'Girl in the Flower Dress' -- SHIELD 1x05

Warning: Spoiler Alert

You know, I wasn't really expecting to find out what Skye's deal was quite so soon, but I suppose that it wasn't something that was really enough to keep drawing out forever. Sure, loosing her parents (and blaming it on SHIELD) would probably be a huge thing for her, but honestly ... the way the writing is on this show (as well as the acting), I don't think that they would have been able to pull it off as being a Huge Reveal, if they had left it alone and let us keep building everything up inside of our heads. If this show had the perfect storm of writers and actors, I think that they probably would have been able to keep building it up (at least until midseason), and the payoff would have been worth it; but since I don't think that they have the perfect storm ... it's probably a good thing that thy went the way that they did.

But by giving us the answers now (by at least giving us the basics of what motivates Skye, and the fact that she really is an idealist, and not the boogeywoman that the writers seemed to be trying to project her as in the first couple of episodes), it seems that we are supposed to be thinking that Skye is going to be one of the White Hats now (or at least that her hat is off white) ... which takes away some of the fun that could have been had with her character before. The thing of it is that there is all sorts of fun that could be had with anti-heroes, or those who are a little bit bendy when it comes to rules and morals. But now that we know that she's an Idealist (and yes, that word has a capital "I" when describing her), the things that could be done with her as a character is somewhat limited ... and it now colors (at least in my mind) everything that we've seen her do before this point with the colors of the toolbox (and just to be clear, yes, I am calling her a tool).

And to be honest, the fact that she is such a tool makes me not really care what happened with her parents. If I liked the character more, things might be different, but since I don't care for her, it's not really important to me to find out what happened with them.

Also, I get that Ward is upset with her after finding out that Skye is a big liar, but not only was he already aware that there was far more going on with her than she was letting on (and that she probably shouldn't be completely trusted), he never seemed to quite get over the fact that he didn't trust her. It's true that he may have started to like her a bit, but starting to like someone somewhat doesn't mean that you trust them (I can speak to that from personal experience). So, when he got all butthurt and refused to go into the office with her to speak with Coulson (which it seems that he should have done if he was going to be professional in regards to being her SO) made him look even more of a douche in my book. Going in didn't mean that he had to go to the wall for her, but he agreed to be her superior, and if SHIELD is somewhat militaristic (and seeing as how homeboy is the most military of the group ... with the exception of May), it seems that he should have been in there (if for protocol, if for nothing else).

The one good thing that I can say about this episode is that there was finally someone with super powers. I know that they're going more of the science route on this (since they're working off of what was established with The Avengers Phase 1), but it was still cool to see someone who could do something cool ... even more so that it was pyrokinesis, since that's something that I've always thought was awesome. Too bad that "Scorch" wasn't someone that they could have kept in more than one episode (while ditching that stupid name).

If this is the same Raina that was in the episode (and not just someone who shared the same name), it's possible that we're looking at more alien interactions from the Avengers/SHIELD mythos. I suspect that that's what is happening there, especially after Ward broke into that place last week and saw what appeared to be some kind of writing (which I still suspect was alien in origin). That feasibly could be kind of interesting, but I'm not completely convinced that the writers of this show are going to be up to the task of making this as awesome as it could be (and it would be really sad if the X-Men cartoon ends up having better writing when dealing with aliens than SHIELD).

But on a side note, I just got the new Marvel Lego game for my 3DS ... and I think I just found a new favorite game. That's always a plus, right?

'Eye-Spy' -- SHIELD 1x04

Warning: Spoiler Alert

Soooo ... there's something "wrong" with Coulson, and no one notices it except for Amador. What could have changed so much between the time that she last saw him, and the time that she saw him now that would have made him so very different. The first thought that most people would probably have would be to say that the Battle of New York changed him, but it sounds as though most of the people that are a part of his team knew him before the Battle of New York, and none of them think that there is anything out of the ordinary about him. So, that would mean that if there was a change about him, it would have had to've happened long before that (and there wouldn't be any way that he would have been able to logically use the excuse that NY gave him an excuse to give as many people second chances as he possibly could).

