Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Roundtable: Principia

AGENTS of S.H.I.E.L.D. continued their quest to save the world. See what we thought about the episode belw.

This week Mack had a history with the guy who was asking questions. What do you like best about meeting new people that have other relationships with our team?
Roz: It’s getting to be a game of interchanging parts to help the team, and at a point I’m going to lose count on who are the players are without a really big scorecard. (And given what was in the preview, we’re digging even more into the well of old characters to bring back. WHY?)
Rueben: I was surprised that Mack knew the guy, but what threw me more was figuring out who Alex was because I remember his face, but had to look up who he was in order to try to remember his importance in the show. I kind of agree with Roz that I need a scorecard to understand who is who.
Karen: I was laughing a bit at Jake Busey (Tony “Candyman” Caine) being in Marvel canon now. I remembered the Struckers, mostly due to a mini-rewatch hubs and I did one evening during our move. Cable wasn’t set up for a few days, but our media drive was. Of course they’re also part of “The Gifted,” so there’s that as well. Getting back to the question, I dig characters that bring a bit of backstory to our mains. I especially loved the picture of young Mack.

Oh Hale worked with HYDRA when the time called upon it. Does that make you want her gone more or less?
Roz: Is water wet? Yes, I want her gone even more as it’s clear she wants to play all sides of the issues for her own gain. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Rueben: We always need an antagonist in every story, but I really hate this woman and just simply want her gone.
Karen: Because of course she worked with Hydra. *sigh* Can we get a big bad that hasn’t worked for them? Probably not at this point. If we didn’t hate her, the writers wouldn’t be doing their jobs. I think the fact that we simply LOATHE her means she’s a pretty good villain.

Alex has too many issues to count. What do you think about introducing yet another new character to this arc?
Roz: I know Ruby needs her team to take on SHIELD, but the big well is making my head hurt. His power’s are going to either make it impossible for SHIELD or he’ll turn and neither seems great right now.
Rueben: Alex is actually Werner von Strucker; and like I said above, I had to research who he was in order to figure out why he was in the story. There is that other saying “too many chefs in the kitchen will spoil the soup.” I’d rather they just get straight to things rather than stringing us along anymore. I’m getting a bit frustrated.
Karen: Yeah, I don’t think we needed him. I know he already had an “in” since he’s not a new character, but is it just so Ruby had a peer her own age or what? The writing is good on AoS, so I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt for now. It’s a little junky though.

Also, another Strucker kid. JESUS can we get all the Marvel comics under one umbrella so we don’t have different versions of what could be the same guy?
Roz: I know we’re at different generations (maybe) between SHIELD and The Gifted, but again, why do I need to follow two ideas of the same(ish) person? It’s really hard with Quicksilver and it’s going to end poorly for me here.
Rueben: Oh, wait you knew he was a Strucker/Von Strucker. This is where I get confused. Which is it – Strucker/Von Strucker? Why do we have cross pollination between the two shows. There are enough characters in the Marvel that we don’t have to have overlap between the shows, right?
Karen: It’s the same family, but yeah, it’s two versions. You have to think of The Gifted as an Elseworlds type of show. It exists separately from the main MCU. Like Gotham does from the other DCU shows. It’s all fiction, so it’s just another story based around the same characters. Marvel has given it a stamp of approval though, so it’s all good in my book.

Deke is fitting the pieces of his family together in ways that are shocking to everyone else. Do you want FitzSimmons to know his true lineage?
Roz: I do, but I think it’ll be so awkward for all involved that it won’t happen until something’s going to happen to Deke. Yeah, I don’t think he’s making it out of his timeline, but I bet as he dies, he spills the beans.
Rueben: I knew when Deke saw his mom and she made that statement to him that obviously Jemma was going to say that statement to someone and he would overhear it. That was made almost too obvious to me. I’m kinda slowly starting to like Deke whereas I was a little uncertain about him before. I’d like to see him and Fitz argue really badly, and watch as Deke spills the beans out of anger. Then let the awkward begin.
Karen: OMG I did NOT expect him to put the puzzle together, but like Rueben, that’s when I knew he’d figure it out as well. I’ve always liked Deke, although at some points I questioned his loyalties. Now that he’s firmly SHIELD royalty (LOL), I’m all in. I think the argument / awkward thing has merit. It seems like a Whedon way to out Deke to his Grands. I love the new high-IQ Deke btw.

Karen: Can I just say how much I loved the “Can’t touch this” line when they had to box up the gravitonium? Coulson at his quippy finest.

AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D. airs Friday 9/8c on ABC