Having finished these first 3 episodes, this season seems weaker than the rest. You still get that shocking slap from time to time with one scene or the other, a LOT of senseless gore scenes just for the heck of it, and multiple points that I didn't really find appealing:
These things (specially the last point) in together with the wavy quality since season 2, downed my series total from 8 to 7 (at least for now). Let's see how the rest of the season plays; maybe that point can be earn again...or it can go lower. Time will tell
I truly can't believe how good this show is. Every episode is better than the last so far. I mean I'm actually shocked. I wasn't expecting to like it at all.
The hesitancy of Jeff while giving his number to Claire got me curious. He was leaving his number to the fridge guy at the beginning of this episode as 773-555-0901. He told Claire as 0902. A sad tiny detail.
This is the episode that gave us Wolverine lying in bed looking at the picture frame meme! :)
[7.8/10] The finale of X-Men isn’t perfect. In an ideal world, it would be a two-part episode, with enough time and scope to sum up this ambitious, if hot-and-cold series. But as it is, “Graduation Day” is a roundly satisfying finale for the show. It allows the conflict that has driven from the series to froth to a boil, and then pivots everything back between two men at opposite sides of the ideological dispute at the core of it, and the found family Professor Xavier has built over the past seventy-five episodes.
It comes back to Henry Gyrich, one of the heads of the Mutant Control Agency who started out giving our heroes trouble. It comes back to whether the mutant should try to peacefully coexist with a human population full of people who fear and resent them, or whether they should rise up and carve out something for themselves. It comes back to the friendship between Charles and Magnus. And it comes back to the growth the members of Xavier’s team have shown since Jubilee first arrived at the mansion.
And it’s also the culmination of so much that has been running through the show since it started. I love that it starts with what is essentially a referendum on whether mutants are a menace to be contained (or worse eliminated), or a collection of individuals no more inherently good or evil than any of us. Gyrich twisting the events of the series into a series of invectives and bad faith interpretations of mutants as terrorists shows the insidiousness of prejudice. It leads people to misinterpret noble events as building blocks in some terrible conspiracy that indicts all its participants.
And on the other end is Professor Xavier, spreading his message of shared understanding, being a voice for a maligned people and championing the good that his team has done, the building blocks of community between humanity and mutant kind they represent. And for his troubles, he is nearly killed.
In truth, putting Xavier on death’s door is kind of a cliche. But I love what “Graduation Day” builds out of it. True to the title, it forces the X-Men to figure out what to do without their fearless leader. The show touched on this same idea in season 2, but it’s still interesting to see Cyclops, Jean, and Wolverine be forced to wonder “What would Xavier do?” when it’s a question that seems permanent rather than temporary. Weighing their natural combativeness and desire for vengeance for their leader, against that same leader’s message of peace is a conflict rich with meaning.
At the same time, I love it as a flashpoint for mutants across the world to wonder if the time has come to rise up. I was compelled by one of the Genoshan mutants who said, basically, that if someone as wealthy, famous, human in form, and known for his message of peace cannot avoid persecution, what chance do the rest of them have to be treated with dignity and equality? There’s a grim irony to all of this -- that it’s an unfortunate incident that transpires while Xavier makes a plea for peace and understanding that convinces his fellow mutant that plea is too naive to be worth listening to.
I’ve been listening to the Revolutions podcast from Mike Duncan, and it’s hard not to draw parallels to real life revolutionary movements. Seeing strong mutant demonstrations across the globe in response to a belief that there’s no way forward with the existing regime has the character of any number of popular uprisings throughout history. The notion of one inflammatory event setting off an explosion of long-simmering resentment and a growing list of grievances, is a familiar one.
Granted, I do have some qualms with the idea that all of these disparate mutant groups across the globe would be united in their desire to have Magneto as their revolutionary leader. And it reduces things to a sort of Great Man:tm: theory of history that I bristle against a bit. But it's also in keeping with the spirit of the show, which personifies massive social movements and ideas so that they’re more accessible to a younger audience. To that end, making Magneto the figurehead of the mutant urge to reject or even conquer humanity makes a ton of sense.
Separate and apart from the politics of it, I like the simple but powerful dilemma it starts up. A fight among the X-Men faithful reveals a convenient but important fact -- Magneto’s powers can heighten psychic brainwaves. Is that a little silly? Sure. But it’s well within acceptable tolerances for this fantastical show. The chance epiphany during a fight between him and Jena Grey helps give it a layer of plausibility, as does the whole “The brain runs on electric pulses, so your electromagnetism powers would have an effect” thing.
It’s important because Earthly medicine cannot help Charles in his beleaguered state, but Shi’ar technology might. The catch is that thus far, only Professor X’s psychic link to Lilandre has been able to contract their alien pals across galaxies. But what do you know! Magneto’s powers could allow him to boost Charalels’ abilities to reach the SHi’ar despite Professor X’s coma.
It’s convenient as all hell. But I still like it for a simple reason. It forces Magneto to choose between the cause he’s pursued for his whole life, and the friend he’s cherished for almost as long. The people are incensed. They’re ready to buy into his philosophy of mutant superiority, that the time is right to strike back at the humans who revile them, subjugate them or at least carve out a place of their own, before the humans try to eradicate us. It’s all that he’s wanted since we met him.
And he’s willing to cast it all aside, or at least put it on hold for the time being, knowing this moment might never come again, because he loves his friend.
That is a powerful statement on the goodness within Magnus, despite his combative and unaccommodating ways. And it’s a testament to his devotion to his friend, despite their philosophical differences. I’ve grown a bit colder over the years. I’ve become more sensitive to the fine line between accepting that reasonable minds can differ and accommodating repugnant beliefs to everyone’s detriment. (Don’t worry, I’m not planning to don a distinctive helmet and develop magnetic powers.) But it’s hard not to be moved by Magneto setting aside his differences with Dear Charles and sacrificing the chance to achieve his dreams in order to protect his friend when he needs it most.
Of course, it works. But X-Men makes much out of those tenuous moments where it looks like hep may not arrive until too late. In those fearful minutes, Chaarales gives one last benediction to his students, a tribute to who they are and what they’ve achieved in the time that we’ve been with them.
Some are more profound than others. Xavier’s slime about Rogue not being able to touch anyone and yet having touched them all is a hollow bromide. Storm being able to be both fearsome and gentle is a hoary cliche. But you know what? Given the heightened tenor of the moment and the soft sincerity of Cedric Smith’s delivery, it all works better than it has any right to on paper.
And some of what he says is pitch perfect. Again, it’s a bit obvious, but him noting Wolverine as a man with a savage anger but a heart of gold, and a loner who found a family, puts a nice pin in his character journey over the course of the series -- the most fleshed out one of the show. Him speaking about the hope he feels for the future when he sees Jubilee is heartening. Him quoting literature back to Hank is pitch perfect. And him calling Cyclops his surrogate son, one he’s deeply proud of, tugged at my heartstrings, even though I’m not the biggest fan of Scott.
I am a big fan of Morph though! And I’m glad that as part of the full circle sensibility of this episode, they take time to not only have Morph play an important role in helping to calm the masses by impersonating the Professor, but for him to receive his own blessing and affirmation from Xavier as well. His journey is one of my favorites, and it’s nice to see him get a little closure and catharsis in this final outing.
