People Keep Askin' Me If I'm Back. Yeah, I'm Pretty Sure I'm Back #AgentsofSHIELD #Marvel #ABC

People Keep Askin' Me If I'm Back. Yeah, I'm Pretty Sure I'm Back #AgentsofSHIELD #Marvel #ABC

All pictures courtesy of ABC 

Ladies! Ladies, don't fight. Oh, it was just a test? Well, OK then. Last night's Agents of SHIELD (#AgentsofSHIELD) started with a bang and the hits kept comin'.

The episode picked up where the episode from two weeks ago left off, with Mei's ex-husband played by Blair Underwood nearly dead from an attack ordered by Grant Ward. Not taking into account the phenomenal episode from last week which concentrated solely on the stranded Simmons' on the alien planet, Mei came back to SHIELD headquarters where her ex was being operated on after being left for dead in a corner store. He turned out fine, but Mei wasn't having any of it. Mess with her man and she has to hunt you down and kill you.

After a preliminary test of Mockingbird to see if she was field ready, the two embarked on a mission to the Cayman Islands, following the New Hydra money trail.

Meanwhile, Hunter felt so down on his luck about not only missing killing Ward but causing Mei's ex to nearly be killed that he joined a new mission to track one of the ATCU guys to see if he was the Sonic the Hedgehog Inhuman. This, only after Coulson benched him on the Ward pursuit. He, Daisy and Mac go on a mission where they procure the blood of the head ATCU guy. During that they also get a location from his phone.

And where did that location lead to but to the ATCU storage facility. For weeks Coulson has been asking to see HQ of this new organization and find out what they were doing with the Inhumans they find. As luck would have it, Daisy had a drone equipped with stealth tech so they didn't have to sneak inside. And what and who did they see?

As it turns out, they saw Coulson and the director. After distracting the man with a staged break-in at her place where she even offered him his favorite fast food burger, she took him to HQ at the same time that Daisy and the gang arrived outside. With no audio to listen to the conversation, Daisy overreacted like she always does and got anxious about his presence in what looked to her like an evil lab from a horror movie or that strange cargo warehouse from Indiana Jones.

She might have been proud to know that Coulson reacted in a similar but more subdued manner as the director told him each Inhuman they found was kept alive in a sedation plasma until they could be cured. Treating the Inhuman outbreak like a disease they are working toward a cure and consider the goo bath an induced coma until these people could be properly taken care of. A most interesting fact came when she revealed a budding crush on Coulson. Are the feelings reciprocated? Maybe. Coulson's getting a love interest since the woman from the first season still believes he's dead. Yay!

Back to the juicier story (don't worry, it ties back into the whole Daisy and ATCU thing), Mei and Mockingbird pursued their lead to the Caymans where they discovered something linking the Von Strucker kid back to Ward and to a secondary location where they could find him. For fans of the Marvel movies, the kid is the son of Baron Von Strucker from Avengers: Age Of Ultron. After being found out as posers in the bank vault safety deposit box room, Mockingbird didn't want to dive headfirst into combat, distracting with a long cover story until finally one of the guards prompted her and Mei to kick some serious butt.

After a quick pep talk from Mei about how she can't hesitate going forward and how she can do this, Mockingbird admitted that she had been keeping herself locked away in the lab for fear of getting into another situation concerning Ward. She was afraid to go back out into the field which is why she wholeheartedly obeyed Coulson's orders. Taking a bullet to the head will do that to you.

They manage to find the kid just as Ward's guys have him hanging from a pummeling strap. A fight ensues, and while Mei takes down one guy and talks to the kid, Mockingbird fights the other three men and the biggest one, defeating him through electrocution in a nice pool. Pools. I'll miss summer.

This...

The biggest reveal happened at the very end when the kid told the story of what really happened when he went to kill Blair Underwood. With his dying breath, he tells Mei that Blair turned into something, a great big blue, Sonic the Hedgehog looking monster. The very same monster Daisy and the others had been looking for. The very same monster that had been killing other Inhumans with its own Inhuman powers. And who turned out to be this Inhuman killing machine but the trusted psych guy whose job it was to help Inhumans mentally adjust to the world and determine if they were ready for entry into the special team Daisy was trying to put together. The funny thing is that after seeing Blair Underwood in so many subpar indie films, I thought he was done playing the villain. At least here he gets to play a little bit of both and we know he's a good guy deep down. I hope he still gets to stay on the show longer as I like him on my TV and his stints on The Event and Ironside started OK, but turned out horrid.

