Tag: clark gregg

Agents of SHIELD Season 7 Episode 1: The New Deal Recap

~ Metacrone

KARL KWIATKOWSKI, CHLOE BENNET, CLARK GREGG, JEFF WARD, HENRY SIMMONS

Ok kids, it’s time to head back to the 1930s for the final season of Agents of SHIELD, a show which has traveled the world, moved through space and time, explored how far the human mind and body can be pushed and invented or transformed almost every sort of scifi tech imaginable. This season, they play in what’s probably the only sandbox they’ve left unexplored, the past, specifically SHIELD’s past, which also happens to be the MCU and Avengers’ past as well.

This season begins a few seconds before last season ended, in order to remind viewers of the shocking changes that Jemma Simmons introduced Mack and Daisy to in the final moments of season 6. The Chronicom subplot which played second fiddle to the Sarge/Izel/Shrike war in season 6 now moves to the forefront, having turned into a full blown time war. The Chronicoms hope to wipe out SHIELD so that they can then conquer Earth and turn it into their new homeworld, Chronyca 3.

SHIELD is a formidable adversary in the 21st century, so the Chronicoms decide it would be easier to beat them earlier in SHIELD’s history. The aliens have (probably) used the mindscans they made of Jemma and Fitz in season 6 to develop time travel, which they now use to go to significant points in the 20th century in order to change SHIELD’s history. If episode 1 is any indication, the Chronicoms have dug deep in their examination of history so their targets aren’t necessarily obvious ones, but the connections to old friends sure are fun.

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Agents of SHIELD Season 6 Episode 4: Code Yellow Recap

~ Metacrone

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On Agents of SHIELD S6Ep4, Deke is back, and he’s making his fortune as a tech genius, which totally makes sense for the grandchild of Fitzsimmons. The space team is still out there, recovering from their hangovers, but we don’t check in with them this week.

We spend the episode alternating between the Lighthouse centered B team, made up of Benson, Keller and Yo-Yo, and new gal Diaz, and the A team of Mack, May, Deke, plus several very welcome new guys, who visit Deke’s new company to stop NotCoulson and his team. It pains me to add Yo-Yo to the B team, but she made some serious mistakes this week. FitzSimmons were missed in the science/med lab more than ever. Yo-Yo could’ve picked up some of the slack with her powers and experience, but she didn’t.

I blame the writers and director. Yo-Yo is better than this.

Recap

The episode begins with a music cue that sounds like it’s going to be the Mission: Impossible theme song, but then it isn’t. The episode’s first visuals are of Deke and new guy Trevor Khan, who’ve gotten stuck in an ’80s scifi action movie. No worries, Deke has learned his clichés, both verbal and physical. He’s got this covered.

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Agents of Shield Season 6 Episode 3: Fear and Loathing on the Planet of Kitson Recap

~ Metacrone

Agents of SHIELD S6Ep3 Secret Agents Quake and Agent Dr Simmons

Agents of SHIELD Goes Cyberpunk

In a change of pace, this of episode Agents of SHIELD gives everyone a break from routine and goes full on space cyberpunk neo-noir, complete with robots, neon, hallucinations, breaking glass, existential desperation and the chief investigator’s voiceover narration. As befits a cyberpunk dystopia, irony and gallows humor abound. Because this is Agents of SHIELD and not Blade Runner or Altered Carbon, the result is both deadly serious and tongue in cheek.

Thematically, the episode revolves around friendships and Fitz and Simmons’ deep need to be reunited. The friendship pairings of Fitz and Enoch, and Jemma and Daisy, are closely examined in ways that are overdue. Piper and Davis also get a chance to shine both as individuals and to show their affection for each other as partners, despite their recent grumbles. There’s a glancing nod toward Jaco and Sarge, a fascinating pairing when you consider that Coulson was always drawn to talented outcasts, especially powered people.

Calling it now: Sarge/Fake Coulson is a Chronicom hunter. In episode 1, Benson said that Tinker was cybernetic. Sarge has traveled extensively through time and space and he and his team are clearly hunting for specific targets. This episode went from showing a Chromicon hunter capturing Fitz to Sarge setting off a targeting device in Earth’s sky. Otherwise, Earth wasn’t shown in this episode. That’s a pretty huge hint.

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Agents of SHIELD Season 6 Episode 2: Window of Opportunity Recap

~ Metacrone

MING-NA WEN

In season 6, episode 2 of Agents of SHIELD, Melinda May returns to peak fighting form after an injury sidelined her for most of season 5. She single handedly takes on EvilCoulson Sarge’s team, including the Jaco the Giant and Butterfly Snowflake the dirty street fighter. She doesn’t win the fight, but she does gather important intel, free the hostage and jog Sarge’s memory of the word “Coulson”, so it’s a win for the mission.

The other main storyline this episode is Fitz and Enoch’s big space adventure. They’ve signed on to work a long haul run with a crew of xenophobic Sivians in order to get to Naro-Adzia, the planet where cryo pods are made (Jenna was right in her prediction). Fitz disguised his eye color and Enoch taught him the language so that he could blend in with the Sivians. But Enoch forgot to share some important cultural points with Fitz, which lead to them being outed as Terrans. Fitz has to think fast in order to save himself and Enoch without allowing the rest of the crew to be killed instead.

This episode allows viewers to get to know the alien culture that Fitz is involved with better, and the one that Sarge is part of. The writers also take time to further explore Marcus Benson and Agent Keller’s characters. We find out a little more about Sarge and his crew as individuals, including the fact that some teammates are disposable, a very un-Coulson-like attitude.

