Agents of SHIELD

Season 2, Episode 13

Wednesdays 9|8 EST

Spoilers, obviously

 

 

Karla Faye Gideon is your average lonely woman with razor-blades for fingernails, but her life changes when Cal and two thugs - a genius who doesn't like food and a jacked-up thug with .5 brain cells - show up at her door, release her hands from their SHIELD-induced bonds, and invite her to come on Cal's mission of revenge. Because she has nothing better to do than watch black-and-white movies on TV and eat alone, she accepts.

 

Back at SHIELD, Skye has been put on the Gifted Index, but she's okay with that - in fact, she thinks she's got herself under enough control that she can get back in the field sooner rather than later. Jemma is still highly upset that Fitz lied about Skye's condition, and not even Bobbi's coercing can get her to hold a real conversation with him. Mac calls Bobbi from a mysterious safe house, where he has Hunter handcuffed to a bathroom sink, and Bobbi promises to plan an extraction for them.

 

May goes and finds Garner, her extremely likable psychiatrist ex-husband, and brings him back to assess Skye. Skye is less-than-enthused about talking to a shrink, but she accepts, telling Garner that with May's help, she's calming herself down and learning how to stop the tremors.

 

Meanwhile, Cal and the Scream Team break into a psychiatric hospital that secretly housed SHIELD gifted. Coulson and Bobbi fly down to investigate, and this conversation happens-

 

Coulson: Hey, you know, we haven't seen Hunter - one of our top field agents, the guy I offered a permanent job to, remember him? - in a while.

Bobbi: He probably didn't want a permanent job here. NBD.

Coulson: Oh, okay.

 

They arrive at the hospital and find one man missing; David Angar, a man whose experimental cancer treatment went really, really wrong and gave his voice the ability to induce catatonia to whoever hears it. I would have gone with chemotherapy, to be honest. Turns out Angar's riding with the Scream Team now, but Cal left the words 'FIGHT ON' painted across the walls of Angar's former cell.

 

On the Bus, Fitz comes across the shocking sight of May being human around Garner and takes his coffee elsewhere. He and Jemma actually have a brief conversation about the Marner situation, but things quickly get rough as Skye sets off an earthquake in her sleep.

 

Meanwhile, Cal tells his tale of woe to the Scream Team in a diner booth - about how nasty SHIELD took his baby girl away, how he couldn't protect the people he loved, and how he turned to chemical enhancements which were, erm, of dubious success.

 

Coulson and Bobbi share some heart-to-heart lies, and then follow Cal and the Scream Team to Coulson's hometown (yay for Coulson Holmes and Bobbi Watson)! Coulson calls in to the Bus and tells May, who says they'll come immediately for backup. Immediately is right - she doesn't even give Warner a chance to get off the Bus before she takes off, headed for Wisconson.

 

Cal and the Scream Team arrive at Coulson's hometown highschool and Angar puts the entire football field of students into catatonic states. (A few birds get the short end of the stick, too.) Using the stadium microphone, Cal lures Coulson onto the football field where the students are lifeless (are they dead? Asleep? We never really find out) and Coulson is surrounded by Angar, the Genius, the Brute, and Faye. Cal firmly believes he has the moral high ground, and proclaims that he's not going to let SHIELD abuse Skye just because she's Gifted.

 

Bobbi and Coulson take on the Scream Team, but the standoff becomes more complicated when May arrives on the scene with a gun to Skye's neck, bringing Cal onto the field and telling him she'll shoot Skye if he doesn't quit it. Cal freaks out again (apparently he really hoped Skye got wings with this whole package deal) and gives the microphone to Angar, but before Angar can send the entire town into catatonia, blue light appears and Gordon -

 

 

- arrives, grabs Cal (no 'hello beautiful' for you, Mr. Crazypants) and whisks him away.

 

 

Everyone is really weirded out for a few seconds.

 

 

Then May, Coulson and Bobbi start fighting the Scream Team. Skye begins to quake, bruises appear all over her forearms, and she passes out. Skye wakes up on the Bus, and Simmons (who appears to have come down a little from her DISEASE!PLAGUE!MUTANT!GENOCIDE! high) + Garner tell Skye that she has a bunch of bruises and hairline fractures because she wasn't subduing her abilities, but dangerously internalizing them.

 

Garner recommends that Skye quit SHIELD, which May doesn't seem to agree with. Garner says, "After Bahrain, you of all people should know how badly this can end." He says that SHIELD is exactly the same as it was before, but he and May part on decent terms.

