October 15 2013
(SPOILER)
Discuss tonight's episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D..
The fourth episode is titled "Eye Spy" and was written by Jeffrey Bell.
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Enterprise[scratch that], Voyager, alum Roxann Dawson.[ edited by Numfar PTB on 2013-10-16 00:37 ]
Numfar PTB | October 15, 15:36 CET
pat32082 | October 15, 16:21 CET
brinderwalt | October 15, 16:42 CET
[ edited by Nebula1400 on 2013-10-16 01:43 ]
Nebula1400 | October 15, 16:43 CET
Cap | October 15, 17:02 CET
pat32082 | October 15, 17:03 CET
So, I have a decision to make. I either have to watch this as a comic book, with all the constraints of comics, or let myself be bothered by too much consideration of the real. Case in point: so, you want to hide a diamond shipment, I am not sure the most effective way to do so is to dress 30 people in masks and send them all in different directions, when you know that there is a master thief out there, and by denoting those people with their masks you immediately identify them as involved. Why not just send them as themselves? Much harder to track.
And again, how many tropes can we have in one show? "I trained her," "They have a kill switch in me," "I'll take the first watch," etc. And music that lets you know how to feel. And somehow, Ward was able to find his way to the car immediately even though Sky had no idea where he was. That was the easiest break-in to a high security operation as I have ever seen, and no one was in any hallway ever. Good job, security!
But I mean, this has its pleasures. You just cannot think too deeply. If you do, it does not add up. FS is still way too deus ex machina. Is there nothing they can't do? At 28 or whatever they are masters of robotics, cybernetics, biology, medicine, nanotechnology and 14 other disciplines that take lifetimes to master. But they are cute, even if I have to turn on close captioning to hear them. And Ward is still stiff. Reminds me a lot of Cyclops, for some reason.
But, but. Still fun, just not deep.
Dana5140 | October 15, 17:10 CET
Sunfire | October 15, 17:11 CET
C. A. Bridges | October 15, 17:21 CET
[ edited by Nebula1400 on 2013-10-16 02:25 ]
Nebula1400 | October 15, 17:23 CET
Dana5140 | October 15, 17:31 CET
But I did like the stiory idea of the roboeye, especially that the agent couldn't look at anyone. Grant is also growing on me.
In the first FitzSimmons scene with nightlight, I had trouble deciphering the dialogue. However, I could follow the conversation at the operation. I think overall the sound was better.
So this ep was more of a mixed bag for me. But I'm engaged and will continue. I hope we get some more hints of mythology behind the season.
hann23 | October 15, 17:40 CET
HerbSaunders | October 15, 17:54 CET
Shea | October 15, 18:11 CET
Hoping to see the team spread around, instead of sticking so much around/inside the bus.
The imagery from the teaser sequence with the guys in mask, was cool, but I expected a lot more from that sequence.
But whoever was controlling all these former agents to do those deeds, that was an extremely intriguing thing.
Cute final tag scene, but it just keeps reminding how much better that run time would be used with a proper opening credit sequence.
Numfar PTB | October 15, 18:16 CET
Wilhelm | October 15, 18:17 CET
PaperSpock | October 15, 18:23 CET
Yes those conversations were odd. Those two have always been slightly hokey with the bonding between them but it did feel like she meant it in previous episodes. In this one it felt like she was just sucking up and covering up what she is up to. But not in a "ooo subterfuge" way. It just all felt very forced and kind of annoying. Unlike Skye intercting with anyone else.
Sunfire | October 15, 18:23 CET
Brett | October 15, 18:27 CET
redeem147 | October 15, 18:43 CET
wasabiseventeen | October 15, 18:57 CET
Angel&Faith | October 15, 19:03 CET
Shining | October 15, 19:26 CET
electricspacegirl | October 15, 19:32 CET
[ edited by Yurchel on 2013-10-16 04:43 ]
Yurchel | October 15, 19:42 CET
Bunnies | October 15, 20:23 CET
Trentaferd | October 15, 21:00 CET
Simon | October 15, 21:54 CET
I'd like also to clarify that it's in no way meant as a commentary on Disney.
Trentaferd | October 15, 22:13 CET
But back to episode discussion, having watched only the first three minutes I am excited for this episode.
