Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Review - Episode 18: Providence
- Thread starter MovieBob
- Start date
I was kind of hoping that Ward's subterfuge would last more than 1 episode.
Also, this episode is setting up a "villain of the week" scheme for the next season. I have a feeling it's going to be "Coulson's team goes after X villain released from The Fridge while handling 1 personal problem and making a small amount of headway on 1 big HYDRA problem". And that whole triple storyline monster of the week bullshit is what I'm so sick of in TV nowadays.
Also, this episode is setting up a "villain of the week" scheme for the next season. I have a feeling it's going to be "Coulson's team goes after X villain released from The Fridge while handling 1 personal problem and making a small amount of headway on 1 big HYDRA problem". And that whole triple storyline monster of the week bullshit is what I'm so sick of in TV nowadays.
Go-Go Amy Acker!!!
But seriously, this was the first episode I kept wondering when the third act would roll around and make it worthwhile...
This was just boring; nothing happened except enough plot for 10 minutes at best. :'(
But seriously, this was the first episode I kept wondering when the third act would roll around and make it worthwhile...
This was just boring; nothing happened except enough plot for 10 minutes at best. :'(
I too had a bit of a chuckle at the Super-Secret S.H.I.E.L.D prison being a giant metal-and-glass skyscraper on an otherwise empty beach.
I'm pretty sure they were infiltrated by Zodiac too. When Blake was teamed up with May he did something a little off that was intended to sound like weak flirting, but sounded more like it was a Zodiac code drop to see if May was a member, or not. Blake was the one that fingered Coulson as a Hydra Agent too, and since Hand was probably already suspicious he was just making it harder for the good guys to know who they should and shouldn't have watching their backs.MovieBob said:
So Ward is waaaaaay more interesting as a member of Hydra.
Still lots of cringe worthy dialogue though. That CoD joke felt incredibly forced...
Still lots of cringe worthy dialogue though. That CoD joke felt incredibly forced...
For me, killing Ward is not enough anymore. He deserves worse, like having to live in a empty room with a hidden speaker playing screaming noises for 24 hours worse.
I'm actually curious about how Raina will turn out, as long as they don't kill her sooner or later.
I'm actually curious about how Raina will turn out, as long as they don't kill her sooner or later.
I'll echo the "we like evil Ward!" sentiment. I'm not very familiar with Whedon's work outside of the Avengers, but it almost seems like an intentional subversion of TV cliches for the sake of a more mature product. Ward's imitation of himself in the pilot seems to be evidence of this. Too bad those cliches that the show is playing with now cost it so many viewers earlier in the season.
Agreed. I can't get the fact that he shot so many people, especially those two guys in the back of the head, and then just made a casual joke about it, out of my head.Namechangeday said:
Oh, but don't you dare hurt Skye! He'll get really moody about that. But all these other people who have friends and family? Nah, they're good.
I guess I'm in the minority here, but this episode was the low point in the season for me. If Ward is still breathing by the end of next week's episode, or at the very least he's still free and not rotting in a cell or suffering, then I think I'm done with the show. I can stand people like him, nor can I stand his boss. This show, if they are allowed to live, is going to become another backstabbing, covert ops, how many carrots can we dangle in front of the audience's faces type of show, and I don't need that. I was enjoying the storyline where they were trying to figure stuff out about Coulson, and when that alien was revealed I got really interested, but now it looks like the show is just going to be about Ward having second thoughts (too late for all those people he shot though) and Skye is probably going to try to, as the preview put it, "Save his soul." I don't want to watch that. Now, if Skye just pulls out a gun and shoots him, repeatedly, then I'm on board.
Personally, I think they did the series a major injustice by putting it against CBS's juggernauts NCIS and NCIS: LA I think it would have done better in a night that doesn't have a major ratings generator already.Kumagawa Misogi said:Okay final ratings for this episode are out and it's a 2.1/6 with 5.52 viewers
A small boost from last week but still only tied 14th out of 18 for rating and 16th out of 18 for viewers.
This series is finally going some were but it looks like too little too late with only 4 episodes left and no 2nd season announced.
I don't think it had to "throw away everything"
But SHIELD needed opponents, all earmarked for bigger projects. OTherwise its like rl and watching the US military bumble through police actions with all the power and support in the universe.. plus super stuff.
