Discussion of SHIELD 1.20 "Nothing Personal" - Aired 04/30/14 (ABC-US)

[Black Eye Guy]

Just when there's no one left to trust, Agent Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders) returns to team up with Coulson as S.H.I.E.L.D. is being destroyed around them.

http://abc.go.com/shows/marvels-agents-of-shield/episode-guide

This episode was GLORIOUS!

I beyond loved it, it felt they they had moved out of the shadow of Captain America and were just delving into their own thing.

That "WARD IS HYDRA" Fitz found carved into the picture gave me major chills, such a great moment!

The reactions to the reveal were perfect, as much as I've loved Fitz already, I love him all the more. Iain plays those heartbreaking scenes brilliantly, the one with Garrett a few eps back was awesome, the one with Simmons about to jump off the plain ages ago and this one were some of the shows stand out performances.

I adore Ward as a bad guy, adore him. He shot at Coulson!! All the shots to Lola were on Coulsons side of the window, none to Skyes. They are clearly setting the show up for a redemption arc with Skye being a major player in that, but he shot at Coulson, and he has no remorse towards anyone but Skye.
When Deathlok stopped his hart, I was sure this would be the main turning point, but he still got all sassy with Hill (which was fantastic, they had great animosity-chemistry), and then tried to shoot Coulson. Being around Skye hasn't shown him what he's doing is wrong, he still fully believes in Garrett and only cares about Skye.

The only way I can see a redemption arc working, is by completely breaking down the character, I don't want it to come down to a story were he has to choose between Skye and Garrett and kills Garrett and that basically gives him his way back into the group, that wont be good enough, we know he'd choose Skye over Garrett, but he was willing to shoot at Coulson, they can't just ignore that cuz he loves Skye.
From the promo for next week it looks like its gonna be about how Garrett saved Ward and brought him up, Ward doesn't seem to have much of an allegiance to Hydra, more so to Garrett.
I dont know how they could "break the character down", but it's the only way I could see it working, having him have a change of conscience just wouldn't be believable, and having him choose Skye over Garrett isn't enough.

I really wanna see more of Hill, it was nice to see her be a bit more kick assy than she has gotten to be, same with Coulson, they dont really get to see a lot of hand to hand action.
I hope she guest stars in more of a recurring role next season (lets just presume it's getting picked up), I'd love for her to becoming a regular, but I'm not sure where she fits in.
I love the point she raised about SHIELD being gone, and this mission being a vengeance mission, it just reminds us, we have no clue how this series is gonna play out. Once this is all over, how will the team continue to be a team?

Skye was great this episode, I loved seeing her play Ward, that was cool to watch.

I kind of have no interest in Deathlok, Mike has become so unlikeable I just want him gone and dont care about him and his kid storyline. Maybe we should have seen more threats against the kid, and Mike trying to fight back, he's basically just shrugged his shoulders and said he'll do whatever which makes it hard to, at least, understand why he's doing it.

I like how they are setting up Tripplett, they have positioned him to take over for Ward, but they also have just replaced Ward with him straight away, it still feels like it's the rest of the team against Ward and he's still tagging along, so by the end of this if he joins full time it will feel very natural.

That after credits scene. Boy.

Ok so when did Coulson quit?

Maybe right before The battle of New York and never went through with the actual resigning? Or maybe Fury "agreed" to shut down the Tahiti program and Coulson decided not to quit?

Coulsons been re-alive now for a while and hasn't shown any signs of deterioration, so presumably it's not biological? But he's known how it happened for a little while now too, and hasn't gone crazy. So if he starts to lose it now, it will be kinda odd, like he had to know it drive others crazy to go crazy?

---------- Post added at 09:17 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:48 PM ----------

Oh also, Is anyone else suspecting Simmons of being a double agent? I really really hope I'm wrong, but doesn't that line about her getting better at lying from a few episodes ago and making her swear she's not Hydra all seem like hints?

I can't help shaking a suspicious feeling, though I guess why would she still be undercover right?
Maybe she's a member of S.T.R.I.K.E (English SHIELD)?

 

[Still a Scoobie]

There's almost definitely something going on with Simmons. (Unless it's a red herring/something they're putting in with no specific plan so they can use it in later seasons if they want to)

 

[Xin Rong]

Why is Skye not going crazy, she hasn't hard her memories changed?

p.s. I actually enjoyed this episode, which is rare for me with this show, I'm usually just waiting for it to end.

Loved the man-thing easter egg, and the fact that global security has become privatized 🙂

 

[thetopher]

I'm guessing because Skye is a 'thing of unknown origin', i.e something else other than entirely human, unlike Coulson.

I liked this episode, but to me, Wards love of Skye is just coming across as deeply stalker-ish and psychotic, rather than actual affection.
He just doesn't seem to realise that Skye wouldn't fall for some unprincipalled, murdering scumbag just because he has a square jaw.

'I'm everybody's type.' Clearly not, jerkoff.

