"You Die First", Agents of SHIELD 1x01
Spoilers for the pilot of Agents of SHIELD under the cut.
OH MY GOD LOLA. I was NOT expecting that. So, looks like Howard Stark got that flying car off the ground after all. And he named her LOLA. Stupid genius billionaire playboys. :D
My new headcanon: Howard perfected repulsor technology after WWII and he built a few flying cars for SHIELD. He never tried to market the flying car-Obadiah couldn't have known about it or he definitely would have wanted to market it. Fury inherited the car after Howard died, then Fury gave it to Coulson as a thank you gift after Coulson pulled a rabbit out of his hat - made some kind of impossible save. I'd argue it wasn't for surviving the Battle of New York, if only because Coulson didn't seem to treat the car like it was a shiny new toy. It's clearly something he’s had for a while now.
Some other thoughts:
FUCK YEAH GUNN. Uh, I mean, Michael Peterson. Oh, he's a daddy with an adorable little boy! Cue the angst. If he can make it past this episode alive and free, I'll give Joss a bit of a pass. (I have trust issues with Joss.) I'm a sucker for MCU references, anything to weave Agents into the Marvel movieverse, so the opening voiceover and montage and Ace with the action figures was a great touch.
Skye, you ginormous dork.
BOOOOOK. Clearly Joss is using this opportunity to assemble a team of all his former stars. But hey, whatever it takes to include more characters of colour, I'm not complaining.
Two Asian women sharing scenes with each other! They barely exchange words in this episode, but it's just the pilot--I have hope for the future.
I... don't really give a damn about Ward? I mean, handsome white guy with tragic backstory, lather, rinse, repeat. I'm kind of excited to explore Skye's mysterious past, however, and that Coulson acknowledges how good she is at hacking--how incredibly rare it is for SHIELD to not know everything about a person.
So more Skye and more Melinda May because, uh, Melinda May that's why. She's that stoic, hyper-competent, female spy/ninja character in the grand tradition of Peggy Carter, Natasha Romanova, and Maria Hill, and that's exactly my type.
But Agents of SHIELD existing is also why I believe it very unlikely that Peggy Carter will get her own TV show, despite the rumours floating around. Even if we're in 2013 instead of 1946, the "spy agency in charge of weird crap" angle has already been covered and I can't see Marvel putting out a show with an ultimately redundant premise.
That said, I still hold out hope for a flashback! A flashback to Peggy, Howard, and a young Nick Fury during the early years of SHIELD would be AWESOME.
Hmm, what else. Some of the humour was a bit forced and telegraphed, but the few action scenes were nice and the climactic scene had real tension and emotional heft to it.
"Rising Tide" and "Centipede" are references to HYDRA, in my opinion. I wouldn't be surprised if "Centipede" was revealed to be HYDRA based solely on Coulson's line, "We didn't cut off the head of the centipede."
As for Rising Tide: rising tide --> water --> HYDRA. I don't know if Rising Tide will turn out to be a HYDRA splinter group with actual evil intent or if it'll just be an antagonist, that is, a group that simply has a different agenda than SHIELD. Skye certainly wasn't evil, and Rising Tide might even become an occasional ally despite its interest in exposing SHIELD's secrets. Also, I wonder whether the group's name is intended as a reference to JFK's phrase, "A rising tide lifts all boats." According to the internet, JFK was arguing that when an economy is performing well, all people will benefit from it. But in this episode, we hear testimony of how the reverse isn't really true--that when the economy is performing poorly, all people don't suffer--because if you're privileged enough, you'll still get your annual bonus... while complaining that the public's outrage over your bonus is the same as them lynching you.
I really enjoyed Mike calling out the economic inequalities reinforced by our modern neoliberal capitalist regime. His impassioned cry against injustice at Union Station made only the slightest attempt at metaphor. Loved the mural in Union Station working as his backdrop, as well. And I really appreciated that nobody tried to take away his right to his anger, that Coulson affirmed his emotions. Mike was finally able to voice his frustrations, finally had someone LISTEN. Bravo, JAR!
(Downside of JAR being so fantastic is that I'm a little annoyed that Mike isn't a regular character. Mike and Skye were the two characters I found most compelling, but we only get to keep Skye.)
Now I need to find icons...
ETA: Just realized something about that last scene, with Skye and Coulson visiting Ace in a house in the country. I had initially assumed it was a SHIELD safe house, someplace Coulson stashed the kid while Mike was undergoing treatment. I also thought it might have just been a social worker's or foster parent's house, though it seemed waaay too nice for that.
But then I re-watched the very first scene, in which Mike suggests to Ace that they go visit Ace's "Aunt Mindy" that weekend so Ace and "Keisha" could swim in the pond. (Oh, look, another reference to water, though this is a nice, safe pond and not a potentially dangerous rising tide.)
So we've got Michael "Mike" Peterson, Ace Peterson (Ace is a nickname?), Aunt Mindy nee Peterson (presumably), and Cousin Keisha.
Also? I literally just got the whole hoodie thing. Oh, man. Fitting, though.
