Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. - 3x09 - "Closure" - Discussion Thread

[Mike Murdock]

Didn't really pay attention to the talking.

That seems like it would make it difficult to watch a TV show.

 

[Vartha]

Can't wait to watch this tonight.

 

[David_99]

That seems like it would make it different to watch a TV show.

 

[Guard82]

Very exciting episode. They kicked the story into high gear early on and kept up the intensity. It leaves a lot to anticipate for the midseason finale.

 

[Chemistro]

I know...it just seems like if the world is about to be destroyed, SHIELD shouldnt be above breaking their rules on kidnapping. And again...it seems like they'd have a bigger/more powerful team as part of that initial plan. "Sorry that life on Earth has been extinguished...I didn't want to break protocol" doesn't seem like it would go over too well.

As far as I can tell, SHIELD doesn't know the world is at any immediate risk. There is the general world threat HYDRA always poses, but not beyond that.
While they know that HYDRA wants to open another portal, they don't know they intend to bring the monster back, or that there is a chance of that, apparently.

ETA: in fact, it seems Coulson does not even know that HYDRA knows they managed to bring someone back (else, he would figure there is probably a mole in SHIELD), or that bringing someone back was a problem for HYDRA.

Sooooo, Simmons gets tortured by a freakin Hydra telekinetic with a wrench and hammer, then tortured by Ward, and ends up with just a small bruise? K.

Maybe most of the damage is not on her face?
But you're right she should appear more damaged.
By the way, it seems he's not generally telekinetic, but only capable of controlling metal (maybe some, maybe all metals). One would expect if he were a telekinetic, he would have used his power on at least one object not made of metal so far, which would have come in handy sometimes (e.g., his fight with Bobbi).
Also, apparently, his control of metals isn't good enough to hurt people by controlling traces of metal in their blood. Maybe he needs visual contact with whatever he intends to move.

 

[Vartha]

DAYUM that was a cool episode!!
Phil's getting more aggressive, LOVE it

 

[Silvermoon]

Truly he is the son of Coul pulling a Cap move like that

Spoiler

 

[SomeOldGuy]

Late to the party, but I have to say this episode depressed me. You can almost see the writers erasing the blackboard. All that stuff we've built up over the last couple months? Welp, gotta clear the decks before Civil War, so bullets for everyone! I suppose you've got to take the bad with the good, but the shared universe thing bites sometimes.

 

[Loki882]

Also, this show needs to stop doing plot-lines involving,"SHIELD-like non-SHIELD groups," because they cannot seem to do them all that well. The "Real SHIELD" thing from last season was a gigantic waste of time, and now pretty much all of those guys are dead. And now pretty much all of the ACTU people are dead as well, too quickly imo.

 

[fire117]

Also, this show needs to stop doing plot-lines involving,"SHIELD-like non-SHIELD groups," because they cannot seem to do them all that well. The "Real SHIELD" thing from last season was a gigantic waste of time, and now pretty much all of those guys are dead. And now pretty much all of the ACTU people are dead as well, too quickly imo.

Yeah how many more groups like that need to be built up and destroyed before SHIELD gain the trust of those in power.

 

[just one thing]

As far as I can tell, SHIELD doesn't know the world is at any immediate risk. There is the general world threat HYDRA always poses, but not beyond that.
While they know that HYDRA wants to open another portal, they don't know they intend to bring the monster back, or that there is a chance of that, apparently.

ETA: in fact, it seems Coulson does not even know that HYDRA knows they managed to bring someone back (else, he would figure there is probably a mole in SHIELD), or that bringing someone back was a problem for HYDRA.