 

Simmons brings a report to Coulson and tells him she thinks they should put two categories in the Gifted Index - those who are 'Enhanced,' i.e. not born with abilities, and those who acquired them naturally. (I have an idea. Let's call them Inhumans. Yes?) Coulson tells Simmons to keep studying, but also gives her a gag order. GREAT, BECAUSE SIMMONS DOESN'T HAVE ENOUGH STRAIN YET.

 

In the post-credits scene, Mac and Hunter are extracted. Mac pulls Hunter's blindfold off and when Hunter demands to know what's going on, Mac says that he and Bobbi are working for SHIELD - the new SHIELD. We get a shot of a newly-designed SHIELD logo on the wall.

 

Hunter isn't the only righteously indignant individual around, as we get a shot of Gordon, who has absolutely no sympathy for the tantrum-throwing Cal.

 

(actual footage of Gordon's brain)

 

Gordon tells Cal he extracted him because he was "making too much noise," and adds, "You're not one of us." (Considering the fact that he's had three speaking scenes and probably 90 seconds of total screen time, I'm 100% obsessed with Gordon.) Gordon then sends Cal to someone who's going to decide his fate.

 

I hope it's a doozy.

 

P.S. WE GET WARD BACK NEXT WEEK!!!!!! HOORAH! Seriously, once Ward, Luke Mitchell and Gordon are all in the show - I mean, uh, I watch it for the plot.

Agents of SHIELD

Season 2, Episode 12

Wednesdays 9|8 EST

Spoilers, obviously

 

 

I've decided to create a petition. I'll call it 'PROTECT THE BABIES', and I hope we all sign it. The babies, by the way, include everyone. All of them. They're all babies and they must all be kept safe. Unfortunately, they don't seem to realize that, which leads us into the episode with a Portuguese beach, where Lady Sif emerges and proves her stance on being badly flirted with. I.E., she doesn't go for it. When the onlookers ask who she is, she tells them she doesn't know. (I don't know about you, but I found myself wondering if Loki - who has been masquerading as Odin since the end of Thor: Dark World and apparently doing a great job of it - erased her memory and banished her, or some other such nonsense. Had she been LOKI'D?)



Meanwhile, on the Bus, Skye's training is apparently improving (she even manages to flip May over her head! Points!) but May knows Skye is holding back. Skye fudges around the truth, saying she doesn't want to hurt May, who gives her the most May expression possible. Fitz, being the gloriously wonderful human being that he is, walks in and tentatively suggests that maybe Skye should take a break. Skye assures him she's fine.

Bobbi and Hunter have been getting their sexy-times on, and apparently they're both so good at multitasking that no sooner have they rolled off each other that they begin discussing work - mainly, how Coulson has asked Hunter to stay on permanently, and Hunter has decided he wants to.

Coulson tells Mack that, after watching him in Peru, he's decided he's wasting his talents under the hood of a car, and he wants to put him in the field. Mack is hesitant, saying he doesn't like violence, but Coulson points out that Mack doesn't even have to twitch in order to look intimidating.

Before they can fully discuss it, May walks in and announces that Sif is on earth. Coulson and May go to where some Portuguese officials are holding her, and they explain that the only reason she hasn't caused trouble is because she's looking for someone named 'Kava,' and they told her that they would bring Kava to her. Coulson says, "I'm not Kava." The official smiles and says, "I'm just glad I'm not the one who has to tell her."

Coulson talks with Sif, who remembers she's from Asgard + some basic knowledge but not much else. May comes in and says Skye found a video on Twitter that shows Sif combatting a man who wins the fight and runs off. Said guy shows up at a hospital in Portugal, asks where the supplies are, turns blue (literally) and assures the nurse she won't remember any of this.

The SHIELD team goes over the video again and sees that when Sif strikes him, some kind of blue sparks shoot out. They decide to send a team to examine the boardwalk, and Jemma all gung-ho about nipping-the-threat-in-the-bud, shooting-first-and-asking-questions-later, much to Skye and Fitz's dismay.

Mack, Hunter and Fitz go to the boardwalk and sniff around while Bobbi and Skye go to the hospital. The head nurse tells them that she hasn't seen the man they're looking for, but they notice in the background that a nurse is asking her colleagues who she is and why she can't remember anything.

Coulson and May find a balloon vendor on a beach who says that someone stole the nozzles off his helium tanks. They call Simmons, who says a lot of sciency things, and they figure that he's somehow using the nozzles to power a disguise suit to keep him from turning blue (??????).