With that, the show has its cake and eats it too. I assume there were network prohibitions on outright killing off Professor X. But “Graduation Day” delivers the closest equivalent it can muster, essentially saying that he’ll have to be away forever in order to survive. Suddenly, the X-Men are in the hands of, well, the X-Men. He’s taught them all he can. It’s their time now. Time to carry on his ideals and vision of a brighter future for mutant kind and humanity in the way he would want. With his final words, they, and we, can trust they’re ready for such an awesome responsibility.
And so closes one of the seminal television series of my childhood. I’ll confess, despite my praise here, I walk away from the show a little disappointed. As a kid, I thought of this show as so sophisticated and bold. As an adult, I see much more the undeniable ambition that nonetheless runs around on shaggy story structure and oodles of melodrama.
But these are still the canonical versions of these iconic characters for me. Its reach exceeded its grasp on more than one occasion, but the series didn’t hold back on the moral and personal complexities at the heart of the X-Men’s essential predicament. I admire it as much for the show it was trying to be as the show it was, even if the latter left something to be desired now and then. No matter its successes and failures along the way, X-Men goes out on a high note, one that exemplifies the ideas the show strived to explore, and the figures whose struggles and breakthroughs brought them to life.
[7.6/10] Let’s start with the most obvious thing -- Bastion’s backstory is wildly confusing. So Mr. Sinister infected Nathan Summers with a techno-organic virus, and then Scott and Madelyne sent him into the future, and somehow that created human-sentinel hybrids (or the human-sentinel hybrids evolved separately?) and the successor to Master Mold sent a similar virus back in time to (I guess?) the 1970s to infect Sebastian’s dad, who then conceived Bastion, who has visions of the future that he’s now trying to create?
Who fucking knows? The show does its best to explain, but the whole thing is about as clear as mud. I have a high tolerance for comic book-y outlandish when it comes to superhero storytelling, but this is some Kingdom Hearts-level time travel insanity. What the damn hell.
But you know what? It doesn’t necessarily matter, because you get the gist of what Bastion is going for here. Regardless of how it happened, he can envision a future (or came from the future? Or has Nimrod’s memories of the future? Again, who fucking knows) where mutants vastly outnumber and eventually overwhelm the human population. So his idea is to enhance the human population, make them android hybrids the way he was, so that they can turn the tables and usher in the “utopia” that Cable has witnessed.
I like the concept and how it turns the tables on our heroes. The X-Men are used to being technically superior but socially ostracized. The idea of the opposite happening, beings who are more powerful, claiming that they are the next evolution, changes the dynamic. We’re used to the X-men fighting mutant supremacists or angry humans afraid of being left in the dust. Fighting a new “species” who claims to want to leave mutants in the evolutionary dust flips the script in a compelling way.
The problem is that the techn-zombies, and how far and wide they’ve been seeded without memories, is another loony touch to me. You’re telling me all of these people went in for Bastion’s treatment? And they’ve lived their lives blissfully unaware for so long. And that no one asked questions fr discovered them until now. Again, I don’t ask for much in the way of plausibility from an outsized show like X-Men ‘97, but the whole thing plays like a random Pod People/Cylon/Zombie twist for the sake of setting up a giant set piece than anything that makes sense on even a generous narrative plausibility scale.
But it’s a darn good set piece! I’m already a little tired of the Jubilee/Sunspot pairing, but him showing off his powers to save her mid-flight is a nice beat. And I especially appreciate how damning it is that, when confronted by her son’s abilities in front of shareholders, she’d rather sell him out to respectable-seeming monsters than own that her child is different. Again, in many ways, Roberto’s mom is worse than the openly bigoted parents we’ve seen in X-Men, because she accepts her son personally, but cares more about appearances and finances than his well-being.
I don’t know if I’d call Cyclops the epitome of great parenting, but he’s at least better than Roberto’s mom! The show doesn’t give the Summers family subplot that much room to breathe, but their mini-arc is good nonetheless. The idea of Jean having Madelyn’s memories and not knowing quite what to do with them is especially intriguing. Nightcrawler has really climbed the ranks of my favorite characters in this, and the way he describes one’s personal history as recollection plus emotion is both poetic and thought-provoking.
Her, Cyclops, and Cable jumping out of a fighter jet in a sports car, racing away from a flying horde of zombie androids, and bursting through a cave via Scott’s eye-beams is not exactly a typical family outing. And yet it’s surprisingly wholesome when they work together and become the world’s most extraordinary blended family in the process. Plus, I’m not made of stone. Them leaping into a cool pose while the car explodes behind them is eminently fistpump-worthy.
And hey, as much as it’s just mindless action, watching Wolverine and Nightcrawler team up, blades in hand (or in hands, or tail) to beat up the bad guys is hella cool. Even when the plotting and character beats get jumbled, X-Men ‘97 can reliably deliver the fireworks.
But there’s something under the hood here. The show makes Bastion an earnest villain of sorts, one who does terrible things to mutants both physically and by reputation. But he’s also someone who thinks he’s a dinosaur stopping an asteroid. It mirrors the way real life individuals justify bigotry and extermination with the idea that they’re just trying to fend of their own “replacement.” His excuses and self-justifications make him seem extra-pernicious, but to his own point, different than the mustache-twirling baddies like Mister Sinister.
I also appreciate Dr. Cooper’s change-of-heart, realizing the horror of what she’s been a part of after Genosha and wanting to make amends. Her releasing Mangeot as penance is a strong choice for a character who’s been a bit generic to date. Her speech talking about how moments of triumph and acceptance for the oppressed fall to ruin so often that they’re sad but not surprising, and go ignored by those unaffected, is gutting, and her “Magneto was right” climax is terrifying. Magento going to one of the poles and unleashing an electromagnetic wave that wipes out all power (and the technorganic goons) is a deft way to halt the problem du jour while also setting up a reckoning to come as “the war” begins.
And oh yeah, Xavier’s back. As I’ve said before, I'm pretty sanguine about that happening. Comic book resurrections happen all the time, and Xavier was tastefully written out at the end of the original series. I’m loath to see the show go back on it. But hey, I’d be lying if hearing him say, “To me, my X-men” again wasn’t rousing.
Overall, the plotting and practical elements of this one get more than a little off the rails, but the action-heavy parts are superb, and the reflections on intellectual fig leaves for bigotry and how easy it is for those unaffected to ignore the worst of it leave this one with a lot to like nonetheless.
will poulter's character is probably the best mentor marcus could have. he's so calm, patient and open. I'm curious to see the growth that the Copenhagen trip will bring to Marcus (in his culinary skills and in general).
That FitzSimmons reunion is everything you hoped it would be. No, not when Jemma iced Fitz. When everyone passed by Fitz, keeping a distance, because of the cloud of guilt surrounding Fitz, but when Jemma came to the med pod, she wasn't his angry girlfriend, but Jemma Simmons came to him as the supportive and loving best friend Leopold Fitz always had. She came quietly, without any words, and hugged him, because her presence was enough. Goodness, I love those two so so so much. Please protect them.