Maybe most of the damage is not on her face?
But you're right she should appear more damaged.
By the way, it seems he's not generally telekinetic, but only capable of controlling metal (maybe some, maybe all metals). One would expect if he were a telekinetic, he would have used his power on at least one object not made of metal so far, which would have come in handy sometimes (e.g., his fight with Bobbi).
Also, apparently, his control of metals isn't good enough to hurt people by controlling traces of metal in their blood. Maybe he needs visual contact with whatever he intends to move.

still the question about how malick knew she was brought back. last week it was someone.

hydra also knew fitzsimons where going to the project distant star site, it was put down to coulson being that predictable to ward that he would send them there and that could be it or she could be a tout. getting tortured with bolt cutters would leave a mark. and that could be the big reveal, might be a bit far fetched but someone is.

 

[just one thing]

Late to the party, but I have to say this episode depressed me. You can almost see the writers erasing the blackboard. All that stuff we've built up over the last couple months? Welp, gotta clear the decks before Civil War, so bullets for everyone! I suppose you've got to take the bad with the good, but the shared universe thing bites sometimes.

hydra is still in 'procession' otf a number of inhumans in the atcu. they are attempting to bring their prophet back from the planet. rosylin and banks have been cleaned from the blackboard all right but other stuff can still progress.

 

[Mike Murdock]

Late to the party, but I have to say this episode depressed me. You can almost see the writers erasing the blackboard. All that stuff we've built up over the last couple months? Welp, gotta clear the decks before Civil War, so bullets for everyone! I suppose you've got to take the bad with the good, but the shared universe thing bites sometimes.

I don't think it has to do with Civil War (I wouldn't be shocked if Civil War has no greater tie-in than Age of Ultron did). It's just that the show is moving plots along at breakneck speeds. They did the same with Lash.

 

[Dr. Evil]

Let's just get Powers Boothe, Robert Knepper, Jordi Molla and Peter Stomare in one movie or TV show and call it "Villains" because that's all those actors are good at: playing Villains. Unlike Gary Oldman or Ralph Fiennes, I don't think any of those actors can play a good guy well, although Stomare was sort of one in Armageddon

 

[DN91]

I don't think it has to do with Civil War (I wouldn't be shocked if Civil War has no greater tie-in than Age of Ultron did). It's just that the show is moving plots along at breakneck speeds. They did the same with Lash.

Mostly every plot in S3a has moved at Flash-like speeds: ATCU, Ward's Hydra, Simmons and Hell Planet, Lash, etc.

It's refreshing and a lot better than shows dragging things out to the point where it just doesn't become engaging anymore.

 

[Yowza]

Well, Rosalind did mention punching if for another day at work at the beginning of the episode so the ATCU does still exist and will presumably keep operating as it did. Only difference being they're probably out of the story now. It seems the whole operation to hunt Inhumans being run by Malik means he's sort of shifted away from doing this operation through the ATCU...

As for Malik, I hope they keep him around. Powers Booth is probably one of the best actors at portraying sly villains I have seen. His Cy Tolliver on Deadwood I still remember well many years later even though he didn't do a whole lot but talk most of the time.

As for my guess next episode: I have a feeling Shield will free the inhumans who'll run amock on Hydra. Malik (being the only face in the camp of course) will make a desparate move opening the portal at the designated time for Ward and team to come back encountering Coulson and Will (Ward being left behind) who it becomes apparent is controlled by the entity from the other side takes out a lot of the Inhumans (some flee) and the episode ends on a cliffhanger. Cue the Secret Warriors formation in Season3B then.

 

[MotherBox]

No way will Ward get left behind, unless it is Coulson and Ward left together as a story.
They will not kill off Ward, change him or give him powers yes, but not kill him.

 

[Guard82]

Let's just get Powers Boothe, Robert Knepper, Jordi Molla and Peter Stomare in one movie or TV show and call it "Villains" because that's all those actors are good at

Not true. Boothe played a good guy in the 1984 movie Red Dawn and performed well like he always does. These actors can take on many roles -- it just so happens that they're especially talented at portraying villains. And there's nothing wrong with that.

