Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents of SHIELD - S02E13 - "One of Us"

[ajmccarrell]

The Double Agent webseries, which has been revealing things about the show, like the appearance of Vin-Tak from last week's episode, and the "real S.H.I.E.L.D." emblem.

Wow, where do I find this?

 

[DN91]

Wow, where do I find this?

Should be on the AoS official site on ABC.com

 

[Diaspa]

This Wendell Levi character draw my attention...

Spoiler

He's rather quiet, he states he doesn't like food, he's a hacking genius and willing to join a group of men against Shield...

...Could he be Ghost?

 

[Marvel]

This Wendell Levi character draw my attention...

Spoiler

He's rather quiet, he states he doesn't like food, he's a hacking genius and willing to join a group of men against Shield...

...Could he be Ghost?

Very interesting. Stark had better watch his backside.

Also, who would have ever thought that I'd like Fitz more than Simmons at any point? During season one, I'd have voted to kill Fitz. Now, he has grown in to a wonderful character. Testament to a combination of great writing and performance.

Coulson is from Wisconsin? He always seemed like a Badger fan to me. Fits perfectly. His father the coach would have been proud of that ferocious tackle on the twenty yard line.

 

[Seb]

Why are people talking about Ward? I didn't see him anywhere.

I continue to adore this show. I like how hard Skye is trying, and also the way Simmons continues to be both Skye's friend but also completely incapable of helping with where her head is at right now. Fitz is wonderful. Also, I wonder if Coulson's dodgy decisions are in order to validate, in part, this other SHIELD.

Really looking forward to seeing more of the Inhumans.

I wonder if Skye's mother somehow regenerated and is still alive??? That's the only reason I can think of to grab Hyde.

I also wonder if this is the case, though I'm not sure if it would be a good push for the story (but it might give Skye an actual reason to be torn between the Inhumans and SHIELD, since her mother is actually a good person and not a deranged psycho.)

 

[Uskok]

By the way...was that Ward in a suit/part of the other SHIELD????

Yeah.

No. Ward is a traitor to both HYDRA and S.H.I.E.L.D. (both factions) He can't work for any of them anymore.

 

[Alex_Kidd]

the School mission doesn't make sense. 5 guys take kids as hostages and no parent show up? what?

 

[Asharad]

the School mission doesn't make sense. 5 guys take kids as hostages and no parent show up? what?

My wife said the same thing. My counter argument was: "Maybe the parents DID show up."

 

[Doppelganger]

My wife said the same thing. My counter argument was: "Maybe the parents DID show up."

I think we can asume that whatever did show up was taken out by Angar

 

[Dasher10]

This Wendell Levi character draw my attention...

Spoiler

He's rather quiet, he states he doesn't like food, he's a hacking genius and willing to join a group of men against Shield...

...Could he be Ghost?

I was just thinking that. Ghost has no name given in the comics (other than being a middle-aged male which I view as a mistake since I'd rather Ghost have an ambiguous age/gender) and that means anyone could wind up being Ghost. He also seems a bit too old to be Ghost.

Angar the Screamer was a weird choice since he's always been one of Daredevil and Iron Fist's lesser threats who has never managed to threaten either of them. I have no idea who Francis Noche is supposed to be. I think he may be an original character.

 

[Doppelganger]

Why are people talking about Ward? I didn't see him anywhere.

There was a glimpse of him in the promo, if I am not mistaken.

Spoiler

but he is mentioned in the description for the next episode. but why people think he has something to do with the other Shield is beyond me. The description says he embarks on a personal mission.

 

[Endeavor]

I was questioning the look for some of the villains until I actually watched the episode.
Bobbi said it herself, some of these people aren't even "gifted", to which Coulson replied that there was a loose application to the index that served to keep an eye on troubled ppl, or something along those lines... That was certainly the case for Karla and the hacker guy. Only Angar and Noche were 'enhanced'.

With the little background info they gave about Karla, I actually think she is the same CM character that showed up in the pages of Daredevil. This version of her just did something extreme to deal with the abuse.

