It's official.. Marvel's new TV series is.. S.H.I.E.L.D!

[catwhowalksbyhimself]

It's on Hulu.  I think the whole series is on there, so check it out if you're interested.  I personally enjoy it.

[JeyNyce]

Also check out ABC.com if you have cable.

[Talavar]

I checked the numbers, and it looks like this show has a questionable future.  It's premiere was huge, but it dropped to 2/3rds of it ratings the next episode.  Good news it that's it's stayed steady ever since, but if the show's as expensive as it looks like it is, it doesn't look so good for it.

I think Shield is reasonably safe, for the time being.  It's already been picked up for a full season, and even with the ratings drop remains the season's highest rated new drama.  Also, while Shield has less than half of NCIS' total viewers, it's right on its heels of the 18-49 year old demographic share (also known as the demographic that keeps shows on TV).  Unless ratings drop precipitously, it'll get a second season.

[catwhowalksbyhimself]

My concern here is not the ratings number, as you say, they aren't bad at all, but rather how expensive this show might be.  I'm not sure, but it looks like it's pretty expensive.  It might at least see some budget cuts, unless they decide to throw money at it to use it as promotional material for the movies, which is a real possibility.

[Podmark]

So apparently SHIELD is going to pick up on a plot point from the new Thor movie:
http://tvline.com/2013/11/01/marvels-agents-of-shield-thor-crossover/

No Thor characters are supposed to appear though. Still it will be interesting to see how this works out and how they go about handling this in the future.

[detourne_me]

Well I could think of a few plot points.
But they seem a little over budget, or too important for the next phase of movies.
My best guess would be (no specifics):

Spoiler

some sort of fallout from what happens in London. Maybe something about the convergence and an otherworldly thing got through

[Podmark]

I really liked the second half of last night's episode. I finally really connected with the whole cast, I guess nothing like impending tragedy helps with that.
Hopefully the series keeps it up.

[Tomato]

Sorry if there is a topic for this show already, but I couldn't find it. Just watched the latest episode and was left scratching my head about something. Michael Peterson is shown pushing a bulldozer at a SHIELD training facility and then asks if he beat Captain America's time and the trainer tells him not even close. Since when is Cap that strong? The Centipede program far surpasses the serum given to Cap. It has a variation of the Super Soldier Serum, gamma radiation, extremis virus and alien metal. All of this easily surpasses the Super Soldier Serum. These guys heal like Wolverine and have super strength, stamina and endurance.

You mean the thread half a page down I found on my 2x4" droid screen in two seconds?

Anyway, my response is that while Captain America may not be as super-powered as those guys are, he's had 2 lifetimes worth of combat training and is a great strategist. I'd have no issue believing he could outperform a superpowered muscle-head.

[Podmark]

If memory serves the movie Cap is super powered much like the Ultimate version of the character, not the peak human of the 616 comics.

Question on last night's episode:

Spoiler

I was distracted near the end, did Mike Peterson die? If so I'm very disappointed. I liked his character.
Also did Ward get shot?

[BentonGrey]

Spoiler

Apparently and apparently.

[captmorgan72]

"You mean the thread half a page down I found on my 2x4" droid screen in two seconds?" Really? Oh man this is embarassing.

[catwhowalksbyhimself]

Well the show's back, and both Coulson and Sky have had their little mysteries cleared up, with both being pretty disappointingly vague and uninteresting.  I suppose both could have more revealed later, but I expected more.

In other news, the show's ratings have stabilized since the initial drop and it looks like the show will likely be renewed for another season, especially since it's about to get some company.  Agent Carter, a second SHIELD series is now being developed starring Cap's love interest in his own movie is the main character and one of the first SHIELD agents.

Also Agents of SHIELD will have Sif guest starring, which should be interesting.

[Talavar]

I didn't get why...

Spoiler

they considered Sky's mystery explained at all.  "Oh, so you are a baby of unknown origin that tons of people were killed around.  No idea why."  It's an even bigger mystery.  Coulson's was a bit of a letdown though.