Simon | October 15, 22:32 CET
[ edited by The One True b!X on 2013-10-16 08:06 ]
@theonetruebix | October 15, 23:04 CET
The writing is still so weak. There was absolutely no tension during the break-in sequence. The fight scenes are so bad. What is going on? I mean, Buffy's most hokeyiest fight scenes were better than what we are getting from this show. And that was 10+ years ago. Also the comedy felt disjointed and out of place.
Ward, even though he is still really bland, is fast becoming my favourite character. He seems to be the only one there who actually gives a toss about his job.
Skye was awful this episode, which is a shame because I haven't minded her in previous eps. All her scenes with Coulson were just weird and felt completely forced. They haven't done a good job of showing us why exactly she is a part of the team. What does she bring? Seriously, does S.H.I.E.L.D. not already have someone within the organization that knows about Instagram? Someone with field training maybe?
S1 Willow + Deus ex machina = FitzSimmons. Again, why do these operatives of S.H.I.EL.D. have no field training? And if they have no field training why are they allowed off the Bus? It makes no sense.
May was really interesting to me in the pilot, but since has grown so tiresome. She says she wants to be there and then acts like she doesn't. She has reservations about the way Coulson is handling the mission behind the backs of H.Q. but then goes off on her own behind Coulson's back to stop the rogue agent. Just makes no sense.
Kaan | October 15, 23:05 CET
But what did S.H.I.E.L.D. do to Coulson?! I'm changing my vote from close to LMD or at least some robotics/mechanics involved since Akela wouldn't see the difference in a clone. ;____; I hope for some robotics.
I love how May is so protective of Coulson. Now she also has another hint that there's something off about him.
And the idea that Coulson was tougher before is a nice addition to his character development. Coulson isn't stupid. I wonder how long it will take him to find out what S.H.I.E.L.D. did to him.
In my head cannon when all is revealed he's gonna shrug and say he figured it out a while back and there was really no point in making a fuss about it.
Mirage | October 16, 00:00 CET
Perseo | October 16, 01:03 CET
Ward is growing on me and I guess we need someone like him since everybody else is quirk personified or/and with a big secret (though there was that one line about his family history in the pilot and the brother thing, so he might have one too).
They might be trying a bit too hard with the Skye&Coulson dynamic so maybe there is a big betrayal coming up in the future. Crossing fingers, because I'd definitely prefer for Skye's loyalties to be divided for a longer while than just three episodes after all.
nyrk | October 16, 01:07 CET
Ragondux | October 16, 01:35 CET
Buffyfantic | October 16, 01:49 CET
I’m not sure where exactly this Coulson/Skye bond seemed to come from as it was almost non-existent the past few eps (and barley in 1.01 unless you count the finale scene?) but I’ll take what I can get at this point. Although, judging by the promo for next week it does seem like they’ve fast-tracked their relationship just so Coulson can feel more betrayed by Skye “doublecrossing” them. And they weren’t exactly subtle about paralleling her with the former SHIELD agent either (her name escapes me right now).
I actually laughed in this ep. When Skye and FitzSimmons called Ward to ask about a bathroom break I thought that was genuinely funny and the cast all had good chemistry. And Ward being ticklish was kind of… endearing. Bravo Jeffrey Bell for actually making me like Ward instead of finding him as dull as a plank of wood. He suited the glasses too and what can I say? He fills those t-shirts out well.
I have to agree that the fight scenes are really rather lame. They feel incredibly wooden.
The slightly darker tone worked well. The opening scene was great though I don’t think the episode lived up to its promise. Nevertheless, this episode did feel more grounded and I did feel that Bell did a good job expanding on the group dynamic and making these people feel more human and not like a bunch of witty caricatures. Coulson showed more emotion this episode which also warmed him to me and I liked Skye referring to Coulson and Melinda as “mummy and daddy” of the Bus.
I have to agree with The One True b/x! that it was a missed opportunity having Coulson barely react at all to the Handler dying as a result of Coulson approaching him. That seemed odd and clashed with the rest of the episode.
So overall this was a much more positive experience for me. I still think I would have dropped the show by now had Whedon’s name not been attached to it but this is the first episode where I could actually envision myself liking these characters.
vampmogs | October 16, 02:15 CET
Also, I've got this weird feeling, what if Skye is actually related to Coulson, like maybe a lovechild he never knew about, and her mother gave her away for adoption and he just recently found out. It would make the "mom and dad fighting " line even better. I mean I know it's cheesy but it would explain why he likes her so much.