 

[DN91]

I was just thinking that. Ghost has no name given in the comics (other than being a middle-aged male which I view as a mistake since I'd rather Ghost have an ambiguous age/gender) and that means anyone could wind up being Ghost. He also seems a bit too old to be Ghost.

Angar the Screamer was a weird choice since he's always been one of Daredevil and Iron Fist's lesser threats who has never managed to threaten either of them. I have no idea who Francis Noche is supposed to be. I think he may be an original character.

I believe Noche and the hacker guy who may or may not be Ghost are both original characters native to AoS.

 

[R_Hythlodeus]

finall watched the episode. not the best they had in season 2 but solid. I'm not sure how the 'other SHIELD' makes sense in the end

 

[ThePowerCosmic]

I liked Simmons coming up with a distinction for the gifteds. Two sub-groups of gifteds, known as Enhanced and what I presume will be known as Inhuman as the future.

 

[jaqua99]

I gotta say..Cal is very, very quickly becoming my favorite character on the show. He's probably eventually going to be killed off, but it's cool to be getting into a new personality.

He's just crazy, and whoever is playing, him he just makes him seem crazy

 

[Endeavor]

I don't think Cal is going to be killed off.
He might not become a series regular, but he'll be around.

 

[Dasher10]

I don't think Cal is going to be killed off.
He might not become a series regular, but he'll be around.

Garrett only died because Marvel lacked the Daredevil rights at the time. I don't feel like the same decision is going to be made with Mister Hyde since he's also an enemy of Thor, DD and Hulk.

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Episode recap

http://io9.com/shield-hasnt-changed-the-most-depressing-agents-of-s-1692095665

 

[eddy]

Cal is too good of a character to kill off. He makes a great arch nemesis for Coulson

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Messy and Surprising: Secrets of SHIELD episode "One of Us"

Mr. Hyde is back to torment the Agents of SHIELD in the latest episode, and he's brought some obscure Marvel characters along with him. Plus, what agency does Mockingbird work for, and what are those Inhumans up to?

Kind of an odd episode - bringing back the cheesy monster-of-the-week feel that some of Season One's weakest episodes had, but putting in five kinda' weak monsters (or four and one loud one) instead of just one. Hmm.

Before moving on, the episode's title is an allusion to the amazing 1932 film, Freaks. Even if you've seen parodies of it, you owe it to yourself to check it out. It's an oddity of a film, but not for the reasons you might expect.

[YT]9C4uTEEOJlM[/YT]

On with the Comic Connections

The show opens as Skye's dad is recruiting SHIELD-hating villains on Coney Island. He's using the Gifted Index, the list of powerful people first mentioned in "Repairs" and leaked to the public by Black Widow in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Skye encrypted several SHIELD files after the leak, presumably including the Index, but her dad found Wendell Levi, an amoral tech genius living in the Mojave Desert and fitted with an anti-technology device (much like Skye once was). Once the Doctor removed Levi's chip, Levi could decrypt the Index to find Francis Noche, a superstrong (and not too bright) thug. These guys seem inspired by some Marvel characters (notably the Ghost and generic strong men like Man Mountain Marko) and Coney Island has been the setting of a few Marvel things - it was Deathlok's home for a while.

Thanks to the Index, they find Karla Faye Gideon, a woman with scalpels for fingernails. She used her finger blades to get revenge on her abusive lover, and SHIELD put metal caps on her fingers to prevent her from hurting others (but they didn't remove the blades or send her to jail, so extenuating circumstances, I guess?). Karla is an extremely obscure Marvel character with no powers. She was an abused wife whose husband was prosecuted thanks to Daredevil. Karla of the Marvel Cinematic Universe seems to have a lot more in common with Razor-Fist, a rather strange villain (actually villains) in the Marvel Universe that are deadly and threatening despite their silly appearances.

The evil team then heads off to Muskingum County, Ohio, to visit the Brynmore Maximum Security Psychiatric Facility, where SHIELD Agent Broyles works as a security guard, monitoring two Index-registered patients in the facility's secret subbasement: expert assassin John Bruno and David A. Angar, who underwent experimental energy blasts to cure his cancer only to end up with a deadly voice - David Angar joins the mad Doctor's team. In the comics, David was Angar the Screamer, an old hippy (he was created in 1973) with sound-based powers. He's most notable to modern fans as the former partner of Screaming Mimi, a villain who would go on to become the hero Songbird after the death of Angar's body. Angar's spirit lived on as living sound just called Scream until Songbird put Scream out of its misery, dissipating the audio form.

