A battle has raged on this site, and all over the Interwebs, over the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. series. We all know the complaints, **** show (Grif, lolz!), boring, not enough characters from the comics, not as good as a certain other comic house's show on another network, ratings nosediving, etc. Heck, some have even been cheering for cancellation since the very first episode.
Admittedly, the show HAS stumbled a few times in the early episodes. But, for me, I kept hanging in there because I KNEW this show was going to find its sea legs, as many great series have done before. To me, the entire first half of the season was character development and laying the groundwork for establishing a team of people that viewers actually cared about when the heavy-duty stuff started coming down on their heads.
And, for me and for many others, Episode Thirteen turned the corner for the show. Many who had given up on the show thought the episode was finally something they enjoyed. Some of us, who have patiently watched and kept "rooting for Liverpool" from that first episode, saw our patience and our devotion and loyalty pay off.
There is SO much about Episode 13 and where it leads; here are some of the high points of the episode for me:
*Stan Lee and his cameo.
*Coulson threatening to reassign Ward to Alaska to watch over Blonsky's cryo-cell.
*The conversion of Mike Peterson into Deathlok.
*Skye's shooting.
*Quinn's cold-blooded-ness.
*Fitz and Simmons' maturation.
*Simmons publicly accusing Coulson/"Dad" of "porn and prostitutes".
*Ward's battle with the blonde.
*Skye surviving the shooting and being placed in the hyperbaric chamber.
*Coulson freaking out and pistol-whipping Quinn.
*Deathlok walking in and destroying the room of goons on the Clairvoyant's orders.
*Quinn referring to Skye as "Coulson's pet project".
*Ward getting jealous of Coulson patching up May.
*May getting hung by her hands, getting stabbed, and her killing everyone in the barn.
*The ENTIRE team completely wigging out over Skye getting shot.
There is SO much more from this episode, and waiting for it to hit On Demand to watch it MULTIPLE times.
Like I said in another thread, the patience that some folks have shown for this show since Episode One finally paid off. And I am VERY pleased to see that a lot of other people who were getting impatient with the show have, as longtime poster Priest said, "come over to the dark side".
Now, going forward...
Interesting speculation, here and other places, about the identity of The Clairvoyant, from MODOK to the High Evolutionary, to The Leader and the Mad Thinker. Any could work, but MODOK, High Evolutionary and The Leader have been hinted at, or have solid ties, to characters and plot points in the MCU films.
For me, I want it to be MODOK. And I want the Giant Brain to be portrayed by none other than Mister Peter Dinklage. He would be PERFECTION.
The High Evolutionary has ties to Pietro and Wanda Maximoff. He can also be connected to Rocket Raccoon to lace up Guardians of the Galaxy to the rest of the MCU.
The Leader was hinted at with Samuel Stearns and his accident when he put Emil Blonsky on the table in his lab.
And I do think that Skye is definitely Jessica Drew, as I've been saying for a good while (as have others, I've no precognition!). And once she gets her powers, the show will take off in an entirely new, and more powerful, direction.
Marvel has absolutely upped the stakes with this episode, but although I do agree that Marvel DOES listen to the fans, I am convinced that this has been the plan all along from the beginning, that the first half of this season has been the exposition/character development phase, and that now we move into the plot complication phase.
The entire first season was laid out pretty solidly by the writers and production team before the first episode was filmed. Not getting any inside information on this, but by looking at the Marvel Avengers Film Initiative phases and the coherent story that has been established, it makes sense that they would not have mapped out a few episodes, put them on air, and waited for fan reaction and "Internet message boards" (sly reference to "All Hail the King", a.k.a. "The Mandarin REDEEMED") to guide the writing and help chart their course for the rest of the season.
Going forward, having Jessica Drew, Deathlok, Ward possibly morphing into Wonder Man, and all the other comics characters who have been referenced already, we have an opportunity to actually get the show we Marvel fans REALLY want to see. I think Spider-Woman CAN work for television, as can a lot of other characters because of advancements in low-cost special effects.
And if the Clairvoyant DOES turn out to be MODOK, all they have to do is show him in silhouette or from the back or whatever for multiple episodes and use a full reveal as a season-ending cliffhanger.
'Nuff Said, True Believers!
EXCELSIOR!