Agents of SHIELD/Agents of HYDRA Season 4B and 4C: LMD Review and HYDRA Photos, Posters and Speculation

~ Metacrone ~ 1 Comment

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The LMD arc is one of my favorite arcs that this show has ever done. The story was compelling and a balanced combination of characterization, action and plot. All of the characters had something to do, or at least their LMDs did. We were kept guessing about the LMDs right up until the last episode. The only major disappointment was the writing for the Superior, who turned out to be a flat, boring character after his foreshadowing suggested someone more exciting. How you can make Zach McGowan boring, I don’t know, but they managed to do it. Maybe Ivanov will be more exciting as an LMD. He was offset by all of the Patton Oswalts, and all of the Mallory Jansens. Both were fun and amazing with their multiple characters. The other disappointment was the death of Senator Nadeer. I still have a small hope that she’ll turn out to have been an inhuman all along.

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Iron Fist Season 1 Episode 4: Eight Diagram Dragon Palm Recap

~ Metacrone

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Danny hasn’t fallen to the sidewalk in an Iron Fisted splat, so the series can go on. He catches onto a light pole as he’s falling from the window of the penthouse bunker, then falls again, after declaring that he needs to get himself to the surface of all things in K’un Lun. He lands on a ledge and is knocked out.

No clue how he survives the fall. Let’s go with mysticism and a tie in with Dr Strange, because that’s where this show fits in the MCU. Danny is clearly Stephen Strange’s younger, naive cousin, ready to hang out with Tom Holland’s Spiderman, the Guardians of the Galaxy, or the Agents of SHIELD. If ABC cancels AoS after season 4, new episodes could move to Netflix and fit right in with this show.

Back to the show we’re supposed to be recapping.

Danny wakes up in the penthouse bunker, the opening credits having conveniently disguised how he got there. He’s on Harold’s couch, and looks at the view of Harold’s arched window that Harold looked at in episode 2 with Kyle to the side. Danny is alone in the frame, and in the light, whereas Harold was in the dark. Ward walks in behind Danny and stands just to his side. Danny is already protected, has already received sacred instructions and is a believer. Finding Harold again brings him back to the family he was missing, but Ward crossing behind him is a reminder that everything is not as it seems.

Danny and Ward sort out the fairness of Ward pushing Danny off the building but then bringing him upstairs, because they will never stop bickering like brothers. Harold makes his grand entrance, telling them to get over it, like he probably did a thousand times when they were kids. Danny freaks and jumps to stand next to Ward, because even a crappy big brother might still protect you from a ghost.

Ward watches Danny closely, surprisingly protective of his abusive father. Danny and Harold bond over coming back from the dead, with Danny taking a moment to remember how ridiculous it is for him to argue with someone else about this. But then he succumbs to his emotions, and accepts Harold as his new father. Harold tells Danny that he’s home now and they hug.

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Iron Fist Season 1 Episode 3 Rolling Thunder Cannon Punch Recap

~ Metacrone

 

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I am, as usual, the champion of the show no one else likes*. I love that Ward Meachum and his henchman keep turning up at Colleen’s dojo trying to intimidate her, and she humiliates them over and over again. She can take care of herself, and she will keep showing them that as many d*mn times as it takes. It’s pretty cool that these first few episodes have given us as much or more of Colleen as an amazing, revered fighter than they have of Danny. She’s the hometown girl with a stake in the neighborhood and a reputation. I want more Iron Fist fight scenes, too, but I’ll never complain about the female fighter being given equal time and skill. Especially when she doesn’t need to have a man come in and save her at the end of the fight, which is what generally happens.

Speaking of which, we start episode three with Ward’s go to henchmen breaking into the dojo, for Colleen’s own protection, of course. They don’t even bother to be quiet about it. Hope Colleen broke a few bones with her practice sword, to make up for the broken lock. She tells the goons she wants nothing to do with them or anything Rand.

Danny was clinging to the ceiling, because he can double as Spiderman when necessary. He promises not to cause any more trouble. Colleen says that the 3rd tenet of the Bushido code is mercy, but even that has its limits. He needs to be gone in the morning.

Ward makes his way through his father’s gorgeous building up to the penthouse bunker. He can’t find his father when he arrives, but then notices that Harold is laying in a glass case. Is he Snow White? Ultron? Hard to say. It looks like one of the cases Dr Cho and Tony Stark used in Ultron, so let’s go with healing as the guess for why he’s in there. He might have sold his soul to the devil though.