That's the one major failing of this series, for me. Early on they didn't build all that character connections properly. Especailly Ward/Skye.
If they had this would be fantastic television, and really heartbreaking to watch Skye's reactions.
As it is I'm just wanting May to kick Ward's ass so badly. I really like hating him.

 

[Black Eye Guy]

^im loving hating him as well, I loved that "I'm everybody's type" line, it was so cocky and so hateable!

Why is Skye not going crazy, she hasn't hard her memories changed?

They did say they didn't know if it was biology or memories, said they saw improved results with memory erasing.
But I think it's gonna be tied to her 084 status, since they haven't addressed that in a while now.

 

[Buffyverse Fan]

I adore Ward as a bad guy, adore him. He shot at Coulson!! All the shots to Lola were on Coulsons side of the window, none to Skyes. They are clearly setting the show up for a redemption arc with Skye being a major player in that, but he shot at Coulson, and he has no remorse towards anyone but Skye.
When Deathlok stopped his hart, I was sure this would be the main turning point, but he still got all sassy with Hill (which was fantastic, they had great animosity-chemistry), and then tried to shoot Coulson. Being around Skye hasn't shown him what he's doing is wrong, he still fully believes in Garrett and only cares about Skye.

The only way I can see a redemption arc working, is by completely breaking down the character, I don't want it to come down to a story were he has to choose between Skye and Garrett and kills Garrett and that basically gives him his way back into the group, that wont be good enough, we know he'd choose Skye over Garrett, but he was willing to shoot at Coulson, they can't just ignore that cuz he loves Skye.
From the promo for next week it looks like its gonna be about how Garrett saved Ward and brought him up, Ward doesn't seem to have much of an allegiance to Hydra, more so to Garrett.
I dont know how they could "break the character down", but it's the only way I could see it working, having him have a change of conscience just wouldn't be believable, and having him choose Skye over Garrett isn't enough.

I hope they don't cop out with him just choosing Skye over Garrett...

I kind of have no interest in Deathlok, Mike has become so unlikeable I just want him gone and dont care about him and his kid storyline. Maybe we should have seen more threats against the kid, and Mike trying to fight back, he's basically just shrugged his shoulders and said he'll do whatever which makes it hard to, at least, understand why he's doing it.

I think I only care about him because of J. They have been doing him a disservice, he was excellently done his first 2/3 episodes, but you're right, they basically treat him like a nameless villain now.

I like how they are setting up Tripplett, they have positioned him to take over for Ward, but they also have just replaced Ward with him straight away, it still feels like it's the rest of the team against Ward and he's still tagging along, so by the end of this if he joins full time it will feel very natural.

He's a great addition.

Oh also, Is anyone else suspecting Simmons of being a double agent? I really really hope I'm wrong, but doesn't that line about her getting better at lying from a few episodes ago and making her swear she's not Hydra all seem like hints?

I can't help shaking a suspicious feeling, though I guess why would she still be undercover right?
Maybe she's a member of S.T.R.I.K.E (English SHIELD)?

Her being HYDRA would be a terrible story line. I'd be happy with her being a different kind of white hat. Like you said, or maybe even somehow related to Steve Roger's original girlfriend, and tied into the Captain America mythology.

Why is Skye not going crazy, she hasn't hard her memories changed?

Skye never properly died, did she? Might the craziness just be an effect of resurrection?

I liked this episode, but to me, Wards love of Skye is just coming across as deeply stalker-ish and psychotic, rather than actual affection.
He just doesn't seem to realise that Skye wouldn't fall for some unprincipalled, murdering scumbag just because he has a square jaw.

'I'm everybody's type.' Clearly not, jerkoff.

That's the one major failing of this series, for me. Early on they didn't build all that character connections properly. Especailly Ward/Skye.
If they had this would be fantastic television, and really heartbreaking to watch Skye's reactions.
As it is I'm just wanting May to kick Ward's ass so badly. I really like hating him.

Agreed. Ward is all around cocky for a guy who is probably the least effective in battle out of every single major SHIELD combat character we've seen. Xander's closer to Buffy's usefulness in a fight than Ward is to even the non-superhuman Avengers.

 

[November]

Loving this show! I thought Fitz's reaction to Ward being Hydra was a bit dramatic, but I suppose it fits for him. I dont suspect any deception by Simmons, this season at least.

Totally shippin' Skye and Ward. Im going to love the storyline of them being together in the end 😉

 

[Buffyverse Fan]

Loving this show! I thought Fitz's reaction to Ward being Hydra was a bit dramatic, but I suppose it fits for him. I dont suspect any deception by Simmons, this season at least.

Well the real world equivalent would be a joint-CIA/MI6 intelligence operation, where one of the agents turns out to be a neo-Nazi murderer. I think Fitz's reaction is completely understandable.

 

[November]

Understandable, but still dramatic, it is tv after all, its supposed to be over the top for entertainment value.