gingerly

Mysteria

Looks good

indigo sunrise

can't wait!

gingerly

Just added sneak peek #2 to the OP!

Love that Skye agreed to do the therapy session when she found out who would be doing it with her.

indigo sunrise

Thanks! Loved that

Karri

That sneak peek was hilarious.

indigo sunrise

yeah, very promising for the rest of the ep

gingerly

Soon.

indigo sunrise

Oh my god the real SHIELD of course that's what it is. It makes so much sense and yet I didn't see it coming in a million years. I hope Maria Hill is in charge! This is going to be interesting.

Poor Skye. I was so impressed with how quickly she learned to somewhat suppress her powers, but she was directing them inwards. Ouch.

This ep had some moments that I really loved, which I'll have to get back to once I've rewatched it tomorrow.

Raonaild

Argh ... I just feel ... I dunno. Unsatisfied. Impatient. Things are dragging out too much.

I thought maybe we would get some resolution with Skye's father, but then he's pulled away from his confrontation with Coulson.

And then the thing with Cal at the end. More mystery, few answers.

Haven't really made much progress with Skye's powers either, other than the fact that it's getting worse and the psych eval didn't seem to change much.

Then the thing with Mack taking Hunter away. We learned a little bit, that it's some "other" SHIELD, but I kinda guessed that much already. At least it looks like that plot line will finally be ramping up next ep.

I'm actually suspicious that when Coulson was asking Bobbi about Hunter in the Quinjet, he knew Bobbi was lying to him. I was surprised he just asked about the two of them sleeping together, I was expecting Coulson to reveal that he knew all about what Bobbi and Mack were up to.

And then there's FitzSimmons.

So first, as expected, Simmons is upset with Fitz for lying. And not at all addressing the fact that she also lied to him months before and still hasn't really dealt with that. And then with that meeting with Coulson at the end, we're set up for more heartbreak as Simmons will likely need to lie to Fitz yet again about finding a way to shut down powers. And she was already freaking out about people with Inhuman-type powers before Coulson asked, in a way that Fitz obviously didn't agree with. I'm getting a little tired of this constant piling on of issues between them without ever resolving some of the original issues that started this season.

What I didn't really get was how Simmons was giving Fitz the cold shoulder for the first few scenes, then when he came in to use the microwave they had a reasonably normal conversation. That seemed out of place.

Wild Pikachu

The real S.H.I.E.L.D., huh? I'm guessing that this is HYDRA, and they've just scammed some people into believing that it's really S.H.I.E.L.D. Although I could see there being a faction of the former S.H.I.E.L.D. that wants to displace Coulson.

Interesting how Simmons is making the same differentiation between Inhumans and non-Inhumans that the Inhumans themselves make...creating yet more factions.

And awwwww FitzSimmons... Seems like they just can't stay mad at each other.

gingerly

I really enjoyed this episode, a lot went down! Kevin Tancharoen brought a nice look to the show, plus better-than-usual fight scenes.

I'm glad they clearly distinguished between those on the index/gifted, and Inhumans.

The "real" SHIELD, ahhh! Of course someone else made an attempt to rebuild SHIELD. Does this debunk the SWORD theory that's floating around, or will this other SHIELD evolve into SWORD? Can't wait to see more of this!

Ouch indeed. I kind of agree with Andrew that SHIELD isn't the safest place for her to be, but they don't know about the Inhuman faction Gordon and Skye's mother are/were a part of, so they don't know a better alternative for her right now.

Speaking of Andrew, I liked him! He had good chemistry with Ming-Na, and I'm curious why the mystery of the picture on the desk wasn't resolved.

Cal and his villains were fun. Unfortunately Kyle McLachlan was so fantastic he kind of overshadowed them all. =/ The effects with Angar were awesome, though.

I agree. I hate to say it, but Fitz/Simmons were my least favourite part of the episode.

I do like that they're following through on Jemma's general attitude towards Inhumans. Like, she still isn't calling for them all to be put down or anything, but I was worried they'd have her do a complete 180 when she found out Skye was one of them.

Raonaild

Yes, it seemed to me that if Mack and Bobbi weren't working for Hydra, then likely they were working with some organization parallel to SHIELD. Whether they call themselves SHIELD or SWORD or whatever. I gather SWORD is supposed to specialize in extraterrestrials, which would fit with what's been going on lately and particularly Mack's attitude towards anything alien.