Bobbi and Skye find the man in the hospital supply room and take him on, but he knocks Bobbi out and Skye quakes so hard her gun explodes and she knocks a shelf onto herself and the guy escapes.

Back at the Bus, they figure out that he's a Kree; and 'kava' is the Kree word for 'keys.' Mac and Bobbi have a vague chat about whatever-it-is-they're-hiding and Mac insinuates that Bobbi can't get close to Hunter. Mac reminds her how the team felt when they discovered Ward was HYDRA. "We're not HYDRA," Bobbi says, but Mack replies, "But you know how they felt."

The team discovers there's a city in Portugal called 'Chavez,' which means 'keys,' so they decide to head there. Skye asks to sit this one out, saying she's shaken up from her last encounter with the Kree. May's suspicious, but Coulson agrees, and they find the Kree guy very easily, over an unopened Kree crate. They also capture him very easily, with an electrified net. Yay for technology!

Coulson and Sif question the Kree guy, who tells them his name is Vintak and that he's here to help. He offers to restore Sif's memory with his truncheon, but of course everyone else is skeptical. Bobbi's inspecting said truncheon when Hunter walks in and attempts to flirt with her, but Bobbi pushes him away, saying she wants to slow things down. Hunter is obviously injured but assures her fine, consider things slowed down. As he leaves, Mack walks in and sees Bobbi, who is obviously unhappy about what she just did.

They bring the Kree down to see whether or not the truncheon is biologically wired to him (why not just take the truncheon to the Kree...? Ah, well) and since he knows they won't trust him, he manages to get it out of their hands and restores Sif's memory before giving the truncheon back. Sif remembers that her mission was to pick up the Kree and take him back to Asgard for safekeeping. Sif’s memory. Then she punches Vintac in the face.

This was her mission: to pick up the lone Kree that made it to Earth. She’s heard of how the Kree once came to Earth and changed humans into genetically engineered soldiers to fight in their wars. Apparently, their plan worked a little TOO well on earth, and it was shut down. Vintak is there because he saw that the Diviner worked, and he has to retrieve it and whoever the Diviner changed in order to keep everyone else safe - and to keep the Kree from re-starting the program. There were seven Diviners in the crate they picked up in Portugal, and they're all missing.

Vintak calls these changed humans 'abominations' one too many times and Skye, terrified, starts to quake. The team puts two and two together and suddenly they're split into sides - Sif and Vintak want to capture Skye and take her to Asgard, but Coulson and May are having none of it. Coulson calls in backup and holds Sif and Vintak off while May snatches Skye and flees with her to Cell D.

Vintak and Sif knock Coulson out of the way and Sif follows in pursuit of Skye, but Mac and Bobbi stop Vintak in the hall. "Think we should call for more backup?" Bobbi asks Mac, but they have no time as Vintak attacks and knocks Mac aside. Hunter arrives and fights Vintak, but the Kree is much too strong and bats him out of the way. Bobbi takes him on, but it turns out she's a distraction. Fitz arrives and BLASTS THE KREE DOWN USING THE BAMBINO. I WANT TO THROW FITZ A PARTY. Bobbi then uses Vintak's own hand to stun him with his truncheon, erasing his memory. You go, girl!

Sif finds May and Skye in the cell and forces her way in, but Skye can't stop quaking. In a last-ditch attempt to stop her powers, she shoots herself in the arm, effectively stopping the quaking. Sif takes a very forgetful Vintak back to Asgard after warning Coulson about Skye. The rest of the team feels betrayed by Fitz, keeping Skye's secret from them, but Fitz defends her, saying they would have attempted to 'handle' her and done it badly. 'WE need protection from HER,' says Mac, but his face falls when he notices Skye standing just outside the room. She walks into the interrogation room and puts down a duffel bag, apparently moving in for the safety of everyone else.

In the post-credits scene, we see Hunter approach Mac on the quinjet. He demands to know what he and Bobbi are up to, and says he heard them mention more backup in the hallway. Mac lunges at Hunter and suffocates him until he's unconscious (I THOUGHT HE WAS GOING TO KILL HIM AND HE DIDN'T AND I'M SO RELIEVED BUT STILL SO CONCERNED AND NERVOUS AND WORRIED AND JUST /PROJECT PROTECT THE BABIES/).