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comment(s)
OH MY GOD LOLA. I was NOT expecting that. So, looks like Howard Stark got that flying car off the ground after all. And he named her LOLA. Stupid genius billionaire playboys. :D
My new headcanon: Howard perfected repulsor technology after WWII and he built a few flying cars for SHIELD. He never tried to market the flying car-Obadiah couldn't have known about it or he definitely would have wanted to market it. Fury inherited the car after Howard died, then Fury gave it to Coulson as a thank you gift after Coulson pulled a rabbit out of his hat - made some kind of impossible save. I'd argue it wasn't for surviving the Battle of New York, if only because Coulson didn't seem to treat the car like it was a shiny new toy. It's clearly something he’s had for a while now.
Some other thoughts:
FUCK YEAH GUNN. Uh, I mean, Michael Peterson. Oh, he's a daddy with an adorable little boy! Cue the angst. If he can make it past this episode alive and free, I'll give Joss a bit of a pass. (I have trust issues with Joss.) I'm a sucker for MCU references, anything to weave Agents into the Marvel movieverse, so the opening voiceover and montage and Ace with the action figures was a great touch.
Skye, you ginormous dork.
BOOOOOK. Clearly Joss is using this opportunity to assemble a team of all his former stars. But hey, whatever it takes to include more characters of colour, I'm not complaining.
Two Asian women sharing scenes with each other! They barely exchange words in this episode, but it's just the pilot--I have hope for the future.
I... don't really give a damn about Ward? I mean, handsome white guy with tragic backstory, lather, rinse, repeat. I'm kind of excited to explore Skye's mysterious past, however, and that Coulson acknowledges how good she is at hacking--how incredibly rare it is for SHIELD to not know everything about a person.
So more Skye and more Melinda May because, uh, Melinda May that's why. She's that stoic, hyper-competent, female spy/ninja character in the grand tradition of Peggy Carter, Natasha Romanova, and Maria Hill, and that's exactly my type.
But Agents of SHIELD existing is also why I believe it very unlikely that Peggy Carter will get her own TV show, despite the rumours floating around. Even if we're in 2013 instead of 1946, the "spy agency in charge of weird crap" angle has already been covered and I can't see Marvel putting out a show with an ultimately redundant premise.
That said, I still hold out hope for a flashback! A flashback to Peggy, Howard, and a young Nick Fury during the early years of SHIELD would be AWESOME.
Hmm, what else. Some of the humour was a bit forced and telegraphed, but the few action scenes were nice and the climactic scene had real tension and emotional heft to it.
"Rising Tide" and "Centipede" are references to HYDRA, in my opinion. I wouldn't be surprised if "Centipede" was revealed to be HYDRA based solely on Coulson's line, "We didn't cut off the head of the centipede."
As for Rising Tide: rising tide --> water --> HYDRA. I don't know if Rising Tide will turn out to be a HYDRA splinter group with actual evil intent or if it'll just be an antagonist, that is, a group that simply has a different agenda than SHIELD. Skye certainly wasn't evil, and Rising Tide might even become an occasional ally despite its interest in exposing SHIELD's secrets. Also, I wonder whether the group's name is intended as a reference to JFK's phrase, "A rising tide lifts all boats." According to the internet, JFK was arguing that when an economy is performing well, all people will benefit from it. But in this episode, we hear testimony of how the reverse isn't really true--that when the economy is performing poorly, all people don't suffer--because if you're privileged enough, you'll still get your annual bonus... while complaining that the public's outrage over your bonus is the same as them lynching you.
I really enjoyed Mike calling out the economic inequalities reinforced by our modern neoliberal capitalist regime. His impassioned cry against injustice at Union Station made only the slightest attempt at metaphor. Loved the mural in Union Station working as his backdrop, as well. And I really appreciated that nobody tried to take away his right to his anger, that Coulson affirmed his emotions. Mike was finally able to voice his frustrations, finally had someone LISTEN. Bravo, JAR!
(Downside of JAR being so fantastic is that I'm a little annoyed that Mike isn't a regular character. Mike and Skye were the two characters I found most compelling, but we only get to keep Skye.)
Now I need to find icons...
ETA: Just realized something about that last scene, with Skye and Coulson visiting Ace in a house in the country. I had initially assumed it was a SHIELD safe house, someplace Coulson stashed the kid while Mike was undergoing treatment. I also thought it might have just been a social worker's or foster parent's house, though it seemed waaay too nice for that.
But then I re-watched the very first scene, in which Mike suggests to Ace that they go visit Ace's "Aunt Mindy" that weekend so Ace and "Keisha" could swim in the pond. (Oh, look, another reference to water, though this is a nice, safe pond and not a potentially dangerous rising tide.)
So we've got Michael "Mike" Peterson, Ace Peterson (Ace is a nickname?), Aunt Mindy nee Peterson (presumably), and Cousin Keisha.
Also? I literally just got the whole hoodie thing. Oh, man. Fitting, though.
I prefer comments on Dreamwidth |
comment(s)