Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 1 Episode 6 "FZZT" Discussion Thread

[Endeavor]

I don't get how Ward is a "major problem the show is considered to have" on par with Skye and the European Wonder Twins. He is technically he only one of the young characters who feels and acts like a proper SHIELD agent.

Any of these characters could be seen in a negative light, if you so desire to look at it that way...
I could make the argument that Ward is the most redundant of the new characters and therefore the one that is better to kill off. I could say he's a generic agent that has no special purpose at all. The scientists each have a specialty. Even Sky seems to be unmatched in web information gathering.
But Ward, so far everything he's done could have been done by either Coulson or May. Tell me one thing Ward has done that Coulson or May wouldn't have been able to do, perhaps even better?
At least for the ladies Coulson has always had a "only one capable of doing this" comment. He's said so about Simmons and May. When has he said that about Ward?

So yeah. We all have our favorites and our pet peeves...
How about if instead of asking to have characters killed off, we give the show a chance to grow on us and let the characters mature and get fleshed out. Like Simmons and Fitz were in the last episode.

 

[Nathan]

I really can't wrap my head around this complaint. A team of dedicated professionals who also have extremely childish traits is basically the most entertaining thing you can do on a TV show. To me, anyway.

I mean, that describes every single Aaron Sorkin show ever.

I don't mind a level of playfulness. Something like Castle has like the perfect amount of seriousness and playfulness. Castle is obviously the biggest comic relief, but I also love it when Ryan, Esposito and Beckett occasionally goof around as well. When they are on the job though, they get their **** together. But when the 3 younglings of the group are together, they literally feel just like a bunch of kids.

The best example is when they are after Amador, a dangerous fugitive that has no problem with killing people. They are supposed to keep radio silence, unless it's important. Next thing you know, they break radio silence because they have to pee and want snacks. That's not even cute anymore.

 

[The Question]

I think a lot of people forget that it's really rare for a TV show to be amazeballs perfect right out the gate. And most of the ones that were that people cite as examples were direct adaptations of a pre-existing story, usually a book. So what were were seeing was basically a third or fourth draft of something that had already been mulled over and played with without the scheduling demands of a weekly TV show handing over it's head. While this show is an adaptation of sorts, it's adapting a concept, not a pre-existing plot and cast of characters, so they actually have to built it as they go along like most TV shows do.

So far this show has been leaps and bounds better than the first six episodes of most TV shows that get popular, with the talent and potential to get even better from here. It's not as good as Breaking Bad or The Wire, but seeing as how those are both contenders for "Greatest TV Show Ever Made By Humans," that's kind of understandable.

 

[The Question]

I don't mind a level of playfulness. Something like Castle has like the perfect amount of seriousness and playfulness. Castle is obviously the biggest comic relief, but I also love it when Ryan, Esposito and Beckett occasionally goof around as well. When they are on the job though, they get their **** together. But when the 3 younglings of the group are together, they literally feel just like a bunch of kids.

The best example is when they are after Amador, a dangerous fugitive that has no problem with killing people. They are supposed to keep radio silence, unless it's important. Next thing you know, they break radio silence because they have to pee and want snacks. That's not even cute anymore.

Which makes sense to me because those three characters usually don't go into the field, aren't fully trained for it, and don't have a full appreciation of how not safe they are hanging back in the van. Like, the characters in Castle are competent homicide detectives despite being goofy comedic characters because they're trained homicide detectives. The lab techs aren't trained field agents. People being bad at a job that isn't even close to their specialty seems pretty reasonable to me and a good way of generating both comedy and drama.

Also, Castle is a weird example because, in the first season at least, he goofs around on the job constantly.

 

[Nathan]

Which makes sense to me because those three characters usually don't go into the field, aren't fully trained for it, and don't have a full appreciation of how not safe they are hanging back in the van. Like, the characters in Castle are competent homicide detectives despite being goofy comedic characters because they're trained homicide detectives. The lab techs aren't trained field agents. People being bad at a job that isn't even close to their specialty seems pretty reasonable to me and a good way of generating both comedy and drama.

They may not be trained field Agents, but they are still Shield scientists. They should know what their organization constantly gets into. Fitz didn't even want to go into the field, because he preferred the safety of his Lab. I don't expect them to immediately know how to react in any given situation, because they are untrained, but I at least expect them to follow protocol.