EDIT: Forgot to mention something. Agent Broyles seems like he'd have an interesting backstory. Here's a low-level SHIELD agent who was stationed in the middle of nowhere to watch two supercriminals in a mental institution. Then SHIELD collapses in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. That means he was now left completely without any support or even his second paycheck (assuming he was paid as a security guard officially, and SHIELD agent unofficially). He'd have to keep the secret facility running by himself just to keep these two locked up. And he'd have to have the good moral character to want to do that.

Back at SHIELD's HQ, the Playground, Skye is being evaluated for the Index as well. This means, among other things, a psychological evaluation. Agent Melinda May recruits her ex-husband, Dr. Andrew Garner, from Culver University in West Virginia for the job. It seems Melinda and Andrew eloped years ago, but despite his popularity with May's mom, the two eventually split (both May's ex and her mom were first mentioned in "Only Light in the Darkness"). Setting aside the grave demeanor she presents to others, she can laugh with Andrew; he's aware of her problems in Bahrain and can forgive her horrendous cooking. Also, May loves Vegas. Andrew Garner seems like an interesting character and it would be great to bring him back, but it's too bad they didn't use one of Marvel's many super-powered psychiatrists, like Doc Samson (who was in the Incredible Hulk movie, which also featured Culver University), Moonstone or even Doctor Bong. Maybe another time. Interestingly for the series, gossip about Garner and Melinda seems to allow the estranged Fitz-Simmons combo to bond a bit.

When Coulson learns about the break in from Broyles, he and Bobbi "Mockingbird" Morse take a Quinjet to investigate. Just as a reminder, Mockingbird is a member of the Avengers in the comics, and Quinjets are the standard Avengers vehicle, both in comics and in the first film. Following Doctor Cal's hint "Fight On," Coulson and Bobbi eventually track the villains to Manitowoc, Wisconsin, home of the Fighting Outlaws. The high school mascot seems like a clear reference to 1950s Marvel hero (whose adventures were in the Old West) called the Outlaw Kid. Marvel had a slew of Western heroes back in the day.

Manitowoc is also birthplace of Phil Coulson. Phil's dad was a football coach and history teacher in Manitowoc, but he died when Phil was 9 (confirming what readers learned in "The Magical Place") and Phil apparently moved away before high school. In the comics, Phil was born in Chicago, spent his childhood in Ohio, and gained the nickname "Cheese" because his name sounded like Philadelphia.

In Wisconsin, Angar uses his powers to make a football field full of students catatonic, then he and Doctor Cal's team - jokingly named "the Slicing Talons" - wait a few hours for Coulson and Bobbi to show up. Strange how no one came to collect the unconscious kids. Maybe local law enforcement tried but was pushed back by Doctor Cal's group? Anyway, Cal announces on WASY, the local college radio station (so you know no one was listening) that he and his group will expose Phil Coulson as evil (if this makes the news, will the Avengers hear of it?). Realizing Coulson needs help, May rushes over there, coincidentally taking Garner and Skye along for the ride. The good guys take out the bad guys, but during the emotionally-charged fight, Skye accidentally unleashes her quake powers again, but she stops them by turning them in on herself (breaking many of her own bones in the process). Following this incident, Simmons suggests categorizing those on the Index, separating the man-made (enhanced) from the natural born (like Inhumans) Gifted individuals.

While most of his team was captured, Doctor Cal got away, or rather, he was captured by Gordon, the eye-less Inhuman that is probably Reader. Frustratingly they keep calling him "Cal" and not "Calvin Zabo" for some reason. Well, whatever, this episode gives the first real confirmation of his Gifted status (rather than hints). Apparently - like his comic book counterpart - Cal has been experimenting with chemicals for years, finding away to make himself more special (i.e. stronger). Gordon confirms his "enhanced" status by stating Cal is not one of them (Inhumans), although Cal does know all about the Inhumans (he hoped Skye would gain wings).