...turns into this. 

What do you think? Did you watch last night's episode of Agents of SHIELD? Do you think it's good for Coulson to have a love interest? And what about this big twist? Did you see the doctor actually being the big new baddie on the block? I'm usually three steps ahead on these shows and even I didn't see that one. Let me know in the comments below (hint: click the no comments button if you see no comments).

Check out my new comedy novel Yep, I'm Totally Stalking, My Ex-Boyfriend. #AhStalking

If you’re looking for a scare check #AFuriousWind, #DARKER, #BrandNewHome or  #ThePowerOfTen. For those interested in something a little more dramatic, check out #TheWriter. The full first season is out now NOW exclusively on Amazon. If you like fast action crime check out #ADangerousLow. The sequel A New Low will be out in a few months. Join us on Goodreads to talk about books and TV, and subscribe to and follow my blog with that Google+ button to the right side.

Until next time, what side are you on: Team Captain America or Team Iron Man?

P.S. Was anyone else expecting to have heard or seen a little teaser something by how about Captain America: Civil War? By this time last year they already had a teaser trailer out for Age of Ultron and the movie is only seven months away. It almost seems like they're letting DC steal their thunder with so much DC stuff streaming out. Hm? I'll think of a better sign-off next time.

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Well... Do Something! #AgentsofSHIELD #PremiereWeek

Well... Do Something! #AgentsofSHIELD #PremiereWeek

All pictures courtesy of ABC

So it seems the little engine that could keeps on chuggin’ along and the ride seems to be getting better and better. With a premiere a week later than most of the networks, Agents of SHIELD (#AgentsofSHIELD) came back with a bit of a bang. So where will this season go? And did they include an Ant-man reference anywhere in there? I know, you probably go to the movies but you don’t watch the show because of the beginning of the first season. Well, you’re missing a lot but let me catch you up in my Agents recap.

When last we left off the agents wound up on a huge ship that was previously there’s but had been taken over by some evil (OK, misguided) Inhumans. Their leader, Daisy/Quake’s mother wanted to infect as many people as she could with the Terrigen mist to either kill people or turn them into Inhumans. What is the Terrigen mist you ask because you don’t watch the show? Don’t worry, you’ll understand what that is when the Inhumans film comes out in two or three years. For now just know that it activates some dormant mutant-like DNA (I said mutant-like DNA, 21^st Century Fox Films. Don’t sue me). The finale had us believing that because the crystal fell into the water, then the water was populated by a bunch of fish which were caught by a boat and pressed of their oil, which in turn produced the fish oil supplements you and I take everyday, everybody would be infected, right? Right?

So, fast forward to this season and we open with a shot of some fish oil that someone has taken and has subsequently gotten powers. I guess somebody’s buying all of those dusty bottles of fish oil I see on the shelves because the newly made Inhuman runs around the street for a while trying to figure out why every time he touches metal it melts. No control over his powers, he runs into a containment group that is NOT from SHIELD and almost gets killed when the agency finally swoops in and rescues him. In isolation, Daisy informs the man that he’s an Inhuman and can never go back to his old life and he has the natural reaction of freaking out. That gets Quake to think that her love interest from last season should be here because he was way better at helping people transition.

Meanwhile, one-armed Coulson chases after this new power woman who is in charge of the opposing containment group. Apparently, as is hinted at in the final minutes, this new group answers directly to the president... or vice versa? Interesting. But neither Coulson nor the new lady knew that someone else was out there killing off Inhumans at an alarming rate. This mystery killer might have been found by Daisy, Mack and last season’s love interest as they had to fight a large indestructible porcupine-man in a hospital. I’m gonna let that last sentence sink in for you. This guy can apparently melt walls or something as he came, absorbed a few bullets, put his hand to a wall, made a big hole and escaped. The suspect actually looked more like this: 

(Good job ABC. This is the second time you’ve created a character reminiscent of Sonic the Hedgehog)

Oh, and what about that whole black obelisk thing that swallowed Simmons at the end of last season? Well, Fitz went overseas to get something he thought might solve the mystery of what it was and how to get her back if she was even still alive. Coulson gave a rundown of the crazy theories Fitz had chased after, including thinking she had shrunken into the micro-verse (there’s your Ant-man reference!). His latest idea was that the thing was, in fact, a black hole. Not even thinking about saving Matthew McConaughey’s Interstellar character, Fitz runs to the obelisk and orders it to do something, anything, but it does nothing. He even hits it—the standard fix for TVs and 90s VCRs and it still does nothing. But in the end, he is proven partially right as we see a glimpse of Simmons running around, presumably chased, on what looks like another planet judging from the skyline’s display of unfamiliar celestial bodies. Hence, she’s traveled through space and probably time to get somewhere out in Guardians of the Galaxy/Thor territory. Crazy, right?