Also, Castle is a weird example because, in the first season at least, he goofs around on the job constantly.

At least he was on his own, and you had everyone else to reign him in. 1 guy acting like a kid is less annoying, than 3 kids, well, still acting like kids.

 

[The Question]

They may not be trained field Agents, but they are still Shield scientists. They should know what their organization constantly gets into. Fitz didn't even want to go into the field, because he preferred the safety of his Lab. I don't expect them to immediately know how to react in any given situation, because they are untrained, but I at least expect them to follow protocol.

I guess. I just don't see, from a narrative standpoint, why that's better.

 

[Xeno]

In what way has she failed on every mission? So far she's done a pretty good job handling herself.



I really can't wrap my head around this complaint. A team of dedicated professionals who also have extremely childish traits is basically the most entertaining thing you can do on a TV show. To me, anyway.

I mean, that describes every single Aaron Sorkin show ever.

The "Skye flailed and failed" line came from cherokee. That's the one thing he has said about Skye that I agree with.


Extremely childish professionals are the least interesting thing to me. There is very little worse than watching three characters act like simpletons in the face of danger, as FitzSimmons and Skye did in Eye Spy. These people are in life and death situations on a weekly basis. That sort of behavior should have deadly consequences, just as it would in the real world. When they are in the field, they should act like adults. They have plenty of time when they're off duty to piss around like fools, if the writers absolutely must go there.


There should be a balance between the comedic and serious elements in the show. Extreme stuff (Skye ejecting the clip from her gun, OTT bickering, whining like kids on a road trip) should not have a place here.

I think a lot of people forget that it's really rare for a TV show to be amazeballs perfect right out the gate.

Perfection isn't what I expect of AOS. Last week's episode was not perfect but it was extremely good. Every episode should equal that in quality. Hopefully AOS won't backslide this week because the last thing the show needs is to suffer a dip in quality after an exceptional outing.

 

[C. Lee]

In movies and Tv shows, "elite" teams are portrayed as either absolutely no nonsense, unhumorous, and almost robotic in their performance......or.....as a group of offbeat, eccentric, jokesters.

 

[Shikamaru]

Any of these characters could be seen in a negative light, if you so desire to look at it that way...
I could make the argument that Ward is the most redundant of the new characters and therefore the one that is better to kill off. I could say he's a generic agent that has no special purpose at all. The scientists each have a specialty. Even Sky seems to be unmatched in web information gathering.
But Ward, so far everything he's done could have been done by either Coulson or May. Tell me one thing Ward has done that Coulson or May wouldn't have been able to do, perhaps even better?
At least for the ladies Coulson has always had a "only one capable of doing this" comment. He's said so about Simmons and May. When has he said that about Ward?

So yeah. We all have our favorites and our pet peeves...
How about if instead of asking to have characters killed off, we give the show a chance to grow on us and let the characters mature and get fleshed out. Like Simmons and Fitz were in the last episode.

Coulson said Ward had the highest espionage score since the Black Widow. That is as high as you can get without crossing into superhero territory. That alone makes him unmatched in a field that even Coulson and May haven't reached.

 

[Endeavor]

Coulson said Ward had the highest espionage score since the Black Widow. That is as high as you can get without crossing into superhero territory. That alone makes him unmatched in a field that even Coulson and May haven't reached.

And where has that been shown in any of the tasks Ward has performed up until now?

The one time he was performing anything spy like was when he was shadowing Skye's Ex. And he failed miserably at that, because since he looked at the guy straight in the eyes, he was made.

Kicking bad guy ass? May and Coulson can both do it. With May being hinted at being the superior combatant.

Using guns/sniper rifles/weaponry? All trained field agents can do that.

He hasn't performed any particular task in any of the episodes so far that any of the other 2 seasoned field agent's couldn't have done.

Now let's look at the other characters:

Simmons - only team member capable of analyzing evidence of a biological nature/performing medical examinations and coming up with medical/biological solutions (examples: Pilot episode and Fzzt, just to name a couple)

Fitz - only team member capable of analyzing new/alien tech and manufacturing new tech for various uses (weapons, medical procedures, etc). Examples: Same as above.

