Agents of SHIELD 1.18: Providence
May. 2nd, 2014 09:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
beccaelizabethSoooo... You know that thing where two characters walk down a convenient length of corridor and discuss things? Maybe have some feelings? ... that was pretty much this episode, only, you know, bigger backgrounds. All that happened was everything we'd seen before got shuffled around into new places. And then ending up at the secret base with the big picture of Tahiti in it, just to keep us paranoid.
So in terms of plot, this episode did not grab me.
But Phil was having some feelings. A lot of feelings. Loudly.
So that part was ...
... okay, no, for once I didn't stay focused on Phil's feelings, because they were just sitting there on a white background. That... that didn't work for me.
So what to say about this one?
other than *facepalm* because Fury just had every single secret toy in the same location? really? last week I figured Hydra would have nicked them already, but, er, Nick nicked them from his own organisation. Well done, that makes so much sense.
That... what they said about it being the same guy who poked the Tesseract, yes, that fits, but, why not say Hydra owned the waste disposal place? And the expense involved in that particular flashy method of 'disposal' is mind boggling. That's all just Fury's smokescreen? How many people would it take to maintain that? Because the more people who know a secret the less likely it is to stay secret, and if this is long term policy, it's getting kind of implausible.
Also the two level 8 agents knew quite different things from each other. At what point does it become one picture? Only at Fury? Because that's dangerous to the point of unusable.
This way around Fury has been lying to really a lot of people that trusted him within his own organisation.
The other way around Hydra screwed over SHIELD.
So hey, this way around says SHIELD, itself, from Fury on down, is the problem.
okay then.
... not okay for Phil, obviously, but an interesting storytelling choice.
Was there a single new thing we learned this week?
Phil joined SHIELD straight out of school. That means everything we thought from comics is irrelevant. And that his whole life is SHIELD, no outside perspective whatsoever.
That keeps his story focused, he's the company man who finds the company is rotten.
And he was recruited by Fury, who trained him, personally. So Fury knows and trusts him, but if this is what trust looks like on Fury, that guy trusts no one.
I think Ward is being set up as a mirror here? Garret recruited him and shaped his whole world view. He's a true believer in his organisation, because he's given his whole life to it, for that guy.
If he's a mirror he's got a redemption arc coming.
So I look forward to that.
Phil was being... his reaction to the revelations was to try and be more in charge of what he still has. He's angry guy right now. Not his usual command style.
His response to the legit government trying to arrest them was to dandelion the lot of them, nick as much as he could carry, and erase all evidence of their existence. Decisions he came to quickly and smoothly, like this was all on plan.
Grant Ward wasn't fussed about losing that identity, and had to get back into answering to Grant Ward, and has lost IDs before. Ward isn't Ward. Wonder who he is?
Wonder who Coulson is?
The Hydra and 'Clairvoyant' bits I liked okay, specially since it looked very much like what SHIELD were doing. Grab what you can and go to ground somewhere already prepared. Two organisations, two sides of same coin.
Coulson threw his badge, and that's going to be difficult to replace. Because if it can light up with coordinates it's not just a lump of metal. Well done cutting off the last line of communication.
Coulson got captured, presumably while carrying his badge. So it could have been tampered with. Easily.
And yes, Ward and the Clairvoyant needed telling where that base was, but Hydra has a lot of heads so that don't prove much. Especially since the guy in the movie was saying they'd throw other bits of Hydra to SHIELD.
The guy at the base saying Fury is alive don't exactly prove anything.
... we totally can't trust a thing we've been told at this point, can we? Or, after the disappearing train one, even a thing we've seen. Lovely.
May kept telling different 'truths' about why she was assigned there. Why would she not tell Skye that they're worried Coulson is reprogrammed? Loyalty to Coulson? It maintains Coulson's authority, such as it is at this point. If it's a legit concern though, and let's face it, it is... That's not really looking out for the rest of the team. But right now nobody knows if anybody is Hydra.
Fitz is having a bad day. Simmons made a new friend. The degree to which those things are connected is of some concern, because he does not own her.
Trip inviting himself onboard, having made nice with Simmons, in the same ep that Ward explains how he got in close, is probably meant to be a source of concern. But I'm more worried about the Nice Guy. oops.
We had an episode of breathing space to revise our ideas about Ward, and get told via sports that everything we think we know about him is wrong. Or possibly that everything Garrett thinks he knows about him is wrong, but that seems less likely. This is fun and interesting, since Ward was the one I don't mind losing anyway. Nice writing.
Also we spent an episode watching SHIELD stop existing and Phil just out stubborn that reality.
Okay then.
I still don't entirely know which bits are implausible because comic books, because stupid characters, or because clues.
But I'm liking watching these people deal with the exact same confusion.