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Iron Fist Season 1 Episode 2: Shadow Hawk Takes Flight Recap

~ Metacrone ~ 1 Comment

 

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Danny wakes up from Joy’s drugged tea strapped to a bed in Birch Psychiatric Hospital. There’s a man dressed like a doctor sitting next to his bed who speaks to him in a kindly voice, telling him where he is. Danny asks to have the straps and cuffs removed, because he’s not dangerous, but the “doctor” refuses, on the grounds that a guy down the hall said the same thing, just before he bit another doctor’s nose off. We’re in for a wild ride this episode, kids!

The doctor tries to reassure Danny that, even though it’s disturbing to wake up in a place like this, the staff is there to help. He knows just the thing. Danny needs to kill himself. It’s the only solution for any of us. He’s tried four times, but they keep saving him. He grabs a fork and holds it to Danny’s jugular vein. He says, “Give me the go ahead, and it’s done.” Existentially, he’s correct. Practically, it’s might be too radical a solution to Danny’s problem.

Nurses and orderlies run in just as the doctor/Simon is looking to see if Danny is nodding yes. Simon says he was just saying hello to the new guy. He’s not a doctor, he’s a long term patient. The orderlies tell Danny that they’re going to clean him up, as soon as he takes his prison in a pill medication.

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Iron Fist Season 1 Episode 1: Snow Gives Way Recap/Review

~ Metacrone

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Before we get started: this is a show in which a grown man proves his identity by separating the brown M&Ms from the rest of the colors in the bag. It was the moment I knew the show was for me. It might mean that this isn’t the show for you, though, and that’s okay.

It’s most definitely not Jessica Jones, Daredevil, or Luke Cage, and, from what I can tell, if you loved the dark, gritty atmosphere and brutal fight scenes of those shows, you aren’t going to be happy with their lighter, brighter sister show. If, like me, you found Daredevil too dark and slow to get through, and grew tired of Jessica Jones using filmmaking tricks to replace storytelling, this might be the Netflix Marvel show for you.

(I haven’t been able to get myself to try Luke Cage yet, though I did enjoy the character in Jessica Jones, which I watched all the way through. I only watched a few episodes of Daredevil, up until the Russian brother gets his head smashed in the car door. I liked the Russian brothers.)

I’ve watched the first three episodes of Iron Fist. It’s not all fun, but the story is easy to follow and makes sense. It’s not trying overly hard to be artistic, but there are some nice touches, which I think other reviewers are missing in their haste to condemn it because it doesn’t put style over storytelling like Jessica Jones, or have intense, brutal violence like Daredevil (at least so far). Like its protagonist, it’s easy-going, laid back, and has a sense of humor, but there’s more to it than you realize at first, if you pay attention.

Danny Rand has a tragic back story, but he doesn’t walk around NYC with a broody cloud of angst surrounding him, so neither should his show. He’s an optimist, and a fighter. He Does Not Give Up. He lets people underestimate him. I don’t quite understand why our culture thinks being laid back and happy equals being weak and/or boring, but I suspect this show is exploring that, at least a bit. I’m not sure which one people think is worse at this point. He’s not actually well-adjusted, that’s made clear with his continuous flashbacks to the crash and his time away, and his reactions to being aggressively touched. He’s continuously triggered from being back where he grew up.

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The 100 Season 4 Episode 6: We Will Rise Recap

~ Metacrone

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Almost exactly a year after Lincoln’s death, the Arkadians become an angry mob again, and someone ends up on their knees, waiting to be executed. This time, Octavia is the one holding the gun, and she’s forced to confront her dependence on violence and killing as a coping mechanism. Almost exactly a year after Lexa’s death, a stray arrow seems to kill the hope of creating more night bloods. It’s another disappointment in the long line of disappoints suffered while trying to find a way to survive the radiation.

It’s starting to rain as the Ark is burning. Jaha watches as the rain dampens the fire, and Arkadians start to salvage what they can. Jasper notes that it’s not Black Rain. This prompts Jaha to give us the show’s definition of Black Rain, because we are undoubtedly going to see it before long. Jaha says:

“When it comes it’ll be colorless. [Jasper: How will we know?] Pain. Chaos. Death.”

