Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (2013?)

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Actually, I thought it was great that they are sticking to their guns with the whole "Ward is a sociopath", rather than kicking off an even more trite redemption arc.

[Droo]

That wasn't my point. I was groaning at the early symptoms of a Ward redemption arc when they first started to surface in the last season. He has made his choices and he has to live with them. They sold him very early on as the cold-blooded killer type and to deviate from that on some romantic sob-story or whatever would be a total cop-out. I was never ready to start swallowing that rubbish. What I object to is the Hannibal-Clarice setup that has now emerged between Ward and Sky because "he will only talk to Skye." They want information. He shows off scars from his attempted suicides and talks about sharp paper edges and tries to get personal with Skye. It is wholly unoriginal.

[Droo]

I am sad to see the back of the fun team dynamic of last season, but that was when everyone was getting along well with each other and was without all of the emotional baggage they all seem to be carrying around now. Consequently, this change in tone feels like a natural development. Having said that, there's still the occasional moment of humour that helps to lighten the mood - it's important they keep that. Regardless, three episodes in and I'm loving this new season so far, it feels very sure-footed in the direction its going.

[Rutabaga]

I'm enjoying this new season so far, it feels like it's settled down and found more stable footing. And I really, REALLY do NOT want to see them [redeem Ward].

Fitz, my sweet Fitz, he makes me cry.

[Captain Untouchable]

I'm not convinced that they're ever going to [redeem Ward per se. However, something to bear in mind is that this is the world of comic books, the allegiances of characters shift constantly, and one of the big themes of SHIELD at the moment seems to be that "everything is grey". The whole story arc with HYDRA - both in SHIELD and The Winter Soldier - focuses on the idea that the people you thought were good (ie. SHIELD) might not be. We've got characters from the comics slated to show up in upcoming episodes and upcoming movies who a comic book nerd would expect to be good guys, but early indications suggest that they aren't. We've also got SHIELD making use of mercenaries, showing a willingness to recruit the ice kid despite him murdering people... DC's Suicide Squad isn't the only comic book storyline that deals with criminals working with "the good guys" for some reason.

I guess what I'm getting at is, Ward doesn't have to be "redeemed" in order to start working with the good guys again. He is extremely unapologetic about what he did, very assertive that he did bad stuff of his own free will rather than brainwashing (though technically, isn't what Garrett did a form of brainwashing?), and if Fitz of all people is willing to kill the guy, the odds of Ward ever being forgiven for what he did seem pretty darn slim from where I'm standing. That doesn't mean that Ward can't become the lesser of two evils, that he can't become someone who is grudgingly used as an asset... Ward can still prove useful without needing to be forgiven or redeemed, and that seems like something that would fit with the tone of Season 2 thus far.]

Someone needs to hurry up and [fix Fitz] soon, though.

[Droo]

This is just getting better and better. The humour was excellent this time around, and we're even starting to see more of the old fun team dynamic but with the new team. I had an unusually nit-picky moment, when Coulson shot the dude running away but neglected to use his weapon on fake-May. I promptly made peace with that minor gripe thanks to the awesome fight sequence that followed. I love the time spent on May and Coulson's bond, they make an excellent duo. And Fitz has me pining for a happy reunion with Simmons. This episode cements a belief to which I've held to for some time now: Ming-Na Wen is a goddess!

[Alexander Tur'enne]

Gotta love any kind of martial arts fight that [ends with an airborne face plant into a table.]

For me, the highlight of the season so far is Fitz. His situation is so tragic, so easy to relate to, so well performed... and yet also perfect for exactly the kind of humour / banter that the show needs in these kinds of situations. Fitz and Hunter especially is a really great combo... Hunter's chatty banter feels like something the team has been missing the whole time without me realising. I'm pretty sure that having Mack and Hunter be friendly with Fitz is a scheme by the writers to make us all like them faster... for me, it's definitely working.

I am hoping that we get a bit more of Triplett, though. When we first heard that the team was going to be in [an old SSR base, and that Agent Carter was going to be in the season opener], I got my hopes up that we'd learn more about Trip's grandfather, but we haven't as yet. I like that he's the slightly stoic reliable nice guy agent... I just hope he doesn't get stuck in the no man's land between the old team and the new team, as far as character focus goes.

[Rutabaga]

I loved last night's episode, with the Coulson/May dynamic being my favorite part. I have such a girl crush on Ming-Na Wen that it's ridiculous. And yup, [the faceplant onto the table] was awesome. I'm pretty sure I let out a noise that sounded something like woohoo! when that happened.

And I totally, totally, totally wanna give Fitz a hug. For about 2 hours.

[Rutabaga]

Great recap/review of this week's episode:

http://www.themarysue.com/agents-of-...-recap-s2-ep4/

[Ndonsa]

Avengers spoiler - [Triplett is in Age of Ultron]

[Droo]

Great recap/review of this week's episode:

http://www.themarysue.com/agents-of-...-recap-s2-ep4/

I found myself nodding along in agreement at more or less everything in that (the remark about Skye being the exception - I've always liked her). I enjoy the show most when it is lighter, because I love it when the characters are more chilled out and enjoying a bit of banter amongst themselves. They're characters I like, after all, I don't want them to be in mortal peril too much, and speaking of which: Coulson's contingency plan... I don't even want to think about that! Also, on the matter of May's finishing move, it made me actually fistpump and blurt out "Yesss!" like a 10 year old, and any TV show that can do that is doing something very right!

And my favourite line? "Yeah, that's May. She's laughing. I think the worst of it's over now.

[Captain Untouchable]

Bobbi Morse.

[I'm really glad they tweaked her to be with Hunter instead of Hawkeye. Agents of SHIELD seems like it will be able to do far more interesting stuff than staying true to the source material... and I'm already kinda shipping Hunter and Mockingbird, seems like we have some superb banter in store for us. And holy hell at all the badass ladies in SHIELD now. Really excited to see how Simmons slots in, if she ends up having a May/Skye relationship with Bobbi, etc.]

Damn it though, [Skye's dad. Tell me her real name so I can get appropriately fanboy excited!]

Edit:

For anyone curious if Bobbi is going to wind up looking more like her comic book counterpart at any point, they've released some promo / concept art / image / stuff... and holy crap.

At least we know Hunter will be pleased about the hair, right?