What an episode. So many twists and turns in every scene.
Having to stab your soulmate to death, Daisy hiding among a bunch of Daisys, Jemma-Quake hug, Daisy fighting for FITZSIMMONS, the inevitable android annihilates creator, fake May learning to make her own decisions, and the Framework...
When Daisy had long hair and the text said "boyfriend" I just knew it had to be Ward even though she said "Lincoln?" And is Jemma dead in the Framework? How will they meet at the rendezvouz point?
This show somehow always delivers these amazing episodes. Yeah, there will be some average to above average episodes inbetween, but it leads to a series of mind-blowing episodes.
Oh, man. And Hydra. I wonder how that fits into the Framework. The Framework is gonna be hella fun!!!
We're finally out of the Framework! It was a very well-written alternate reality, but the whole thing where you try to convince people that it's all fake and they don't believe you gets tiring after a while. I'm glad it's over. Now we can focus on fixing things in the real world.
Just to kick things off, May calling Jemma "little pop tart" is the most adorable thing in the history of everything and I want to get it tattoed.
I loved Daisy and Trip's interactions so much! They are so cute together. But I feel sad, too. When Trip asked Daisy if they dated in the real world... They almost did. You could see just a hint of longing in Daisy's eyes. For a second she imagined all the things that could've happened between them, but never did, all the possibilities that are now lost. And then she had to say goodbye to him for the second time. I may have teared up little bit.
(Who am I kidding? I definitely teared up. And that was only the beginning of the heartbreak.)
I knew Mack would decide to stay with Hope. I freaking knew it. To be honest, I'd probably do the same if I were ever in that position, but it was devastating nonetheless. Yo-Yo looked absolutely crushed. And Daisy crying and telling Mack that she doesn't want to lose him... I just want to hug her so badly! Chloe was so good in this episode. She channeled all the emotions perfectly.
Coulson and May had some nice moments too. Framework May saving Coulson and then trusting him and taking the leap of faith was great. And her little smile when she woke up and he was there! Try to watch that scene and not go "Awww", I dare you.
Poor Fitz! Iain de Caestecker strikes again and blows me away with his performance. He was so horrified by what he had done. And he genuinely thinks that he's a bad person now. I felt like screaming when he called Aida "Ophelia". I can't really blame him though, anyone would be confused after being brainwashed and manipulated by a batshit crazy android. I know he can fight it. I believe in him.
Apparently Aida has some weird teleportation powers? Where the hell did she take Fitz? Bitch, Simmons is coming for you. If we don't get a fight between the two of them, I'll be so bitter.
And Jemma, baby! The look on her face when Fitz put the gun to her head destroyed me. It was like she had accepted her fate and was ready to die at the hands of the love of her life. I can't believe I'm saying this, but thank the heavens for Radcliffe. He did the right thing in the end.
7.6/10. Oof, it was a rough go with the dialogue on this one. There were some funny lines (Coulson’s “drunk on your own power or drinking your own kool-aid or drinking your own powerade” line was particularly amusing) but there were a lot of facepalm worthy action hero lines too. But hey, they tended to fall into “so bad it’s good” territory, and when the show is going for light adventure rather than self-seriousness, that works just fine for me.
The only catch is that they did get a little self-serious with Eli Morrow. While I like the tack they took with this character. His evil scheme was less about power for the sake of power, but rather being underestimated, despite his Ph.D. and intelligence, implicitly because of his race. It’s interesting subtext, but it’s just kind of thrown in at the end here, making it feel tacked on, and his poorly written monologues about the subject don’t exactly sell the themes either.
We also get a pretty solid face-to-face between Coulson and Director Mace. I’ll say again that I like Mace. He brings his own vibe to the table, and the idea that he is not a bad guy, just concerned about the image of Shield in a way that Coulson was only intermittently in the past. That gives him a clear, occasionally conflicting motivation that gives him reason to clash with Coulson and the original team without being an out-and-out bad guy (the same, now that I think about it, goes for Dr. Radcliffe) which is something the show could use more of.
And his back and forth with Coulson is interesting, if not especially well-written. The idea that he sent Simmons over to Senator Nadir to examine the Inhuman she had trapped in exchange for Nadir not releasing footage of Daisy helping a known terrorist is a cool reveal. It’s a nice swerve to make Mace look like a bad guy on the surface, but in reality, be trying to protect the organization and the people who work for it. He’s also right that Coulson hasn’t exactly given him reason to be trusting.
Yo-yo, for her part, doesn’t trust Mack. But the show pulls the trigger on them anyway! Let’s be real, the folks behind the scenes were pretty much just keeping them apart so they could eventually throw them together, but I’m a sucker for it anyway. I like the narrative that Mack was hemming and hawing until he got a taste of Hell through Ghostrider, and that showed him what was really important. Yo-Yo and Mack are two solid characters on the show (Yo-Yo especially gets some great lines) and they have great chemistry together, so the whole thing works.
The Ghostrider climax, however, doesn’t so much. Not the action scene that ends this part of the storyline with a bang, but rather the confrontation between Robbie and Eli. The whole family feud element has fallen really flat, and the weak dialogue and weak acting (which are hard to disentangle) make lines like “You had a good job. You had us.” come off as a big waste.
Still, that action follow up was one of the best sequence the show has managed. There was a lot of style for the sake of style in how this episode was shot – a lot of random dutch angles and weird perspectives that didn’t really convey much meaning – but the final big set piece with taking Eli out using the technobabble of the week was a complete thrill, and shot well to match.
In particular, Yo-yo’s Quicksilver-esque adventures to run into the fray, disarm who needed to be disarm, and set Eli up to be sucked out, was a very well done sequence, in a show that continues to use her powers well. I also enjoyed that Mace got onto the battlefield for once, though his powersuit was corny as heck, and the idea that he would show up in public wearing it gave me flashbacks to George W. Bush in his flight suit or Michael Dukakis in his tank. It’s a silly idea, but hey, it’s a comic book show. Silly ideas are the stock and trade.
Of course, we get a conclusion (for now at least) to the Ghost Rider saga, with Robbie having a chance to escape, but rejecting it, giving into the Ghost Rider, and letting him take Eli to Hell. It was entirely predictable that he was going to toss away the chain, but it’s still a solid enough beat to end on.
And Daisy’s back! Kind of! Never thought I’d be glad for that, but here we are. I liked the concept that the earthquakes were the result of a combination of Eli making something out of “nothing” (whether it’s carbon via the diamonds – a cool demonstration of his power – or water) and the reality of the law of conservation of mass which says that it has to come from somewhere. It also gave Daisy something to do, and the fact that she could absorb the quakes was a nice touch and use of her powers.
This being Agents of Shield however, we have to tease the next big threat. Let this be a lesson to you kids – anytime somebody on a tv show or movie says they’re going to do something fun or meaningful “right after this is done” something will prevent them from doing it. It’s just the rules of fiction for some reason. So of course, Aida is going a little mad with power, and it turns that May’s “milk run” resulted in her getting replaced with an android duplicate, preventing the flirty bottle-opening bit with Coulson from being legitimate. Who knows where they’re going with this Life Model Decoy bit (and between the mask-shifting agent who teamed up with Evil Ward, can May catch a break with being copied already), but it adds an “anyone could be working for the bad guy” atmosphere for the second half of the season that has promising.
