Marvel Agents of Shield...eh I give up.
Oct. 22nd, 2013 10:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatWatching the 5th Episode of Marvel's Agents of Shield ...and oh dear.
(You really do need to put the Marvel bit in the title, AoS doesn't cut it, has to be Marvel's AoS or MAoS, or you might forget this is a FRANCHISE, although not sure why you would since it walks, talks, and bounces up and down like one.)
So once again, we have more interesting guest starring cast than the main cast. I really liked the actress playing Rhianna, the bad girl.
This round we meet Scorch or Mr. Chan, a street performer with the ability to create flames. Rhianna befriends him and then tricks him into becoming a human experiment. Which entails increasing his powers then all of a sudden removing the blood platelates that ensure he doesn't burn to a crisp. Because they need to figure out how to stop blowing up people who they turn into super-soliders. Or at least have stable subjects.
Meanwhile...SHIELD is on the case. And they discover someone from the Rising Tide has hacked into their systems. Everyone looks at Skye - because you know, resident hacker so obviously she did it.
Turns out not so much - but when they chase down the guy who did, he escapes, and Skye finds him and whoops rips off his clothes and has wild sex with him. (At least we are meant to believe it is). Milo - apparently befriended Skye, took her in, and taught her everything he knew. She informs him that his hacking into SHIELD could have exposed her. She was finally inside SHIELD, dang it. So they engage in a wee bit of post-coital pillow talk. She shows him the disc of info that she's managed to get from SHIELD so far - along with her hiding place, which of course is her bra. Also interestingly enough Skye is able to have sex with her bra and panties still on - because you know, it's a family show. (Hey, considering back in the day they were in separate beds or with one leg hanging over the bed, this is actually progress. ) Milo isn't so lucky - his shirt comes off, so we can see what a hunky guy he is.
(Not very realistic for a hacker from Austin, Texas. Usually they look more like Leonard from Big Bang Theory and less like Ward, but then most women who are hackers aren't in as good a shape as Skye is either.)
Skye tells Milo that luckily they haven't been caught this time, but he needs to be more careful and should help her find her shirt. (As an aside, is it just me or do people in Whedon series, who have just had sex, always appear to be hunting their clothing? What do they do, throw it around the room in the process?) Skye's shirt somehow ended up in the hall, because whoopsie, Ming-Na Wen's character is holding it. She hands it to Skye and more or less, states, Gotcha. (And no, she doesn't change expression. I'm thinking this is a direction choice and not an acting choice? Ming to the director - come on, can I crack a smile, just a slight one? Pleassse! Director - no, show no expression whatsoever, it'll be funny.) Then SHIELD materializes out of thin air - everyone on the team no less, and takes Milo and Skye into custody.
Coulson and Ming-Na Wen have a brief conversation about how Coulson was an idiot for trusting Skye. Ming-Na Wen tells him, again with no change in expression - "hey, if someone broke into my house - I wouldn't invite them to stay, but that's just me." (Which is actually the best line I've heard in a while.)
Then they interrogate them - discovering that Milo sold the information on Mr. Chan to Centipede Project. (Yes, the same group that almost killed J August Young's character in the pilot.) Through Skye and Milo's assistance, they track down Project Centipede, but are, alas too late to save Mr. Chan. Although Chan does manage to kill the doctor that J August Young saved in the pilot...so progress. He also kills the Shield Agent that had been tasked with watching him. (In rather gory detail no less - honestly did we have to see the doctor burn to a crisp and explode? Was this really necessary? You can't show a sex scene, or nudity, but you can show a woman burning to a crisp and exploding? And everyone wonders why our society is so violent.) Not to worry, Rhianna, who betrayed him, escapes.
Shield arrives on the scene, represented by Ming-Na Wen and Coulson (who aren't that great at fighting things, because our resident hackers have to aid them. Skye wants to get closer to do it. Milo argues that that makes no sense. Hackers work from their computer, they aren't Navy Seals. I'd have to agree. My attention admittedly wandered during this - so I have no idea whether they went in and saved them. I think they did - because Coulson got out of danger, long enough to shoot Scorch up with a serum which would hold him in place - long enough for him to explode. In short, they decided to eradicate the problem, rather than save the guy. Poor Scorch.)
When they return to their flying center of operations, Milo is given a bracelet that makes it impossible for him to use or get near electronics of any sort. They also leave him Japan, not in Austin, Texas where he resides and donate the million he stole to Mr. Chan's family. (Apparently it's considered punishment to dump a stupid American con artist and crook in Japan with no way to get home and no passport. What did the Japanese ever do to Shield?)