So, what do you think this will mean for the show and the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe? Do you agree with me and believe this may take the show farther into space and have them explore stuff possibly on other planets a la Stargate? Or do you think this will be resolved quickly and she’ll be back on earth? Or do you have a theory that this is earth but in some other time, perhaps the future or the far past? Or do you just not care at all? Let me know what you think in the comments below.

As always, check out my books on Amazon (if you’re looking for Halloween scares check  #AFuriousWind,  #DARKER, #BrandNewHome or #ThePowerOfTen). For those interested in something a little more dramatic, check out #TheWriter. The final episode of season one of The Writer is OUT NOW. Ahh! That’s right, all 15 episodes are out now available exclusively on Amazon. Join us on Goodreads to talk about books and TV, and subscribe to my blog.

Until next time, “if you think that’s somethin’ you should see the other guy.”

P.S. Yes, that one was old but it’s a good send-off for readers. No? You don’t think it is? Fine, I’ll come up with another one, but I’m running out of ideas here.

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In Need of a Hand, An Inhuman Plan, And Don’t Take the Fish Oil, Dude! #AgentsofSHIELD #AgentsofSHIELDSeasonFinale

In Need of a Hand, An Inhuman Plan, And Don’t Take the Fish Oil, Dude! #AgentsofSHIELD #AgentsofSHIELDSeasonFinale

 

  All pictures courtesy of ABC

Wow! Like... totes-ma-goats wow! Wowzereenie, Mr. Feenie! Those are a few ways in which I’m trying to show you wa-how I feels about this season finale. All joking aside (don’t roll your eyes at me. You know your inner-child got at least a chuckle from one of those silly things), I really loved the finale. Maybe it is because I just saw #AgeOfUltron earlier and had some interesting feelings about that movie or maybe it was just because it was a kick-butt finale. I don’t know but let’s find out together.

There was so much going on in this two-hour season finale, but first I must stop and thank God and the inventors that blessed us all with the power of the DVR. I was watching both the Cavs/Bulls game (#NBAplayoffs, #gocavsgo) and this at the same time. I had to rewind after to catch Agents from the beginning but it was worth it.

We began with a pretty good fight between May and Skye/Daisy. At first May Mr. Miogi’d/Bruce Lee’d Skye by blocking her every move without much of a muscle-twitch. I nearly thought she was going to turn into Neo and start seeing green numbers scrolling through the matrix, but “Quake” quickly got her act together and actually moved May with a few strikes and kicks. She ended the short battle by using her powers (total cop out) and going off with her family. Meanwhile Jaiying implemented her plan to make it look like SHIELD attacked the Inhumans by instructing her goons to take over one of the quinjets and fire on the compound. After the dust settled, the Inhumans escaped to another secret hideaway with Daisy and Raina in-tow, while Coulson’s brood got away with minimal casualties and Mr. Hyde.

For much of the show we switched back and forth between Daisy slowly learning that her mother was evil (courtesy of Jaiying killing Raina right in front of Skye by accident, something that made old flowers seem like a sacrificial rose), Coulson questioning Mr. Hyde about his wife’s plan against SHIELD, and Ward and Agent 33 trying to get Bobbi to confess to her transgressions against 33. Honestly, the third story was a bit of an add-on that I could take or leave and served little importance accept but to show that Ward is still trying to be an evil mastermind (of which he is not) and to show Bobbi getting shot in the back of the head/shoulder? I wasn’t quite sure where the bullet actually went but I know it wasn’t a nice place. They telegraphed the play of Agent 33 dying as soon as May said she wanted to go and kill Ward. That was probably the most obvious part of the story but again I let it go because it wasn’t very important at all. After Bobbi got back to SHIELD near to death, she did her best Tony Stark impression and said how she couldn’t do this anymore, though she’ll probably be back for next season (hopefully, they actually explain that return). Moving on!

