Agents of SHIELD Season 2

[JeyNyce]

I don't know if this has been answered or not, but I will ask anyway:

Deathlock started out with powers before he became Deathlock.  You think he may have been exposed by the  Terrigen mist?

[crimsonquill]

I don't know if this has been answered or not, but I will ask anyway:

Deathlock started out with powers before he became Deathlock.  You think he may have been exposed by the  Terrigen mist?

His powers came from the Centipede process which was the mixtures of experimental chemicals including the extremis formula. It all enhanced his strength and toughness of skin but it was overloading his system until Fitz-Simmons found a way to stabilize the extremis using the Icer Rifle. By some miracle the chemicals interacted with his body and permanently enhanced him so he didn't even need the Centipede enhancement replenished like the original tests required. After he was captured by Hydra was when they started to add on the cyber parts like his eye and leg. When Mike reappeared at the end of Season 2 he probably had much of his technology improved by Stark since they dropped a line that he was part of Avengers Initiative now (also explaining his new outfit).

- CQ

[catwhowalksbyhimself]

Coulson also asked his how he liked all the new upgrades he's recently been given when he first re-appears.  I did not hear anything about the Avengers Initiative but I easily could have missed one line.

[crimsonquill]

Coulson also asked his how he liked all the new upgrades he's recently been given when he first re-appears.  I did not hear anything about the Avengers Initiative but I easily could have missed one line.

I'll have to rewatch the episode again, I possibly could have just assumed it was the Avengers Initiative because they would have access to Tony's tech and probably used all of the data taken by Fitz-Simmons of the Deathlok hardware to recreate or improve the designs. Then again it might be Nick Fury and his underground faction of SHIELD (which got the new Helicarrier) using Deathlok as a one-man Infantry to back up agents during missions which is why he popped up when Coulson and his team needed him.

- CQ

[catwhowalksbyhimself]

They specifically said that Deathlok was being used as a one-man covert anti-Hydra unit.

[crimsonquill]

They specifically said that Deathlok was being used as a one-man covert anti-Hydra unit.

Thanks, I thought I remembered something like that. Guess it means that Deathlok probably will be transferred to Secret Warriors with Hydra presumably gone (also helps that Skye/Daisy have a personal connection) at least until they discover Ward's Hydra faction or Zemo's faction before Civil War.

- CQ

[JeyNyce]

I don't know if this has been answered or not, but I will ask anyway:

Deathlock started out with powers before he became Deathlock.  You think he may have been exposed by the  Terrigen mist?

His powers came from the Centipede process which was the mixtures of experimental chemicals including the extremis formula. It all enhanced his strength and toughness of skin but it was overloading his system until Fitz-Simmons found a way to stabilize the extremis using the Icer Rifle. By some miracle the chemicals interacted with his body and permanently enhanced him so he didn't even need the Centipede enhancement replenished like the original tests required. After he was captured by Hydra was when they started to add on the cyber parts like his eye and leg. When Mike reappeared at the end of Season 2 he probably had much of his technology improved by Stark since they dropped a line that he was part of Avengers Initiative now (also explaining his new outfit).

- CQ

I forgot about that in season 1, thanks for reminding me!

[Shogunn2517]

At least Skye/Daisy/Quake finally looks like a SHIELD agent and not a hipster/grifter/hacker.

[catwhowalksbyhimself]

Quake's comic book costume is apparently just a catsuit with focusing guantlets, so it's actually pretty accurate, if barely a costume at all.

[catwhowalksbyhimself]

At least Skye/Daisy/Quake finally looks like a SHIELD agent and not a hipster/grifter/hacker.

She was seen wearing standard SHIELD field outfits in Season 2 as well and had the fantastic one take gun battle thing going for her, so that bit isn't really new.

[Talavar]

Looks good!

[Tomato]

So, uh... I know we haven't really been discussing this latest season, but... yeah, this last episode man. That ending, holy hell.

[JeyNyce]

I really like how that show is shaping up.  I wonder if they are still going to interact with the movies?  I would love to see an episode where they go to Wakanda to help. 

[Shogunn2517]

I really like how that show is shaping up.  I wonder if they are still going to interact with the movies?  I would love to see an episode where they go to Wakanda to help.

