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Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. - Season 2 (1 Viewer)

Matt Hough

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Some good action tonight, and a great surprise with Fitz. But a couple of those agents were beyond stupid dealing with things they have been warned not to tamper with.
 

Adam Lenhardt

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My thoughts from the previous thread, posted moments before this one went live:Decent premiere tonight. Other than the whole S.H.I.E.L.D. being destroyed by HYDRA thing, this was a lot closer to what I expected from a S.H.I.E.L.D. show than what we got in the first season. It was about the work of investigating, isolating and protecting the unknown instead of a lot of poorly scripted interpersonal dynamics. The episode also more effectively employed its ensemble cast than in previous episodes; every character got his or her moment, without any of them taking undue attention from the whole. Perhaps most impressively, they got Lucy Lawless and they just integrated her into the ensemble without spending a lot of time pointing out that, hey, we got Lucy Lawless. The handling of her character reminded me a bit of how Hitchcock used Janet Leigh in Psycho.It's nice that Skye has evidently become more of a trained professional in the months between the first season finale and the season premiere. The character works well when she's a professional utilizing her skill set. The only scene where the character grated for me tonight was when she was interrogating Ward, because it got back to those one dimensional emotions again. On the other hand, Brett Dalton continues to bring interesting colors to his performance as Ward -- reinforcing how good of any idea it was to make his straight-laced character the traitor.Coulson's new role necessarily means he won't be the same hands-on player that he was during the first season. They did a decent enough job transitioning the character into his new role without losing his sense of humor or distinct world view.Some actors work better on television, and don't scale up to the big screen well. Some actors thrive on the big screen and feel somehow diminished on television. Neal McDonough is one of the few actors who excels equally in both mediums; his cameo at the beginning of tonight's episode just reminded me how much I want to see more of him as Dum Dum Dugan. One of the truly inspired bits of casting in the Marvel universe, right up there with Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark. They're putting together a very solid cast for Agent Carter, and I really hope McDonough appears in it.
 

Sean Bryan

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Yes, I thought it was a great start to the new season. I agree with Adam that the show already has more of a feel of what I'd initially expected of the first season (though season one did have a nice energy starting around mid-season).Also, while recently re-watching season one I picked up on something Koenig said when we first met him. He talked about online gaming with his brother while he was isolated in the secret base. So I suspected that the second Koenig was likely a twin brother. It seems like that is what they are going with, unless they decide to throw a twist with that at some later point.
 

Adam Lenhardt

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Sean Bryan said:
Also, while recently re-watching season one I picked up on something Koenig said when we first met him. He talked about online gaming with his brother while he was isolated in the secret base. So I suspected that the second Koenig was likely a twin brother. It seems like that is what they are going with, unless they decide to throw a twist with that at some later point.
Except that Triplett was commenting to Skye about how every time he has a conversation with Koenig he mentions a new brother, and how nobody could possibly have that many brothers. And while Fitz is admittedly not a reliable source at the moment, he seemed to know what the deal with all of the Koenigs was.
 

NeilO

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Adam Lenhardt said:
They're putting together a very solid cast for Agent Carter, and I really hope McDonough appears in it.
I'm hoping that the first scene was a nice preview of what we might expect to see on Agent Carter.

Not having read much about what's coming when I saw those "mercenary" characters going off with our main cast I had a feeling that some of them would not make it out of the episode alive.


I thought the use of the Absorbing Man was done quite well in the episode. They did put some thought in the use of his powers.
 

Adam Lenhardt

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Sean Bryan said:
What was it that Fitz indicated about Koenig?
I think it was something about how Coulson was using the Koenigs (plural) to replace him. I can't remember the exact wording, but it made it sound like they were a product line more than human beings.
 

Sam Favate

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I enjoyed the premiere, and starting out with the WWII flashback was very cool. I also enjoyed that the reveal at the end showed the same bad guy Nazi from the beginning. If the Winter Soldier can stay young over 70 years, why not? Like Indiana Jones said, "best bad guys there are." (Actually, that was Harrison Ford in promotion for Last Crusade.)