Despite all the action and fireworks, it was also nice to see the whole gang together in one spot. I make fun of this show a lot in these reviews, because at it’s cheesy as all get out, and the writing’s often bad, and the plots don’t always make a lot of sense. But despite that fact, we’ve made through 74 episodes with (most of) these people, and that breeds a certain amount of investment, a certain amount of appreciation for these characters, and their trials and tribulations, no matter how cartoony. That makes it very pleasant to see them celebrating together once more, getting to enjoy their victory and their reunion, before the next robo-antagonist rolls into town. See you in the new year, Shield.
I loved the reference in this episode (Dr. Strange, Thor, The Watcher, Eternity). It shows the rich lore of the Marvel Universe and how events touch even these great beings. I also love that Beast keeps a picture of his girlfriend on his computer and the he is left handed. Just those little details show how much the show's creators care about the characters they are creating.
WARNING: THE FOLLOWING COMMENT IS RATED S FOR "SAPPY AS HELL". PROCEED WITH CAUTION.
We all know a bad series finale can ruin the entire show, which is why I've been feeling on edge all week. I just wanted a satisfying ending for my team. And, for the most part, I got one.
I started crying as soon as they said the team would never be all in the same room again. And then Deke made a sacrifice to stay in the altered timeline! It made me so emotional, but it was also funny (the way Sousa tried to be all heroic only for Deke to just… go full Deke on him). He’s gonna be just fine. I almost dread to think what SHIELD looks like under his leadership, but I'm sure it's equal parts hilarious and insane.
Fitz guiding Jemma to get her to remember was lovely. Iain and Elizabeth brought their A game, as always. I’ve missed that good old Caestridge magic.
The way they brought the whole thing full circle to the season 6 finale… Genius. The logistics of time travel made my head hurt, though. It’s way too complex for me.
”- Nice flying there.
- That used to be all I did.”
Yeah, like a million years ago. That line got a smile out of me. The season 1 nostalgia is real. Everybody gives the pre-Winter Soldier episodes so much flack, but I really enjoyed those early case-of-the-week shenanigans.
Daisy and Bitch Boy’s showdown paired with Cavalry dropping from the ceiling made me SCREAM. When Daisy blew up those Chronicom ships... Avengers? I don't know them. I only know one superhero and her name is Daisy freaking Johnson. The movies wish they had her. For a minute I really thought she was dead and my heart stopped. I wouldn't put it past the writers to kill her off. The Whedons have never met a surprise death scene they didn't like. But she’s okay! And Kora saved her! I’m fine (* narrator voice * she was not fine).
So like I predicted FitzSimmons had a child. A very blonde, very cute child. Her little voice made me tear up even more, if that’s even possible. That adorable accent!
I'm glad we didn't see the actual goodbye because that would've been too much for me. But I also don't fully understand why they decided to break up the band in the end other than because Enoch and Fitz told them they would. Even though they're still in each other's lives at the end, after 7 seasons of watching them become a family it hurts to see that they're all separated. It's just not the same.
During the last 10 minutes of the episode all the remaining self-control I had went out the window. The waterworks were flowing. Especially when Daisy was the last one left in the room, it really felt like we were watching the character as much as we were watching Chloe herself get hit with the realization that it's over. That broke me. Also, I don't buy for a second that they only do the futuristic Zoom thing once a year. Sure, maybe not all together, but Daisy and Jemma definitely talk like three times a week and they all 100% have a group chat going on that consists mostly of cute videos of Alya and Daisy sending memes (May never says anything but she reads every single message and Coulson uses the wrong emojis all the time). This is what I choose to believe. And none of it contradicts what's been said in canon, so I'm sticking by it. But aside from that minor gripe about the frequency of their communication, I really liked the ending. FitzSimmons are happy with their daughter, May is teaching (which oddly suits her) at a new SHIELD academy named after Coulson and Flint is one of her students, Daisy is in space with Sousa and Kora, Mack and YoYo are still in the field, Coulson and Lola are reunited (the real OTP of this show), even Davis is back! All my babies are okay! That’s all I wanted!
Well, not true. All I wanted was for this show to never end. But it did, as all good things must. And it did so on its own terms, despite everything working against it.
Now comes the truly sappy part.
7 seasons. 136 episodes. And it all ends here.
In October 2014, I was a 16-year-old casual Marvel fan who stumbled upon this show by chance one Saturday afternoon and pressed play on the pilot episode without thinking too much of it. It’s been nearly 6 years since that fateful day and out of all my shows I’ve been watching this one the longest and the most consistently by far. It’s been such a steady presence in my life that I still can’t fully comprehend that there’s not going to be any more episodes to look forward to. Agents of SHIELD has taken root in my heart and ingrained itself in me more deeply than any other piece of media has ever done, which makes this goodbye all the more difficult for me.
Now, I am not going to claim that this show was perfect. But at its best, Agents of SHIELD was an absolute non-stop thrill ride filled with awe-inspiring CGI (especially for a network show!) and exciting fight scenes, jaw-dropping plot twists and well-crafted intrigues, laugh-out-loud humor and heart-wrenching angst, brilliant acting and skillful writing. And most importantly, it had a group of amazing characters at its center, characters who got under my skin and never left, whose adventures I followed with bated breath, whose joy and laughter and pain and tears I felt and shared time and time again. For those characters, for everything I got to experience with them and through them, for all the ways they have enriched my life, I am truly, deeply grateful. I can only say, from the bottom of my heart: thank you.
Thank you for Phil Coulson, the dad to outdad all dads, who gave his life to the cause more than once; whose unwavering belief in his team and everything they stood for was a foundation that the entire show rested on; and whose cheesy one-liners never failed to get a smile from me.
Thank you for Melinda May, our Cavalry, whose many demons never managed to consume her heart; who fashioned her jagged edges into a weapon to protect the people she cared about; who went through hell and unspeakable trauma and came out the other side fighting, always fighting the good fight.
Thank you for Leo Fitz, the man who loved a woman so much that he jumped through a hole in the universe to find her; whose brilliant mind saved the day too many times to count; who suffered so much but always stood for what he believed in, no matter the cost.
Thank you for Jemma Simmons, the girl with two PhDs and a million questions who looked to the stars and yearned for an adventure; who survived being stranded on an alien planet and traveled farther than she ever could’ve imagined; who never backed down, never gave up, never surrendered, even in the face of the most insurmountable odds.
Thank you for my darling Daisy Johnson, a lonely girl without a home or a name who dreamt of a family and built herself one; who went from a hacktivist living in a van to an earth-quaking superhero; who carried the weight of the world on her shoulders but refused to let it break her; who had a blazing fire burning within that nothing, no matter how painful or horrible, could ever snuff out.
Thank you for Mack, YoYo and Deke, who joined the team a little further down the line and became invaluable members of SHIELD. Thank you for Bobbi, Hunter and Lincoln, who I was sad to say goodbye to. Thank you for Ward, who all of us loved to hate. Thank you for every single character, whether main, recurring or guest, for every hero and villain, ally and enemy, everyone who contributed to making Agents of SHIELD what it was.