Skye - Electronic information gathering ability is unparalleled in this team, something which was prominently featured in the Asset episode.

 

[Xeno]

Coulson said Ward had the highest espionage score since the Black Widow. That is as high as you can get without crossing into superhero territory. That alone makes him unmatched in a field that even Coulson and May haven't reached.

"Highest marks since Agent Romanoff" doesn't mean that Ward is better than Coulson or May because both of the senior agents would have completed the same field assessments years before Romanoff joined SHIELD. It is possible that they both scored higher than Romanoff; there is no way for the audience to know unless told. They also have decades of experience in the field, which would add to their level of expertise. Ward certainly can't match them in training or experience since he is relatively new.

 

[cph9fa]

The one time he was performing anything spy like was when he was shadowing Skye's Ex. And he failed miserably at that, because since he looked at the guy straight in the eyes, he was made.

Well, there was also that time he failed to seduce the Belorussian. Pretty sure Natasha would've had no problem with that mission...

 

[C_Carmichael]

So I missed the on-air viewing of this episode, and watched it tonight online.

I thought this was a really good episode.

I should preface by saying that in the past 9 months, I have had 2 deaths in the family, of people close to me. So the moment in the firehouse, it hit harder than I would care to admit.

Ultimately the episode (at least to me) reminded me of the episode of "Rescue Me" when Fireman Sean Garrity finds out he has cancer, and believes it is linked to the rescue operation at Ground Zero on 9/11.

This serves as a bolstering block in the foundation of AoS, as it reminds us that even when you clean up the mess from the attack, the lingering effects may not be fully realized for years, if ever.

I expect that in the future we'll be seeing more throwback effects episodes related to the Battle of New York, which in my opinion is the perfect wheelhouse for this show to be in, right now.

 

[redhawk23]

I finally got around to watching this episode and damn it was good, certainly the best episode the show has had so far, and a lot of that has to do with focusing on characters other than the 90s-hacker chick.

 

[Nathan]

The one time he was performing anything spy like was when he was shadowing Skye's Ex. And he failed miserably at that, because since he looked at the guy straight in the eyes, he was made.

That was so bad. It's like the writers couldn't come up with a way to make the character suspicious enough so he'd bolt. So they had Ward just straight look at him.

 

[Xeno]

That was so bad. It's like the writers couldn't come up with a way to make the character suspicious enough so he'd bolt. So they had Ward just straight look at him.

And then they had Coulson give chase in an SUV with the SHIELD logo emblazoned on the side.

Nothing about the beginning of that episode made a damn bit of sense. Logic just flew out the window. Luckily, the episode got better as it went on but overall the writing was rather weak.

 

[Brainiac 8]

To be fair, Ward wasn't 'made' in that episode, since as we found out, Skye warned him that he was being tailed.

It didn't matter how inconspicuous Ward was, he was going to get made either way.

 

[Nathan]

Unless Skye would have given her boyfriend a detailed description, Ward wouldn't have been made. Sure, he got a heads up, but he would have been suspicious of everyone, not knowing who's after him, and just trying to quickly get to his car. If Ward wouldn't have stared directly at him, he wouldn't have bolted as fast as he did.

 

[Shazam]

Kinda was wishing she had died........ Really tired of the Scooby Doo gang posing as SHIELD agents.......

 

[Shazam]

Skye is on the show for one reason.........She's smoking hot........

that's it....

 

[Whiskey Tango]

That was so bad. It's like the writers couldn't come up with a way to make the character suspicious enough so he'd bolt. So they had Ward just straight look at him.

This happens often in spy and cop movies. The opening scene of Casino Royale, for example. Well trained MI6 agent gets caught staring directly at his target with his finger on his earpiece.

It logically leads right to a chase scene, which is the entire point.

 

[Nathan]

You'd think spies get trained to track their targets from the corners of their eyes.

 

[Whiskey Tango]

Nobody's perfect.

 

[C. Lee]

To be fair, Ward wasn't 'made' in that episode, since as we found out, Skye warned him that he was being tailed.

It didn't matter how inconspicuous Ward was, he was going to get made either way.

Hey now....don't bring facts into a hateraide rant.