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

As per Ophelia, the LM Ds were only faking emotions. Then again there's LMD May

How is it unheroic to point out the obvious?

Ophelia was trying to cover up her ass.

Or maybe she was kind of right?

LMD May would like to disagree. And the fact that she did commit some very petty and not just pre-programmed atrocities within the framework.

edited 18th May '17 9:54:27 AM by Forenperser

Characters which are always nice and perfect are boring. I actually like Jemma exactly because she isn't exactly empathic, especially since it is pretty much the opposite of what most TV shows do. Usually the female character is the empathic one and the male character is the cool one. Not that Jemma doesn't have feelings, but she is very logical. And we all know that Mack is full or prejudices.

Plus, there really isn't one clear answer in the whole LMD/Framework question. LMD May apparently did have feelings BUT she was programmed to have said feelings, since she was send undercover. Most of the other LM Ds didn't have anything of that kind. And the Framework...I would have had a problem with Shield just turning it off, but I certainly understand them seeing the Framework as "lesser" than their actual existence...though, I do wonder...the Darkhold was pretty much the source of the Framework, right? And we have learned in the past that you can't create anything out of this air, you have to steal it from somewhere......All this in mind I am still not really sure if the Framework was really just digits and if perhaps all those people vanished somewhere....(yeah, I know, I am reaching, but I actually liked the idea that there is a world in which Ward is good and Trip is the Patriot).

Jemma's feelings towards the Framework people were very believable I thought, given the general state of things. It's not like she didn't get over it.

I really liked the storyarc they gave simmons this season...gave the actress a lot of opportunity to shine.

I don't view the Framework simulacrum or the LMD's as people. Aida's only an exception because of the Darkhold.

I think the entire point of the LMD/Framework arc was to ask the question: what makes a person? Only memories? Emotions? Something more? Can you be a person if you are programmed to feel emotions?

LMD May even points this out in "Self Control" — she says that she feels like she's all phantom limbs, that she has memories of seeing snow, but knows that this is the first time she's ever seen it. LMD May is perhaps the closest thing we got to having a "real" person as an LMD — because they took their time to replicate May's own brain patterns, rather than what they did with LMD Coulson and the rest.

Reminds me of how Vision when he had emotions and was married to Wanda and was feeling pretty good with his life described himself as a human with a full body prosthesis

I'm sure she would. Unfortunately, she can't because she's limited by her programming directives and although she can simulate the real May in many ways, she cannot directly violate the commands built into her processing system.

Due to her simulation of May contradicting her central directives, she ultimately found a workaround, but it was one necessitated by the fact that her ability to act is constrained by the limits of her program. One of many times Radcliffe and AIDA discovered that A.I. Is a Crapshoot.

Regarding Simmons:

The more I think about it, the more I really want Simmons to have hosted the Rider. I feel like AIDA was her and Fitz's nemesis more than anyone else's. In the same way that Hive was predominately Daisy and Lincoln's adversary, in both his meaning to their Inhuman plot and his Ward-skin suit.

Narratively, Fitzsimmons needed to be the ones that took her out. We even see a great setup scene for this, with Simmons demanding an answer from Fitz. "All I'm good at coming up with is things that kill people." "Great! That's what we need. How do we kill AIDA?"

The closure just isn't there with Coulson doing it. It feels like he came in and cleaned up their mess for them, while Simmons was nearby.

I think Simmons distracting Aida by shooting her a bunch of times worked out pretty well.

BTW, anyone have any theories as to who took Coulson & Co., and where in space they might be? It it representation of anything from the comics?

Seen SWORD brought up in a few places, but I've also seen it mentioned they're tied to the X-Men.

edited 18th May '17 2:25:55 PM by Cross

X-Men in the MCU?

I doubt it.

SWORD's a grey area. It first appeared in Astonishing X-Men, but it's not specifically a mutant organization, and it was created by Joss Whedon, so if Jed wanted to use it for AOS, I could see some arrangement perhaps being made. Fox probably isn't going to go to space anytime soon, so it wouldn't necessarily be a huge priority for them to keep it, especially if they got something in return.

For such a spacy franchise the X-Men movies have kept their feet firmly planted on terra firma

They've become the grounded superhero franchise while the MCU has been playing around with alien invasions, other Shakespearean worlds, and space opera

DC too, although it's hard to avoid when your second most popular character is a space baby

Maybe Fox wanted to save space for the Fantastic side of things but that didn't go well.

edited 18th May '17 4:10:32 PM by Bocaj

Something that doesn't do anything or contribute in any kind of positive way isn't my idea of working out pretty well.

It's not a distraction. It can't be a distraction because Coulson does nothing to take advantage of it. He just stands there like an idiot while she regenerates, stands back up, and taunts Simmons. He only tries to close distance once she starts marching towards Simmons, and she allows him to because he's harmless; she whips around once he's in melee range to confront him.

Nothing actually comes of what you're calling a "distraction". At no point does AIDA lose track of Coulson, nor does Coulson do anything to take advantage of her split focus. Jemma shoots her for lulz and then Coulson resumes doing what he was going to do anyway: grab her arm, not through sneaky shenanigans, but because she's so confident in her own invulnerability that she lets him do it.

EDIT: Basically, the only reason the uzi didn't get Simmons stupidly killed is because AIDA replaced her personality and intelligence with Idiot Ball in the last episode and now she likes to do the Jason Voorhees slow-walk of doom despite being able to teleport and tear people limb from limb. That is not a satisfying contribution to the downfall of Fitzsimmons's archnemesis.

edited 18th May '17 6:11:00 PM by TobiasDrake

Well, I disagree. Shooting her was a distraction in that it reminded her that she was pretty well invulnerable aside from Ghost Rider. She thought that there was nothing that could hurt her, which is why she walked slowly.

Simmons being Ghost Rider would have been super cool.

You know, I'm actually surprised that the writers didn't find some way to bring Ward back, especially with all those theories going around that he might be able to escape the Framework somehow. I almost forgot about him until the other day when I was thinking about this past episode. Now if they knew they were getting a 5th season things would've been different, but I liked the way season 4 ended. I have no idea how the next season is gonna play out, and thats how I like it. I'm just really curious what the 100th episode is gonna be like, maybe a cameo from an avenger or defender? For now I can only dream of it.

Also, hooboy, finally binged watched after that cliffhanger with May tossing done that terragenesis crystal.

That was a good cliffhanger

In a way self control was the better season finale...but who cares as long as the show overall is good?

I hope that it will be back before Christmas and then run with as little interruptions as possible, with a great tie-in for Civil war. Hell, if the show is back early enough, they might be able to turn episode 100 into a big Christmas/New Year special.