[catwhowalksbyhimself]

yeah. . .

Spoiler

I also didn't get why the news was supposed to be so devastating to Sky that they didn't want to tell her.  Family she doesn't remember died for reasons no one know and other people died to save her.  What so life destroying about that?  The way that she took it the Coulson said was so remarkable seems to be the only logical way to take it if you ask me.  I do like, though, that we finally have SHIELD show in a good light here.  There have been too much hints of sinister going on that put the show into too much danger of making the organization appear villainous, so here at least the revelation shows that their actions were purely good.

As for Coulson--yeah.  He was brought back through--unexplainable high tech.  Really?  Not much they can do with that.

[Tomato]

Spoiler

I would say it had to do with them being afraid that the one clue she's been holding onto for her entire life doesn't bring her any closer to her parents. All this buildup, and she still knows practically nothing, at least more than what she did before.

*shrug* I haven't actually seen the episode though, so feel free to ignore me. I'm kinda mehhhh on SHIELD.

[catwhowalksbyhimself]

Sorry, Tomato, but

Spoiler

May specifically warns Coulson that the "secret" would be so devasting as to destroying her mentally and emotional.  When she finds out he's told her she pretty much reacts as it he's destroyed Sky's life forever and he acts like it's a major miracle that she takes it well.  Really don't get any of that thinking.

[BentonGrey]

Yeah, I agree with much of what's been said. I found both the big reveals to be similarly disappointing.  I'm moderately hopeful that something else will come from these, but I'm not holding my breath. It's funny, because the episodes themselves were pretty solid, but the build up to these 'bombshells' was something of a waste, it seems.

[catwhowalksbyhimself]

Oh I agree, the actual episodes were quite good the scene with

Spoiler

Coulson being operated on while asked to be allowed to die

was quite chilling.  To bad it didn't really go anywhere, but was a great scene in a good episode otherwise.

Just to be clear, the show itself is actually getting better, and the Centipede/Clairvoyant stuff appears to be quite good so far, but the other two mysteries brought in at the beginning of the show were what was disappointing.  It's almost as if, once the show got off the ground, they realized that they weren't really going anywhere, so they might as well just resolved both of them right away, so they could get back to more interesting things.

[GhostMachine]

Frankly, the whole thing with Sky was a major disappointment. This is one instance where it would actually have been better if they had dropped some kind of major bomb that's usually lame, like Coulson being her father and/or May being her mother. Or her parents being terrorists or HYDRA agents that S.H.I.E.L.D. killed.

Oh, and what Coulson was saying while being operated on?

Spoiler

Put the initials of those 3 words together. Let Me Die. Some people still think it hints at him being an LMD. I'm not one of them, but wouldn't be surprised if they eventually went that route....sort of. Like Coulson's brain being in an LMD body)

[BentonGrey]

GM, that would be interesting, but they could have given some stronger hints that there was more to the story.  This whole "reveal" was just weak-sauce.

Cat, I agree, the show is definitely getting better, though I'd still be quite happy for Sky's character to get written out.  They've done a lot to try to make her bearable, but that's about all they have accomplished.  I still don't much care for her, and my wife still hates here.  Lady Grey is, however, less forgiving than I am.  As I've mentioned before, she's just one lab accident away from being a Magneto-style super-villain.

[catwhowalksbyhimself]

So another good one, although some people may not like the whole repeating of events thing in this episode.  I think it worked well, once you figured out what they were doing (although it was a bit jarring at first.)  I missed Stan Lee cameo, sadly.  I'll have to watch the first couple of minutes online to catch it.

Also, it turns out Mike was a comic characters all along.  His secret identity is:

Spoiler

Deathlok

[crimsonquill]

I have a theory of who Skye is based on what limited background we have on her character..

Spoiler

Okay, First we know that she is the child of parents who have been buried deep under red tape to keep anyone from knowing their idenities. Secondly, We know that SHIELD removed her as a baby from some secret organization that had some use for her and used the red tape to make sure she would never be found or would go in search of her parents.