So now they actually HAVE longtime and intricate foe Hydra and thus can fight terrorists and nasties without stepping on rl toes we have them facing and doing stuff as well as expanding the challenges and determinations of espionage/international police work SHIELD does in a super universe that also casually has jet-wing arrays for PArarescue. IT means they aren't default right and all challenges to their authority uninformed or nefarious shitheads. That they can more readily include super stuff without breaking the mood setup by Iron Man.
So yes Winter Soldier needed to happen so we could have a modern HYDRA. Much as we were biting for AIM or other organizations to pop up and start doing their schtick.
I wasn't even disappointed the Clairvoyant isn't psychic I figured it was someone with analyst abilities and then ties to subvert if not agents then someone with info in the know. That had been well setup by the second half of the season. They've.. changed things to be in line with the films I don't doubt. but Ward being a possible loose canon/double agent was something you were calling from Episode 1 IT just seemed so resolved and blandly and obliquely engaged or unexplored with that weird beserker staff to May casual sex plotline it felt dropped and irrelevant but for generic make up.
Nope turns out its important. And playing out like expected (I suspected his family were criminals/mafia or something and he'd be torn in loyalty there. But then we flashback and find he tried to rescue someone from a bully not was saved or drowned someone at an early age)
I am not sure about Slingshot being fake. Feels too neat and expensive to pull off but whatevs.
But SHIELD needed opponents, all earmarked for bigger projects. OTherwise its like rl and watching the US military bumble through police actions with all the power and support in the universe.. plus super stuff.
So now they actually HAVE longtime and intricate foe Hydra and thus can fight terrorists and nasties without stepping on rl toes we have them facing and doing stuff as well as expanding the challenges and determinations of espionage/international police work SHIELD does in a super universe that also casually has jet-wing arrays for PArarescue. IT means they aren't default right and all challenges to their authority uninformed or nefarious shitheads. That they can more readily include super stuff without breaking the mood setup by Iron Man.
So yes Winter Soldier needed to happen so we could have a modern HYDRA. Much as we were biting for AIM or other organizations to pop up and start doing their schtick.
I wasn't even disappointed the Clairvoyant isn't psychic I figured it was someone with analyst abilities and then ties to subvert if not agents then someone with info in the know. That had been well setup by the second half of the season. They've.. changed things to be in line with the films I don't doubt. but Ward being a possible loose canon/double agent was something you were calling from Episode 1 IT just seemed so resolved and blandly and obliquely engaged or unexplored with that weird beserker staff to May casual sex plotline it felt dropped and irrelevant but for generic make up.
Nope turns out its important. And playing out like expected (I suspected his family were criminals/mafia or something and he'd be torn in loyalty there. But then we flashback and find he tried to rescue someone from a bully not was saved or drowned someone at an early age)
I am not sure about Slingshot being fake. Feels too neat and expensive to pull off but whatevs.
Triplet is clearly hydra
The only reason anyone trusts him is because Simmons keeps speaking up for him. But why does she trust him? Because of that little show he put on for Victoria Hand, but think about it... while your average Hydra goon might not know all of the leadership of Hydra, Triplett, the right hand of the clairvoyant certainly does. So when Victoria Hand bursts in claiming to be Hydra he would immediately know what was really going on.
Ward even spelled out what he's doing, with his story about why he really jumped out of the plane. A self sacrifice ploy to gain trust
The only reason anyone trusts him is because Simmons keeps speaking up for him. But why does she trust him? Because of that little show he put on for Victoria Hand, but think about it... while your average Hydra goon might not know all of the leadership of Hydra, Triplett, the right hand of the clairvoyant certainly does. So when Victoria Hand bursts in claiming to be Hydra he would immediately know what was really going on.
Ward even spelled out what he's doing, with his story about why he really jumped out of the plane. A self sacrifice ploy to gain trust
I doubt it. That's too many twists, it would be really weak if they actually have that planned, and I think there's plenty of evidence to the contrary.Gailim said:
Triplett has lost friends to Clairvoyant attacks. He wasn't the Clairvoyant's right hand, Ward was. Ward and Triplett had a no-holding-back throwdown the first time they met, which would make no sense if both were Hydra and at least one knew it. Triplett made it to the bunker with the rest of the main team, but Hydra didn't know about it until Ward made contact with Skye. If Triplett was Hydra, Coulson's team would have probably been intercepted or followed on their escape in the most recent episode.