To my favorite cast, especially my OGs Clark, Ming, Chloe, Lil and Iain, who brought these characters to life and blessed us with their talent every week, and to everyone who worked tirelessly behind the scenes to make the best show possible: you guys absolutely rock. I wish all of you the best of luck and many, many more successful projects in the future.
Goodbye, my favorite team. I’ll miss you like hell.
If you’re still reading this, thank you for sticking by me while I went through 5 stages of grief in roughly 1,200 words. I feel like I need to stare at the ceiling for a while until the void that this show left inside of me feels a little less cold and overwhelming.
You better believe that I spent the last 15 minutes of this episode screaming internally. You know that meme with a cartoon dog sitting inside a burning room, saying "This is fine"? That's me right now.
I'm just... speechless. I don't know how to process everything that's happened. I can't even name all the emotions that I'm experiencing at the moment. A part of me wants to cry, another wants to laugh, but not in a good way - more in the awkward, panicked way, like when something bad happens and you react in the most inappropriate manner imaginable.
Let's start with the most obvious thing, the one that I've talked about quite a few times in the past: Iain de Caestecker and Elizabeth Henstridge's acting. Those two are like goddamn magical unicorns blessed with so much talent. Separately, they're utterly magnificent and deserve all the awards (which they'll never get because there is no justice in this world). But when you put them together, it's honestly one of the most powerful things I've ever seen. It's a nuclear reaction, a supernova, galaxies crashing together. It takes my breath away. Remember when FitzSimmons were supposed to be the comic relief in season 1? That definitely didn't go according to plan. Those two are the beating heart and the soul of this show. I'm not exaggerating when I say that one of the main reasons why I want Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. to go on forever is because I can't get enough of the magic that Elizabeth and Iain create whenever they're on screen together. When I watch them, I understand what it means that something is greater than the sum of its parts. The showrunners truly hit the jackpot of the millenium with those two. They elevate the quality of the show with their brilliance. In their hands, even the weakest of scenes and the corniest of dialogues turn into something special, and great moments become mindblowingly epic.
Fitz and The Doctor's interactions left me with my jaw on the floor. Especially that tiny moment when The Doctor mocked Fitz's stuttering (by the way, that's some excellent continuity right there, Fitz's aphasia coming back and getting worse when he's very stressed or upset). It made the big reveal all the more shocking and heartbreaking for me. I didn't see that coming at all, and I swear my soul left my body for a second when I realized what was going on. I'm almost in physical pain just thinking about it. I have no idea how Fitz is going to come back from this. I have no idea how he can ever patch things up with Daisy. I can't believe the writers did this to me. Can I sue them for causing me emotional distress?
Jemma finding out that Deke is her and Fitz's grandson was so lovely and touching. I always cry when Elizabeth cries, so naturally, I turned into a sobbing mess. And of course she threw up at the end there, and we know that in TV world women only ever puke for one of two reasons:
They've had too much too drink (alternatively, they took drugs - I'm looking at you, Jessica Jones).
They're pregnant.
Since Jemma wasn't knocking back shots or snorting cocaine in this episode, I think it's safe to say that there's a lil' British science bun in the oven. Normally, I'd be fucking ecstatic about this, but I think this episode has killed my ability to feel happiness, at least for the time being.
I guess some other stuff happened in the episode, the Russian dude from last season is back, Hale is working with the Kree or something, Hydra's back (could we perhaps stop beating that dead horse already?), but to be honest, I currently don't have the emotional capacity to give a fuck about any of it. I need to lie down on the floor, curl up into a ball and stay there for a while.
See y'all next week for more suffering!
HAPPY 100TH EPISODE, EVERYONE!
I just want to say this: I'm so happy, so proud and so, so grateful. I've been in love with this show since I first started watching it 3.5 years ago. The fact that we're here today celebrating this wonderful milestone is a privilege, one that I wasn't sure we'd get this time last year. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has defied the odds time and time again. There has been so much working against it: backlash from hardcore Marvel fans way back when it started; ratings getting lower year after year; ABC itself not giving a shit about it, dumping it first in their worst slot at 10 PM on Tuesdays, and then moving it to Fridays, where most shows go to die; finally, having a completely undeserved reputation of the bastard child of the MCU. Despite all of that, it's still going strong, reaching new creative heights with every season, giving us awesome content, and keeping us on the edge of our seats. Maybe it never quite became the smash hit that Marvel surely expected it to be, but all of us who have stuck with it through thick and thin know just how special it is. "We have a small but active fanbase", indeed.
This episode was beautiful. I don't even know where to start. I think I'll just make a list of everything that stood out to me, it'll help me organize my thoughts a little:
Daisy and Coulson's relationship is absolutely incredible. I started crying as soon as Daisy teared up and I didn't really stop until the end of the episode. Chloe Bennet broke my heart. She's come such a long way since the pilot and grown so much as an actress.
Fake Deathlok trying to convince Phil that it's all in his head gave me major anxiety, mostly because for one horrifying second I imagined them ending the show like this. Just "psych! It was a fantasy all along!". They wouldn't do that, right? RIGHT???
Real Deathlok showed up! Yet another old character to have come back this season!
I saw a theory circulating around Tumblr that Deke is a descendant of FitzSimmons. I was sceptical. But guess what, it's true! Which means there are some cute, genius FitzSimmons babies coming! It does raise some questions, though. They'll have to send Deke back to the future eventually, right? Will he even exist if the team saves the world, or will he get erased? As usual with the time traveling stuff, my head hurts.
Goddamn. FitzSimmons. Wedding. This was where I went from low-key crying to just straight-up bawling. They couldn't have chosen anything better to celebrate the 100th episode with. It was perfect. The setting, Coulson marrying them, their vows... Jemma looked stunning, Fitz looked so handsome (shame about that kilt though, I think they should've gone for it), Elizabeth and Iain's acting was out of this world, as usual. I'm so happy for those two nerds.
What an emotional rollercoaster. I need to lie down for a bit. Huge, huge congratulations to everyone involved in the show, the whole cast and crew. I hope they know that they've created something extraordinary. And I hope that cake they had in celebration of the 100th episode was delicious.
This year, like every year before, the cruel and mighty gods of television descended to Earth to feast on the poorly-rated or otherwise unfortunate shows and banish them to eternity of damnation in the land of cancellation. As they made their way from network to network, shows old and new, dramas and comedies alike cowered in fear, uncertain of their fate. Only those few that had already been blessed with a renewal stood tall amidst the chaos and bloodshed.
At last, the gods knocked on the door of a small cottage on the outskirts of ABC, ready to devour another victim. Agents of SHIELD opened, a wicked grin on its face and a cup of wine in its hand, looked the gods straight in the eyes and said, "Not today, bitches".
In other words, AoS has been officially renewed for a 22-episode season 5, and if you can hear someone screaming outside your window, it's probably me failing to contain my excitement and joy. I've spent the last two months filled with anxiety, and now I feel like I can breathe again. Unfortunately, the show isn't coming back until mid-season because Inhumans are set to air in its timeslot in the fall, and it's moving to Friday at 9 PM, but honestly, I'm not going to complain. I'm just happy we're getting more episodes.
