Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. returns for the second half of the season

agents of shield header

AOS is back after its mid-season break, and isn't wasting any time pouring on the storylines or adding intrigue. There have been plenty of fans, myself not included, who have bemoaned the seemingly glacial pace at which the show's writers were bringing along the characters or opening up the MARVEL universe for television.

That ain't the case now.

We know now that Skye is actually MARVEL character Daisy Quake. Originally conceived as a mutant, she is now the product of a millennia old Kree attempt to create a race of warrior/killers to help them in a war they were fighting. Skye/Daisy's abilities are that she is able to create seismic tremors around her or in various objects. As her character is fleshed out in the comics, her abilities become more pinpoint to where she can destroy internal parts of devices or in some instances, the internal organs of living beings. She is also able to protect herself from psychic attacks, presumable via surrounding herself with force waves of some sort.

Interestingly, the look of her character in the comics is based on Angelina Jolie and her appearance in the movie Hackers (a guilty pleasure of mine . . . the movie, not Jolie):

daisy quake

As Skye is revealed to be Daisy, her father is revealed to be Calvin Zabo or Mister Hyde, a sort of evil version of The Hulk. Raina, who was in the temple when the Terrigen Mist was released, has morphed into a sort of porcupine creature. I'm not sure if there's a MARVEL character that she's approximating, but whatever.

We also got another hint that Bobby Morse (Mockingbird) may be doing something covert for either Nick Fury or someone else as we see her and Mack discussing how they cannot bring Bobby's old boyfriend into their scheme. Whatever that is.

There's also a nice bit where Fitz finally lashes out at Simmons for abandoning him as he explains why he attempted to shield (no pun intended) Skye's metamorphosis from the others out of fear that they would turn on her. As they sort of do at the end of the episode. Hints at a bit of a supervillan/mutant attack under the direction of Zabo on the Coulson's team and much, much more.

Like I said, they've taken the training wheels off the show and are proceeding at a furious pace to tie the show into the various movies that are in production. I've complained plenty about the bastardization of various character mythologies, particularly as it has applied to the X-Men movies, but Whedon and company seem to be doing this fairly well here. Inhumans, Kree, Asgardians, tie-ins to Captain America, Thor, The Avengers . . . there's a lot happening here and it's fun to watch. The special effects are quite good. The acting, casting and writing are as good as anything else on television at the moment. It's worth watching.

Cutie Chloe Bennet has been maddeningly frugal in her saucy appearances, so that makes these few glimpses of her even more fun:

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