QUESTIONS

1. WHAT. ARE. MAC. AND. BOBBI. UP. TO?

2. Is anyone else's heart breaking over Jemma's turnaround?

3. HOW IS WARD??? IS HE OKAY???

4. WE DIDN'T HAVE ANY MORE GORDON. I MOVE FOR ANOTHER PETITION - A PETITION TO HAVE GORDON SHOW UP, TELL SKYE SHE'S BEAUTIFUL, AND LEAVE. JUST THREE SECONDS. SKYE NEEDS TO HEAR IT. (That wasn't a question, but still.)

 

Take a look at the promo for the next episode and WORRY WITH ME.

Agents of SHIELD

Season 2, Episode 11

9|8 EST

Wednesday
SPOILERS, obviously

 



 Well, that was an...interesting episode. I remarked to my sister when it ended that it was kind of like Doctor Who smashed into The Tomorrow People (does this have anything to do with the addition of Luke Mitchell as Lincoln?) really hard; and I get the feeling that we're going to be see a lot more of that vibe since we don't get the Inhumans movie for a few years yet.
Still, I'm super happy to have it back! There was only one minor issue.

That, people, is the amount of Ward scenes in this episode. It's also rumored to be the amount of scenes with Ward in the next episode. Because no, his fans aren't all freaking out about the fact he's been shot four times and is hightailing it to safety with Agent 33. No. Not like we care at all, right? Not like we're interested, or want to know where he is?

Anyway, to get to the actual recap - everyone is dealing with Tripp's death in their own way. May is punching things, Fitz is sciencing, Mack is soddering things, Jemma's attempting to flood the Kree city after analyzing it, Hunter's drinking, Bobbi's giving Skye quarantine care packages, and Skye's having a hard time of it. She's kept enclosed in a quarantine room with glass walls (when does she go to the bathroom, exactly? How does that work?) while Simmons and Fitz run blood tests to see if she's all right. The thing is, she's most definitely NOT all right - things are starting to go crazy around her. Objects start shaking. Lights explode. She knows she's turning into something (albeit she isn't aware she's Quake of Inhumans fame yet) but she's afraid to tell anyone, and with good reason.

A Conversation

Jemma: We'll just run some more blood tests to make sure they match up with your previous samples.
Skye: Okay.
Jemma: I hope what happened to Raina didn't happen to you. (i.e., Raina morphing into a thorny cat and killing people before escaping).
Skye: Okay.
Jemma: Because this is basically a disease, it's caused all the world's problems, it's awful -
Skye: Um, I mean, it doesn't have to be THAT bad -
Jemma: - IT'S THE WORST AND IT SHOULD ALL BE DESTROYED see you later!

End Conversation

I can totally understand why the writers wanted Jemma to be the antagonist here - what could be worse than having someone Skye loves and trusts express such hatred for what's happening to her? I just wish they'd been a little less heavy-handed with Jemma's speech - I mean, she used the words 'disease,' 'eradicate,' 'horrific,' 'epidemic,' 'terminate,' and 'plague' all in the same basic paragraph.

The entire crew is under heavy friction which leads to a full-blown argument about whether or not Coulson's idea - KILL ALL THE HYDRA HEADS - is a good one at the moment. Opinions are varied and tensions are high, but they move on (because Coulson's calling the shots) and set up an elaborate, clever ploy which results in Bakshi getting taken to Talbot while the heads of HYDRA kill one another out of suspicion.

We also get a flashback featuring Jiyiang, Skye's mother (played by the gloriously beautiful Dichen Lachman) comforting a fledgling Inhuman boy named Gordon, who has the ability to teleport himself, but also has no eyes. MEANING: I totally called it at the end of the last episode - the eyeless man was the Reader. HAH.

Meanwhile, we feel pretty sorry for Raina, whose outfit lacks flowers for the first time since she first showed up. She's morphed into a body that's a) fairly hideous and b) fairly painful to inhabit, and she seeks out Skye's father, Cal, for help. Instead he shows concern for Skye and what she must be going through, and basically tells Raina that if she's so tired of living as an Inhuman, she should just go off herself. Desperate, Raina walks across a freeway in an attempted suicide, but is instead surrounded by men with guns and then carried off by none other than Gordon the Reader. (How precious was it that he repeated Jiyiang's words of comfort to Raina? I mean. Just.)

Back on the Bus, Fitz has figured out that Skye is the one who caused the earthquake in Peru, but instead of telling everyone about it, he switches up the blood samples, gets her cleared from Quarantine, and promises to keep her secret until everyone else is ready to hear it. I adore Fitz so much. Aside from Ward, he's my favorite character on the show. His character arc has been so beautiful, and he's so precious.