There is a theory that came across when it comes to Coulson that seems to be kind of interesting (and I would love it if this is actually what happens). [Highlight the following to see it] The theory that's going around is that Coulson is actually an android that was built by Howard Stark (Tony's dad) back around the time that the Avenger Initiative was being created (back when Captain America was first "created"). And since he is actually far older than he appears, having been created around the time that Captain America first became popular, that is why he has such an affinity for things from that era and especially for the Cap himself. It would also explain why he was able to survive supposedly being killed; since he is an android, and if they were able to save his memories (whether in whole or partially), they would have been able to download them into a newer model of Coulson. And according to this theory, this is also why he has no muscle memory (and why he can't deal with his gun properly), since androids don't technically have muscles. But also that might be explained away by the fact that if he is a newer version of Coulson, since the last one was destroyed, there has not been enough time for him to be able to create new pathways inside of his brainstuffs (or what passes as that) that would allow him to do things like that easily, and he has to relearn it.

And if this is the case, if Coulson is really a new model of the Coulson android that was brought out of the warehouse when the last model was destroyed by Loki, it would also explain away why Amador thought that he was acting differently. The new model may have enough of the old memories to make him pass as Coulson, and those who have known him recently might be able to overlook some things cuz they knew that something happened to him in NY, but with this new model still trying to get its bearings, its possible that he really is different.

And to be perfectly honest, I would love it if this were the case, since it would bring a fabulous twist to the show. Plus, we know that there's all sorts of amazing technology in the Marvel universe, so it's completely possible that Howard Stark was able to create an android (being the tech genius that he was), the ability to save his memories, and spare bodies so that those memories would be able to be downloaded and Coulson could soldier on.

But as much as I like that theory, I still like my own theory that he was actually in Asgard getting himself all healed up and good. If I had to pick one, however, I don't know that I would be able to, and would still be rather happy if either one of these things happened.

So, we now have some kind of secret organization that that implants false eyes into people and gets them to do all sorts of wickedly bad things for them (and then, kills them when/if they fail). It's nice to know that we now have a creepy big bad out there; it kind of makes me feel all kinds of happy on the inside.

Also, I feel like we have seen the "alien language" that the creepy big bad was trying to get a picture of, but I can't remember where. Did it have something to do with Hydra and the Tesseract? Maybe? Does anyone else remember that can fill my brains back in with the necessarily information?

'The Asset' -- SHIELD 1x03

Warning: Spoiler Alert

I'm starting to think that we're supposed to not trust Skye, but that it will turn out that we won't have the giant reason as to why she isn't completely trustworthy once we find out exactly what it is that is behind all of her secrecy. I'm starting to feel a bit jerked around when it comes to her. I suppose that I wouldn't like it all that much if the other characters didn't question her motivations, or if there wasn't at least one of them saying that there was something kind of fishy when it comes to her (since she wasn't recruited in the normal fashion ... whatever is normal for SHIELD these days). But the way that things are, I get the feeling that whatever the big mystery there is about her, when it is finally revealed, we're going to find out that it isn't anything as huge as any of us have built up in our minds (and we're going to be left disappointed when all is said and done). Also, I get the feeling that the writers are wanting us to think that she is totes antiestablishment, but really, she's just a damaged little girl who wants to belong somewhere ... and once she feels like there is a genuine connection between her and the rest of the team, she is going to be 100% good guy (and there won't be any of this antihero cool that they are trying to give her). So, yeah, I'm feeling like there is a bit of fail when it comes to her.

Fitz/Simmons continue to be the nerdy awesome that they have been since the beginning, and it makes me love them all the more that they are so clueless sometimes (and yet, that they are so completely smart at the same time). But there has to be some other way to get the explanations that they are giving translated into laymen's terms without someone (and especially Skye) demanding that they translate into "English" for everyone. The thing is that if Skye is as wickedly smart as the writers would like us to believe that she is (even if it's not in Fitz or Simmons' specific fields), I don't see her demanding that they "translate into English". If she is really as wickedly smart as all that, she should be able to catch on pretty quickly (especially if she is so smart that she is able to hack an unhackable system using nothing but her phone). But I'll admit that the use of that phrase does kind of bug me anyway, since it's not as though anyone who is using big words is actually speaking Martian or something.

The thing that I want to know more about, and which the writers have now seemed to dropped now that the show is picking up some steam, is what actually happened to Coulson. He was obviously not in Tahiti, and there was something else going on ... I would really like to know if my theory about what it was pans out. More on this, please!!

I had thought that I was going to love this show a whole hell of a lot ... but I'm not sure that I'm going to. I'm still going to give it at least a few more episodes, but I think that I may end up ditching it after a while, if I don't feel a bit more of a connection with it.

