EXCHANGE INTERFACE

In the home stretch! I'll be able to look at my tumblr again and click on the Maria Hill tag!

1.19 - The Only Light In The Darkness

Okay, so it looks like this episode was really just a 'let's get everyone to the next place they need to be' episode. This episode felt very much like the early ones did - a little disjointed, slightly awkward, "problem of the week" episode - with the overarching context of the HYDRA invasion hanging over it like a cloud. I'm guessing it's a last breather before the final plunge towards the finale, right? But even if it was something of a 'getting the pieces into place' episode, it still had some really good moment.

Ouch. Coulson's really losing it in pieces, isn't he?

So this is the SHIELD version of the za'tarc machine, eh? Ask me no questions and I'll tell you no lies. I love the answers and what they reveal about each of them. Oooh, and Triplett is the grandson of a Howling Commando! \o/ That is so awesome - and a touch of history, too!

So Coulson leaves May, Ward, and Skye. The guy who's the traitor they don't know they can't trust, the woman he was sleeping with, and the woman he wants to be sleeping with. This is like the intersection of all the dramatic crises in every TV show ever. *snarfles*

"What are you here for?"

Fitz: Simmons.
May: Coulson.
Ward: Skye.

Oh, so telling.

The parallels of discovery/disillusionment between Skye and Audrey - that sequence is pretty neat. And I like that once Skye gets past her shock, she starts playing Ward in return - that she made the realisation that Ward killed Koenig.

...hey, didn't I mention Koenig's dirty isotopes in The Guy, The Spy, His Not-Wife, And Their Handler? LOL.

Oh, Fitz. Fitz. Fitz. You need to say something and risk wrecking it. That's how this works. But he's not going to, is he? He'll stay quiet and Triplett will sweep Jemma off her feet. And I'm reasonably sure Triplett's a good guy (it's getting hard to tell) but... *sigh* Oh Fitz. ps. Jemma, this doesn't let you off the hook. You need to WAKE UP AND SMELL THE ADORABLE GEEK WHO'S YOUR BEST FRIEND RIGHT NEXT TO YOU.

Skye's realisation - that Ward needs her for the HD - that's kind of heartbreaking. Because it's one thing to know this; it's another to realise it was all a lie. *pets her*

And hee! I forgot about that ending until I saw May walking down the road in Ontario. That conversation between them is precious. So, so precious.

Okay, so this episode, while good, felt...overacted. I don't know why. But Ward felt overdone. So did Skye. And Audrey-the-cellist. (Who really exists and isn't Maria Hill.) Or maybe that was the point - that they were playing people who were playing parts, in which case, really good acting, but just...awkward. Implied fourth-wall-ness happening.

--

And, forthwith: to the Maria Hill episode!

There is so much in this episode. A crazy number of layers and characterisations and breaks and, oh, whoever wrote this was BRILLIANT.

1.20 - Nothing Personal

I'm sorry, I just have to type up this entire dialogue, BECAUSE OF REASONS:

"SHIELD implodes and everyone wants answers. The CIA, NSA, NRO, I can handle but Congress... Congress is like kindergarten. Where is the Fridge? What was in the Fridge? What is a Man-Thing? I swear I need a cocktail and a lobotomy. But apparently my every move continues to fascinate them. Tonight's standard surveillance package includes: one fake yuppie not checking her texts, one homeless man, mildly offensive, and the hipster following me looks familiar - I think he's Russian or...gone. Pepper, I'll call you back in ten."

I forsee a lot of Maria&Pepper fic in future. This is not a bad thing. Oh, and she's on a first name basis with Tony now.

"We need to talk, Agent Hil"
"May. A phone call would have done it. But I appreciate the discretion."
"Thought you'd like the night off."

Snark and understated sarcasm. How do I love the women of SHIELD? LET ME COUNT THE WAYS.

"Most of the intelligence community would like to drop me into a dark hole, but even they can't mess with Tony's army of lawyers. So, for now, we're privatising global security. Wanna join?"

Yeah, definitely the lawyers. And I like the callback to Tony's catchline.

"Fury's dead."
"I'l believe that when I see it."

"Three minutes, twenty seconds - really? If you were my agents you wouldn't be for long!"

