First Impressions - AoS: "One Door Closes"

This is by no means a deeply intense dissection of the episode.

That will happen over the summer after my purchase of the Blu-ray.

I've put my quick comments and notes after seeing the episode only once after the jump.

You've been warned...

Season 2 Episode 15: "One Door Closes"

The Good:

May was awesome, but she should have iced Bobbi dammit!

Coulson keeping his cool.

If I was him, I would have lost my s#!t. Seriously. Yet another infiltration? Yet another betrayal? I was waiting for some of that Kree blood to show itself by him breaking his bonds. He didn't, but he wanted to - you could see the seething, simmering anger in his face. Instead, he kept his cool and had a mostly calm conversation with Commander Adama. He has this thing about him where he's the center of calm every time the feces hits the spinning blades, and just bides his time until the tables turn. Coulson is cool...but a pissed Coulson? Even cooler.

Simmons...lying.

That entire scene I was thinking "she's playing, she's playing", and she was. Predictable? Sure, but fun as hell to watch. That's one of the big pluses of this character - she's the best "non-spy" spy on the show...which also makes her more dangerous. Is she really looking out for Daisy/Skye's best interests?

Speaking of...

We F I N A L L Y get to see Daisy/Skye's powers in action. Not just things shattering or a whole lot of shaky-cam, but actual power usage on screen. It only took 5 episodes and three months to get it, but it looked awesome! 

What's the plan boss?

They took us back to "the day S.H.I.E.L.D. fell".

I understand why they did it: we got to see Hartley again, Bobbi did some damage, Adama took charge...

The Bad: ...but was all that necessary? Mrs. Adorkification saw the episode with me, and she felt that all that backstory could have been explained/mentioned/referenced through "present-day" dialogue. She has a point, but with all the secrets and lies between characters it would have been impossible for viewers to believe anything anyone said. Which is truly a disaster of the writers' own making.

I'm tired of all this infiltration s#!t.

"We're S.H.I.E.L.D."

"No you're not, we're S.H.I.E.L.D. so nany nany foo to you."

Stop the fighting kids, before I turn this show around.

The WTF?:

This f**kin' guy...

I get it. I understand Gordon's existence on this show - to bring Daisy/Skye "into the fold". He told her juuust enough to get her interested, and when we F I N A L L Y get to see her powers in full swing...she calls him to take her away, and he does.

What the goddamn.

Special effects take time and cost money, two things television shows don't ever have enough of. But we're not talking about having Bruce change, or Thor using his hammer, or Steve throwing his shield or Tony suiting up. No one is flying through the air or using super-strength. Plus- the programming needed to have trees disintegrate and sway was already created for Avengers, so what is the problem with showing more of Daisy/Skye's powers? Couldn't they have taken some of the money spent on Angar's jaw dropping (which never should have happened by the way) and put it to better use with her? 

Yes...yes they could have.

And let's think about this for a sec - 

Where is Gordon taking her? Yeah, we don't know where on the map she's going, but she going to the place where Raina's hanging out, and Mister "Mad Cal" Hyde's is being held prisoner.

That should be fun...

Looks like "the Real S.H.I.E.L.D." has trust and loyalty issues too, huh?

I mean, when one of the "inner circle" or whatever the hell they call themselves is using live ammo - that's a problem. So why do they have issues with Coulson's team? Because he has alien DNA in him? Has S.H.I.E.L.D. evolved past racial, sexual and gender discrimination to the point where they only have bias against aliens now? Uh guys...Thor's an alien. And Sif. And Gamora, and Drax, and Groot and Rocket. 

These guys have serious trust issues.

Adorkification Moment: 

So Daisy/Skye's hideout is called the "Retreat"? And it's "the house that Banner built"? 

I guess I can buy that...but are we to believe that this is the same cabin from the end of Incredible Hulk? 'Cause I'm not seeing it. First of all, did Coulson ever mention Canada or British Columbia (which is where Banner's cabin was)? Even if he did, I'm looking out my window in Maine and I'm still seeing a lot of snow. If this episode's Daisy/Skye stuff is happening in real time, where's the snow? Secondly, I can understand that Banner's "Retreat" would be upgraded in the time since Incredible Hulk, but there was n o t h i n g that reminded me of that building. A simple piece of furniture would have done the trick. Hell, even a dusty, cobweb-covered metronome would have sufficed.

"It's heavier than I expected."

"I know...right?"

Coulson. At a bar. In Tahiti.

Tears were flowing. Seriously.