'0-8-4' -- SHIELD 1x02

Warning: Spoiler Alert

Why, hello there Nick Fury!! How nice it was to see you!! Yes, I was all kinds of happy about that particular Easter Egg in the episode ... even while I had already gotten what I had considered to be my Easter Egg (in the reference to Mjölnir earlier in the episode).

Sooooo ... Skye can't be trusted. Well, I don't know that there was really all kinds of reason to believe that she could be before the end of this particular episode, but at least know we know for sure that there is something fairly suspicious about homegirl. I'm wondering who it is that she's working for, and I'm hoping that it doesn't turn out to be someone from the Avengers movies; I'd really like it to be someone that is completely independent from them. Yeah, it would still be nice to have it be someone from the general "Avenger's world," but not anything that would specifically mess about with the continuity of the movies (or the show) in general.

I'm going to put it out there right now that whoever it is that sent her that text is someone that is probably manipulating her idealism. Yeah, all I have to go on is that one text message, and there really wasn't anything said in it that would necessarily mean that I should think that ... but I still think it. She strikes me as being someone who would be easily swayed if someone could make her believe that they were down with the cause, and they made her think that she was doing the right thing (even if what they were trying to convince her of doing was something that would ultimately do more harm to people than it would do good). And since she is so smart when it comes to hacking and such (but apparently king of naïve when it comes to people and their motives), I don't think that it's completely outside the realm of possibility that someone would be able to manipulate her like that.

Fitz/Simmons continue to be adorkable together, and I completely love that people assume that they're one person before they meet them ... but that when you really come down to it, they kind of are one person (since they seem to work so well with each other). I love the fact that Fitz got all annoyed with Skye when she tried to put the "dwarves" away incorrectly, since that's exactly the sort of thing that I would do in his place. LEAVE MY STUFFS ALONE, CUZ YOU PUT IT BACK WRONG!! Yeah, I'm kind of OCD like that.

'Pilot' -- SHIELD 1x01

Warning: Spoiler Alert

Seriously ... what is up with pretty much every show calling their pilot "Pilot"? Can they really not think of something else to call it? I mean ... really. I know that it doesn't seem like it's something that should be aggravating, but it kind of is. I'd just like to have one of the shows that I start to get into have a pilot that is titled something else. It would be a nice change.

And since Joss is involved, we got a couple of alum from his stuff involved with the project. ::waves at Shepard Book:: ::waves at Gunn:: Did anyone else notice the fact that at one point, Skye called Mike "Gunn"? I seriously had to rewind it to make sure that I had heard it correctly. A goof? Or maybe a deliberate Easter Egg?

So, the rumors of Coulson's demise were greatly exaggerated? It makes me wonder what it is that they're not telling him about "Tahiti," cuz it's obviously something. It almost sounds as though he was implanted with false memories, while they worked on him in some underground bunker to make sure that he stayed alive (or came back to life, however you want to look at it). The fact that there is all manner of alien tech in this universe (and all manner of super human tech (as well as superhuman tech)) would possibly mean that they were able to use something to make sure that he stayed alive ... or maybe the Asgardians felt bad for what Loki did, and they decided that they would do Coulson a solid and make sure that he survived whatever happened to him cuz of Loki? They could have possibly kept him in Asgard while getting him better, and made him think he was on the beach on earth? But that would mean getting him back before he realized that he was somewhere other than Midgard. Erg. That wouldn't work, would it? At least not completely. But I wouldn't be surprised if the Agardians were in involved somehow, cuz they wanted to make sure that he survived Loki. And maybe they would only do it for him (and not the rest of NY), cuz he was a member of SHIELD. Please, no one take this away from me yet ... I WANT THEM TO HAVE BEEN THE REASON THAT HE'S STILL ALIVE!!

Overall, I thought it was a pretty solid opening for a show ... even though I kept getting the feeling that it was kind of like "Firefly" in some respects (and not just cuz Book was there). It was more cuz they were bringing together a group of "savants" (and that's how Joss described the crew of "Firefly"). I'm sure that other people could do that same sort of thing, and it could feel slightly different, but this had a Joss feel to it to me ... though, I may be imagining it a bit since I know that he was involved.

It was nice to see Scherbatsky on the show (and yes, she will always be Scherbatsky, no matter what else she's in), even though I don't think that she'll be in any other episodes (not with HIMYM being in its last season right now). She might be in some of SHIELD next season (provided that it lasts into a second season), since HIMYM will be off the air by that point, and it'll be cool to see her in more stuff.