have been. During that scene, I noticed the copious blood surrounding the obviously synthetic body, and figured that Ivanov was indeed dead—but it was genuinely confusing, because just a couple episodes ago Hale said something about having Ivanov’s head in a jar. I hadn’t realized he’d been taken out of the jar and given a cyborg body.

So yes, confusing.

[Calemyr]

P.S.

Spoiler: From the previous episode

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The SHIELD subreddit just pointed out that Ivanov is dead... like actually dead; that was his head on the body. I didn't realize this and thought it was weird that they kept mentioned that he was dead. Makes a lot more sense, but the death of a major antagonist really needs to be made more clear.

Spoiler: In Fairness

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They did try to clarify that he was the real one early on, with Coulson stating that Ivanov was out of LMDs now that Little Miss Psycho Robot was out of the picture. That's why all his spares are faceless drones, as he can build the bodies but can't make them realistic.

That said, they're aiming for a series finale, so they're cleaning off the extraneous antagonists.

[Joran]

Spoiler: In Fairness

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They did try to clarify that he was the real one early on, with Coulson stating that Ivanov was out of LMDs now that Little Miss Psycho Robot was out of the picture. That's why all his spares are faceless drones, as he can build the bodies but can't make them realistic.

That said, they're aiming for a series finale, so they're cleaning off the extraneous antagonists.

Spoiler: Agreement

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In retrospect, it makes sense. They mentioned early on that he couldn't create more LMDs, hence all the faceless droids. Then they mentioned that his deal with General Hale was that he'd be the first one to get infused with the gravitonium. Then I think I remember a bunch of tubes on his body, when Yo-yo cut him open.

That said, I'm not the only one who was confused. Since Hale had mentioned previously that his head was in a jar and anytime I saw him, I assumed that it was one of the LMDs. That scene with General Hale could have been him being lowered onto the android body, but the logistics/cost of that scene might be too much for them to do.

[Lord Fullbladder, Master of Goblins]

Hi, I know it's pretty late for it but I don't watch these right away.

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Yo Yo killing Ruby didn't save the world, it was only giving the Gravitonium what it wanted. She said it a few times before she was killed: "They (the Gravitonium, speaking through the personalities it has absorbed) want OUT." Ruby dies, and shortly thereafter Gravitonium (energy? particulates?) explodes out to parts unknown. 8% of the Gravitonium got what it wanted.

[Palanan]

Okay, that happened. And now I’m confused.

Spoiler: Gravitonium Gripes

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I thought the whole point of the Zephyr’s retrofit to space travel was to launch the gravitonium into the sun. This is apparently being done as a way to dispose of the gravitonium, by which one presumes they mean all the gravitonium.

And yet, they…didn’t get it all? The 8% that Ruby absorbed was supposedly released when she died, right? Leaving 92% in the storage doohickey? Which was then siphoned into the drive-through bank messenger tube highly sophisticated gravitonium containment device, which they gave to Deke to hand-deliver to the Zephyr.

Except that apparently wasn’t all of it, because there was still 92% left to go through the garden hose and infuse Talbot (seriously, Talbot?!) with mastery of gravitic forces, mu ha ha, etc.

So I’m seriously confused. If the Zephyr’s mission wasn’t to dispose of all the gravitonium, what was it for, and what were they going to do with the leftover gravitonium? If they were trying to dispose of all of it, then why didn’t they give all of it to Deke? How did they somehow overlook 92% of the gravitonium left in the storage box? I can’t make sense of it.

Spoiler: It's Just Embarrassing

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The multi-way slapfest at the start of the episode was just embarrassing.

The knockoff bad guys in trench coats were just embarrassing.

Mac not laying waste to the knockoff bad guys with his shotgun axe…wasn’t embarrassing, just hugely disappointing.

Not having a way to back out of the options in the Lighthouse crisis menu was just silly and contrived, which seems to be pretty much the entire show these days. Which is embarrassing.

Spoiler: Mommy Dearest

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Is it just me, or is Daisy digging up her own mother’s grave?

And was there actually a body left to bury? That was a couple years ago, so apart from a quinjet going over the side of a jeep carrier, I don’t remember too much about the resolution of that storyline.

Also, Daisy’s dad is the one major antagonist from earlier seasons who hasn’t shown up yet. Him and Ward, I guess.

[huttj509]

Okay, that happened. And now I’m confused.

Spoiler: Gravitonium Gripes

Show

I thought the whole point of the Zephyr’s retrofit to space travel was to launch the gravitonium into the sun. This is apparently being done as a way to dispose of the gravitonium, by which one presumes they mean all the gravitonium.