This was a little weird. I don't know why. The pacing was kind of awkward, maybe? Aida's death was a bit underwhelming and I feel like they rushed everything too much. But I still liked it. We got some awesome moments, like Jemma shooting Aida (* Mushu from Mulan voice * My little baby, off to destroy people), YoYo being ready to die with Mack in the Framework (if you're suffering and you know it, clap your hands), Daisy's speech at the end (she's shaping up to be a great leader). Overall, they wrapped up all loose ends, Aida's a pile of ash, the Darkhold is gone, Radcliffe's dead (that was a pretty amazing scene too, I can't believe they just cut him off in the middle of his big speech, what even). Daisy and Robbie had a major case of heart eyes going on and I really hope he returns next season. The whole team together in the diner was cute as well. And I guess the US government was so fed up with SHIELD that they just fucking launched them into space. I'm totally down for it. I can't wait for all the inevitable references to Guardians of the Galaxy.
Oh, and a round of applause for Mallory Jansen and John Hannah. I wish them both all the best. Their performances were incredible and they contributed to making this season great.
Well, that's it for now. See you all whenever season 5 premieres!
Biggest question is how the heck did he drink through his mask, lol ??
Let's hope Punisher can avoid the second season curse. So far every second season has sucked except for Daredevil (which had Punisher in it).
Actually the show runner gave Salinger one super power, as shown at 0:29:58. He's SuperAsshole :)
This episode is actually listed on Disney Plus as Season 3 Episode 18.
This episode was one of this first season's better ones. It was certainly better than the previous episode. The pacing was slow, I guess. Or neither slow nor fast; just right. Something about it made that not matter, although that seemed to matter somewhat previously. And the storyline is beginning to come together. There were also a few moments that elevated the episode entirely.
We learned something vital about Finlay's wife, which added a lot more depth to his character; through that, a lot of depth was also added to his relationship with Reacher, how he confided that information to him; despite his earlier conversation with Mosley, in this same episode. Not only that, their moments together, along with the further building up of their friendship/bond, were pretty good.
And one thing that I noticed was that there wasn't a flashback in this episode. I'm pretty sure there's been one in every episode up to this point, until now. I doubt that means anything; I just thought it was interesting. I feel like there will be another one in either the next episode or the finale or both. Maybe an important one, one that goes beyond exposition and background into Reacher's character. Or maybe not.
Picard is super sus. Those two guys conveniently knew where the Hubbles were, yet they were also not making a move on them for some reason. We know (from the previous episode) that the EPA investigator Joe was looking into was gunned down in his home: a dead federal agent, so naturally, the FBI stepped in. Same post-mortem M.O. as Joe aside, the FBI "determined" it was a random burglary gone bad: despite the evident details contradicting that. Know who we know is an FBI agent? We know with whatever's going on, the people involved have a lot of influence, the means to do whatever they want, whenever they want. Taking out federal agents, civilians: making files disappear at a federal agency; on top of instilling fear into people to make them do their bidding, rather than taking them out as well.
Lol, did anyone notice that subtle botch by Alan Ritchson? He tried to throw the suit jacket (?) into the garbage can, nonchalantly: and messed up. Nice save by him, though. Imagine how hilarious it would've been to have no choice but to redo that, and all because you messed up throwing a piece of clothing into a garbage can. Then again, who knows; maybe that wasn't a botch.
That fight sequence at the end was great. I think it's my favorite so far. I never really give it any thought about what order I'd put all the fight sequences in so far: but I'd say the one in the previous episode where Reacher gave Kliner Jr. and his two buddies, cousin included, a beating, was my favorite one yet, and I feel like the one at the end of this episode topped it. The latter may not have been better, objectively; it may have been better objectively, but I think I liked it just a tiny bit more.
The halfway point of the episode, I feel like, is when/where it started getting pretty good. Before that, the highlight was the moments between Reacher and Finlay, but that's pretty much it. This episode was decent. I'm hoping the next episode has super exciting moments: same with the finale.
[7.7/10] There’s a certain handicap to big reveals and thematic revelations for sci-fi fans like myself when shows like Agents of Shield delve into artificial life and artificial worlds. Inevitably the question becomes “What is life?” and “What is real?” and given the scores of stories and philosophers who have tried to answer that question, I’ve more or less formed my answer already, or at least one solid enough to meet the demands of popcorn-fueled, albeit increasingly heady superhero shows.
That makes it less impactful when AoS devotes an episode to, at a minimum, blurring the lines between what’s real and fake when it comes to The Framework. Simmons is the lens through which this story is told. She is initially incredulous, even perturbed, at the people around her who are, in her mind, simply lines of code in a simulation gone mad. She cannot process them as people; she cannot process her surroundings as anything but artifice. But the episode gradually unspools with her seeing more and more that makes her question that belief and start to take the digital world almost as seriously as the one made of atoms and molecules.
Part of that comes from seeing Mack and his daughter together. Putting a human face -- a particularly adorable human face at that -- on this situation cannot help but endear this world to her a bit. After all, little Hope seems like any other child, playing with her toys, saying the darnedest things, joshing around with her dad. Simmons also sees the joy she brings Mack. Mack’s never seemed particularly haunted or pained, but there is an undeniable glow to him with his daughter, and that is a hard thing to dismiss as computerized trickery.
That is the rough theme of the episode -- that The Framework offers possibility, and the possibilities it offers share a quality of perception, a truth if you will, that extends beyond fakery and may even reach the level of a different, but no less meaningful existence. Aida says as much to Daisy when she offers her Lincoln Campbell (ugh) and the allure of the two growing old and having kids together. Aida expands on the idea she offered to Radcliffe -- that this world gives her a choice and agency that she doesn’t have as an android. It gives people the possibility of things being different than they are, where things that have fallen apart, people who have been lost, can be mended and returned.
People like Trip! I’m sorry to say that the thrill of his returned was spoiled for me by seeing his B.J. Britt’s name in the opening credits, but his return is still a great touch to sell the potential of this world. It’s part and parcel with the knowledge of its own history and attention to detail AoS has shown with its “what if” game here, where May is offered some of Skye’s dad’s serum by the Hydra agent Simmons ran into during her undercover mission back in Season 2.
But more importantly, it serves two purposes. One, it’s just nice to have Trip back, as he was one of the few characters who really enlivened AoS in its shaky first season right from the jump. Britt has a jocular but confident tone that makes him a welcome presence, and the reunion nature his return only adds to that. Second, it’s another sign for Simmons that there is merit to this place, where old friends are back, newer friends are reunited with their loved ones, and people care about their mission and their world as much as anyone back in the real world.
Unfortunately, not all those possibilities are good. “No Regrets” confirms my suspicions about how Framework Fitz became The Doctor, tying it to his nigh-incomprehensible father. It’s a little overly simplistic and clunkily-delivered, with FitzDad reminding his son not to have any “women’s sympathies” that sledgehammers the point of where Fitz got his perspective from. (That coupled with a “Nevertheless, she persisted” and oblique fake news reference let’s you know where this show stands nicely.) It’s part and parcel with this episode returning to some of the corny action movie dialogue it can descend into when the writing isn’t as strong. Still, in an episode that shows how the world of The Framework is one worth saving, not just escaping, it’s a nice reminder that not everything there is all sunshine and lollipops.
