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Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Uprising

“This is really bad. No more blended drinks.”

Solid, if unsurprising, episode.

The blackouts were obviously the Watchdogs. The “Previously On” tipped it a bit but beyond that, Inhumans don't have the organization or resources necessary to pull out a series of coordinated terrorist attacks. And their motive? "We're going to black out one city an hour across the world until you treat us better" is, to quote Tony Stark, "not a great plan." But the Watchdogs scapegoating the Inhumans while using the blackouts as opportunities to hunt down individual Inhumans? That makes sense.

The Watchdogs have gone international thanks to Parminder Nagra, here an evil, anti-Inhuman Senator. Have we seen Parminder Nagra be American before? I can't recall. I hope she gets to interact with her fellow E.R. alum Ming-Na before her arc is over. Side note: does E.R. feel like it was a million years ago or is that just me?

So, as cities started blacking out across the globe, Daisy found herself thrown in with Robbie yet again. We got some plot development – apparently Robbie's uncle is in jail for attempted manslaughter and has important plot information – and got to spend some time with Gabe. The scenes in the Reyes house really reminded me of season one of Fear the Walking Dead. I seriously expected zombies for a quick minute. Daisy injures herself protecting her new friends and is eventually kicked to the curb by Gabe. While I understand where he's coming from and why he doesn't trust this random, eyeshadow-covered woman who's suddenly appeared in his life, I need people to be nicer to Daisy. Just in general. She's trying so hard to help and it hurts my heart that no one else can apparently see it.

May's fight and eventual conquering of her ghostitis kept me less interested. They're not going to kill May. They're certainly not going to do it in the third episode of the season, which really removed all the tension from it. And yes, I guess they did really kill May but it wasn't like a permanent problem. Although I did freak out a tiny bit when the power went out.

The hologram of May's brain really bothered me. I kind of hate MCU's ridiculous CGI holograms. The only time I really enjoyed any incarnation of them was when Coulson and Ward were trying to work FitzSimmons' holotable and having no luck at all. Otherwise they just seem too unrealistic, which, I know, is a ridiculous standard to hold this universe to because it's all Hulks and Iron Men and Thors.

As for Aida, she just feels so tacked on at this point. I realize they're setting up stuff for later in the season but she continues to feel subsidiary to the main action.

Weirdly, I think one of the best scenes in the episode was the argument between Yo-Yo and Mack. For the first time, they felt like a real couple and I could see where both of them are coming from.

Intel and Assets

--Henry Simmons is so much taller than everyone he interacts with.

--How horrible was Elena's friend turning on her? You make her a bridesmaid in your wedding and then turn her in to a gang of murderers? That's cold.

--Although I'm still a little mad at Fitz, I loved his low tech solution to finding the EMP.

--Anyone else low-key shipping Robbie and Daisy?

Fitz: “You know what's a good light source? A guy with a flaming head.”
Coulson: “Really bummed I missed that.”
Mack: “No, you're not.”
Fitz: “Sir, it was quite unsettling.”

Coulson: “I hear you're a little bit more yourself.”
May: “I feel cranky.”
Coulson: “Like I said.”

three out of four blackouts
---
sunbunny

4 comments:

  1. I Like the balance so far..Introducing the watchdogs threat than putting it on the back burner...and focusing on the magical problems in the lead up to Dr Strange. Sometimes it's jarring but i commend the way the series is able to write around the films. It must be a difficult task and it can simultaneously be a positive and a negative.
    Good episode though, loving Ghost Rider and i care about Robbie so im interested to see him interact with the rest of team.
    Daisy and Simmons were fantastic and so cute when Daisy pulled a gun on her.

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  2. The Hologram thing was based on the technology Killian created in Iron Man 3.

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  3. Side note: does E.R. feel like it was a million years ago or is that just me? It's not just you. :)

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  4. I loved Fitz getting annoyed about the others not knowing "rudimentary science"!

    By the way, Anonymous (the first one) refers to something that happens in the next episode (AKA spoilers).

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