[ edited by Boto on 2013-10-16 12:34 ]
Boto | October 16, 02:51 CET
An excellent step forward!
katsadako | October 16, 03:18 CET
Dana5140 | October 16, 03:58 CET
Ragondux | October 16, 04:18 CET
I have to say, that I'm really not a fan of the hero-ish music by Bear McReary. It's distracting and all the pathos makes the show feel even more generic than it really is. It's especially annoying during the emotional scenes.
The way they used... or didn't use... the guys with the masks was also very disappointing. It looked so cool on the set photos, but it turned out to be just a gimmick, that didn't have any significance whatsoever.
Anuris | October 16, 04:42 CET
zeitgeist | October 16, 05:01 CET
The show's directors should watch a few episodes of Xena: Warrior Princess to see how it's done.
AndrewCrossett | October 16, 05:11 CET
Ragondux | October 16, 05:13 CET
F_T_K | October 16, 05:16 CET
Dana5140 | October 16, 05:16 CET
I guess I didn't find the whole robot eyeball very compelling, and I thought the comedy didn't fit the characters. I get that as operatives they're fish out of water, but their not idiots, so some of the van/surgery yuks rang false.
I do like the hints about a big bad out there - this far in I'm kind of "I get it, I'm with you, let's move along now shall we?" mode. In comic vernacular we've had a series of stand alone issues, I'm ready for the mini-series
Lastly - it hit me that what this series lacks is a "true" lead. Buffy had Buffy, Angel had Angel, and Firefly was clearly Mal. Not sure Coulson - and I love the character - is designed as someone who can carry this ... every ensemble has a lead dog, and I don't know if a middle aged / middle mgmt spy chief is the right guy for that
TallMichaelJ | October 16, 05:30 CET
Darkness | October 16, 05:32 CET
mutt999 | October 16, 05:36 CET
It seemed to me that the only reason the woman received a special treatement is because of her history with Coulson. I'm not expecting SHIELD to be extra-careful with everyone, especially if they've shown intent to kill. It's enough for me that Coulson prefers to talk first and shoot later. Of course, YMMV.
[ edited by Ragondux on 2013-10-16 14:47 ]
Ragondux | October 16, 05:40 CET
I was waiting for a Clark Kent joke.
Jason_M_Bryant | October 16, 05:45 CET
I think after a few episodes, they're going to trust Coulson more, and the audience will follow. Then there will be a big reveal about Tahiti, and everything is going to fall apart.
Ragondux | October 16, 05:46 CET
I like Ward more each week, I love Melinda. I enjoy Fitz and Simmons and I really liked the guest star this week. She was good. I didn't notice the fight scenes were bad, but I didn't notice they were good either. I LOVED the fight scenes in Buffy. They were always enjoyable/artistic to watch.
I find the music somehow distracting. Not sure why but I NOTICE it on a regular basis, and not in a good way. Something jarring there.
Skye is definitely a Faith-ish character, but I already like her better than Faith. But she's still a bit of a mystery, I don't have "Faith" in her yet. Heh. Sorry.
Coulson is fine, I don't love him the way others do, but I like him. Although I am convinced he's a robot. I like the Skye being a love child idea.
Xane | October 16, 06:15 CET
Simon | October 16, 06:29 CET
DaddyCatALSO | October 16, 06:34 CET
I'm pretty sure the notion of an army of masked couriers was just a comic-booky thing invented for this episode.
AndrewCrossett | October 16, 06:36 CET
With Nick Fury, Akela Amador and Shepherd Book, I'm now waiting for people to complain about black characters missing eyeballs.
Ragondux | October 16, 06:38 CET
Jason_M_Bryant | October 16, 07:21 CET
[ edited by Dana5140 on 2013-10-16 16:44 ]
Dana5140 | October 16, 07:44 CET
I've known plenty of guys who could change an oil filter, even though they couldn't come close to making one from scratch.
Jason_M_Bryant | October 16, 07:51 CET
- the bad guys did not remove the eyeball, it was her real eyeball, with an implant inside
- FZ didn't know how to remove the implant cleanly, and they didn't have time, so they had to remove the eyeball and cut the optic nerve
The bionic eyeball sure was advanced enough to be science fiction, but it's not like scientists haven't been working on visual prosthesis since the 80s. It's a lot more believable than the centipede thing, the tesseract-based weapon, or gravitons. Or Lola. Or Skye breaking RSA.