And yet, they…didn’t get it all? The 8% that Ruby absorbed was supposedly released when she died, right? Leaving 92% in the storage doohickey? Which was then siphoned into the drive-through bank messenger tube highly sophisticated gravitonium containment device, which they gave to Deke to hand-deliver to the Zephyr.

Except that apparently wasn’t all of it, because there was still 92% left to go through the garden hose and infuse Talbot (seriously, Talbot?!) with mastery of gravitic forces, mu ha ha, etc.

So I’m seriously confused. If the Zephyr’s mission wasn’t to dispose of all the gravitonium, what was it for, and what were they going to do with the leftover gravitonium? If they were trying to dispose of all of it, then why didn’t they give all of it to Deke? How did they somehow overlook 92% of the gravitonium left in the storage box? I can’t make sense of it.

Spoiler: It's Just Embarrassing

Show

The multi-way slapfest at the start of the episode was just embarrassing.

The knockoff bad guys in trench coats were just embarrassing.

Mac not laying waste to the knockoff bad guys with his shotgun axe…wasn’t embarrassing, just hugely disappointing.

Not having a way to back out of the options in the Lighthouse crisis menu was just silly and contrived, which seems to be pretty much the entire show these days. Which is embarrassing.

Spoiler: Mommy Dearest

Show

Is it just me, or is Daisy digging up her own mother’s grave?

And was there actually a body left to bury? That was a couple years ago, so apart from a quinjet going over the side of a jeep carrier, I don’t remember too much about the resolution of that storyline.

Also, Daisy’s dad is the one major antagonist from earlier seasons who hasn’t shown up yet. Him and Ward, I guess.

Spoiler: Gravitonium

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The reason the zephyr could fly to space in the future was Fitz had rigged it up to use Gravitonium. He recognized his work. So in the present they had rigged up the Zephyr, and the canister of gravitonium was the stuff needed to plug into the Zephyr to make it space-worthy. The rest of the gravitonium would presumably be put onboard later after the refit was done.

It was not well spelled out in the episode.

Spoiler: Mum

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Yup, that's mom's grave. The nazi life replenishing substance was obtained from "Jiyang." That's not on a map. That harkens back to the event that drove Hyde over the edge with the nazi jerk experimenting on Inhumans, particularly Jiyang as she'd just regenerate any organs, fluids, etc. he removed to test.

[The New Bruceski]

Jiyang had longevity and quick healing, but not death immunity. Hyde broke her neck at the end of that season. So yes, there's a body.

[FreddyNoNose]

Been lurking for the last few seasons, only catching up with ti way after they air first time but not worrying about spoilers and IMO AoS problem is they keep re-tooling. The post CW retool made sense, and the first half of season 2 made sense as it was just secret shield doing secret shield things. But then we got Gonzales, HIVE, Hydra 3.0, SHIELD coming out into the open, the framework, and so on. You take a look at a lot of successful shows over the last 30 years, even ones with myth arcs, (like the trope codifier Babylon 5), they may have their arc villains and their big events, but the basic backdrop of "life on a space station" or "N city criminal investigations department", or whatever else doesn't change. Everything's happening against that common backdrop and as a result get all the rough edges filed off. But AoS is so busy re0-inventing the backdrop every half a season they've never got the serial numbers filed off. Old rough edges are replaced with new ones on a regular basis.

What you see as a bad thing I see as a good thing.

[Lord Fullbladder, Master of Goblins]

Okay, that happened. And now I’m confused.

Spoiler: Gravitonium Gripes

Show

I thought the whole point of the Zephyr’s retrofit to space travel was to launch the gravitonium into the sun. This is apparently being done as a way to dispose of the gravitonium, by which one presumes they mean all the gravitonium.

And yet, they…didn’t get it all? The 8% that Ruby absorbed was supposedly released when she died, right? Leaving 92% in the storage doohickey? Which was then siphoned into the drive-through bank messenger tube highly sophisticated gravitonium containment device, which they gave to Deke to hand-deliver to the Zephyr.

Except that apparently wasn’t all of it, because there was still 92% left to go through the garden hose and infuse Talbot (seriously, Talbot?!) with mastery of gravitic forces, mu ha ha, etc.

So I’m seriously confused. If the Zephyr’s mission wasn’t to dispose of all the gravitonium, what was it for, and what were they going to do with the leftover gravitonium? If they were trying to dispose of all of it, then why didn’t they give all of it to Deke? How did they somehow overlook 92% of the gravitonium left in the storage box? I can’t make sense of it.

