Agents of SHIELD 1.14: T.A.H.I.T.I.
Apr. 6th, 2014 09:06 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
beccaelizabethHmmm.
So... this episode seems to be a demonstration of 'personal is not the same as important'.
Before, SHIELD has the capacity to raise the dead, derived from biotech materials and expertise going back a lot of years; and Skye, a SHIELD agent who signed up with her eyes open, is going to die.
After, SHIELD has lost resources that are probably irreplaceable, and one girl lives.
Coulson et al screwed up really, really badly.
... but I'm not sure the writers know that.
Also, I'm not sure why Coulson couldn't get hold of Fury, or why Fury has been playing it so secretive, or why his agents even have to do a run around to get to the best medical tech. But that's probably meant to be part of the season long arc? But mostly I feel it's making SHIELD look stupid.
But the more the Clairvoyant shows they have access to everything except level 10 eyes only, the more SHIELD should be suspecting level 9 or 8 of having been infiltrated, that being Coulson and his peers. So hiding things from that level makes more and more sense. Except Coulson et al don't seem to have thought of that, and they've had more training that should be pointing that out. So the team are looking stupid.
And SHIELD agents look epic stupid when they bring the bad guy to the facility he's hunting.
Even without knowing that the Clairvoyant has access to implantable technology that can see through walls and show exactly what the people on the plane do, some much more commonly available tech can just tell someone where that guy is being taken.
So the personal stuff was very one for all and all for one, but they did it stupid, they did it messy, and they probably shouldn't have done it at all.
Coulson continues to have very bad days. I liked that the door says TAHITI, but want to know what it stands for. The reveal reminded me of Lindsey finding out where his hand came from. Like, if there's a dead guy in a tube being milked, there's a finite resource, but if there's a live one, then it's more creepy horror time and they'll probably last longer.
But the tube was labelled GH. Like, just that one tube. They couldn't find the GH in the supply cabinets because there's a lot of other alphabet in there. GH does not in fact stand for Guest House, it stands for that one guest.
That means them finding the place was entirely a coincidence. It was a stretch in the first place, and seemed like very little to hang the decision to kill two guys just doing their duty on, but if it is a coincidence then that's just stupid writing.
So they're doing a thing about biotech, medical ethics, treating people without consent and against their express wishes, and now they're adding the source being really creepy and ethically dubious too. That's a lot of issues to pile on. Also keeps making the gap between SHIELD and the likes of Centipede seem ever smaller. Could be good.
but then the episode ends with that bit about Lorelai that's presumably setting up next week, which doesn't exactly bode well for following through on the deeper plot threads.
Good points of the episode: 'we're her family', team as family, caring about each other to the point they risk their jobs and the world.
bad things that happen in the episode: caring about each other to the point they risk their jobs and the world. little things like who an agent is shagging, there's only rules about that to try and prevent screw ups on this scale.
and the writing could have been tighter.
I like the characters this week. I will watch these people again.
So... this episode seems to be a demonstration of 'personal is not the same as important'.
Before, SHIELD has the capacity to raise the dead, derived from biotech materials and expertise going back a lot of years; and Skye, a SHIELD agent who signed up with her eyes open, is going to die.
After, SHIELD has lost resources that are probably irreplaceable, and one girl lives.
Coulson et al screwed up really, really badly.
... but I'm not sure the writers know that.
Also, I'm not sure why Coulson couldn't get hold of Fury, or why Fury has been playing it so secretive, or why his agents even have to do a run around to get to the best medical tech. But that's probably meant to be part of the season long arc? But mostly I feel it's making SHIELD look stupid.
But the more the Clairvoyant shows they have access to everything except level 10 eyes only, the more SHIELD should be suspecting level 9 or 8 of having been infiltrated, that being Coulson and his peers. So hiding things from that level makes more and more sense. Except Coulson et al don't seem to have thought of that, and they've had more training that should be pointing that out. So the team are looking stupid.
And SHIELD agents look epic stupid when they bring the bad guy to the facility he's hunting.
Even without knowing that the Clairvoyant has access to implantable technology that can see through walls and show exactly what the people on the plane do, some much more commonly available tech can just tell someone where that guy is being taken.
So the personal stuff was very one for all and all for one, but they did it stupid, they did it messy, and they probably shouldn't have done it at all.