Incidentally, the violin ostinato which plays as Maria exits the Department of Justice (I bet she's so pissed off with Natasha for skipping the country and leaving her to face the music. Oh, that's right, she could have run and decided not to) ...anyway, the music is the introduction to the SHIELD/Avengers theme - but, interestingly, without the 'opening theme' that usually follows in a blast of horns and strings. That's very very telling. Because what we have is SHIELD without SHIELD, without the Avengers, without even the scraps of legitimacy to cover them.

Oh Fitz. Oh oh oh oh Fitz. My heart breaks for you. And it doesn't even have to be slashy - even that trust which developed between them in the first half of the season. Respect, friendship of a sort, starting to understand each other... And it was all a lie. (Was it?) No wonder Fitz is struggling.

Aaaaand Nathan Petrelli has joined the armed forces. And is an asshole. Wait, he was always an asshole. (Does Pasdar specialise in playing assholes, or is he just really godo at it?)

ps. Melinda, you looks waaaay too clean after that kind of digging. Way. Too. Clean. (Was there a digging machine nearby? They do these things by machine, btw. And, yeah, Fury was very literal. Or pretty good with riddles. Did Maria suspect and decide she didn't want to know? I'm going with 'had a pretty good idea of who was in charge of TAHITI' and made the choice not to know this dirty little secret.)

Okay, I love the deviousness of Maria's mind. And the way she changes direction the instant she realises how deep the rot goes. Garrett's not dead. Ward's his protege. They've opened the Fridge. And things have gotten very bad for SHIELD - or The Organisation Formerly Known As (TOFKAS doesn't have quite the same connotations as SHIELD).

How much do I love Skye right now? Skye and Ward in the diner; this is one of the best double-entendre conversations that I've ever seen. And Ward knows it...and doesn't want to believe it. Even when Skye flips the computer around. This girl is good. And then the whole handcuffed scene in the Bus? When she headbutts him? I found her a bit annoying at the start, but she's really grown on me. Character development, yo!

"I'm gonna throw up." And then Ward does his "poor little me" scene. And Skye comes back with "You were right. I wouldn't like the real you." I think the hard thing about this scene is that Ward really does care for Skye. But she's not the kind of woman to forgive or forget. And she's not going to forgive his betrayal. At least, I sure hope she isn't going to forgive him. If she does (qualification: if she does too easily), I'm going to bitchslap a writer or a dozen.

That whole conversation between Maria and Ward: brilliant! He's trying Misogyny 101 lines, and she's buying time for Phil to get into the landing gear. *GURGLES* Wasn't it May who said she'd hide in the landing gear of an airplane, jump off at however many thousand feet? :D

The flight with Lola was really the most ridiculous part of the whole episode. That's saying a lot in an episode with bunkers and Deathlok and Nathan Petrelli and big angsty scenes of angst. But I get the lighthearted ending. And the sweet ending with Fitz and Simmons. And Simmons totally gets it. Her whole roll of the eyes, "You'll never have to find out." And her hand on his knee.

Before we find out about Coulson and his involvement in TAHITI.

I had a little warning about TAHITI from a friend. She said she wasn't expecting it. And from that, I had a pretty good guess (which was right).

Speculation and random bunnies

So, will Triplett be joining the team in place of Ward? Will Fitz get his act together and pop the question to Simmons? It looks like Fitz has a big part in appealing to Ward in the next episode: which I rather like, even if it's going to send the slashers berko.

How about that TAHITI project, huh? (Oh, that was a very Malcolm Reynolds 'huh' from Coulson.) Initial boost, then deterioration, although helped along by mindwiping?

I'm curious about the storytelling options: does Ward's road end in redemption (it damn well better take at least one season) or death? Or, like Angel in Buffy Season Two: both? This is the Whedons after all. My prediction is that Skye has to pull the trigger on Ward after May has battered him over - and she does. There may be a double-blind involved in it. Or a "it's you or the world" choice. (Hey, Maria made that choice in Cap2, too. Definitely a Whedon theme.)

Finally: a small and really random thing. I...kind of want Skye to hook up with Bucky. I...just think it would be kind of cool. A kind of reverse Ward - and this time, one that she really didn't see coming. INORITE HAVE I LOST MY BRAIN IDEK. *coughs*

Anyway, that was some excellent television. And the most engrossed I've been in a TV series for years.

Well played, Whedons. Well played.