Jasper gives Jaha another of his patented nihilistic speeches and wanders off. Jaha hasn’t given up hope yet. I prefer Jaha to Jasper at this point, and that frightens me. Jaha looks down at the seal from the doomsday cult with the bomb shelter that wasn’t sealed. Jaha, I’m glad you’re still thinking about alternatives. Shouldn’t they be considering building bomb shelters, or looking for deep caves? Virginia is riddled with cave systems.

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Legends of Tomorrow Season 2 Episode 14: Moonshot Recap

~ Metacrone

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This week, we go to the moon with Ray and the Reverse Flash! We lose another member of the Justice Society of America. And Rip figures out what the rest of us have known for a long time: Sara Lance is a much better captain than he is. I spent most of season 1 yelling at Sara and Snart to stage a mutiny. Also, a duet by Victor Garber and Dominic Purcell, which is the kind of thing that makes this show must see TV.

We start with original Rip dropping Henry Heywood/Commander Steel off in Manhattan in 1965, where he will be responsible for protecting the last piece of the Spear of Destiny. Moments later, new Rip, Nate, Amaya and Sara arrive to find them and retrieve the Spear fragment. We all know it won’t be that simple, though, or there won’t be an episode.

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The OA Season 1 Episode 8: Invisible Self Recap

~ Metacrone

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This episode brings us to the end of season 1 and the end of the story of Prairie’s captivity. It’s full of endings, and possibly beginnings. We’re left with an ambiguous ending to the episode, after everything Prairie has told us has been questioned, reminding us that her mental health has been in question since Nancy and Abel adopted her. It’s left up to the viewer to decide how much to believe is real, and how much is fantasy, delusion or coincidence.

This episode picks up exactly where episode six left off, with Sheriff Markham walking in on Hap engrossed in listening to the rings of Saturn, while sitting in front of the captive monitors. Hap immediately confesses, but offers to use the captives to heal the Sheriff’s wife, Evelyn, who is dying from ALS. The sheriff appears unmoved as he cuffs Hap, and protests that he doesn’t make deals. Hap quotes his late mentor, Leon, saying that they both know there is no good or evil, only what a man can stand. Sheriff Markham says nothing as he drives Hap away in his patrol car without checking on the hostages. The next scene shows him carrying Evelyn to the car. He’s given in.

The captives get excited when the sheriff brings Hap downstairs at gunpoint, but only Homer and Prairie are taken out of their cages, then forced upstairs. Hap leads them to a bedroom, where he shows them Evelyn lying twisted on the bed, and tells them that he is going to lock them in the bedroom until they heal her. He and the sheriff will be watching through the monitor. He leaves Prairie and Homer alone with Evelyn.

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The OA Season 1 Episode 7: Empire of Light Recap

~ Metacrone

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This is a difficult episode. Buck’s front door slamming shut was indeed a bad omen. We spend the episode entirely in the present day, as those characters are faced with increasing emotional challenges. Prairie starts moving back out into the world and confronting people’s image of her as a victim. She’s forced to face the pain she’s caused her adoptive parents, and the trauma they caused her as a child. Her story starts to come full circle.

Abel and Nancy are woken up in the middle of the night by Prairie screaming and crying. He goes in to check on her and finds that she’s had one of her premonitory nightmares. He sits with her as she recovers. Prairie asks Abel if he’s mad at her for running away. She tells him that she thought he’d understand her note, and that she’d be back in a few days. He looks surprised, then tells her that he forgot about the note.

Prairie tells Elias, her therapist, about her dreams. He asks where the latest dream took place. She describes a place with high ceilings, lots of glass, and metal clanking, like silverware. He suggests that the dreams may be her mind putting together small clues from her environment rather than true premonitions. The dreams occur at important junctures in her life. This could mean that another juncture is coming.

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The OA Season 1 Episode 6: Forking Paths Recap

~ Metacrone

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Hap is spiraling out of control, as the captives’ bond grows. He’s forgotten the original premise of his experiments, and become obsessed with Khatoun’s movements. He’s as driven to find the last movements as the captives, and to understand what the movements lead to. His obsession leads him to start making mistakes.

Buck is trying to sneak out to the regular meeting at the empty house, but his parents are still downstairs. He practices the movements until he can slip out unnoticed. On his bike ride to the house, he sees flares lighting the remains of a crash on the side of the road. The others wait for him before they start, even though he’s a little late.

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