Then Coulson talks to Skye, informing her that he knows she's hiding something. (Yes, Coulson is a tad dense. But he did get skewered by an alien, so we'll give him a pass.) She gives him the disc that she hides inside her bra. Stating that contains everything on her. No wait. Everything she has been able to find out about her parents. The farthest she got was a redacted file - labeled classified by SHIELD. (Pesky government is always hiding things from people in tv shows.) Coulson warns her that she might not like what she discovers. Skye states that it can't be any worse than what she's imagined. (Normally, I'd say that she's wrong, but in this case I doubt it. There's three or four possibilities - they are rogue agents/villains, they died horribly, turned into monsters in a weird experiment, have become the worst criminal on the CIA's black list (oh wait, that's The Black List) or are still alive but in highly covert jobs - ie running Shield. (Yes, she's the love child of Agent Brand and Nick Fury - yet weirdly doesn't have green hair or black skin. Or maybe she's the love child of Agent Coulson and Agent Smulders? ) Then Coulson decides to put the same cuff around Skye's wrist that he put around Milo's -after Skye swears to him that there is no way Shield can stop her from finding out about her parents. Apparently there is? (So are they keeping Skye around or dumping her in Japan? Looks like they are keeping her around, but on a short leash. (At least from the previews for the next episode). Poor Skye. Who by the way looks more and more like Eliza Dusku's younger sister or love child by Amy Acker, except without the acting skill of either.)
Meanwhile...off in a prison cell-block somewhere in Asia, Rhianna (I think that's her name)
visits a mysterious guy and informs him that they've made it to stage 2 with project centipede and discovered a way to stabilize their subjects. (Project Centipede by the way appears to have been stolen from Iron Man 3 - which also had super-heroed people who turned into bombs, but they lived. Actually I preferred that story line not to mention the name of the item, plus bonus, Robert Downy Jr. and Guy Pierce.) And she needs his assistance for Stage 3. Also they have a problem with SHIELD - who interfered with their last subject (J August Young) and now, Scorch (although it wasn't so bad this round, since they were sort of done with him, plus he wasn't as good an actor so didn't get to survive). Can he consult the clairvoyent and see what they know about it? The guy in the cell tells her - he's not so sure, since the clairvoyent doesn't like to be touched. (Oh? So is the clairvoyent Ming Na-Wen, because that would explain a lot.) But, okey-dokey, he'll do it.
We end there.
I don't know...even the really bad episodes of Buffy S1 were more entertaining. Actually...for that matter, so was Charmed and The Tomorrow People. But on the plus side?
It was better than the second and third episodes...so progress?
(You really do need to put the Marvel bit in the title, AoS doesn't cut it, has to be Marvel's AoS or MAoS, or you might forget this is a FRANCHISE, although not sure why you would since it walks, talks, and bounces up and down like one.)
So once again, we have more interesting guest starring cast than the main cast. I really liked the actress playing Rhianna, the bad girl.
This round we meet Scorch or Mr. Chan, a street performer with the ability to create flames. Rhianna befriends him and then tricks him into becoming a human experiment. Which entails increasing his powers then all of a sudden removing the blood platelates that ensure he doesn't burn to a crisp. Because they need to figure out how to stop blowing up people who they turn into super-soliders. Or at least have stable subjects.
Meanwhile...SHIELD is on the case. And they discover someone from the Rising Tide has hacked into their systems. Everyone looks at Skye - because you know, resident hacker so obviously she did it.
Turns out not so much - but when they chase down the guy who did, he escapes, and Skye finds him and whoops rips off his clothes and has wild sex with him. (At least we are meant to believe it is). Milo - apparently befriended Skye, took her in, and taught her everything he knew. She informs him that his hacking into SHIELD could have exposed her. She was finally inside SHIELD, dang it. So they engage in a wee bit of post-coital pillow talk. She shows him the disc of info that she's managed to get from SHIELD so far - along with her hiding place, which of course is her bra. Also interestingly enough Skye is able to have sex with her bra and panties still on - because you know, it's a family show. (Hey, considering back in the day they were in separate beds or with one leg hanging over the bed, this is actually progress. ) Milo isn't so lucky - his shirt comes off, so we can see what a hunky guy he is.
(Not very realistic for a hacker from Austin, Texas. Usually they look more like Leonard from Big Bang Theory and less like Ward, but then most women who are hackers aren't in as good a shape as Skye is either.)
Skye tells Milo that luckily they haven't been caught this time, but he needs to be more careful and should help her find her shirt. (As an aside, is it just me or do people in Whedon series, who have just had sex, always appear to be hunting their clothing? What do they do, throw it around the room in the process?) Skye's shirt somehow ended up in the hall, because whoopsie, Ming-Na Wen's character is holding it. She hands it to Skye and more or less, states, Gotcha. (And no, she doesn't change expression. I'm thinking this is a direction choice and not an acting choice? Ming to the director - come on, can I crack a smile, just a slight one? Pleassse! Director - no, show no expression whatsoever, it'll be funny.) Then SHIELD materializes out of thin air - everyone on the team no less, and takes Milo and Skye into custody.