 

The two important story-lines of the night came from Mr. Hyde and from Skye. Their ability to track white nightcrawler—I mean, the inhuman with no eyes now gone, SHIELD had no advanced warning when he transported a few Inhumans onto their ship and took it over from the inside. Jaiying imprisoned her own daughter, saying that it was for her own good and that this was a war started by Agent Peggy Carter’s people when SHIELD first came to fruition. While she may have a point, she is also ruthless and bloodthirsty and kills a few high-ranking agents with the use of a crystal. With the help of Mac, Skye breaks out and seeks to try to stop the complete spread of the mist through the entire ship as there are plenty of agents still unaffected by the mist and the takeover. Jaiying’s goal is to put the mist into the fan/ventilation system, as well as to lure as many agents to the ship as possible to have them breathe the mist. Skye plays directly into this plan, sending out a help beacon to all of the agency and attracting Coulson’s attention.

Meanwhile, Coulson interrogates Daisy/Skye’s father about his wife’s intentions. He discovers that the man wants to kill as many agents as he can while there and will use a transforming elixir of his own creation to do it. He morphs into Quasimodo—I mean, Mr. Hyde and runs around like a monster destroying various rooms but not really killing anyone (#NotTheBestDayEver). He and Coulson have a heart-to-heart when he’s pinned against the wall. It is revealed that he only became a monster and only killed all of these people because it fulfilled Jaiying’s desires. He only wanted his family back. He only wanted to be loved. He only wanted her to be... her again. But now that Daisy is in his life and is so benevolent, Coulson convinces him that his wife’s actions will destroy the girl. He agrees to help SHIELD for Daisy’s sake.

It all culminates in one epic battle after the next while on the SHIELD ship. Daisy/Skye/Quake fights with a few different Inhumans until finally meeting her mother and nearly dying at her hands (her mother tries sucking the life out of her which is how she stays alive and youthful). She halfway ruins her mother’s plan by sending the ship with all the crystals into the ocean. In possibly the saddest family reunion, Mr. Hyde manages to stop his wife from killing his daughter only to bearhug Jaiying to death. After all was said and done, he’d have to serve his punishment as a vet living with no memory of his family after a mindsweep courtesy of the MIB... or the Tahiti program, whichever.

Coulson, Fitz and Mac all got into a fight with the no-eyes man and managed to trap him in the ventilation room. It was Fitz who accidentally killed him as the man ghosted into the end of a pipe he was holding. In dramatic fashion, upon dying the man dropped a crystal, hoping to break it on the floor and kill them all. In a second of harrowing heroism, Coulson dove forward and caught the crystal. His arm began to turn a blackened ash, causing me to almost completely lose my sh! Then Mac made me jump up and yell, “what,” as he axed the man’s arm off before the blackness could spread, Ultron-Klaue-ing off his left arm. Wow!

At the end, everything was settled. Coulson would survive having one arm. Ward is trying to become the new head of Hydra—good luck with that. Skye has been put in charge of a new secret division of powered people. And even Fitz and Simmons flirted with going out to dinner. And then I lost my crap again! First, they showed that the crystals that were on the quinjet that sank into the ocean mixed with the water, was taken in by the fish which were caught and pressed into fish oil supplements. That could kill or transform millions of people, though to be fair probably not that many Americans as we are not nearly health conscious enough to be taking fish oil. Seriously, no matter where I go I always see the same dusty fish oil supplement bottles in stock. When was the last time you bought and used some? But the second and most depressing part of the show was the fate of Simmons. Gasp! Sigh! I’ve already said how cute and all-around charming I think that Simmons and Elizabeth Henstridge is, so when it happened, I wanted to throw something at the TV. Messing with the secret rock/liquid thing that was previously in the SHIELD ship, she went to close its door back when it turned into a liquid washed over her, then sucked her back into the solid rock-like form. The question: What the hell just happened to her? Please don’t be dead!

So, what did you all think about the season finale of Agents of SHIELD? What do you expect from season 3? While I still believe that Spider-man is going to be the catalyst for the civil war events (you can read that article here), they could use this newly formed team led by Quake to sub in for the New Warriors also. Do you think it will serve a big role in continuing to set up the events of civil war or do you think they should try to do their own thing? As always, let me know in the comments section below.

As always leave your comments below (click the no comments button if no one has commented yet). I look forward to reading your opinions. Follow me here and on Twitter. Join me on Goodreads in the group Books Similar To Breaking Bad, Scandal and other Popular TV Shows and check out my books on Amazon. #BrandNewHome is on Amazon for just $1.00 until Monday (check recent posts for a better description). #Darker is coming in June and so is #TheWriter. Also, look for the short story #ThePowerOfTen also out now for $1.49 or check out the books I already have up there.

Until next time, If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball.

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