Spoiler

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It is explained at the start that the 8% of Gravitonium that went through to Ruby left 'residue' inside the chamber that 'was refined somehow' and that that is what will be powering the Zephyr, and what Deke is Duly Delivering. That's to get it space worthy enough to launch the other 92%. Course now there's a lot more refined residue to remove from the infusion pod.

[Joran]

Spoiler: Gravitonium

Show

The reason the zephyr could fly to space in the future was Fitz had rigged it up to use Gravitonium. He recognized his work. So in the present they had rigged up the Zephyr, and the canister of gravitonium was the stuff needed to plug into the Zephyr to make it space-worthy. The rest of the gravitonium would presumably be put onboard later after the refit was done.

It was not well spelled out in the episode.

Spoiler: The Pod

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Only complaint I have is why the pod is ready and able to go; Fitz and Simmons had to break down the machine for transport and then for some reason re-assembled the pod + assorted machinery into ready order. I think Talbot only had to throw a couple switches and the thing was powered on and ready to infuse. Also, weird that Talbot knew what the machine was and its purpose and how to use it.

[Palanan]

Spoiler: Infinity War Developments

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So, will this Friday's episode start with half the agents dissolving away?

That would at least have a 50/50 chance of putting the kibosh on the whole "Destroyer of Worlds" thing.

[BWR]

I started out AoS hating Skye. She got a bit better as time wore on and I could mostly ignore her. It's back to full-blown hate now with her terrible ideas and leadership abilities (Coulson really taught her to lead as he did), and Mac is on the 'too dumb to live' list as well. At this point the only interesting and sympathetic character is Fitz.

[MikelaC1]

Spoiler: Infinity War

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Well, we are now properly tied to Infinity Wars, but the stupid thing is, we know that Talbot wont be in the movie (disclosure, I havent seen the movie, but I would shocked) so its not a matter of if he will screw up but more like when. And while we know the good guys always win in the end, its impossible to have a suspension of belief in this case where we KNOW he isnt around.

[Rogar Demonblud]

Surprising not a single person, Inhumans has been cancelled. AoS' decision is expected next week.

[Douglas]

Spoiler

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Seems obvious at this point that Talbot is really who destroys the world, and everyone in the future thinks it's Quake only because she called herself "the Destroyer of Worlds" when talking with Daddy Kasius.

My guess for how this turns out, in the one episode remaining in the season, is they succeed in saving Coulson, and then Talbot's son talks Talbot down - with Coulson's help.

[Palanan]

You know, I completely forgot about S.H.I.E.L.D. this weekend.

My gaming group could only meet on Friday this time around, and I never gave it a thought all evening. This is the first it's crossed my mind since then.

[JadedDM]

So hey, remember how everyone keeps saying this would be the last season of SHIELD? And I kept asking, "Where are you guys getting this from? There's been no official announcement." And you were all, "Oh, it's so obvious. I mean, c'mon!"

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Agents of SHIELD has been renewed for season 6.

[Douglas]

So hey, remember how everyone keeps saying this would be the last season of SHIELD? And I kept asking, "Where are you guys getting this from? There's been no official announcement." And you were all, "Oh, it's so obvious. I mean, c'mon!"

Spoiler

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Agents of SHIELD has been renewed for season 6.

Was that link supposed to go to an announcement? It looks like you accidentally pasted the image address instead.

[JadedDM]

Oops. Link fixed.

[LaZodiac]

So hey, remember how everyone keeps saying this would be the last season of SHIELD? And I kept asking, "Where are you guys getting this from? There's been no official announcement." And you were all, "Oh, it's so obvious. I mean, c'mon!"

Spoiler

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Agents of SHIELD has been renewed for season 6.

For what it's worth I figured it would be the final season because it was calling back to season 1 and doing a lot of "man we've come a long way" jokes. It felt like it was giving a send off to these characters, and I feel like it was writing with that mentality in mind before they got the confirm that they're getting another season.

[Dilvish]

For what it's worth I figured it would be the final season because it was calling back to season 1 and doing a lot of "man we've come a long way" jokes. It felt like it was giving a send off to these characters, and I feel like it was writing with that mentality in mind before they got the confirm that they're getting another season.

They were prepared for this to be the last season. Season 6 will be unusual what with it taking place after what Thanos did. I assume the show will remain on post-Infinity War 1 Earth for season 6.

[Rogar Demonblud]

It isn't a full season. From the sound of it, it might not actually be a true half season.

[Joran]

For what it's worth I figured it would be the final season because it was calling back to season 1 and doing a lot of "man we've come a long way" jokes. It felt like it was giving a send off to these characters, and I feel like it was writing with that mentality in mind before they got the confirm that they're getting another season.