I think I saw an interview recently that said that would be harder than many think due mostly to production schedules.  Some things have happened and it would be nice to see a May or Mac show up in a film, but I dunno.

[Silver Shocker]

 

So, uh... I know we haven't really been discussing this latest season, but... yeah, this last episode man. That ending, holy hell.

Did absolutely nothing for me. I'm not going to mince words: Shield has sucked for the better part of about a year and a half. The only reason I still watch is because I have friends who like it who I watch it with. I don't care about any of these characters anymore, and they're shilling the Inhumans so much now that there's literally room for nothing else, except stuff from Secret Warriors that's also been completely repackaged as more Inhumans B.S. To paraphrase a certain movie critic, this isn't even storytelling by committee. This is storytelling by accountants, and rights lawyers.

Spoiler

One of the only things from this year that's actually been consistently entertaining  (other than the Absorbing Man showing up again) is Powers Boothe, just by virtue of being Powers Boothe (though I've decided that I feel that he's been half-phoning it in), so of course they have to kill him off, but at least they let us know ahead of time. Some viewers speculated (including myself) that Boothe was being set up as a sort of replacement for the Red Skull (up to and including him BEING the Red Skull, in a kind of adaptation of Alexander Lukin from Brubaker's Cap, and a clever trick to get around Hugo Weaving's refusal to come back to play the character again). Nope, he's dead, but that's ok because we got Zombie Ward, which is a perfect segue-way to my next point:

I'm still annoyed about that mid-season finale. I, like other Marvel fans and regular viewers, was chomping at the bit for a few weeks waiting to find out which Marvel villain the "Inhuman God" was going to be revealed to be in the mid-season finale (Mephisto and Blackheart were among the possibilities people posited). There was a real sense of suspense and anticipation that this show wishes it had the rest of the time ("the episode you've been waiting for", please) and they blew it spectacularly. Our big reveal was NOTHING, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. Oh, and then during the break fans figured out it was Hive from SW, and the crew just kinda quietly confirmed it, and they started using the name after it came back from the break. Totally killed any momentum the show had.  So low key was this confirmation that CBR called it a "fan nickname" after they themselves posted an article about Brett Dalton or whoever confirming it was Hive.

I really like how that show is shaping up.  I wonder if they are still going to interact with the movies?  I would love to see an episode where they go to Wakanda to help.

I think I saw an interview recently that said that would be harder than many think due mostly to production schedules.  Some things have happened and it would be nice to see a May or Mac show up in a film, but I dunno.

I've actually always wanted them to do an episode with Arnim Zola in it. As in the computer program version from Winter Soldier. I always thought it would be perfect, since he's literally a computer program (my explanation for his "survival" is he's made copies and backups of himself and the like) and the brilliant part of the whole thing is you wouldn't even have to get Toby Jones to come in and play him, you could just have him be a rogue computer program. It's the perfect kind of lower-budget, make-do-with-what-we've-got kind of tie-in that you'd think S.H.I.E.L.D. would jump at the chance.

But alas, I realize now they'd never do that because I was still thinking in terms of episodic, villain of the week, "Marvel U world tour" type stuff and this show's been pretty much one big connected story since I can't remember how long, but mostly because it would get in the way of more Inhuman BS.

They won't do Wakanda because that would get in the way of more Inhuman B.S.

As for interacting with the movies, it was speculated for the better part of the season that they were setting up their own little tv-specific version of Civil War with their characters, which has kinda happened, but only in the loosest possible sense. We'll see if they get any mileage out of Civil War in the remaining episodes or next season.

You guys remember when this show was just starting, when people here were saying Chris Evans, and Downey, and Jeremy Renner were going to show up in the show? Boy have we lowered our standards since then. At least Samuel L. showed up a few times in season 1.

It was said a while back on here that Marvel does it so much better than DC because they get to use all the characters. The hell they do. Shield is pretty much cut off from anyone remotely interesting from the comics strictly because Marvel KNOWS they're going to be in the movies. Even Whedon has said he did the story to Ultron as if Coulson never came back. That's how much S.H.I.E.L.D doesn't matter now. The biggest back-and-forth we'd had in the past year was sending the Avengers to go do stuff in the movie, and explaining where the new Hellicarrier came from.

