The Dirty Half Dozen

[osprey_archer]

First, I kind of loved the scene where Ward is about the brief his old team and they're all just "..." and he's like "Let's address the elephant on the plane! You all hate me. Mistakes were made (actual quote that he actually says! WARD, when you borrow a soundbite from shifty politicians, that is the total opposite of taking responsibility for your actions)" and the team is just NOT HAVING ANY OF IT.

Less enthused about the thing where Simmons nearly murdered Ward in cold blood with a human disintegration bomb (only to accidentally use it on Bakshi, who maybe leaped to Ward's defense as part of his brainwashing? I'm a bit unclear about the details of that). I'm... actually I'm kind of disturbed that everyone in SHIELD is totally okay with using a brainwashed agent at all; I realize they were in a tight spot and didn't have many choices, but I would have liked it if someone at least felt some reservations about taking advantage of destroying someone's mind.

(Speaking of brainwashing: Bobbi being nice to brainwashed Agent 33. <3 <3 <3 I hope being abandoned by Ward will not send Agent 33 into a tailspin.)

I was also not enthusiastic about the thing where they made May's objections to Coulson's secret-keeping personal: she's upset because he was talking to her ex-husband without mentioning it to her, not because she thinks she actually deserved to know about Theta Protocol. It's not that I wanted her to be up in arms about Theta Protocol - May seems pretty chill about All Secrets, All the Time - but as the show set it up to look like she was, it seemed like a cop-out to make it actually all about her ex.

Comments

[evelyn-b.livejournal.com]

I finally watched this episode! UGH THOUGH, I was disproportionately mad at Ward for his constant quipping and defensiveness, along with being mad at Simmons for TRYING TO KILL WARD (in the middle of a mission, which is RIDICULOUSLY against protocol even if it weren't MURDER). Simmons is so hard now. :( It makes me sad, but it also makes me angry, because SIMMONS, NO D:

(Though I did enjoy that Fitz and Simmons took time to pause at the mention of love to discuss A DELICIOUS SANDWICH THAT ALSO REPRESENTS LOVE. It was so clunky and obvious and I clapped my hands like a baby seal, then went right back to being horrified at Simmons' cold-blooded killer ways).

The thing with May's ex seemed out of character to me. May doesn't seem at all like the kind of person who would object to Coulson having ties to someone she no longer has ties to. I mean, people are complicated, but it felt possessive in a way that doesn't fit with May's character as I understand it.

Bobbi being nice to Agent 33 is the best <3

Well, it'll be interesting to see what happens next. HIGH DRAMA, apparently. I'm looking forward to seeing Raina come back into her own a little. I hated to see her so purposeless and emo.

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

I feel like I'm missing some link in Simmons' character development, because she seems to have made a big jump in darkness during the midseason break and I'm having some trouble buying it. That she would be afraid of Skye's new powers, or has become a smooth enough operator to fool Bobbi, okay, I follow. But planning to kill Ward in cold blood? That just seems a bridge too far.

I totally agree about the thing with May's ex seeming out of character. I thought maybe her objections to Theta Protocol seemed out of character in the first place - I would expect May to double down on her loyalties if an adversary presented her with information that seemed to undermine a friend, you know? But making it about May's ex just made it seem even MORE un-May-ish.

Raina is so going to start a creepy prophecy cult and I'm kind of looking forward to it. The powers people need some shaking up.