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

I wish that the Malicks had just been their own thing apart from Hydra. I liked their gilded Satanistic Skull-and-Bones brand of evil, but it felt way too convenient to have that tie in with both Hydra and the Inhumans. If they'd just had it be Mephisto with no Hydra ties at all, that would've been great.

edited 21st Sep '16 4:19:50 PM by Unsung

Season 3's back half was really good to me, but I'm sympathetic to the Ward avoidance.

edited 21st Sep '16 4:15:49 PM by VeryMelon

I didn't mind Ward himself, but the faux Ward that we got as Hive stripped the character of anything interesting for me. I would have preferred Hive as a villain who could stand on his own. Though again, if it were Mephisto who came back in Ward's body, or, say, Blackheart, I might have liked that better. I feel like that could play to Brett Dalton's strengths as an actor, as well as Ward's background as the unfavoured son. Also Ward's turn to Malick's Religion of Evil came out of nowhere— it's too sudden, so it doesn't work to set the groundwork for Hive's (anti-)Christ metaphor. A devil's bargain, though? He's already made plenty of those.

edited 21st Sep '16 5:33:57 PM by Unsung

That's interesting opinion because the way HIVE worked it wouldn't have mattered who portrayed him outside CG.

The thing with the Malicks was, there was just a complete missed opportunity to have Stephanie Malick become Madame Hydra. Just...put on octopus on her head, man. Or dye her hair green.

edited 21st Sep '16 4:34:15 PM by alliterator

Agents of SHIELD is forever killing off potentially interesting characters purely for shock value. The only green-haired woman I want to see is Abigail Brand. Come on, Captain Marvel... But of course she's an X-Men side-character first and foremost, so we won't.

LOL first thing we see of Season 4? Daisy's bum.

I'm really hoping this whole "keep the new director a secret" thing isn't gonna last for several episodes, because it's just ridiculous that they keep saying "The Director" instead of giving an actual name.

If they decide to bring in the Penance Stare, who would it affect the most on our current cast? Part of me hopes they do bring it in, since they've been strongly suggesting that they're going the Spirit of Vengeance route.

I don't know why they'd leave that part out. Assuming it's part of this incarnation of Ghost Rider in the comics, I mean. There was just too much to unpack to have all his powers in the premiere. For instance, I've heard one of Robbie Reyes's powers is a Nightcrawler-ish ability to travel through a hell dimension in his car (meaning both while driving his car, and by entering his car) which sounds pretty sweet to me.

Similarly, the second episode is titled Meet the New Boss, and one of the last lines of this episode has May telling Coulson the Director wants to talk to him. So they just ran out of time, but they're getting there. if they can keep up the pacing on all the many plot threads they've started in this premiere without any of them getting forgotten, I'll be pretty happy.

edited 22nd Sep '16 2:16:01 AM by Unsung

There were photos released for the next episode a little while ago showing Jason O'mara sitting at a table with Coulson and May in the director's office. We'll be seeing him probably about 8 minutes into the episode.

Robbie Reyes Ghost Rider doesn't have the Penance Stare in the comics. Reyes Ghost Rider is a very, very different creature from the previous versions. He's not possessed by a Spirit of Vengeance, he's possessed by the ghost of his Satanic murderer uncle.

Since I never saw the Nic Cage movies, I have no idea whatsoever about the Ghost Rider's abilities. I was sure he was riding a motorcycle, not driving a car, to begin with. Also, with the leather jacket, being set in L.A. and being obsessed with his car, it reminded me quite a lot of Drive's main character - at least until the humanizing moment in the end.

What I assume will be the main plotlines for the season have been set, and the only one that I probably won't enjoy is Fitz-Asimov, as once again we are set for more "I had to hide it from you" drama which I am absolutely sick of. But the Ghost Rider is super promising (that shot with the flaming wheels was epic) and since Daisy and Mack are my favorite characters, having them track each other is sure to be entertaining.

edited 22nd Sep '16 4:16:30 AM by Julep

True, but it's also clear this version is possessed by the Spirit of Vengeance. The trailers call him that specifically, and he's hunting down criminals, including criminals that no one knows about (the cop and the teacher). It's a classic example of Composite Character.

Finally saw the episode. Pretty promising so far. Seems like Ghost Rider is going to be to this show what the Punisher was to Daredevil.

Welp. I'm out.

No Penance Stare me no likey. That's like intrinsic. That was his Spider Sense, that was his cowl, that was his Lasso of Truth, that was his "You won't like me when I'm angry."

This iteration is just too different.

I mean I can't argue that it's a good portrayal but that's really disappointing. I was looking forward to someone getting Penance'd... Penance Stare'd... Jack Bauer'd...

edited 22nd Sep '16 8:30:01 AM by Soble

Again, composite character.

Pretty sure he's going to have it in the show. Like's been said, composite character. And he's already mentioned seeing a few people's sins, and going after them for it.

I guess we'll see, you're right that scene wouldn't make sense otherwise.

He also leaves Daisy (I'll never get used to that) alone even when she's begging for him to kill her for her sins. So it seems like he saw (or didn't see) something in her.

I'm actually fond of calling her "Quake" now since Coulson and Mack were doing it.

I love and laugh at how her identity seems to change every season. She's gone from "Skye the hacker", to "Skye Agent of SHIELD", to "Daisy the Inhuman," to "Crazy Daisy, follower of Squidward," to "Quake the Rebel."

She's the most malleable character on this show. If she dyes her hair this season I'm going to start calling her Daisy Jones.

edited 22nd Sep '16 8:50:05 AM by Soble

Kinda shows you how far she's come since the beginning.

I sometimes call her The Character Formerly Known As Skye, Currently Known as Daisy, But I Call Her Heather.

Because I just do.

I wonder when Robbie will start using his chains. I'm guessing by the midseason finale he will, or maybe even earlier seeing how as fast this show is moving along lately.

(3) It's actually pretty amazing. I remember nothing but complaints about her in Season 1, like she was the character everyone felt was pointless. I think the show went into overtime making her likable, and I guess it paid off.

(2) The Hacker formerly known as Skye.

I thought we did see him use them in the first part but maybe I'm misremembering. I think when he attacked Quake he had them, or maybe those were his keys. He seemed to be a fan of using those as knuckledusters.

Which I guess makes sense because he's driving a car. A bike might need a chain, with a car you just have keys.

Ho-hum.

I did like when he made that flaming sword though. I really didn't think this character was going to impress me visually, but this is the kind of stuff I wanted back in Season 1 and 2, instead of dealing with Heroes rejects like that Darkforce guy.

edited 22nd Sep '16 9:25:04 AM by Soble

I think it's a given that we'll see him with a flaming chain sooner or later. I get the impression that he can make any random object burst into flames, so they aren't going to need to set it up specifically.

...They need to have some fun with his abilities somewhere along the lines. Maybe he needs to chase someone down and the only vehicle he has access to is a segway or something that's equally absurd to see burning with the flames of vengeance.