 

[Mike Murdock]

As for Malik, I hope they keep him around. Powers Booth is probably one of the best actors at portraying sly villains I have seen. His Cy Tolliver on Deadwood I still remember well many years later even though he didn't do a whole lot but talk most of the time.

I doubt they'll keep him for the rest of the season, so my hope is they find a way to end his story arc while still leaving open the option for him to return.

 

[Guard82]

Mostly every plot in S3a has moved at Flash-like speeds: ATCU, Ward's Hydra, Simmons and Hell Planet, Lash, etc.

It's refreshing and a lot better than shows dragging things out to the point where it just doesn't become engaging anymore.

Exactly. This was one of the main criticisms of S1a of AoS. The plotlines in the first half of Season 1 moved very slowly and frustrated a lot of viewers. I'm glad they've greatly improved the pacing of the show's plotlines. It's much more brisk, efficient, and engaging.

 

[Vartha]

hahahaha

Truly he is the son of Coul pulling a Cap move like that

Spoiler

 

[voyzovrezon]

lol

 

[voyzovrezon]

Finally got around to reading this thread.

Like some, I too feel Ward is one of the best villains in the MCU. He's complex, charming, and cool when he's kicking butt, especially Gideon's assassins.

And yeah, I didn't expect that beginning! If they do bring Roz back, this may play into my prediction that she's been HYDRA all along and the murder was staged for some reason.

 

[Yowza]

I'm guessing this episode put the kibosh on Roz turning bad after getting closer to Coulson. I doubt they'll go back again saying it all was faked.

As for the flow of Season 3 vs. 2, I think Season 2 was kind of jarring in a way that at times things seemed to prolong while at other times everything got wrapped up super quick. At least with Season 3, it seems to flow better so far I think although not sure if the storyline's are better yet.

I doubt they'll keep him for the rest of the season, so my hope is they find a way to end his story arc while still leaving open the option for him to return.

Yeah, I'm kind of doubting it as well. I like the clip of season 3 so far but hope they don't keep wrapping everything up super quick.

As a lot of the episodes of Agents of Shield seem to open up a certain amount of questions (one thing I think this show does very well despite some of the predictable action scenes) here are mine after this episode:

-With Coulson's team questioning at the beginning of the episode foreshadowing the arrival of Thomas, does his appearance (and perhaps facial expression as he gets off the plane) foreshadow a future reveal about himself or Grant?

-What's being setup with the continuous concern over Lincoln? Mack just brought up his file yet again.

Leftout Info.:
-Banks mentions Roz working at NASA only after the Stargazer program was done it seems. Therefore, NASA had a Stargazer program funded and influenced from outside subsidiaries (presumably some people involved with Shield/Hydra were in some of these subsidiaries). From this, it seems more likely these 5 stones were used to open the portal that sent Will through than the actual Monolith itself. Perhaps Malik was aware of the Stargazer program at the time it operated but didn't know where all the stones were kept? He knows where 1 is in one of Strucker's vaults but the rest he thanks Ward for. How'd Ward find the other 4?

-Unlike the Stargazer program at NASA, traces of the Inhuman program in the lower levels of the ATCU seem to have been largely removed for the most part set up in tents around the castle in 1 desparate attempt to have an army to greet the returning entity. It seems a bit too many chips in 1 pot for Malik to gamble with... Are these all Hydra operatives or some of them people from other programs Malik has had his hand in? I suppose if the writers say they are they are though but still comes off as bit odd.

 

[Guard82]

One thing puzzles me about Malick's plan: Why does he assume that he will be able to rule the world alongside this super-Inhuman that he's trying to bring back to Earth? If this super-Inhuman really is as powerful and dangerous as he says, then isn't it likely that the super-Inhuman would kill Malick and his underlings rather than share power with them? After all, once the super-Inhuman makes it back to Earth through the portal, it won't have any more need for Malick and his Hydra goons. It would probably wipe them all out and set out to conquer the planet alone.