Off the bat, I want to say that I am more comfortable with the Real SHIELD storyline then I was last week.
This is due to the effort the writers put into giving the organization some back story, and fleshing out their purpose more. We now know why exactly Gonzales wants to dethrone Coulson. He sees Coulson as a direct extension of Fury, and after the events of Winter Solider, Gonzales wants an entirely new start for SHIELD — that includes chasing down any secrets of Fury’s, including powerful people kept under wraps. You can also sense a little jealousy from Gonzales at how Coulson inherited the position. This information showed that there was more to the Real SHIELD than just a blind crusade against him.
The new Fury.
This episode also showed some pretty powerful flashbacks in regards to how the Real SHIELD came to be, including some Bobbi and Mack info. These scenes were awesome, and showed a dark, gritty side of that conflict that we haven’t seen before. We’ve only seen Bobbi and Mack interact in present day, and only when discussing Real SHIELD. Had we not known they were working together, there would be no reason to assume they had known each other before we saw them on the show.
In terms of present day, I don’t really know how the Bobbi-Mack duo didn’t realize how ridiculous their statements were when exclaiming that they were working for SHIELD. They didn’t seem like they were trying to lie (because they weren’t), but they should have had common sense. But it was fun to see dynamics flipped. Having Coulson almost get the upper hand on Mack was a nice touch, and I was honestly afraid Lola would get hurt in the following struggle.
As for Bobbi, I liked seeing her in constant conflict with herself, and even though she believed in what she was doing, she clearly had regrets in how it was being done. The May and Bobbi fight was great, and her being taken out by Simmons even more so. (Side note: how did no one notice that Bobbi put that secret spy computer thing up the fire extinguisher? That must have taken a little bit of time.) And her flashbacks reveal that she may have been more of a founding member of the Real SHIELD than we thought.
Secrets revealed!
Fitz has really had a rough time when it comes to friendships. Now that another friend has betrayed him, I wouldn’t be surprised if we start to see him close himself off, to a point we’ve never seen before. The scene between him and Mack in the server room was extremely intense. I feel sorry for Fitz, and it doesn’t look like he’s going to have a break anytime soon.
Don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten about the biggest part of the episode: Skye’s first big encounter with Gordon. It was great to see Skye finally come face-to-face (pun intended) with someone that had an understanding of what was happening to her. It was the first time she was actually able to talk to someone about it — not to mention we got more information about Gordon himself. But the question is, why did Gordon choose to come out to see her instead of just whisking her away? Either way, we got our first look at her using her powers to an extent we haven’t seen yet. It was pretty jaw-dropping seeing her deflect the bullet and completely wipe out that section of the forest. I can’t wait until next week, when we’ll Skye in full company with other Inhumans.
The Inhumans that actually have faces, that is.
This week’s episode was an improvement over last week’s, and it gave more information and back story to the Real SHIELD. They have seemingly overthrown Coulson’s team and sent Coulson, and now Hunter, on the run. That last scene between them was awesome, and I can’t wait to see more of that dynamic. I honestly have no idea how the rest of the team will react to the takeover, and that’s exciting. Hopefully we will get plenty of answers next week, especially with Skye on the Inhumans’ turf.
Article by contributor Russ Milheim.
I fucken hate Edward James Olmos. He is sooo overrated with his bland ass acting.
Am I allowed an “I told you so”? 😉
(Also, sorry I didn’t reply to your response for last week’s comment, I went on holiday, and it totally slipped my mind until I saw this review and it occurred to me to go back an check. This post will be a mix of my own thoughts for this episode, and your response from last week.)
While I didn’t know how it was going to play out, I thought it was a no brainer to know that there was more to the “real” SHIELD’s stated motivations than what was mentioned before. And like I said last week, I think it’s completely intentional to have Gonzalez repeatedly acting in a hypocritical way. Criticizing Fury and Coulson’s penchant for secrets, while holding own his own. Which is why I thought it was awesome when Coulson called him out on this “If you really wanted to talk, you could have just talked.”
To me, even from last week’s episode, it was always clear that the “real” SHIELD was founded the way many real life splinter companies are founded. There’s a sudden shift or power vacuum in a company, and there’s two or more sides that vehemently disagree on how to continue, and both sides firmly believe they are in the right without any real substance. It’s all just a power struggle. And with an organization as big and varied as SHIELD, It makes perfect sense that there would be someone out there other than Coulson that felt they were better fit to lead.
And I also liked that this WASN’T a retread of hydra, the status quo has been changed in a pretty interesting way. Because yes, the base got taken over, but this time bodies aren’t being dropped, even the way Simmons was asked to help out Mack indicated that even if they aren’t in the “right”, these aren’t evil people like HYDRA were. To me, this makes the conflict all the more interesting because this time. Coulson’s enemy isn’t a black and white bad guy, and thus he can’t solve this issue in the ruthless way he did with HYDRA.
And yeah, the whole thing with Gordon is pretty interesting. Though I have to wonder how exactly his powers work. I’m actually getting a bit concerned that he might be too powerful, and then made much less powerful later for plot purposes. as it stands, he not only seems to be able to teleport anywhere any time regardless of distance, (And to places he’d never been before) but he also seems to be able to locate and listen to other people (or at the very least, other inhumans) at any time. The fact that he was able to listen to Skye’s very soft plea for help makes feel almost omnipotent in a way. So I’m really hoping they clarify and delineate this later on, or explain that maybe his ability to listen and locate other inhumans isn’t his own, but another inhuman’s power.
Does Kirk Acevedo has a contract that stipulates he has to ALWAYS play the same exact character? As in, the ashole extremist that thinks the only way to deal with someone different than you is by killing it? His character is straight up the same he played in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. Beat by beat.
Also, as for your Simmons question… I do think it makes sense actually, what Fitz said. Some people ARE very afraid of change, and have trouble adapting to it. The fact that two people very close to Gemma changed very drastically, very suddenly, could shake up a person and react harshly to a situation as a result. I do agree that her shift still feels too on the nose, but I still like that someone actually has trouble adapting and accepting change, and not automatically being fully accepting of someone changing, because in the real world, most people AREN’T like that.