Nice to see the cast back in action. Coulsen and May have a nice dynamic. Is Lucy Lawless really only in this one episode? I thought she was to be recurring. Lots of new faces in SHIELD; hope they take the time to tell us who they are and where they came from.
 

dana martin

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I think Lucy will be I a whole lot more episodes, although she has worked with Jed Whedon (brother of Joss) and Maurissa Tancharoen, before, I don't think we are going to get the same scantily clad performance that she gave in Spartacus. Not a bad thing, as she always brings something good to the project,


tight written episode, I wonder what other "Cameos" are going to happen, and I do have one question, what would it take to get Hurt to reprise Gen. Ross and have him arguing with Gen Talbot about the original idea behind the Avengers Initiative,

the dynamic of Fitz is an interesting point, help or hindrance? and how that arc is going to play out will make for a good season
 

Chip_HT

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I'm wondering why Triplett is still just a guest star, especially when they add a new cast member with no prior history on the show. I guess he's due to be added to the cast credits around episode 18 of season 3, just in time to take a bullet to the chest.

Between the loaded guest cast and special effects, this episode appeared to have quite the budget. I hope that we don't see a dip in the next few episodes to compensate.
 

Sean Bryan

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I think I heard that he may also be attached to another series, so his availability may be limited enough to have to keep him as a guest star.
 

Sean Bryan

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So, about those alien markings:The markings drawn by Garrett and Coulson were first seen in Episode 4 "Eye-Spy". Getting "eyes" on those markings was the mission of the compromised agent whose place was taken by Ward. We don't know who made them or who exactly it was that was studying them.
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The same (or very similar) markings can be seen on the dead Alien in the Guest House and you can catch another brief glimpse of that in the quick shot of its arm in the season 2 premier.
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Quick glimpse of the Alien in a box at the Hydra base taken by Peggy Carter.
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After taking the serum Garrett drew the markings, and then later Coulson.
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I'm curious about why/how Centipede was aware that those markings were in that Russian base. And then they got a good look at them when Ward completed the mission so what became of that information and who wanted it? I'm guessing that Garrett was aware of them since he was head of Centipede. But Centipede/Hydra seemed completely in the dark about the Guest House and the Alien.I suppose it's all tied into who ran the Guest House, since it wasn't Hydra and it wasn't SHIELD. A third party? Or a sub-faction within one of those organizations? Fury would seem to know.
 

Matt Hough

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An entertaining episode tonight: fast-paced with some good dry comedy lines for Coulson and a victory of sorts for Fitz who I hope will respond to the new presence in the lab and learn to trust him (as he trusted Ward last season until his heart got broken). The coda sequence was great!
 

Adam Lenhardt

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I agree. The show has an assuredness about itself now that it didn't really have in the first season. No really cringe worthy moments tonight, either. (Although Skye's anamatomical joke about the Absorbing Man came close) The show is more sparing with its attempts at humor, which results in a much better hit-to-miss ratio. And the appearance of Special Agent Dale Cooper is never a bad thing.Based on the preview for next week, it looks like:
We'll find out what the real Simmons has been up to since the first season finale.
 

Malcolm R

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The ratings keep falling. From TVbythenumbers.com:
Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. earned a series low 1.7 adults 18-49 rating, down 19 percent from a 2.1 for last week’s premiere.
 

Sam Favate

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Did I miss something? May and Skye were shot and then appear to be normal in the next sequence. It seems like it was explained in the chat between Lance and Coulsen, but I didn't understand how it was that they were okay. Otherwise I thought it was a good episode. Sorry to hear about the ratings, but the show has to stop dropping in characters from nowhere and expecting us to know (or care) who they are.
 

David Weicker

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May and Skye were shot with non-lethal rounds (stunned). When they passed out the weapons, they mentioned how he was stuck with that gun.
 

Sean Bryan

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Sam Favate said:
Did I miss something? May and Skye were shot and then appear to be normal in the next sequence. It seems like it was explained in the chat between Lance and Coulsen, but I didn't understand how it was that they were okay.
Remember their conversation right before that about them being the "non-lethal" team? They had icer rounds. He iced them so he could go off mission and kill Creel.
 

Sam Favate

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Thanks, guys. That bit about the gun must have been a blink- and-you-miss-it moment.I did otherwise enjoy the episode, but not sure I think much of Lance - another untrustworthy character who perpetually has a three-day-old beard.
 

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