[ edited by Ragondux on 2013-10-16 16:59 ]
Ragondux | October 16, 07:57 CET
nyrk | October 16, 08:03 CET
It doesn't matter, though. I decided to believe that Skye just found a weakness in their implementation, and that non computer-savvy people like Coulson translated that to "breaking RSA" :)
Ragondux | October 16, 08:09 CET
JDL | October 16, 09:26 CET
Just watched the episode on Hulu, I enjoyed it. And the act breaks were pretty great. I laughed at one. The only note I had was the same as b!X -- Coulson should have reacted more to the dead MI6 guy.
gossi | October 16, 10:06 CET
Evil Villain Ep 1: black man
Evil Villian Ep 2: Latino woman
Evil Villain Ep 3: well, two white guys (one origin story)
Evil Villain Ep 4: black woman
Evil Villain Ep 5 (coming): Asian man
I just find this off, but I know I am alone on this one.
Dana5140 | October 16, 10:13 CET
As for how the show is progressing: I've been enjoying it, but do we know when Joss is writing another episode? After a season opener he often pens a tremendous script around episode 6 or 7, e.g. "Lie to Me", "Family", and "Once More, with Feeling" in Buffy, "Man on the Street" in Dollhouse, and "Our Mrs. Reynolds" in Firefly. I'm hoping that around that point (after the break on the 29th for the rerun of the Pilot) the season kicks into high gear.
[ edited by Bishop on 2013-10-16 19:28 ]
Bishop | October 16, 10:15 CET
Edit/important correction: I realize Melinda isn't "white" of course. I appear to have had a problem with my brain being missing. Still, no main-cast black or hispanic good guys is an issue.
[ edited by sab39 on 2013-10-16 19:26 ]
sab39 | October 16, 10:23 CET
On the other hand, imagine if the roles had been reversed, and if the englishman had allowed his handler to be identified by describing his writing as typical of a black person. Scandal!
Ragondux | October 16, 10:39 CET
Sunfire | October 16, 10:52 CET
I have to give Bear McReary credit this episode. His music fit well with the whole "espionage in old Soviet" theme, and frankly I felt like was watching a good spy movie.
I have never really been a fan of the spy genre. From the superheroic tales like Mission Impossible or 007 to the more serious (?) versions of John Le Carre, it always strikes me as hokey. My disbelief is not suspended. The little things I do know about espionage is that it is not cool and it would make poor entertainment without beeing beefed up with fiction. Not a lot of people read documentaries about spies, AFAIK.
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. exists in another world and my disbelief is more easily suspended. Agent Coulson was killed by Loki, so I can easily understand that someone would have the tech to remotely control someone via an implanted eye, and so and so forth. The premise of the episode was solid and the episode was well produced.
The acting was my cup of tea. Nicknames like Fitzy and AC were used, and Skye seemed a little nervous that Mommy and Daddy were going to get a divorce, and who hasn't been there? Maybe that's just me.
I like to watch a show where people are in peril, but still have fun on their job. Where people's level of incompetence doesn't immediately get them fired, but they are given chances to learn. Yes I am looking at the characters without field training.
I enjoy Coulson's fatherly approach to team leading. It seems like his second chance at life is being used to create a family he probably would never be able to have outside the job.
It seems a bit odd that Nick Fury would allow something so sentimental to be done on the job, but maybe he feels like owes AC a break. After all, AC's probable death saved the world.
So, for me, the fact that Agent Coulson hasn't chosen a crack team of elite soldiers is what is extraordinarily fascinating about this show and makes it different from all other shows around. All other shows that may be similar seem to immediately have the best of the best working together.
This show is good already, and has tons of potential. Character building, story arcs, all the stuff that Joss does well, can be done well with this show.
And with all the talk about ESP, I'm starting to wonder if they aren't foreshadowing some "magic" after all, maybe even some Scarlet Witch conncetion.
alber | October 16, 11:30 CET
My thoughts exactly!
Eh... imo it could be a LOT darker - and better served by it, too (last I checked Arrow is on at 8pm...)
Actually I'm surprised that I didn't (think I was distracted by the Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex Interceptors scenario parallels.)
If memory serves she lost her natural eye in the mission gone wrong, then was "supplied" with a replacement...
Imo if you're overly bothered by the general lack of plausibility in the show so far, I'm inclined to say that you're probably watching the wrong show...