That also comes in the notion of sacrifice that arises from The Patriot, Coulson, and even Ward. Simmons may see this world as fake, but Ward is still devoted to rescuing Skye, Coulson is willing to dive into the fray in order to try to find the kids he inadvertently sent to Hydra’s “enlightenment center,” and Mace is willing to give his life to save those kids. There is a truth in that, a humanity to it, that Simmons cannot ignore.
Neither can May, when she sees Mace sacrifice himself, to save a child no less, it’s enough to set her on a better path. The end-of-episode teaser sees her tossing terrigen at Daisy, with the expectation that she’ll regain her quake powers. For both May and Simmons, Mace’s sacrifice seems to convince them that there’s more to this world than the preconceived notions they started with.
That’s why I’m not as crazy about the “If you die in The Matrix, you die in the real world!” twist. As Framework Mace tells Simmons, he has a history, a struggle, loved ones, hopes and dreams, no matter what she thinks of him or his life. That, to my mind, makes him as much a real person as anyone, regardless of whether he’s made of flesh and blood or ones and zeroes. The life and death reveal adds more stakes to our heroes fighting the good fight in the electronic firmament, and it raises more complex issues about Mace really dying to save someone who only exists in that world, but it separates Simmons, and by extension, from that realization.
Still, as the Framework arc lingers on, Agents of Shield continues to do a great job at making these events matter, both as they speak to these characters who become increasingly good and evil, but as they offer them a chance for something else or at least a place worthy of their valor. So much of science fiction interrogates what’s real, and as Simmons and Mace and the others are discovering, The Framework may not be “real,” but it’s real enough.
[8.5/10] My favorite episode yet! (I know we’re only three episodes in, but still!) I love how this episode constantly changes your perspective. It initially makes you feel bad for the poor wooly mammoth that’s separated from its herd and slowing down in the bitter cold. You want help and relief for the poor creature and then...it’s attacked by our heroes.
That makes things really conflicted, because you know that spear and Fang need to survive, and that they’re as separate as anyone out here. But it’s still pathos-ridden (and thrilling) when they go toe-to-toe with the patchy, missing-tusked mastodon and slowly take it down. The sadness of it is added to by Spear’s near-reverence for the creature, not wanting to cause it more pain in its final moments but still hunger-bound to finally take out the life reflected in its eyes.
What follows is sweet and sad, as Spear and Fang work together to make use of what they can from the mammoth’s caras. Their fur attire to protect them in the cold, their bone and tusk sled full of meat, and their curling up together in the show makes you feel for them just as much, communicating the way in which everyone’s just trying to survive out here.
Then they find a blessed ave, and we get a tragic memory of Spear hunting with his child, recalling once again what he’s lost and cannot fully mourn amid the constant need for survival out in this world. You feel for Spear in that moment, since every episode has featured him still grieving the loss of his children.
Then the rest of the mammoths attack, and you feel for them too! There’s something so sad when they surround the corpse of their fallen brother and clearly feel the loss themselves. It’s frightening when they knock into the cave, trying to avenge the member of their tribe and take down the killers who ended his life. But you feel for both sides. You feel the need on both sides of that equation, and it makes the skirmish harrowing all around.
I couldn’t help but flinch when Fang gets caught between two charging mastodons. It’s terrifying seeing Spear scamper around beneath giant four-legged stomps that threaten to crush him. The ensuing fight is the best of the series so far, full of emotion and visual virtuosity all around.
But I like what happens next even more. The whole thing is resolved when Spear gives up the fallen mammoth’s tooth to its mother(?). There’s a sense of the two of them as kindred spirits, parents who’ve both suffered the loss of their children and need some kind of closure or completeness to be able to move on from such devastation.
We see that for the mammoths. There’s power in the group of them swaying and almost chanting around their fallen brother’s dead body. There’s pathos in its parent caressing its tusk during the makeshift ceremony. It’s heightened by the knowledge the modern day elephants really do seem to mourn their lost compatriots, helping communicate the feeling that this community has lost one of their own and is paying tribute to them, honoring them, as part of this ritual.
It’s striking how a wordless episode manages to convey so much emotion and feeling, without turning either side of a bloody battle into heroes or villains. I can only hope that Primal manages to maintain this level of virtuosity throughout.
It's so hard to explain this show to people that haven't watched it.
Imagine putting...
Fight Club
Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind
One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
Mr Robot
Twin Peaks
Inception
The Matrix
David Lynch & Stanley Kubrick
and the X-Men movies
... in a blender. The result: A mindboggingly amazing Legion smoothie.
The visuals and audio design are second to none and completely original. There's nothing like it on TV. It also has a kickass soundtrack provided by the likes of Pink Floyd, The Rolling Stones and The Who. What's not to like?
The storylines aren't that complex. It's just presented in a non-linear format, a jigsaw puzzle that only makes total sense when you have most of pieces in place. The fun is in trying to piece it all together.
It's my favourite Marvel product ever (including all the movies).
8.5/10. At some point, it feels like the folks behind Agents of Shield realized that it was never going to be a capital-G Great show, but AoS could at least be a fun show. That seems to be the upshot of a series that runs through plot points like tissue paper, throws in more knowing comic asides, and includes a number of exciting action sequences.
And I think that’s all I really want from AoS at this point. While we may get one more season to shore up syndication numbers, the combinations of the show’s ratings and the upcoming Inhumans series suggest that the end is nigh for Coulson, Daisy, and the rest of the Shield crew. If that’s the case, I appreciate that our boys in (dark matted) blue are going out in style, with fun, if simple storylines, and a weightless but entertaining bent to the proceedings. AoS is two-for-two this half-season, and that’s a big reason why.
Like last week, the show basically splits the episode up into two main stories. The first involves Coulson, Mack, and Director Mace stranded together after the quinjet is sabotaged, and the second involves Simmons, May, and General Talbot trying to track them down, with a side of Fitz and Dr. Radcliffe dealing with the fallout from what happened last week with Aida.
Each of these stories is strong, and contrary to last week, where the plots were both good but mostly on separate tracks, these fit together nicely. The Coulson/Mack/Mace contingent had the right combination of mystery and action, with the bio-coded briefcase making for a worthwhile mcguffin, and the generic mercenaries after our heroes providing for some entertaining setpieces.
It also led to the first half of the big reveal in the episode, specifically that Director Mace isn’t an Inhuman, but rather uses an injected formula to have his super strength. What I like about the reveal is that it’s framed in reference to a similar thing from Season 2, showing that AoS is aware of its own history, and that, combined with the appearance of what seemed to be a Judas bullet from Luke Cage in the opening, helps to create a more consistent universe that builds on what’s come before.
But more than that, I appreciated how they show didn’t just provide that shocking reveal for the sake of the shock, but rather used it to further the plot of the episode and develop Director Mace a little more. Mace putting on the suit, and attempting to bluff the mercenaries not only made for a tense standoff in the moment, but showed a certain guts from the character that made him more interesting, knowing he was willing to put himself out there even without his powers.