It's a shame that it's playing out this way though. This "real" SHIELD could have openly challenged Coulson's leadership and tried to resolve this peacefully. Or made him aware of their existence, but that they were an independent organization not working for him. Instead, they seem to be setting up for a coup, to get rid of Coulson and take over.

At the end of the day, I expect that the two groups will work something out, either merge together or at least have a working relationship. But it's going to be ugly getting there - already the stuff with Mack and Hunter was pretty ugly, and considering Hunter has way more loyalty to Coulson than he does to SHIELD I don't see him siding with this "real" SHIELD. And May will obviously side with Coulson. Skye will side with Coulson because if the rest of the "real" SHIELD feel like Mack, she wouldn't really be welcome with them anyway. I suspect Mack is going to try to play on his friendship with Fitz to bring him over to the "real" SHIELD, and maybe Fitz will be torn but he'll stick with Coulson, as he has all along. Simmons will probably be the most on the fence - she has been uncertain about following Coulson since SHIELD fell in S1, and her views on the Skye/Raina-type gifteds might make her more sympathetic to this other SHIELD, and then there's her friendship with Bobbi. Ultimately though I think Simmons will side with Coulson.

Coulson's really in a particularly vulnerable place right now ... he's lost all his field agents for the moment except May, Skye is a wreck, and even if FitzSimmons were at 100% (sans brain damage and angst), they're not going to be able to go up against agents like Bobbi. Plus Bobbi and Mack know all of Coulson's weaknesses and will use that against him.

I actually wondered this morning if maybe this infighting between different SHIELD groups could lure Nick Fury back. Maybe dad would come home to sort the children out.

Yes - Simmons doesn't want to eradicate Skye, but she's too eager to drug her up to solve the problem. Andrew, May and Fitz were all uncomfortable with her attitude on this at some point during the ep. But then Coulson confused the issue at the end of the ep by ordering her to find a way to shut gifteds down if necessary. I can understand why it's prudent to have that option, but it felt like he was pushing her down a bad path that she was already too eager to follow.

indigo sunrise

I find it interesting that Anne Weaver is a part of this 'real' SHIELD, which is one of the reasons I have a good feeling about them, because she seemed like a very trustworthy character and someone who both Fitz and Simmons but especially Simmons seem to hold in very high esteem. So just her involvement is maybe cause for them to be torn (Jemma more so probably) if there ever comes a situation where they'd have to side with one or the other.

that would be a good way to resolve it. If not him, I'd like Maria Hill to step in if she isn't already involved, to get closer to the SHIELD of the comics. I'm curious about Ward though. From the promo they made it seem as if he was with this other SHIELD, but my guess right now is that that was probably a deliberately misleading shot.

same, I really liked him. He should have stuck around a bit longer though, god knows Fitz (and Simmons) could have benefited from talking to him as well. It felt very deliberate that they didn't show the picture on the desk, makes me think that whoever is pictured might be someone we're familiar with. Or maybe it'll turn out that it's still May

Raonaild

I don't think they're bad people, I just think they're handling this poorly by not being open with Coulson.

I doubt it will be Maria, she's off with Stark Industries at the moment. But after wandering off who knows where, Fury will be back in the new Avengers movie, which means he'll be back in action around the same time that AoS S2 is wrapping up. And more so than Hill, people listen to Fury. Even in the comics, when Hill is the official head of SHIELD, people still tend to be loyal to Fury.

As for Ward ... I think even if he's with the "real" SHIELD (and I have a hard time believing any group calling itself SHIELD taking him in after some of the things he did with Hydra, like killing Victoria Hand), ironically Ward will likely help Coulson, because of Skye.

It's bugged me all season that Fitz never seemed to have any sort of real psychological support or physical therapy, even though he was clearly suffering from some serious problems. He was just left to his own devices, without even support from his friends who were around and saw him having problems but weren't sure what to do, much less Simmons who left. It was nice that Mack befriended him and started helping him, but he should have had professional help all along. Because if he did, we never saw or heard about it.

Oh, and my feeling is that it was a picture of May. Maybe we'll be seeing Andrew again.