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shallownessIt's just been too busy to post up till now.
Agents of SHIELD 4.16 What If?
I was pleased rather than not that it looks as if we’ll be in The Framework for quite a little while. I enjoyed it – little things like Jemma, essentially, being a Revenant, and the wrongness of the set up, and the sense, in that relentless wrongness that it was Aida’s programming, not, as they think, Radcliffe’s. The show got to explore the US under facism, with HYDRA = Nazis being fairly explicit, while it was less interested in the VR aspect, until the girls had to try explaining THAT to the people they'd come to rescue! They weren’t doing very well until Simmons got to Coulson’s subconscious and then, after their plan of escaping and regrouping was scotched, desperate daughter figure Daisy begged.
My very favourite part was Jemma railing at Ward for being a mole (even if this time it was for the Inhuman resistance against HYDRA, while he was trying to get his head around all the revelations and they were being chased in a car). I’m sure Skyeward shippers from the first season will be enjoying it more, while I felt bad for laughing at something Ward had said as Daisy tried to take in that thie was her Framework life. But the reveal that he was the mole was fun.
Less fun, in one sense, was watching Coulson be evil – although we were meant to be supportive of the kid who challenged the propaganda/fake history and did graffiti, I couldn’t get past his naivete. So, I was less 'fight the power' and more 'don't be so stupid about it'. I liked the low-level but pervasive evil of a teacher teaching lies and hate in a school, and not seeing a scared child but a monster, as he kow-towed to HYDRA.
But that is nothing to how screwed up May is going to be (again, she’s had weeks in the Framework, and it seems like her decision in Bahrain Changed Everything) if she remembers all this. OR FITZ, as the resident torturer-in-chief. I did spend some time wondering whether he was the Doctor and ruling out Radcliffe, who I now presume is doing something fun with Agnes. Or is he? Daisy’s theory that this is Fitz sans Simmons (although I think the actress slipped and said Fitzsimmons when she meant Simmons, but let’s put it down to the character’s tough day), without her love to temper his father’s influence (who ARE they going to cast?) continues the Daisy is a big FitzSimmons shipper theme.
And then there was the magnificent reveal of who the HYDRA director was – it could have been Mack, whom we didn’t see, but for it to be Aida – well, I’ll get to that – and for her to be dommeing evil!Fitz was delicious. I don’t think she is Agnes, who was gazing at paintings, and she can’t be Aida’s consciousness (or can she? Maybe this is a way for Aida to explore emotions while also being evil in the real world) so maybe she’s some kind of sentient programme who knows this is all VR and wants to keep things going as she planned them? A little clarification on this would be welcome.
Anyway, they did a good job of slowly revealing the awfulness of this world, Daisy losing her name, having to deal with a version of the man who’d done so much that was wrong to her, and some of it not as himself, and realise her friends were HYDRA and well-entrenched. Then Jemma as the vagrant revenant (with deliberate make-up) who had no ID, little power, but was brilliant in overpowering the guards and living off her wits – the fact that the actress’ voice was about to go added pathos. So, through them, we got a multi-layered view of this (virtual) alternate reality, and a sense the show was willing to play hard there. I'm wondering if uncertainty about renewal made them try a little harder (or they're trying a little harder in a playbox that I would automatically love).
E4 bigged up the ‘girls saving the world’ angle, which I appreciated, even if the girls were mostly overwhelmed – they really hadn’t thought how tough it would be to wake the others up or how well-constructed the framework would be. If we were only there for an episode, their crazy plan would obviously have worked. I don’t mind that Coulson looks as if he’s going to be an ally – they have to rescue the team.
A few more thoughts, it was a shame we didn’t know what Yo-yo was doing in this world. I’m also curious as to what Aida’s programmed for the Avengers. The fact that they brought in Vijay is interesting, because what did happen to his probably dead body in the real world anyway? What kind of info did Aida use to fill in the Framework?
Agents of SHIELD 4.16 What If?
I was pleased rather than not that it looks as if we’ll be in The Framework for quite a little while. I enjoyed it – little things like Jemma, essentially, being a Revenant, and the wrongness of the set up, and the sense, in that relentless wrongness that it was Aida’s programming, not, as they think, Radcliffe’s. The show got to explore the US under facism, with HYDRA = Nazis being fairly explicit, while it was less interested in the VR aspect, until the girls had to try explaining THAT to the people they'd come to rescue! They weren’t doing very well until Simmons got to Coulson’s subconscious and then, after their plan of escaping and regrouping was scotched, desperate daughter figure Daisy begged.
My very favourite part was Jemma railing at Ward for being a mole (even if this time it was for the Inhuman resistance against HYDRA, while he was trying to get his head around all the revelations and they were being chased in a car). I’m sure Skyeward shippers from the first season will be enjoying it more, while I felt bad for laughing at something Ward had said as Daisy tried to take in that thie was her Framework life. But the reveal that he was the mole was fun.
Less fun, in one sense, was watching Coulson be evil – although we were meant to be supportive of the kid who challenged the propaganda/fake history and did graffiti, I couldn’t get past his naivete. So, I was less 'fight the power' and more 'don't be so stupid about it'. I liked the low-level but pervasive evil of a teacher teaching lies and hate in a school, and not seeing a scared child but a monster, as he kow-towed to HYDRA.
But that is nothing to how screwed up May is going to be (again, she’s had weeks in the Framework, and it seems like her decision in Bahrain Changed Everything) if she remembers all this. OR FITZ, as the resident torturer-in-chief. I did spend some time wondering whether he was the Doctor and ruling out Radcliffe, who I now presume is doing something fun with Agnes. Or is he? Daisy’s theory that this is Fitz sans Simmons (although I think the actress slipped and said Fitzsimmons when she meant Simmons, but let’s put it down to the character’s tough day), without her love to temper his father’s influence (who ARE they going to cast?) continues the Daisy is a big FitzSimmons shipper theme.
And then there was the magnificent reveal of who the HYDRA director was – it could have been Mack, whom we didn’t see, but for it to be Aida – well, I’ll get to that – and for her to be dommeing evil!Fitz was delicious. I don’t think she is Agnes, who was gazing at paintings, and she can’t be Aida’s consciousness (or can she? Maybe this is a way for Aida to explore emotions while also being evil in the real world) so maybe she’s some kind of sentient programme who knows this is all VR and wants to keep things going as she planned them? A little clarification on this would be welcome.
Anyway, they did a good job of slowly revealing the awfulness of this world, Daisy losing her name, having to deal with a version of the man who’d done so much that was wrong to her, and some of it not as himself, and realise her friends were HYDRA and well-entrenched. Then Jemma as the vagrant revenant (with deliberate make-up) who had no ID, little power, but was brilliant in overpowering the guards and living off her wits – the fact that the actress’ voice was about to go added pathos. So, through them, we got a multi-layered view of this (virtual) alternate reality, and a sense the show was willing to play hard there. I'm wondering if uncertainty about renewal made them try a little harder (or they're trying a little harder in a playbox that I would automatically love).
E4 bigged up the ‘girls saving the world’ angle, which I appreciated, even if the girls were mostly overwhelmed – they really hadn’t thought how tough it would be to wake the others up or how well-constructed the framework would be. If we were only there for an episode, their crazy plan would obviously have worked. I don’t mind that Coulson looks as if he’s going to be an ally – they have to rescue the team.
A few more thoughts, it was a shame we didn’t know what Yo-yo was doing in this world. I’m also curious as to what Aida’s programmed for the Avengers. The fact that they brought in Vijay is interesting, because what did happen to his probably dead body in the real world anyway? What kind of info did Aida use to fill in the Framework?