Coulson continues to have very bad days. I liked that the door says TAHITI, but want to know what it stands for. The reveal reminded me of Lindsey finding out where his hand came from. Like, if there's a dead guy in a tube being milked, there's a finite resource, but if there's a live one, then it's more creepy horror time and they'll probably last longer.
But the tube was labelled GH. Like, just that one tube. They couldn't find the GH in the supply cabinets because there's a lot of other alphabet in there. GH does not in fact stand for Guest House, it stands for that one guest.
That means them finding the place was entirely a coincidence. It was a stretch in the first place, and seemed like very little to hang the decision to kill two guys just doing their duty on, but if it is a coincidence then that's just stupid writing.
So they're doing a thing about biotech, medical ethics, treating people without consent and against their express wishes, and now they're adding the source being really creepy and ethically dubious too. That's a lot of issues to pile on. Also keeps making the gap between SHIELD and the likes of Centipede seem ever smaller. Could be good.
but then the episode ends with that bit about Lorelai that's presumably setting up next week, which doesn't exactly bode well for following through on the deeper plot threads.
Good points of the episode: 'we're her family', team as family, caring about each other to the point they risk their jobs and the world.
bad things that happen in the episode: caring about each other to the point they risk their jobs and the world. little things like who an agent is shagging, there's only rules about that to try and prevent screw ups on this scale.
and the writing could have been tighter.
I like the characters this week. I will watch these people again.
no subject
Date: 2014-04-16 08:08 am (UTC)The more Centipede knows, the more thoroughly or high up SHIELD has been infiltrated.
Centipede knew about Coulson's Cellist. That whole questioning session was interesting. Did they actually kill the torturer? The effect on his face greatly resembled Tony's paralysing noise, and it came through the phone, so maybe he just got paralysed? It's a good cop/bad cop with as much rescuer as can be when you want the guy to willingly climb back in the torture machine. It's kind of sad Coulson went with it. But they had his keys.
They knew about the nightmares and they knew about the Cellist. From what we've seen May knows from his night terrors (yesno?) and Ward was told about the Cellist. Since they're shagging they maybe talk to each other, so, probably one of them is a data source. But the night terrors might not be private, given the construction of the bus, and Ward might gossip without intimate incentive, so it's not very precise there.
May got Skye off the Bus when Hand was being obstructive. That can be read either way up: either May doesn't want Skye around poking at things, having something to hide, or May has figured out there's something rotten and doesn't want to warn Centipede that Skye is coming, so she gets her away from SHIELD supervision. Or it could just be a mini rebellion against a SHIELD where a senior agent says no one agent is worth all that fuss.
Centipede itself is interesting, because everywhere is assuming they're bad guys, like, independents, and yet people like Stryker (wrong universe) and Ross (runs super soldier research in this universe) prove that the US government is not above experimenting on its own people and discarding the results, plus the whole Guest House thing proves SHIELD works with dubiously affiliated parties. So Centipede could just be a darker op. Yet they're looking at independent businessmen for it. If it requires ultratech and serious funding it's pretty much likely to be government funding and classified tech resources, yesno? But they know for sure they've got access to agency type stuff. How do they know how authorised said access is?
SHIELD experimented on Coulson then overwrote him. May says that they only messed with Tahiti, directly, one memory. Which is reassuring, if we trust May.
... I really hope we can trust May.
... actually, given the levels of race fail endemic to TV, I'm just going to hope that if there's a problem it's a straight white male.
If Centipede only know that Coulson talks about his Cellist, then Coulson does not know how his Cellist reacted to his death. So he could have that undermined and taken away. Which would make more sense, given that she'd apparently left in Avengers.
... Coulson needs all the hugs.
Coulson being so nice kind of makes you skip past some of the very not nice things he and his have done in the name of SHIELD, or saving Skye.
Like in Captain America, Steve stayed with SHIELD because it was Peggy's organisation. He stayed not because of SHIELD's principles but because he loved people associated with SHIELD.
So that's pretty common, getting tangled in something and not noticing the problems because you like the people.
And they can be proper likeable. Self sacrificing, dutiful, honorable people. It's just the cause they serve needs more examination, and the methods they've been trained to use.
People can slip pretty far into the dark together, because they've got all these people they like and care about doing the same things, so how bad can it be?
:-(
I really hope Agents of SHIELD tackles that head on, and continues what I read Captain America as doing, looking in the mirror and seeing that darkness in themselves.
If they call it infiltration and decide it's just them bad people come in from outside I'll be very disappointed.