It also led to some of the most fun, non-special event action the show’s pulled off. Kevin Tachnaroen has more or less become Agents of Shield’s action specialists, with episodes on his watch showing off the rough and tumble side of the show better than any others, and “The Patriot” is no exception. The firefight between Coulson, Mace, and the mercs was fairly standard stuff, but still had a coherent but kinetic quality that’s not always present in the show’s battles. And the pièce de résistance was the hand-to-hand combat sequence between Mack, May, and the head mook. The improvisational weapon element to it was a neat hook, but overall, the choreography of it simply made the fight a cut above.
Back at Shield HQ, it was entertaining to see the contentious dynamic between Talbot and the rest of the team again. I was a little lukewarm on Talbot originally, but I’ve come to appreciate his somewhat cheesy but committed charms as a character. Watching him go toe-to-toe with Simmons over protocol (giving robo-May “day glow pink” clearance) and being the generally ornery military blowhard he is works for me.
Plus, the interrogation of the other major mook created a nice plot hurdle to direct his and Simmons’s efforts. Simmons using Aida’s head to, as Fitz put it “Godfather” the goon into talking was a treat and a nice win for her, and the fact that she referenced her time undercover at Hydra and even used that organization’s motto to seal the deal on the intimidation was some good writing.
At the same time, I enjoyed the snippets we got of the Aida-focused storyline. For one, I like that they’re not making Dr. Radcliffe mustache-twirlingly evil. He wants the darkhold book, but he doesn’t want to kill anyone, and the fact that he’s not only something other than a “by any means necessary” villain, but is actively worried about Aida taking someone’s life adds an interesting dimension to him as an antagonist and makes his motivations more complex. The fact that Aida herself seems to be developing a taste for the use of force, and that May broke out of her own trip to “Tahiti” because it was too relaxing and she’s “a warrior” portends more conflict to come on that point.
Speaking of something that will inevitably lead to more conflict down the road, I don’t know how I feel about the reveal that Fitz is preserving the first Aida’s head and is trying to “save” her. There’s a weird romantic subtext between Fitz and Aida that doesn’t really work for me, and I feel like that’s where we’re heading with he and Simmons’s divergent viewpoint about what to do with Aida. (And one character lying to their significant always portends bad things, on television and in real life, folks.) But if, instead, the conflict between the two of them is centered on philosophical differences – Fitz seeing the potential of something like Aida to save lives (including Simmons’s) and Simmons fearing what something that’s already taken one life might do – then it could work.
“The Patriot” in particular has shown that Agents of Shield can make those sorts of twists and conflicts work. It would be easy to take the info we get about Mace, and then drum him out of the show in quiet ignominy. Instead, the show treats him as someone who was unduly venerated as a hero and trying to earn that veneration, standing up for Inhumans and their rights in an honorable fashion. It validates him by having Coulson appreciate his efforts despite the deception. And it even gives Talbot an understandable motivation in trying to put a good face on the Inhuman arms race. The fact that it creates an interesting dynamic going forward, with Mace as the public face of Shield with Coulson running day-to-day ops is the icing on the cake.. It’s the right kind of twist, the one that strengthens the characters, explains their motivations, and creates interesting plot potential down the line.
Overall, this was one of those episodes of AoS that reminds you how fun and entertaining the show can be when it’s running on all cylinders. Between the great action sequences, the well-done reveals, and the wry, self-aware comedic bent that ran through the episode, Agents of Shield is kicking off what may be its last half-season with a bang.
[7.8/10] Season 2 of X-Men starts off with a bang! There’s a lot going on here, and I’m a big fan of almost all of it.
Let’s start with the biggest deal. The return of Morph! In my write-up of the season 1 finale, I neglected to mention that one of the nice smaller grace notes they included was Cyclops declaring that he wasn’t going to leave anybody behind against, and getting everyone out of harm’s way from the sentinels. His “heavy is the head that wears the crowd” leader material has been mostly underbaked in the show thus far. But I liked the show’s subtle acknowledgement that Morph’s death still weighed on him in some way, even if he pretended that he wasn’t going to second guess his command decisions.
That's why it portends such interesting things to have Morph return. This episode starts with what is essentially the biggest possible wedge between Wolverine and Cyclops. Jean and Scott get married, and there is artistry to cutting between the lovely celebration of matrimony on the one hand, and Wolverine taking out his frustrations in the Danger Room on the other. Things are already likely to be tense given the two men’s conflicting feelings about Jean. But the return of Morph, another wedge between them, suggests even more meaningful differences to come.
Granted, the love triangle material remains pretty underdeveloped. We don’t get much of a sense for why Scott, Jean, or Logan like one another. Jean in particular has gotten very little development so far. But it’s still promising on the archetypes alone.
I also love Morph as an antagonist for both emotional and practical reasons. Emotionally, he is dealing with sentiments (heavily implied to be stoked by Mr. Sinister) that his friends abandoned him. He's bitter and angry, and not unreasonably so, about what happened to him. Likewise, he’s not totally out of bounds to feel like he was replaced by Jubilee and resent her for that. But at the same time, he cares about these people. They were his friends, and we have suggestions that those are his truer feelings beneath Mr. Sinister’s influence. The way this all coalesces to provide his motivations and reactions is great.
Plus hey, having a shapeshifter as the main bad guy allows for plenty of creativity (as the show’s already realized via Mystique). Morph being able to use his power to impersonate to send Professor X on a wild goose chase to Antarctica by assuming Magneto's form, or neutralize Gambit by convincing him Rogue wants a kiss, or get Jubilee out of the way by pretending to be Storm shows a savviness to him that most of the villains thus far haven't shown. (Give or take Magento.) He’s crafty and good and successful at his mischief, which makes for a better antagonist.
Separate and apart from Morph, though, I both love and hate the development of an anti-Mutant vigilante group who starts causing trouble even when disclaimed by their ostensibly political ally in the now-President Kelly. I love it because it’s a realistic reaction to a public movement toward accepting outsiders, something that has parallels to the origins of the Klan, runs through the civil rights movement and unfortunately resonates with domestic terrorists attacking any number of marginalized groups today. That's also why I hate it -- because their presence rings very true.
Speaking of resonance, watching the group recut footage to make the mutants look like the bad guy, or stage other events to intimidate or spread misinformation about mutants makes them feel like a scarier threat, in some ways, then the superpowered bad guys, since they have the touch of the real world to them, and social backlash against the oppressed is scarier to crusty grown-ups like me than laser beams and bombs.
Overall though, this is a hell of a way to kick off the new season, with great signs for the direction of the series going forward.
Very well done, every season gets better!
The characters have depth and the actors bring them to life. The production team is incredible.
Season 3 stands as one of the best seasons released so far in 2020.
2.6 points -> Acting and Characters (0-3)
1.6 points -> Plot development (0-2)
1.6 points -> Cinematography (0-2)
0.8 points -> originality (0-1)
0.8 points -> Based on Genre / Theme (0-1)
0.8 -> Overall Quality (0-1)
Aka. 8.2 points
