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Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Meet the New Boss

“You wanna save my soul? I’m telling you, girl, I sold mine.”

Raise your hand if you want to slap Leo Fitz.

I really liked this episode. It felt genuinely good. A part of that, no doubt, was Daisy’s brief but satisfying reunion with part of the team. I was wondering if they were going to keep her separate for the whole first half of the season and am delighted to find that they won’t.

Basing Daisy in Los Angeles gives the series something it’s never really had: a home. Even in the days of the Bus the team was rarely in one place for two episodes going. Having Daisy remain still in a single city makes the show feel different, somehow more comfortable. For some reason, the base never really felt like a home for the team, maybe because it doesn’t have a set location (although personally, I’ve always pictured it in the desert). And it has to be cheaper for the show to not have to replace license plates and bus signs on every Los Angeles street they shoot on.

As usual, I had an insane amount of love for Daisy this episode. I just adored how she used her skills as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent to track down Robbie and interrogate him. I love that her superpowers aren’t all Daisy is good for. And I really liked Robbie. He had such a sense of Daisy after a single fight with her. He gets her in a way even Mack and Fitz don’t. He knows that she’s on a vengeance mission and that putting her life at risk is more of a feature than a flaw of that plan. He gets that she’s not being selfish, that she’s in real pain and, as together as she seems, is rapidly self-destructing. I really could’ve clawed Fitz’s face off when he accused her of being selfish. It reminded me so much of the way Xander reacted to Buffy when she ran away after the second season finale. “Most girls don't hop a Greyhound over boy troubles.” Way to oversimplify, Xander.

We meet S.H.I.E.L.D.’s new director and it’s sadly not a Koenig. It’s... some dude. Some Inhuman dude which totally shocked me. As soon as May hit him I was thinking robot, not Inhuman. But Inhuman he is. He’s... I don’t trust him. Part of that, no doubt, is just MCU-induced paranoia, but he seemed way too slick. We did get an answer to how he was able to gain control of S.H.I.E.L.D. from Coulson: Coulson wanted a fresh face to be in charge. I buy it, but I wonder if there’s not more going on in Coulson’s head as well.

Serious development on the ghost... contamination... whatever thing. I’m actually really enjoying this storyline. How and why did they get ghostified? Is there going to be a science fictiony explanation (FitzSimmons were already saying the tech in the box was possibly alien) or is the MCU ready to make the jump to magic just as Doctor Strange is set to hit theaters?

It sounds unbelievably harsh but I loved seeing May infected with ghostitis. Usually Ming-Na Wen is hampered by the constraints of her character to show as little emotion as physically possible, but the ghostitis let her go totally, no holds barred crazy and it was amazing to watch. A big gold acting star from me. And what does the director have in store for her? Is he trying to help or selling her out? It made me uncomfortable the way he froze out Coulson because he was too close to see the situation clearly. Let me have my Philinda!

The director, whose only given name in this episode is “Jeffrey,” is rumored to be (possible spoilers in white) Jeffrey Mace, who, in the comics, is a Captain America (one of several Captain Americas besides Steve Rogers). Now, Director Jeffrey specifically mentioned Steve Rogers as having gone AWOL in the aftermath of Captain America: Civil War. Foreshadowing or false flag? We’ll have to keep watching to find out...

Intel and Assets

--Who loved seeing a woman in her fifties kick everyone’s ass? I certainly did.

Coulson: “This room... does it seem...”
May: “Like it was decorated by someone who needs to unclench?”

Director: “Phil, it’s okay. She was your friend. Loyalty’s a good thing.”
Coulson: “But I had a whole speech ready.”

three and a half out of four Mays infected with ghostitis
---
sunbunny

8 comments:

  1. Actually, I completely agreed with Fitz. They're going through a lot of effort to save someone who doesn't want to be saved. Right now Daisy cares only about her own feelings and not at all about feelings of the people who were supposedly her family not that long ago, regardless of what pain she's in. To go with your Buffy comparison, there are two important distinctions that make Buffy not bad as Daisy: 1) in Buffy's case she left because she had been kicked out of her home, which wasn't her choice 2) Buffy wanted some alone time but wasn't directly hurting anyone. Daisy is putting all of SHIELD in a bad spot right now, especially the people who, again, were supposedly her family.

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  2. I agree. As likeable as Skye is, she is at fault here. The "I have depression over my dead boyfriend" excuse only goes so far.

    As for the new director... He seems like a decent guy. Maybe somewhat over his head, but OK. Removing Coulson from May case was not smart and surely would bite him, but it seems to be an honest mistake.

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  3. The mentioned the Darkhold, which a item of huge supernatural importance in the Marvel universe, with links to both Ghost Rider and Doctor Strange. So yeah, I think they're going there.

    As a fan of the supernatural part of the Marvel Universe, pretty stoked to see them go there.

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  4. Fitz is in the right but at the same time they need to understand where Daisy is coming from..Communication guys...I think she is deeply ashamed about alot of things she did.
    Her whole better then human attitude she adopted was rearing its head BEFORE hive controlled her...Than there are her actions under Hives Sway. On top of this none of them know she tried to return to Hive under her own volition. In her mind she is keeping them safe from her but also i think she feels as if she does not deserve to be around them.
    Liking all the storylines, even the poor CGI ghosts..
    Love the breadcrumbs for Doctor Strange they are scattering
    No harm must come to May..
    Daisy's '' literally ten seconds ago' line was hilarious as was anything to do with Mack and Fitz in the field.
    Its embarrassing how much better this Ghost rider is in Human form than Nic Cages...

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  5. *Raises hand*

    I've not been happy with how Fitz is being written for a long time now. The Fitz of season three to now is just not the same character I fell in love with.

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  6. Yeah I understand where Fitz is coming from - they've been tirelessly searching for Daisy for 6 months now only to find she's been in contact with one of them and stealing from them this whole time. And Fitz has always been one of Daisy's biggest supporters - he was the first one there for her, protecting her when she got her powers. I think he's allowed a moment to express his feelings of pure frustration and sadness that he's helpless to help his friend. May not have been in an entirely fair way but the fact that Mack immediately echoed what he was saying (her disappearance affects all of them) suggests that it's a feeling that would be shared by the team.

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  7. "The Fitz of season three to now is just not the same character I fell in love with."

    Actually I found what Fitz said to be notably consistent with season one Fitz. If you recall, Fitz felt betrayed by Skye's acting as a double agent with Rising Tide in http://www.douxreviews.com/2013/10/agents-of-shield-girl-in-flower-dress.html and really took it personally. So it makes sense that Fitz would take Daisy's leaving personally now as well.

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  8. Put me on Team Fitz for this one. Daisy's the one making me want to slap her. They spent 3 seasons of her finding a home and a family with SHIELD, and this new storyline for her just feels like a massive step backwards. Has trying to handle something solo EVER worked out for ANYONE on this show? She's causing trouble for her team, she's co-opting Yo-Yo, an inhuman the government is already cautious about, and she's got so much tunnel vision she thinks she can handle everything on her own.

    I like the casting choice for the new Director, I've enjoyed him in other stuff. But this slick-talking Mr. Friendly shtick will become grating if it goes on too long. I really want to know a bit more about his history. Was he transformed via tainted fish like Yo-Yo, or was he already an inhuman? Was he already part of government? I assume he was, otherwise I don't see how they'd trust him to run SHIELD.

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