Remember when they did Blizzard, and a variation on Extremis, and Graviton, and Aim, and Absorbing Man, and Laser Tag Deathlok? Man, that feels so long ago. I want that version of S.H.I.E.L.D. back.

[Tomato]

See, this might be a case where there's a disconnect between when I posted that message and when you're responding. I was reacting to

Spoiler

Daisy blowing up the SHIELD base. It was a bit obvious that she was the "traitor," but the sheer amount of destruction was kind of impressive.

I agree that the series hasn't been as good this last year, but I don't feel like it's as bad as certain early sections of Season 1 are. I sat through that garbage, I'll sit through this season and see where they're going with it.

[Shogunn2517]

You know, I gotta say I agree with a lot of what has been said, maybe for different reasons.  It seems certain episodes have it's moments, but overall the show seems off track.

Honestly, I attribute it to not just the Inhuman arc, but the overall sci-fi/alien direction, bringing in Hive and other dimensions and the latest episode.  I mean, I don't mind some elements of that, but I think the show is strongest when it's a "spy vs spy" show set in a Superhero universe.  I like the introductions of Hydra and Malick and Talbot.  Inhumans was nice for an arc, maybe for a good season, but it's being stretched out and seemingly dominating what the show is; AGENTS of SHIELD.  Not INHUMANS of S.H.I.E.L.D. or Agents of INHUMANS.  Hydra has taken a WAAAAAY backseat to the entire series and it should be the MAIN focus.  Captain America: Winter Soldier did an excellent job setting the table for the future of this show and it seems like they're going out their way to ignore it.

And SS, you're absolutely right.  It ain't like they DIDN'T know Civil War was coming down the pike.  They could have easily set the table, whether SHIELD is pro-government or anti-establishment or some agents feel one way and some another and do all that without going into what Civil War.  It's a natural theme.  A politically intriguing theme that can spin into some good plots.  But this current direction is turning the show into something it should not be.

[Silver Shocker]

^^ No, I knew exactly which episode you were referring to, I saw the post the week the episode aired, I just didn't get around to replying for a while. Kinda like I am now, because I was actually expecting a pretty big backlash to my post. I'm pleasantly surprised to see that's not the case.  I just didn't really get anything out of that sequence anyways.

I do think it has everything to do with me just not being attached to the characters anymore. I don't think Fitz and Simmons, Coulson, Daisy, ect, are bad characters, I'm just not invested anymore. I think I've just grown weary of this show's plots over time due to the extended Inhumans story. It also doesn't help that I never read Secret Warriors (though I did read Secret Invasion, which set it up and introduced that book's cast), so I'm not getting much out of seeing those characters.

Not sure what S1 "garbage" you're referring to, it's been a few years since I've seen S1 and my memory might be kind of poor, but I still appreciated the "world tour" approach the show used to have that isn't really present now. I'll at least say they've always fleshed out and developed their characters along the way, so I can't really complain about that.

^

Talking about Civil War, I'm just watching the final scene of this week's episode and while the various lip-service references to CA:CW were nice, compared to the game changing twist during Season 1 with Winter Soldier, it feels a little like empty calories.

I'd been thinking about past tie-ins to the movies since this show started, and I remember there was a tie-in to Thor: The Dark World,  but I don't recall there being any tie-in to Ant-Man. as a result it feels like the show is less tied into the movie universe now, even as we see tie-ins to Age of Ultron and Civil War. I personally wouldn't expect a tie-in to Doctor Strange either but I could be wrong.

I was genuinely hoping they would ease back on the Inhumans after they wrapped up S2, since I found that story dragged on and I lost interest, but no, they basically made the show as much or more Inhumans focused. I think I'd have no problem if they just added two or three Inhumans to the cast and that was it. The comparison I thought of was Transformers Beast Wars, where the show took the Fuzors and Transmetal 2's from the toyline, which were entire waves of new toys, and just added two or three to the cast, most of which were preexisting characters (it's for this reason I don't have a problem with Daisy, she was there from the start)

[Talavar]

I've been feeling down on Agents of Shield this season myself, particularly in the second half.  I can't put my finger on it either, but I just don't care about most of the characters.  I'm not engaged with them.  Depending on who the widely touted cast death turns out to be, I might just shut it down at the end of the season.  Compared to the Netflix shows and the movies, Agents of Shield feels lacklustre.

