MARVEL’S AGENTS OF SHIELD Roundtable Discussion

By Liz | May 6, 2015

On this week’s episode of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. we saw a continued connection with the new Avengers movie, “Age of Ultron“, which just hit theaters over last weekend. Coulson explains what Theta Protocol was and it filled a gap from the movie, answering the question of how Fury got hold of one helicarrier. We also found out what Gonzales was keeping in the belly of his ship; Jaiying knows what it is and wants it. Coulson and Gonzales unite SHIELD but by the end of the episode, things are set in motion that could fracture it again, as well as the Inhumans. Skye, in particular.

It was an important episode which sets up a number of stories going forward in the Marvel universe. It also sets up next week’s 2-hour season finale.

Roundtable Discussion

1. How far back in time do you think Jaiying was planning her war on SHIELD? Revenge plot or protection for her people?

Rueben: I was really surprised, to say the least, by this turn of events with Jaiying. I was not expecting that at all. I have a feeling it is more as protection for her people, at least that’s what I want to think it is, as I hadn’t seen her as the “bad guy” until she took out Gonzales and then shot herself.

Louise: I think it’s probably been a very long-con, but probably escalated by finding Skye/Daisy more recently. It’s revenge and protection all rolled into one in my mind, but who knows for sure until she tells us next week. Yeah, let’s just assume she’ll Evil Speech of Evil (TM Jon Rogers) in the finale.

Liz: It’s difficult to tell because we don’t know how long Jaiying has been on Earth. She claims to have witnessed many, many years of abuse to her people; seen things like indexes for enhanced or inhuman people leading to elimination. Or leading to exactly what Whitehall did to her. But I think the idea of revenge came from Whitehall dissecting her and SHIELD taking her daughter.

2. Do you think Jaiying has been building her own Inhuman army in Afterlife and how far reaching is her plan? Global? Universal?

Rueben: After seeing her shoot herself and put the blame on SHIELD, I have a really bad feeling that the Inhumans are going to come out of the woodwork globally. I’m not sure if I even want to think about a universal army coz that’s just too scary given what we saw in the two Avengers movies, ya know?

Louise: I can’t tell what the scope of her plan has been, though I know we’ll have an answer next week. I can’t imagine that it’s a small army against SHIELD, and given what Cal has said about half of the SHIELD agents I don’t think it’ll be quick and painless.

Liz: I think that’s what Afterlife is really there for. I think Jaiying created it to gather Inhumans on Earth for the purpose of building an army to war against SHIELD. I do wonder if she had originally planned to take on Hydra too, but SHIELD and the Avengers got to them first. I don’t think she is reaching out to any Inhumans on other worlds, but who knows? There’s still a lot we don’t know about Jaiying.

3. Was Jaiying trying to get rid of Cal or strategically placing him with SHIELD?

Rueben: This could very well be the case (placing him strategically that is) since he had those vials in his coat that SHIELD confiscated. He’ll be her inside man.

Louise: My gut right now says that everything’s part of her plan, but that’s just a feeling. And time will tell for sure.

Liz: I think both. Kill two birds with one action, so to speak. Jaiying never wanted Cal around. Her only purpose for him was to help her find Skye and bring her to Afterlife.

4. Do you fully trust Reina now?

Rueben: No, not at all. I had a bad feeling about what she was doing the moment she told Gordon that Jaiying shouldn’t be in charge. Reina always has an ulterior motive that leads right back to her.

Louise: NO! I trust Reina about as far as I can throw her and her attempt to usurp Jaiying doesn’t sit well right now.

Liz: Fully, no. But I trust her more than Jaiying now. She did a pretty good job of building mistrust against Reina, and building on the selfish, manipulative person that Reina was. But now we see that Jaiying is a master at manipulation. She even got Cal to volunteer to surrender to SHIELD! She’s good. Reina’s visions were never wrong. She even warned Gordon against Jaiying meeting with SHIELD. She said that the attack on Afterlife was started because of Jaiying, though I’m not sure she knows that Jaiying actually shot herself to begin a war.

5. What do you think is Ward’s end game?

Rueben: Well, we saw what revenge he got on his brother and parents so I can only imagine what he has in store for SHIELD and none of its going to be good.

Louise: Made SHIELD feel pain? It has to be some sort of revenge, but again, the scope hasn’t been clear so far.

Liz: I have no clue at all. They are not giving us anything in the way of clues. Not that I could see. I feel like they are dragging that out way too long and we are no closer to finding out what it is he’s really after.

6. Which side do you predict Skye will ultimately take, SHIELD or the Inhumans?

Rueben: I think that for the finale we’ll see Skye siding with her mother and the Inhumans. I going to guess that she will fight against SHIELD and the cliffhanger will be which side wins. Should/If the show comes back, then we’ll (hopefully) see Skye figure out what her mother did (somehow) and she’ll go back to SHIELD’s side. At least that’s how I want to envision it.

Louise: Inhumans. She’s grown close to her mother and a few others and I think she doesn’t understand all of what SHIELD wants.

Liz: I believe Skye will side with the Inhumans partly because Jaiying has manipulated her and partly because she has been out of the SHIELD loop and doesn’t know what’s been happening there. She still has a tie with Coulson but that is more on a personal level. That being said, I think there may, in time, be a fracture within the Inhumans as well. The ones living in Afterlife just wanted to be safe and disappear from everyone. I’m sure a war is not something they bargained for. Skye may split with Jaiying over that.

7. What do you think of May’s actions toward Coulson, even after he tried the “long apology”?

Rueben: I’m disturbed that she has so quickly and easily switched gears because from the very beginning she seemed completely dedicated to Coulson and his goals. I don’t like the tension between them, although I can understand it – to a point. But, I want to see them come to terms and maybe not wash all their problems under the bridge (so to speak), but at the very least work out their differences and don’t be on opposing sides. This will be a lingering problem, though, I’m sure.

Louise: She’s holding that grudge until it can’t serve her anymore. She was brought back into the field for him and had to relive some horrible things just because of his plan to keep that Hellicarrier around and in the name of indexing other different events.

Liz: It’s a complicated thing between those two. I can’t see there being much trust anymore. Coulson may have kept secrets from May, but she didn’t reveal to him that she was the one who killed that crazy Inhuman little girl either. May knew about Coulson’s “Tahiti” vacation and the fact that Fury was still alive. She picked the crew of SHIELD when Phil thought he did. It’s like watching a ping-pong match with those two.