This was where I was too. They've been doing a lot of reminiscing and a lot of call backs to the first season (Centipede/Deathlok/Gravitonium), which felt a lot like this was a last hurrah for the crew.

TV Grim Reaper had Agents of SHIELD likely to be canceled, but Cancel Bear had Agents of SHIELD likely to be renewed for months.

Having seen Avengers, it's going to be really interesting how they incorporate the events of that movie with the new season.

[Palanan]

So, I still haven't watched last Friday's episode. Finding it hard to dredge up the motivation to do so.

Are they still in that grey space between the start of Infinity War and its end? And was last Friday's episode any better than, I dunno, the last however many?

[Joran]

So, I still haven't watched last Friday's episode. Finding it hard to dredge up the motivation to do so.

Are they still in that grey space between the start of Infinity War and its end? And was last Friday's episode any better than, I dunno, the last however many?

Yes, they reference the initial attack on New York that happens in the first part of Avengers (poor New York can never catch a break in the MCU).

The episode was entertaining, but it was mostly just moving the pieces into the proper places for the finale.

[Aotrs Commander]

Just dropping in to comment - not really reading, because not only is the UK miles behind, but I'm a good couple of episode behind that (as me and Mum don't watch it ever week).



We just got up to the first episode back in the present last night, and Yoyo's... unfortunate incident with Xena's chakam. (Sorta.)

Normally, I'd be pretty mad that a villain Did A Nasty to one of our heroes, but it's Dove Cameron! I can't be mad at Dove Cameron!

...

Wow, that's a surprising sentiment coming from me.



Ah well, if they don't give Yoyo robot arms, I'll be reet peeved. (No, don't tell me, I'll learn myself next Tuesday.)



Did catch the news about season six, though, huzzah!

Now, I can only hope Coulson makes it through (you guys probably know or have a good idea already); I'd resigned myself to the fact (due to some unspoilered comment on the Infinity War thread before it was released (hopefully gonna see it this Friday)) that he was probably going to die this final season (so the "you have to let Coulson die" thing Future Yoyo brought up th episode prior was more of an "ah, there we go" moment), but now dammit, I have to start hoping again. Not sure whether to thank you or curse you...

[Rogar Demonblud]

For those who hadn't heard, season six won't release until after Avengers 4 has been in theaters a bit, so maybe June next year.

[Giggling Ghast]

I’m quite a bit behind the rest of you guys as I just watched Episode 14 (the one with Evil Fitz). Man, that was a rough experience.

[Palanan]

So, the finale happened.

Honestly bored for most of it. Too much talking and hugging. And then, the last few minutes:

Spoiler: Fitz

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First, I’m irritated at Fitz’s death, if that’s what it was, for being pointless and contrived.

And then completely baffled, because I’m not sure what happened. Is he in cryo? Did they send him into the future, to go through another timeloop? I can’t figure it out, and I feel like I’m missing a couple vital scenes.

Also feeling manipulated, because apparently we were supposed to think he’s dead, when in fact he’s…something else? I have no idea. And that's annoying.

Spoiler: Coulson

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Of course, Coulson goes to Tahiti. After lots of talking and hugging.

I just watched the original Iron Man a few days ago, and Coulson has certainly come a long way since then. But at some point in the past couple years, Coulson went from the heart of the team to a thin veneer of platitudes. I stopped caring about him a long time ago.

It’s great that he’s with May and all, but I really have no interest in watching him for another whole season.

Spoiler: Daisy

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After all the talking and hugging, there was one moment that did hit home, when Daisy tells Coulson she loves him. There was genuine emotion there—possibly because when that scene was filmed, they didn’t know they’d be renewed, and they were saying their own goodbyes.

But that was the only moment all episode that I wasn’t sick of Daisy. Her speech about not being able to lead is pretty much the last thing you want to tell people en route to a major engagement. As with so much else with this episode and this season, it was just ridiculous and contrived.

Also, I know this show isn’t about superhero fights per se, but given that it was a struggle for the survival of the Earth, Talbot went down (or rather went up) way too quickly. Granted gravitonium isn’t something you can really slug it out with, but the whole fight scene, such as it was, needed a little more energy and tension.

As it was, it was just a pointless little speech which no one believed would work, followed by Daisy juicing up and hurling Talbot out of orbit. Why he couldn’t simply arrest himself after the first few thousand feet—since he clearly wasn’t going supersonic—is yet another contrived element which they didn’t even try to explain.

Spoiler: Deke

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Also, I presume Deke really did wink out of existence? Since there’s only one Leatherman instead of two?

Can’t say I miss him.