All these questions better be properly answerable by the end of the season. Right now I'm interested and a bit excited to see what they do next. If they leave us with not being sure of anything that'll not be so much fun.
4 eps to go.
:)
So in terms of plot, this episode did not grab me.
But Phil was having some feelings. A lot of feelings. Loudly.
So that part was ...
... okay, no, for once I didn't stay focused on Phil's feelings, because they were just sitting there on a white background. That... that didn't work for me.
So what to say about this one?
other than *facepalm* because Fury just had every single secret toy in the same location? really? last week I figured Hydra would have nicked them already, but, er, Nick nicked them from his own organisation. Well done, that makes so much sense.
That... what they said about it being the same guy who poked the Tesseract, yes, that fits, but, why not say Hydra owned the waste disposal place? And the expense involved in that particular flashy method of 'disposal' is mind boggling. That's all just Fury's smokescreen? How many people would it take to maintain that? Because the more people who know a secret the less likely it is to stay secret, and if this is long term policy, it's getting kind of implausible.
Also the two level 8 agents knew quite different things from each other. At what point does it become one picture? Only at Fury? Because that's dangerous to the point of unusable.
This way around Fury has been lying to really a lot of people that trusted him within his own organisation.
The other way around Hydra screwed over SHIELD.
So hey, this way around says SHIELD, itself, from Fury on down, is the problem.
okay then.
... not okay for Phil, obviously, but an interesting storytelling choice.
Was there a single new thing we learned this week?
Phil joined SHIELD straight out of school. That means everything we thought from comics is irrelevant. And that his whole life is SHIELD, no outside perspective whatsoever.
That keeps his story focused, he's the company man who finds the company is rotten.
And he was recruited by Fury, who trained him, personally. So Fury knows and trusts him, but if this is what trust looks like on Fury, that guy trusts no one.
I think Ward is being set up as a mirror here? Garret recruited him and shaped his whole world view. He's a true believer in his organisation, because he's given his whole life to it, for that guy.
If he's a mirror he's got a redemption arc coming.
So I look forward to that.
Phil was being... his reaction to the revelations was to try and be more in charge of what he still has. He's angry guy right now. Not his usual command style.
His response to the legit government trying to arrest them was to dandelion the lot of them, nick as much as he could carry, and erase all evidence of their existence. Decisions he came to quickly and smoothly, like this was all on plan.
Grant Ward wasn't fussed about losing that identity, and had to get back into answering to Grant Ward, and has lost IDs before. Ward isn't Ward. Wonder who he is?
Wonder who Coulson is?
The Hydra and 'Clairvoyant' bits I liked okay, specially since it looked very much like what SHIELD were doing. Grab what you can and go to ground somewhere already prepared. Two organisations, two sides of same coin.
Coulson threw his badge, and that's going to be difficult to replace. Because if it can light up with coordinates it's not just a lump of metal. Well done cutting off the last line of communication.
Coulson got captured, presumably while carrying his badge. So it could have been tampered with. Easily.
And yes, Ward and the Clairvoyant needed telling where that base was, but Hydra has a lot of heads so that don't prove much. Especially since the guy in the movie was saying they'd throw other bits of Hydra to SHIELD.
The guy at the base saying Fury is alive don't exactly prove anything.
... we totally can't trust a thing we've been told at this point, can we? Or, after the disappearing train one, even a thing we've seen. Lovely.
May kept telling different 'truths' about why she was assigned there. Why would she not tell Skye that they're worried Coulson is reprogrammed? Loyalty to Coulson? It maintains Coulson's authority, such as it is at this point. If it's a legit concern though, and let's face it, it is... That's not really looking out for the rest of the team. But right now nobody knows if anybody is Hydra.
Fitz is having a bad day. Simmons made a new friend. The degree to which those things are connected is of some concern, because he does not own her.
Trip inviting himself onboard, having made nice with Simmons, in the same ep that Ward explains how he got in close, is probably meant to be a source of concern. But I'm more worried about the Nice Guy. oops.
We had an episode of breathing space to revise our ideas about Ward, and get told via sports that everything we think we know about him is wrong. Or possibly that everything Garrett thinks he knows about him is wrong, but that seems less likely. This is fun and interesting, since Ward was the one I don't mind losing anyway. Nice writing.
Also we spent an episode watching SHIELD stop existing and Phil just out stubborn that reality.
Okay then.
I still don't entirely know which bits are implausible because comic books, because stupid characters, or because clues.
But I'm liking watching these people deal with the exact same confusion.
All these questions better be properly answerable by the end of the season. Right now I'm interested and a bit excited to see what they do next. If they leave us with not being sure of anything that'll not be so much fun.
4 eps to go.
:)