Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD Ep. 7: The Hub *SPOILERS*

Since I rewatched “FZZT” rather close to seeing “The Hub”, I felt that there was quite a bit of clean up from “FZZT” in this episode. If “FZZT” was about Simmons and her relationship with Fitz, “The Hub” was about Fitz coming to terms with the fact that he would risk his life for Simmons, only to have the opportunity snatched from him by Ward and actually making friends with him. I loved the fact that while we’re initially led to believe that Ward needed to protect Fitz, Fitz was given instructions to watch Ward’s back as well. Having Ward confront Fitz over his jealousy that Ward was the one to save the day and confirm that Simmons knew that Fitz was ready to do the same was a great moment; I loved that they actually talked and screamed at each other and then were left with the realization that they were acting as a team. I feel as if both of them went into the mission with the idea that the other was grudgingly doing their job, then realized that they both care about the other coming out safely and strengthened their bond as teammates (with the ladies + Coulson doing the same to make sure their boys would return to them.)

On the relationship side, while the first few episodes appeared to be setting up a love triangle between Ward, Skye, and Fitz, these last two episodes feel as if they switched Skye with Simmons. What screams this to me is that scene at the end, with Fitz regaling Simmons with his side of the mission and Simmons responding with her hijinks, because the way Fitz’s face just falls over it says he either feels like he’s being left behind or he’s crushed that Simmons didn’t appear impressed. Skye reacts to everyone more as if she’s accepted the team as her family, which given it’s a Whedon show, is an important element. Truthfully, all possible relationships are up in the air (and my preferred answer to love triangles is polyamory ;).)

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Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD Ep. 6: F.Z.Z.T.*SPOILERS*

Another good episode, but …. no, first I’m going to say that there is a lot of good about “F.Z.Z.T.” It has a great deal of what people wanted from Agents of SHIELD. The problem with this episode is that it happened at the wrong time. Six episodes in is firmly in the middle of the season. We’ve seen enough of the characters to have a vague idea about who they are and how they react, and truthfully, in the first five episodes, there wasn’t much more. We’re to far in the season to be shocked at the possibility of a major character dieing, and we knew too little about the characters to have a deep, emotional bond with them (in fact, this is the first real development for Simmons because everything else we had learned was more about Fitz.) In other words, I had no doubt in my mind that Simmons would be rescued after her jump. That shock value was depending far too much on Whedon’s reputation for killing off character and hadn’t provided anything substantial to make me think they would really kill Simmons off. They either needed this as the second or third episode, or waited til there was more character development.

On the other hand, we get to learn more about the characters! Can you believe this is really the first time we’ve seen them interacting as people instead of agents. Everything else has been about the plot or Skye’s training. So yay! You’re doing something I wish I’d seen in 3A of Teen Wolf! (Because the more I think about it, the more I realize that Scott’s “journey” into a True Alpha didn’t happen. It just was.)

Geekdom Update: November

Obviously, this should’ve gone out at say… the beginning of the month. You know, instead of the middle. But, as I’ve already mentioned, the end of October and beginning of November. By the time I remembered I had this post to make, it was the 2nd. I figured in for a penny, in for a pound and decided to make you wait til all was done. Because working a book sale for days is exhausting. I barely had the energy to go through my dashboard on tumblr!

Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD Ep. 5: Girl in the Flower Dress *SPOILERS*

So first: Reviews are going to continue to be late for the next few weeks. I volunteer at/help organize the local library book sale, which is gearing up to occur next week, so I’m busy. (But if you’re in the Kansas City area, stop by Metcalf South and pick up come great deals.)

On with the review:

To Classic Who or Not to Classic Who?

About a week and a half ago, I posted this on tumblr. A while I had not (and still haven’t for the same reason this post was made) watched the memorial episode of Glee for Finn Hudson/Cory Monteith, I was silly enough to watch “Bad Wolf” and “The Parting of Ways” which dedicated Whovians know are the last two episodes of Doctor Who’s Series One -and the last episodes of the Ninth Doctor. And of course I was crying over the “death” of a fictional character in an episode (and scene) I’ve watched many times. Because as I tagged in the post, I cry every time; just as I cry over the Tenth Doctor’s regeneration in The End of Time and probably will when Eleven regenerates in this year’s Christmas special. But then I struck a new thought; these feelings may be a reason that I haven’t really gotten into the classic Doctor Who.

My beginning with Doctor Who is … complicated. By which I mean, in all the confusion of when SciFi (because if you haven’t guessed, I’m American) was airing/premiering the new series and school being my life, I can’t exactly remember what the first episode I saw was. I remember the talk about Nine’s rather different look and parts of different episodes from series one and two, but all I know for sure is that I did not see “Rose” until I sat down with my Amazon Prime benefits and started making my way through the first four series. I think the first episode I watched was most of “The Girl in the Fireplace.” (On a side note, I picked the worst episodes to catch the end of aka “The Doctor Dances” and “Last of the Time Lords.” I hadn’t seen any of series one at that point though I marathoned through “Bad Wolf” after and the only other episode of series three that I’d seen was “Smith and Jones.” I unintentionally spoiled myself.) A classmate tried to fix some of this and I saw the first few episodes of series two (“The Christmas Invasion” through “The Girl in the Fireplace” minus “Tooth and Claw” because she didn’t like it.) But because the only legal source at the time was expensive DVD sets and the hope that SciFi would have a marathon, it didn’t really take. Until just after series six ended and I utilized the wonder that is streaming video websites.

Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD Ep. 4: Eye Spy *SPOILERS*

I think this episode shows what many of us wanted from Agents of SHIELD. This was the first time the show felt settled and comfortable with what it was. Once again, not amazing, but a solid episode. Hopefully we’ll see more of these with a few standouts that we’ll be quoting for years.

This review is going to be completely in list format since a)it’s seriously late and b)my week became rather crazy. I’ll try to cover as much as possible.

Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD Ep. 3: The Asset *SPOILERS*

This is going up a little later than usual. For some reason, I felt the need to let last night’s episode percolate a little longer. This was probably the oddest reaction I had; I immediately felt the need to sit back and think about what I’d just seen. Well that and the fact that the episode is titled “The Asset.” With all the promotion I saw online, I would’ve thought it was called Origin.

The episode is centered around the kidnapping of a SHIELD asset, Dr. Franklin Hall, by his old college buddy Ian Quinn. Quinn had recently discover an up til then theoretical element (gravitonium) that would allow Hall’s previous designs to become a reality. Quinn needs Hall in order to control the devices on a large scale, but also because he believes in freedom of information and that he is actually saving Hall from SHIELD. My impression from the few lines dedicated to these beliefs is that he’s less for complete transparency and sharing of information and more wants a corporate oligarchy in charge. He is a businessman after all.

Back on the Bus, Skye is beginning her field agent training with Ward, which currently involves boxing and previously involved pull-ups. We learn a little bit more about the responsibility of the SO, as well as the differences between the different tracks. We also get a bit more tension between Skye and Ward, and hopefully Whedon will just let them hook up, because I don’t care about them enough for a “will they, won’t they” relationship. The team is then assigned to retrieve Hall and struggle to come up with a plan that won’t break international law since Quinn is located in Malta, a country that does not work with SHIELD. As the agents throw out and shoot down ideas to infiltrate Quinn’s shareholder party, Skye interrupts with the news that she has an invitation, or rather and e-vite.