It's my theory that Skye is actually Jessica Drew. If you follow the comic history currently her parents were Hydra Scientists who were conducting experiments on her. It would make sense those very SHIELD agents who were killed protecting her had removed her from Hydra's labs during a secret mission and placed her into protective custody to be lost in the adoption system. I'm pretty sure that the experimental cure the team will use to save her life in the next episode will result in unlocking of her latant powers over time. The problem is would Marvel/Disney be able to show her progress into becoming Spider-Woman or would Sony's death grip on the Spider-Man franchise force them to just have her become only known as Agent Drew (probably altering her powers to be less spidery as well) and later spin-off her character into ALIAS when she becomes a full time detective.

Does anyone else think my idea is a possibility or am I just looking too hard for connecting her into a possible origin story for future superhuman agents in SHIELD?

- CQ

[catwhowalksbyhimself]

Given that one other character from the show just got revealed as a SHIELD related Marvel character and they've been promising "more Marvel" this half of the season, I'd say it's a possibility that I won't dismiss.  The fact that they've basically kept her name hidden--and have been pretty open about the fact that Sky isn't really her name and that she doesn't even know what it is, does fit in with that or similar notions.

[catwhowalksbyhimself]

Okay, so in the latest episode, we return to where Coulson was treated and that whole storyline actually becomes interesting again, with the additional revelation that

Spoiler

The drugs that were a crucial part of regenerating Coulson's shredded heart actually come from the body of an alien, possibly a Kree, although it may be something else.  Sky has now been injected with the alien-derived drugs and did not react negatively like Coulson seemed to expect.  This leads to the interesting possibility that Sky could actually be herself a Kree, perhaps something else like a Skrull, or maybe even the movieverse version of Carol Danvers.  All of those guesses could also be entirely wrong, but the fact that she apparently did not experience whatever side effects Coulson seemed expect seems to me to be significant.

[Glitch Girl]

Okay Marvel trivia gurus...

Spoiler

Is there something in Marvel comic history that might have the initials "GH"?

I did some searches and came up blank, but this might be something or someone obscure.

Spoiler

Kree does seem pretty likely, as we know they are compatible with human physiology and it's been established that Skye is "different".  Though I did like one theory I spotted where the "T" in "TAHITI" stands for "Terrigen", I think that might be a stretch.

[JKCarrier]

Spoiler

The blue corpse being Kree seems very likely...the Kree are in the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy, aren't they?
The Kree and the Inhumans are connected, so Terrigen might not be such a stretch after all.

[spydermann93]

Okay Marvel trivia gurus...

Spoiler

Is there something in Marvel comic history that might have the initials "GH"?

Clearly it's...

Spoiler

THE GUEST HOST OFFENGERS!!

[crimsonquill]

In the Marvel wikis and encyclopedias I've gone through since the shows airing.. "GH" is commonly referred to as Growth Hormone as in the Mutant Growth Hormone which is recently a huge source of mutations/superpowers. I'm thinking for the cinemaverse that it's a nod to the Inhumans and the "GH" formula was being used by the scientists there as another shortcut to a super soldier formula. With Agents Of SHIELD connecting with Captain America 2, I'm thinking it's all part of the corruption in the government and SHIELD being hinted at in previews.

- CQ

[Starman]

Geheneris Hala´son Mahr Vehl or Mahr Vehl, is a fictional character, an alien superhero in the Ultimate Marvel universe.

The character is the Ultimate version of Mar-Vell and was created by writer Warren Ellis and penciller Steve McNiven and first appears in Ultimate Secret #1 (March 2005).

[JeyNyce]

Rumors has it that this is how they are going to bring the Inhumans into the Marvel TV/ Movie universe, since they can't bring mutants in.  At first I thought Skye was going to become Ms. Marvel, but now I'm think she maybe an Inhuman and doesn't know it.