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Agents of SHIELD Season 6 Episode 1: Missing Pieces Recap

~ Metacrone ~ 2 Comments

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Welcome back, fellow agents! After a year long absence and the loss of Director Coulson, SHIELD has reinvented itself again. This time, they are officially headquartered in the Lighthouse, the scene of much of the action in season 5. Mack has become Director Mackenzie, standing strong and steady as he watches over operations, with Coulson’s insights, projected from Fury’s cube, guiding him.

May and Yo-Yo are at the lighthouse with Mack, along with numerous new agents. It’s been a year in SHIELD’s timeline, as well, and in that time Melinda has buried Coulson and recruited talent, mainly of the muscle/field agent variety. Two in particular stand out: Keller, who has a chiseled jawline, a flirtation with Yo-Yo and a dumb idea about their current case that proves true; and Fox, who is his nerdy sidekick and possibly a single episode red shirt.

The current case is a series of anomalies reality warps distortions [name to be determined later] which have yet to be explained. When one of these events occurs, aliens arrive on Earth through a breach. By the end of the episode, their leader arrives, a character with a very familiar face.

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Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD Renewed for Season 7, with One Agent Missing

~ Metacrone

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Is This a Sign of the Effect That Avengers 3&4 Will Have on Agents of Shield?

This is good news! Disney/Marvel/ABC announced today that Agents of SHIELD has been renewed for season 7, even though season 6 won’t air until Summer 2019. Many had assumed that the shortened, 13 episode season would be the series last, so early confirmation that the network is still supporting its original foray into Marvel TV programming is very welcome.

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Agents of SHIELD Season 5 Episode 22: The End Recap and Season 5 Review/Analysis

~ Metacrone

Episode 22, The End, closes season 5 of Agents of SHIELD, and, as promised in the promos, not everyone makes it out alive. It’s an emotional episode that ties up the Graviton story, at least for now, and settles the question of who’ll succeed Coulson as director of SHIELD, at least for now. The season is wrapped up nicely at the end of the episode, but there’s a clear set up for season 6. I’m still reeling from everything that happened in this episode, and wondering about some of the dangling threads that were purposely left hanging.

Coulson lies unconscious in the infirmary, not dead yet, but inching ever closer. Deke listens from the hall as the team argues about whether to save Coulson or save the world. They don’t currently have a way to get the centipede serum/odium mixture into Talbot, even if they decide to use it on him. Fitz suggests that having Talbot absorb someone who has the serum might work. Mack, of course, is upset that Fitz went there. Fitz tells him it’s a hypothetical suggestion.

There Fitz goes, using big words and getting all sciencey and theoretical again. Next thing you know, he’ll try to get Mack to believe in climate change or that the earth is more than 6,000 years old.

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Agents of SHIELD Season 5 Episode 21: The Force of Gravity Recap

~ Metacrone

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After half a season of teasing variations on the choice between saving Coulson and saving the world, the choice that Future Elena predicted would be their downfall, the Agents of SHIELD have finally reached the end of the line. There’s no question that the final, life or death choice that the agents are left with at the end of episode 21 is the one that she was referring to. Up until now, the team has been split down the middle, with half the team unable to face watching anyone close to them die, no matter what repercussions it might have on the world, and half believing that sometimes a few (or one) need to be sacrificed in order to save many.

Coulson, the potential sacrifice in question, has been making his feelings on the matter clear for months. He intends to die when his time comes and doesn’t want any heroic interventions made to stop nature from taking its course. But we’ve all seen how important he is, not just to the team, but to keeping the world running smoothly. Are there times when one particular person is more important than a random group of people, because of the contribution that one person will likely make to the future? How would that even be decided? How many lives would it be reasonable to trade for Phil Coulson’s life? How many lives might he save if he lives?

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Agents of Shield Season 5 Episode 20: The One Who Will Save Us All Recap

~ Metacrone

Welp, tonight we learned that Graviton is on the loose and out of his mind in space, the Confederacy is aware of Infinity War and used the T word multiple times, and Kasius senior is definitely smarter than either of the Kasius juniors. In other words, we’re all gonna die, the only questions are when, and whether it will be Daisy, Graviton, or Thanos who does the honors.

Unless someone breaks the time loop or gets their hands on one of those slippery infinity stones. Tonight Fitz practically quoted Spock’s line from Wrath of Khan about needing to sacrifice a few (or one) because the needs of the many are greater. The decision about who the team is willing to lose, or who’ll choose to sacrifice themselves, is coming down to the wire, and bad decisions continue to tear the team apart.

Talbot begins his reign as Graviton by flying himself and Coulson into space on a piece of the Lighthouse floor. Points for style and resourcefulness, Glenn. And for teaching the kids to recycle.

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Agents of SHIELD Season 5 Episode 19: Option Two Recap

~ Metacrone

CLARK GREGG, ADRIAN PASDAR

The Gravitonium finally finds a body to act as a permanent home in this week’s episode of Agents of SHIELD, and it seems much happier with its option two body than with option one, Ruby. There’s also an option two for keeping Coulson alive, now that time is running out on his option one, the TAHITI treatment. Virtually no one involved will be happy with what this option two entails, though. Then there’s the option two of the episode title, the choice Coulson makes on a Lighthouse menu of lockdown options. Yep, we’re locking down the Lighthouse already, to protect it from an alien invasion, which seems to be epidemic in the MCU this week.

The episode begins with Talbot on his cot in his cell, repeating a numerical sequence over and over to himself, even in his sleep, as Qovas’ ship approaches earth. Meanwhile, Coulson goes over the team’s plan to finish space-proofing the Zephyr. Then they’ll use the ship to destroy the bulk of the Gravitonium by slingshotting it into the sun.

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