[Tomato]

The first half of Season 1 isn't horrible, but it is a slog to get through. The whole thing feels like we were just biding time for Winter Soldier to come out, wasting time on a sub-plot about "the Clairvoyant" which went basically nowhere. The second half is where things started getting interesting, with Ward turning from little more than a cardboard cutout hero archetype to Hydra agent, finding the truth behind Coulson's resurrection, Deathlock, etc. That said, had the show remained as it was in early season 1, I would have certainly dropped it by now, and I'm starting to fall into that camp again now... I want to see the plotlines resolve in this season, but the endgame will have to be pretty major to get me to continue watching.

Speaking of dropping AoS, apparently both Agent Carter and the Mockingbird spinoff will not be picked up next year. Agent Carter is a bit of a bummer, but I can't deny season 2 wasn't nearly as interesting as season 1 was.

[Tomato]

I want to see the plotlines resolve in this season, but the endgame will have to be pretty major to get me to continue watching.

Well... just saw the finale. Hrm.

Spoiler

Yeah... between the implication that Coulson's not director and the LMDs, I'm probably gonna watch the next season. GDI.

[Shogunn2517]

Yep. 

Spoiler

That and Daisy is apparently going by Quake now. 

I just hope they suspend the intense focus on Inhumans, which derailed the direction of the series.

[Talavar]

Yeah, it's intriguing.  I'm going to stick around awhile longer too.

[crimsonquill]

For those who are wondering why AIDA and Radcliffe sounded familiar but not really connecting them to MARVEL right away... Here is why they are important seeds to the upcoming LMD arc in Season 4.

http://www.comicbookresources.com/article/how-agents-of-shields-squadron-supreme-easter-egg-could-change-the-marvel-cinematic-universe

Spoiler

Radcliffe was a scientist who messed with cybernetics/AI within the MARVEL series "Machine Teen" (don't worry I had to look it up too) which dealt with a new android teen discovering his real origin.

AIDA (Artificial Intelligence Data Analyser) is an AI created by Squadron Supreme's Tom Thumb to help him create an artificial body for his brain pattern because he was dying.

- CQ

[catwhowalksbyhimself]

Ghost Rider has been confirmed for Season 4.  This will be the newer Robbie Reyes version, rather than Johnny Blaze or Daniel Ketch.  The fact that this version requires much cheaper special effect is likely one reason.

[Talavar]

Ghost Rider has been confirmed for Season 4.  This will be the newer Robbie Reyes version, rather than Johnny Blaze or Daniel Ketch.  The fact that this version requires much cheaper special effect is likely one reason.

It's going to be weird to have Agents of SHIELD dealing with the supernatural (not necessarily bad, but weird), unless they make some stupid decision like making him an Inhuman or something.

[crimsonquill]

It's going to be weird to have Agents of SHIELD dealing with the supernatural (not necessarily bad, but weird), unless they make some stupid decision like making him an Inhuman or something.

The producers said they were figuring out a way to handle the Vigilante angle in a post-Civil War storyline and felt that Daisy would be seeking vengeance for what happened with how Inhumans were handled. They asked Marvel if Ghost Rider was available to use since it would also tie into Doctor Strange and it opening the door to the supernatural. Marvel said yes, to their surprise, but they could only use the Robbie version because they had plans for him in Netflix at some point plus the automobile allowed much easier practical ways to hide the smoke, flame, and visual enhancements needed for creating the "possessed" look of the car.

Season Three official opens the door to the MCU tie-ins at large with the show being taken more seriously (last season caught the attention of folks who gave up with the show before the Hydra reveal) and being bumped into the 10 PM timeslot also allows them to bring more darker tones and action scenes with more consequences. AoS now moves closer towards Netflix tones but far enough away that fall closer to being PG-13 level of MARVEL not PG Family Hour. They also confirmed that Bobby and Hunter ARE returning in a big way (I'm guessing they will reintroduce them using the abandoned storyline from their Most Wanted pilot and probably footage from it as well).

- CQ