Coulson and Ming-Na Wen have a brief conversation about how Coulson was an idiot for trusting Skye. Ming-Na Wen tells him, again with no change in expression - "hey, if someone broke into my house - I wouldn't invite them to stay, but that's just me." (Which is actually the best line I've heard in a while.)
Then they interrogate them - discovering that Milo sold the information on Mr. Chan to Centipede Project. (Yes, the same group that almost killed J August Young's character in the pilot.) Through Skye and Milo's assistance, they track down Project Centipede, but are, alas too late to save Mr. Chan. Although Chan does manage to kill the doctor that J August Young saved in the pilot...so progress. He also kills the Shield Agent that had been tasked with watching him. (In rather gory detail no less - honestly did we have to see the doctor burn to a crisp and explode? Was this really necessary? You can't show a sex scene, or nudity, but you can show a woman burning to a crisp and exploding? And everyone wonders why our society is so violent.) Not to worry, Rhianna, who betrayed him, escapes.
Shield arrives on the scene, represented by Ming-Na Wen and Coulson (who aren't that great at fighting things, because our resident hackers have to aid them. Skye wants to get closer to do it. Milo argues that that makes no sense. Hackers work from their computer, they aren't Navy Seals. I'd have to agree. My attention admittedly wandered during this - so I have no idea whether they went in and saved them. I think they did - because Coulson got out of danger, long enough to shoot Scorch up with a serum which would hold him in place - long enough for him to explode. In short, they decided to eradicate the problem, rather than save the guy. Poor Scorch.)
When they return to their flying center of operations, Milo is given a bracelet that makes it impossible for him to use or get near electronics of any sort. They also leave him Japan, not in Austin, Texas where he resides and donate the million he stole to Mr. Chan's family. (Apparently it's considered punishment to dump a stupid American con artist and crook in Japan with no way to get home and no passport. What did the Japanese ever do to Shield?)
Then Coulson talks to Skye, informing her that he knows she's hiding something. (Yes, Coulson is a tad dense. But he did get skewered by an alien, so we'll give him a pass.) She gives him the disc that she hides inside her bra. Stating that contains everything on her. No wait. Everything she has been able to find out about her parents. The farthest she got was a redacted file - labeled classified by SHIELD. (Pesky government is always hiding things from people in tv shows.) Coulson warns her that she might not like what she discovers. Skye states that it can't be any worse than what she's imagined. (Normally, I'd say that she's wrong, but in this case I doubt it. There's three or four possibilities - they are rogue agents/villains, they died horribly, turned into monsters in a weird experiment, have become the worst criminal on the CIA's black list (oh wait, that's The Black List) or are still alive but in highly covert jobs - ie running Shield. (Yes, she's the love child of Agent Brand and Nick Fury - yet weirdly doesn't have green hair or black skin. Or maybe she's the love child of Agent Coulson and Agent Smulders? ) Then Coulson decides to put the same cuff around Skye's wrist that he put around Milo's -after Skye swears to him that there is no way Shield can stop her from finding out about her parents. Apparently there is? (So are they keeping Skye around or dumping her in Japan? Looks like they are keeping her around, but on a short leash. (At least from the previews for the next episode). Poor Skye. Who by the way looks more and more like Eliza Dusku's younger sister or love child by Amy Acker, except without the acting skill of either.)
Meanwhile...off in a prison cell-block somewhere in Asia, Rhianna (I think that's her name)
visits a mysterious guy and informs him that they've made it to stage 2 with project centipede and discovered a way to stabilize their subjects. (Project Centipede by the way appears to have been stolen from Iron Man 3 - which also had super-heroed people who turned into bombs, but they lived. Actually I preferred that story line not to mention the name of the item, plus bonus, Robert Downy Jr. and Guy Pierce.) And she needs his assistance for Stage 3. Also they have a problem with SHIELD - who interfered with their last subject (J August Young) and now, Scorch (although it wasn't so bad this round, since they were sort of done with him, plus he wasn't as good an actor so didn't get to survive). Can he consult the clairvoyent and see what they know about it? The guy in the cell tells her - he's not so sure, since the clairvoyent doesn't like to be touched. (Oh? So is the clairvoyent Ming Na-Wen, because that would explain a lot.) But, okey-dokey, he'll do it.
We end there.
I don't know...even the really bad episodes of Buffy S1 were more entertaining. Actually...for that matter, so was Charmed and The Tomorrow People. But on the plus side?
It was better than the second and third episodes...so progress?