Ah, but what about poor Lance Hunter? After knocking him out last episode, Mack took Hunter to a safehouse and chained him up, feeding him Hawaiian pizza and beer at Bobbi's request. Bobbi seems to worry about Hunter, but she even notes that as spies, they're entire professional lives are about lies. Mack's known Hunter since Mack and Bobbi were on assignment in Dubai, but he still needs an extraction from his "backup." And who are they? SWOR... wait, no... SHIELD! Wait, what? Apparently Coulson wasn't the only former SHIELD agent to reform his own personal agency, but who are these guys? In the comics there have been many different SHIELDs (though not concurrently), and even different names: the Supreme Headquarters, International Espionage, Law-Enforcement Division, the Strategic Hazard Intervention Espionage Logistics Directorate, and most recently the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division. There have also been many times when SHIELD operatives have had to fight against SHIELD because of various infiltrations into the agency. In the comics, Mockingbird secretly worked for the World Counter-terrorism Agency (or WCA, a reference to her old team the West Coast Avengers), but this doesn't seem to be them.

http://observationdeck.io9.com/mess...of-shield-episode-one-of-1692093874/+riamisra

Some good connections to the comics in this episode

 

[CaptainWagner]

It was a decent episode, but a few things irritated me.

1) Why the heck were the hacker and Razor-Fingers on the SHIELD index? And why didn't they just cut those dang razors off, instead of making that ridiculously over thought contraption to cover them?

2) They make a huge deal about SHIELD being different now, while at the same time the episode shows how Coulson really hasn't changed policy at all. I really hope this "real SHIELD" differentiates itself by, you know, using these gifted people instead of locking them up and repressing their powers.

3) They had sure better have a good reason planned for why the Inhumans are leaving Skye with Coulson. Because right now it makes no sense.

4) And lastly, this episode highlighted my biggest pet peeve about the show: Their refusal to use any characters above C-List level. By all rights, that should have been Doc Samson assessing Skye.

 

[reddog271]

It was a decent episode, but a few things irritated me.

1) Why the heck were the hacker and Razor-Fingers on the SHIELD index? And why didn't they just cut those dang razors off, instead of making that ridiculously over thought contraption to cover them?

2) They make a huge deal about SHIELD being different now, while at the same time the episode shows how Coulson really hasn't changed policy at all. I really hope this "real SHIELD" differentiates itself by, you know, using these gifted people instead of locking them up and repressing their powers.

3) They had sure better have a good reason planned for why the Inhumans are leaving Skye with Coulson. Because right now it makes no sense.

4) And lastly, this episode highlighted my biggest pet peeve about the show: Their refusal to use any characters above C-List level. By all rights, that should have been Doc Samson assessing Skye.

you have no idea where they are going with the show.. or why they use who they use. but, they know why and have shown from day one to have a plan. Try to enjoy the show for what the show is and stop trying to make it the show you want it to be.

 

[Silvermoon]

Garrett only died because Marvel lacked the Daredevil rights at the time. I don't feel like the same decision is going to be made with Mister Hyde since he's also an enemy of Thor, DD and Hulk.

Has someone actually said that's the reason they killed off Garrett or is that just your speculation?

I know it wasn't announced Daredevil rights had reverted back until after filming for the AOS pilot had already began (that announcement was made in about April of 2013, right? and filming on the pilot started a few months before in January). However, given that not all 22 episodes are filmed right off the bat and filming episodes goes well into even after the show starts airing in the fall, I would think that if they had wanted to utilize him for any future MCU Daredevil project, there was plenty of time available (after the 'reverted' announcement) for them to adjust the story line of the back half of season 1 to accommodate (the episode where he first appeared - TAHITI, I believe - was probably filmed around late fall or so 2013) - or even simply just not kill him off in the final episode (that episode wasn't filmed until late March/Early April 2014).

 

[Loki882]

Plus they've obviously got a list of character that they simply CANNOT use because Marvel has other plans for them (be it in film or other TV projects). It's one of the pitfalls of working in a shared film AND TV universe, you need to be careful not to step on anyone's toes and the films will ALWAYS get top priority/first dibs on characters.