At the end of the episode, we see the little remote-controlled Lola that Mac gifted Coulson with. It's sitting on a desk in Coulson's office, and then suddenly a camera unfolds from the hood and it scans Coulson's desk. Mac tells Bobbi that the 'toolbox' Fury gave Coulson is hidden there, and Bobbi tells Mac that she'll 'make contact' soon.

?????????????????????????????????????????

QUESTIONS

1. iS wARD oKAY???

2. What are Mac and Bobbi up to? Are they working for HYDRA, or possibly Fury?

3. How long can Skye keep this under wraps?

4. Can we have more Gordon, pretty please with a cherry on top???

5. How long do you think Skye can keep her newfound gift/curse under wraps before someone other than Fitz finds out?



Marvel’s next phase of movies finally includes a movie headlined by a female superhero, Captain Marvel. However, there’s one piece of news that I’m waiting for: news of a Black Widow movie. Since her first appearance in Iron Man 2, Natasha Romanoff has shown herself to be, quite simply, amazing. Whether she’s kicking butt in Manhattan or beating Loki at his own game, it’s clear that Natasha deserves a movie with her own name on it. Let’s look at the reasons why.

1. Black Widow is badass.

There’s no other way to put this. Black Widow gets. things. done. You don’t want to go up against her in a fight. Her agility, her quick thinking, and her pure strength are forces to be reckoned with.

Natasha has incredible combat skills, but also a sharp mind. In The Avengers, we see her break down in front of Loki, and assume she’s having a moment of weakness -- yet she was actually manipulating him. She knows other people’s weaknesses and how to use them. And yet, with her teammates, the Avengers, she doesn’t exploit them, even when it would be extremely easy to. Natasha, despite the betrayal she’s faced, still manages to trust. It swings both ways as well: you can definitely trust Natasha. Obviously, she’s an extremely valuable asset. Whether you’re in a fight or a verbal debate, you need Black Widow, no questions asked.

2. Natasha is human.

While Natasha is incredibly strong and can kill a man with just her legs, we also see her with moments of vulnerability. Captain America 2: The Winter Soldier is where we get to see this the most. She’s sad at the news of Nick Fury’s death. She also gets shot, and we see her vulnerable and in pain, gritting her teeth to get through it. We also see her tease Steve Rogers about his relationship status, taking on a more playful role than serious.

While Natasha is strong, she is not infallible. She’s a great example of a well-written female character that I can get behind. And one that definitely deserves--and can carry the weight of--her own movie.

3. Black Widow has a fabled and storied past.

In the comics, Black Widow’s back story is immense. She was an orphan brainwashed by the U.S.S.R., at the “Red Room” facility. (The “Red Room” is currently being explored in Agent Carter.) She has been all over the world. She has encountered Wolverine, Daredevil, and the Winter Soldier. She has been used, hurt, and yet has managed to rise again. She is resilient.

If the powers-that-be at Marvel don’t dip into this, it’s their loss.


4. Scarlett Johansson deserves it.

Scarlett Johansson is an incredibly talented actor. She has already proven that she can carry her own film, by starring in the movie Lucy. She’s also given a lot to Marvel. The athletic training required for the existing Marvel movies, as well as the time invested in the character, are two examples of this. If a Black Widow movie is not made, it’s a disservice to Scarlett Johansson’s acting abilities, as well as the work she’s put into portraying Natasha Romanoff.

5. Girls need heroes to look up to.

While I love Iron Man as much as the next girl, it’s empowering to see female superheroes. And we need more of them. There have been concerns that a movie about a female won’t sell as well as the ones about males. But I would like to strongly disagree. The superhero and action genres are not just the boys’ realm anymore. The large amount of female Marvel fans proves that. It’s about time that the Marvel fangirls among us started seeing themselves represented on the screen.

Don’t get me wrong--I’m incredibly grateful for news of the Captain Marvel film. But I feel that there should be as many female superhero movies as possible. It shouldn’t be an “either or” situation. Why make it either Captain Marvel or Black Widow when you could have both? 

There are so many reasons to make a Black Widow movie, and if one doesn’t happen, I’ll be extremely disappointed. Natasha Romanoff is such a solid character with a rich history, and it’s clear that she deserves a chance to tell her stories.

Dear Marvel, it’s time we had more females on the screen. Black Widow is one of the original Avengers and she’s an amazing character. To not give her a movie would be disappointing, and it would be downright wrong.

Marvel, Natasha Romanoff deserves a movie. Make it happen.

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