[ edited by brinderwalt on 2013-10-16 20:41 ]
brinderwalt | October 16, 11:33 CET
Not that I wouldn't totally welcome more black/Hispanic characters on the hero side. More Ron Glass would be a great start!
[ edited by swanjun on 2013-10-16 20:40 ]
swanjun | October 16, 11:37 CET
And listing all the guest characters as villians isn't actually accurate. The point of the show is that everyone matters and sometimes things aren't what they seem. So I'm chalking it up to diverse guest casting of non typical "baddies" that are actually just people making choices that the team has to deal with, sometimes to save, sometimes to stop.
I was fine with the diamond couriers seeming like a festival falsh mob. I mean, would you see a bunch of masked men walking around looking conspicuous and think they had millions in diamonds on them? It looked cool and it was out of the box thinking to transport jewels and it guaranteed that none of the men guarding the jewels could be recognized by outside observers. It should have worked. If they weren't dealing with a bionic Agent.
I honestly don't pay attention to the music much, so it doesn't distract or enhance for me much. But I wish I could hear "grr argh" at the end of each episode.
I'm waiting to like Ward. Because I still don't.
[ edited by NYPinTA on 2013-10-16 20:47 ]
NYPinTA | October 16, 11:42 CET
I am liking the Ward/Skye interaction a lot. We're starting to get some background on the team, but I need more. We know virtually nothing about FS & very little about Melinda.
[ edited by VisionGirl on 2013-10-16 20:46 ]
[ edited by VisionGirl on 2013-10-16 20:47 ]
VisionGirl | October 16, 11:45 CET
Looking forward to that early-to-mid-season curveball episode.
sumogrip | October 16, 12:10 CET
JDL | October 16, 12:13 CET
gossi | October 16, 12:20 CET
Bunnies | October 16, 12:23 CET
I wouldn't go quite that far. There is something to be said for popcorn entertainment (what Marvel does best) of which imo MaoS is proving to be a prime example. Not necessarily a whole lot to say, though (and hence probably why I've never been much of a Marvel fan in general...)
But really, if you happen to like the kind of entertainment that Marvel produces (which recent box office history suggests is pretty likely) then I really can't think of a good reason why you wouldn't like this show (hence why I suspect it'll end up running for much longer than many people would believe.)
[ edited by brinderwalt on 2013-10-16 22:26 ]
brinderwalt | October 16, 13:07 CET
If that is not the sweetest matter-of-fact statement ever...
Let's talk about that robot eyeball. So, how did that work exactly?
The x-ray vision is of course pure sci-fi, but already today there exists working prototypes for implants that hook up a miniature camera to the optic nerve, restoring vision to the blind. The resolution is awful, but give it time...
RSA (the company behind RSA) actually told people a week before SHIELD started airing not to use RSA for encryption, as they believe it may have been broken by the NSA.
Not quite. As you note, RSA is both a company and the name of an algorithm. The RSA company has published a large number of other security-related algorithms, several of which has been broken (e.g. MD5 and RC4). More recently, documents released by Edward Snowden has suggested that the Dual_EC_DRBG algorithm had been intentionally designed by the NSA to be easily broken. That is not an algorithm designed by the RSA, but it was used in some RSA security software, hence the announcement. The RSA algorithm has not been broken, and is as strong as ever; however, a lot of software using the RSA algorithm has had defects over the years; it was recently revealed that NSA actively works to introduce errors into such software, to effectively break the RSA encryption, even if the algorithm itself is not broken.
Which brings me back on topic: It is far from unrealistic for a skilled hacker (such as Skye) to have broken an RSA implementation. Yay for realistic technobabble. ;-)
Kwi | October 16, 13:32 CET
I still think that Fitz/Simmons could be a bit more interesting. Skye was tolerable in this episode. Whatever the agent guy's name is was fairly forgettable (not the actor's fault I think).
insistondoubt | October 16, 14:16 CET
Evil Villain Ep 1: black man
Evil Villian Ep 2: Latino woman
Evil Villain Ep 3: well, two white guys (one origin story)
Evil Villain Ep 4: black woman
Evil Villain Ep 5 (coming): Asian man
I just find this off, but I know I am alone on this one.
Dana5140 | October 16, 19:13 CET
I don't know, this feels like you're looking at this from a weirdly skewed angle. JAR's character in Ep1 wasn't a villain. The white doctor lady was, if anyone. Ep2, yes I'll give you that. Ep3 is also on-point. Ep4 also wasn't a black woman - if you go down that route it was black woman + white (British) man (actual villain is unknown). Haven't seen the Ep5 preview so can't comment on that. I feel you're looking for a pattern where there isn't one. You already have two (at least partially) Asian women on the cast. I don't see the need for a full-spectrum rainbow cast here. We got diversity and everything is pretty equal opportunity so far.
