None of this is clear in the film. I've read summaries that said the remnants of the government had Shinji imprisoned in Earth's orbit as punishment for starting near third impact.
I'm starting to think you only read summaries and did not actually watch the movie. Or if so, not very carefully. Because Eva-01 is retrieved from space by WILLIE, not Shinji. You are reading summaries that say the Earth's government put him there, but you are not citing the film. In the film the container Eva-01 is in has a NERV logo on it. So NERV (run by Gendo) is keeping it there. Nowhere is it said in the actual film that governments put it there. Shinji was not being punished there because everyone thought he was gone. Why would they punish someone they thought was dead?
Cite the film itself, not second hand summaries.
Yeah putting an explosive collar on you is a real serene and calm way to handle hormonal teenagers. Misato and the others had plenty of time to respectfully and calmly tell Shinji what happened. ALSO Shinji could've stayed on WILLE. His treatment by WUNDER is what provoked him to leave and go with the Rei clone. So instead of NERV trying to retrieve him, WUNDER got Unit 01 and Shinji and gave NERV exactly what they needed to jumpstart the apocalypse and Human Instrumentality. IDIOTS.
They are in the middle of a war zone dude, with Shinji dropped in their lap unexpectedly and they don't even know if it's really him or that he's still capable of being dangerous, or if NERV wants him. So they use the same precautions they use on Asuka and Mari (who just deal with it for the greater good because they know they are inherently dangerous but still need to use the Evas anyway). The hormonal teenager is throwing a tantrum in his confused state and most of the crew is fearful/hateful towards him. Misato put the choker on him to show she had the situation under control. Even then she couldn't pull the trigger when he's stolen, so Midori in the fourth film starts to question her resolve. If not for putting the choker on, the crew probably would have demanded he be executed then and there, which Misato doesn't want. This was the compromise she had to make in the middle of the chaotic situation they were in.
You say they have plenty of time to explain themselves, but keep ignoring the scene where Misato, Ritsuko and Sakura start to explain the situation. You are demonizing them for not doing something which they
clearly attempt to do (before they are interrupted), so it's hard to take your stance that they are idiots very seriously.
And this is my problem. In the fourth movie people actually try to help Shinji and offer him solace and compassion and treat him with respect and BASIC HUMAN CIVILITY. And by doing that, Shinji is healed and finally gets back into a stable mental state where he wants to help him. Treating him like an object and threatening to explode his head is garbage and Misato should've been smart enough to know that. There is no excuse for how he was treated like a sack of dren in the third movie. It's bad writing and bad storytelling. Misato may have issues. She may not be an infallible, but she's not an idiot. She's not stupid. In the third movie she embodied those traits. Asuka acting hot blooded and angry with him makes sense because she's Asuka and that's always how she is with Shinji. NOT Misato.
I don't think you understand Misato that much, in any of her incarnations. She's always been a bit crap at dealing with Shinji despite her best intentions. She has always used him as a tool for her revenge against the Angels despite the guilt she feels at doing so, and hurts him in the process. We now have a Misato who carries even more guilt because Shinji caused the Third Impact under her watch because she encouraged him (and then spent the 14 years believing he was dead because of it) and had to make who knows how many difficult decisions that weighed on her soul and watched various members of her team die under her watch (including a big one as revealed by the fourth movie). She's colder and needs to be more pragmatic and shove her feelings down. It's not bad character writing when we look at what her character has always been (both in the old series and the new) and add in the factors we both see and can surmise based on her current situation after 14 years.
Toji, Kensuke and Hikari are not on the frontlines of the battle and Shinji wasn't dropped in their lap while they were under attack from the Nemesis series. Shinji was also able to stay with them for an extended period of time and not less than a day like he was on the Wunder. Your expectations that Misato should behave like them when she doesn't have the time or luxury seems unrealistic.
Her plan was trash and her plan failed. She didn't do that though did she? She had plenty of time to explain things and offer him an explanation. She didn't and she threatened to blow up his head. Shinji even voluntarily offered to help at the beginning of the third movie. He was confused and had no idea what was going on. Misato should've known better.
Are you mixing up scenes? Because when he is first shown to the Wunder bridge crew they are under attack from the Nemesis series and trying to get the Wunder active; it's an "all hands on deck" combat situation. She has no time in that moment to go into details. She makes the time alter with Ritusko, which you seem intent to ignore. So you say she has plenty of time during an instance where she clearly does not, and then don't acknowledge her and Ritsuko taking the time to try to explain everything to Shinji later.
It's like you adopted a "she's an idiot" stance based off of second hand information on the plot and aren't actually analyzing any of her scenes.
This was basically Anno regressing to fan fiction level writing, much like with Rei and Mari in fourth movie.
Um...how?
I mean watching the documentary that was released with the final film, it's no wonder why the Rebuild films had so many problems. The way Anno treats his staff is basically workplace abuse.
This is the first I'm hearing that response about Anno. From what I've read, the staff gave interviews that he was much more open to collaboration and respecting input from others this time around than in the old series.