That said, still my favorite thing about this series is the small character stuff between Skye and everyone else and FitzSimmons when they're doing their stuff among themselves. Can't get enough of it. Skye has this casual, awkward and throwaway style of talking that I really like in her character. Also, the parents vs kids dynamic is really fitting and quite funny. I still hope the show gets a little darker soon. Doesn't have to be permanent but I can't wait until we're out of the baby shoes and stuff gets REAL.
As for weird plot/logic inconsistencies, it's really not a new thing to Whedon shows. There's always something a little weird. I've got no issues with it as long as it doesn't affect the character development negatively. After watching a lot of Doctor Who, I've learned to just take the goofy/odd stuff in and cherish the character interactions.
I feel a big problem here for "us" is that we come off of this big history with Whedon shows and overall amazingness that makes it hard to live through a shows's growing pains and wait until it has found its groove. I have this issue with a lot of new shows. Waiting a week and another week and another week for something to trickle out information and character bits is tiring. If you have a DVD set ready to go for your first experience, it's far easier to get past the warm-up phase. I think a good example is the much-disliked early third season of LOST where a part of the cast spends time in a fixed location for a handful of episodes. When that takes 1-2 months of real time, it's terrible. But on DVD, it's dealt with in an evening or Sunday afternoon marathon.
I bet once we look back on Season 1 of SHIELD, much of what we scratch our head at now will make way more sense or falls by the wayside and gets filed under "training wheels."
D-e-f- | October 16, 15:38 CET
As far as I know there is only a single Whedon show currently in existence about which a sizable population - even here - would dare to argue wasn't subject to its own share of early growing pains.
So do I - it's a major factor in the way I make quality judgments of what I'm watching...
...because it gives you the luxury of viewing the overall work more in the context of a film or extended novel. One of the hallmarks of good television is that it is able to entertain while existing in the confines of itself as a medium. If a tv show can't find a way to keep its viewers sufficiently engaged over the breaks that broadcast and production schedules dictate, then there are no bones about it - it's just not a very good show.
brinderwalt | October 16, 16:32 CET
As someone who LOVES the Marvel movies, I don't agree with this at all. Just about everything I like in Marvel movies is missing from this show: great action sequences, snappy writing, fantastic actors, and compelling characters. And if we want to get really basic, the biggest difference between the movies and MAoS is the lack of superheroes. Someone who enjoys people flying around and smashing things might find the procedural focus of this show dull.
I'm very meh on this show. I'm trying to enjoy it as fun and comic booky. But I keep coming back to the fact that the movies are so much better than this, and Marvel movies are now the standard by which I judge "fun and comic booky". I really, really want to like this show, but every week I find myself lowering my standards of what to expect, and every week I still find it lacking any sort of depth. It's not up to the standards I've come to expect from either Marvel or Joss, and ultimately I'm disappointed. Ah well, I'll keep watching because Joss.
[ edited by Dizzy on 2013-10-17 03:16 ]
Dizzy | October 16, 18:11 CET
You and I are in agreement. The only villain of color so far has been Reyes in episode 2. Mike was NOT a villain whatsoever. He was even called a superHERO by Coulson. Akela also wasn't a villain.
jb-the-hunter | October 16, 18:23 CET
BTW, I had two eye operations in the past month (successful ones, thank you) and there were no needles involved except for the one delivering a sedative to my arm. Anesthetic can very well be administered to the eyes via eyedrops. (Does the inside of the eye even have pain receptors?)
Anyway, I understood the horse-tranquilizer syringe in this episode as a mix of horror and dark comedy, and I doubt that the writers meant us to believe that they think eye surgery is really done that way.
mozzarellademon | October 16, 19:25 CET
NYPinTA | October 16, 19:40 CET
Also, I want the Big Bad to be another copy of Coulson secretly running Centipede and/or the Eye Spies as compartmentalized SHIELD operations and sporting an evil beard.
Most of all, I want them to do what they do, which is come up with better stuff than me.
Pointy | October 16, 20:40 CET
It also seemed to me that there was more time spent on the team and less on the guests. That may have contributed to my feeling of this went quickly as generally I find the team more interesting.
JDL | October 16, 21:26 CET
Oh, I just thought of the reason for the needle.
It's what they had on hand.
They weren't in a hospital. Simmons even said that she wasn't qualified to be doing surgery. So of course they didn't have anesthetic eye drops. They had to just use whatever was in the Bus' med locker.
Jason_M_Bryant | October 17, 01:08 CET
Character growth is coming along nicely. I laughted out loud at Skye's gun mishap despite it being telegraphed. That's what made it even more funny for me. Her "you're a machine" link to Grant was also very funny. Plus it wad nice seeing her interact with Fitz at the end.
Speaking of Fitz, finally! We have him interacting with people out of his scientific role. These are the places where character growth comes out of. The more we see Fitz and Simmons out of the lab, the more chances their characters can grow and deepen. That's why I liked them in the van, even if they are not qualified to be in the field.
Ward was great in this episode. His exasperation at people breaking protocol, his ticklishness, and his "help" moment. Ward has a tough role to play as the Serious Man, but they are loosening him up a bit. There's still more room for him to grow when they start dealing with his past.
May and Coulson continue to be excellent.
The reveal about the British handler and the diagrams on the blackboard were almost the "man on the street" moment for me. It showed how deep this shadow organization goes, combined with their adaption of alien technology. It's a sure bet that they are behind Centipede too, and I wouldn't be surprised if they had influence with the Rising Tide as well. There was another nod to Coulson's wrongness, May is going to start digging around where she shouldn't soon.
I thought the pace on a lot of the initial episodes was a bit rushed, but something else to keep in mind: MAoS had thirteen episodes to start, so they may have a storyline compressed to finish in thirteen episodes.
Other postes have already covered the race villain angle. MAoS has three female leads, and two Asian characters. They continue to have minority characters on the show in complex roles.
chrisobrien | October 17, 07:26 CET
Dana5140 | October 17, 09:34 CET
gossi | October 17, 10:25 CET
At least not after just the fourth episode. It'll take at least until the season finale.
(Personally I'm hoping that Amador comes back and joins the team permanently. We have precedent.)
ManEnoughToAdmitIt | October 17, 11:16 CET
alber | October 17, 12:21 CET
BTW, my daughter commented that she though the Leverage team could have done a better job, lol.
rexlibris | October 17, 14:00 CET
Dad = Coulson
She was commenting on how awkward it was for her to watch the argument that the two of them had just had. That's why Coulson responded with "That shouldn't have happened."
I loved that line. I've been thinking of those two as Mom and Dad from the moment the cast was announced.
Jason_M_Bryant | October 17, 15:55 CET
This make shock some people, but I have it on good word that "Hollywood pretty people" actually exist in real life...
You forgot the "it didn't work out" foster-child part, which is what I assumed she was referring to at the time.
[ edited by brinderwalt on 2013-10-18 03:18 ]
brinderwalt | October 17, 18:14 CET
There were some very nice touches, e.g., the "seduce him" moment, and the moment where they see their own van through the rogue agent's eyes. These moments would have been significantly better though had they not been punctuated with trite, cutesy dialogue (Ward's squeaky plea for "help") or gratuitous expositional dialogue telling us the obvious ("what are we seeing?"; "us"). And I can really really do without cornball lines like, "I forgot how good you are" (this episode) and "yes, they're that good" (first episode).
Also, am I the only person who thinks Melinda is by far the weakest character? Everything she does seems designed to show us she's a hardened agent with a troubled past who does not mince words and has no patience for rookie silliness and sentiment (but deep down she really cares and there's some emotional fragility too!). Why work so hard to establish a character who's just a silly stereotype? I would like her to do something unexpected and interesting, something that shows how she differs from the stereotype.
Don't mean this to sound too negative. I enjoyed the episode and was entertained, and there were even moments where it really felt like a Whedon show. It did a lot of things right, and I think it's moving in the right direction. I would just like to see more darkness and suspense, some better characterization, and fewer dialogue gaffes. I think the show is entertaining though, and could eventually develop into something great. I look forward to seeing more fun episodes.
[ edited by Squishy on 2013-10-18 04:43 ]
Squishy | October 17, 19:38 CET
rexlibris | October 18, 07:55 CET
Simon | October 18, 23:21 CET
[ edited by viewingfigures on 2014-04-11 21:01 ]
viewingfigures | October 19, 08:17 CET