#aosmeta

[dotthings]

Well well, look at you, 7.04 of Agents of SHIELD, “Out of the Past.”

Have I mentioned lately how much I’m loving this final season (I mean, have I mentioned TODAY...)

With a little side ramble where I bring in some Endgame opinions because that’s now extremely relevant.

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THEY DID IT! SOUSA LIVES!!!! Trolling us the entire time whether or not he’d be saved and in the end he was saved but without changes to the SHIELD history books or wall of valor. For the record I did fleetingly think of it—what if it wasn’t actually Sousa floating facedown in that swimming pool. “Not everything is in the books.”

Daniel Sousa appreciation. How smart, how badass is Sousa. He figured it out about Hydra about half a century before everyone else and was getting ready to expose them. His dedication to SHIELD and to rooting out Hydra so much so he’s willing to die for it. Also a disabled character, who walks with a cane, who is a physically skilled fighter, but he mostly relies on his brains.

AoS saved Sousa from the baffling plot hole Endgame carelessly threw him into. He’s never even appeared in the films and somehow the MCU managed to offhandedly harm the arc of this wonderful Marvel tv character. ACTUAL UNDERAPPRECIATED HERO OF THE MARVEL UNIVERSE. But AoS isn’t having it, this is their Marvel TV territory, linked with Agent Carter, and they basically reclaimed him. That was an excellent sleight-of-hand. And now he gets to go on the zephyr and have time-travelling, saving-the-world adventures. STEVE ISN’T THE ONLY HERO PULLED OUT OF TIME. BOO-YAH. (I love Steve. But Sousa got erased as a character for all intents and purposes for the sake of Steve’s Endgame, so I am enjoying the tea poured by AoS very much)

There’s something really affecting about Coulsonbot playing dead to save Sousa, who will now have to pretend to be dead like Coulson did, after Coulson died and was resurrected, and then died and was uploaded into a bot. Coulson just keeps dying.

Coulson and Mack right out talking about how Coulson’s death was an inspiration for the Avengers, Coulson trying to self-effacingly brush it off of course and Mack won’t let him. Plus Sousa is to SHIELD as Coulson is to the Avengers. Both devoted SHIELD agents, both super smart and caring, both faked their deaths unwillingly, then went along for a greater good.

“May I cut in” DAISY!!! I feel like that was a very Peggy Carter kind of moment. If a bunch of hydra thugs are overwhelming and roughing up Daniel Sousa, that’s exactly how Peggy would have entered the scene to punch them in the jaw.

While we’re on the subject of Sousa and Coulson parallels, this episode expressly comparing May/Coulson and Peggy/Sousa. That HURT. But I also appreciate the acknowledgment of Peggy/Sousa, again given Endgame’s careless stepping on Marvel tv continuity. AoS couldn’t save the ship but the overtly spoken parallel there suggests that whatever broke up Peggy and Sousa there is a whole story there we don’t know and likely as complicated as May and Coulson’s love story. We don’t know the circumstances. She didn’t definitely leave Sousa just because Steve returned to her. There’s also the fact that eventually, Peggy thought Sousa was dead. Peggy, who mourned Steve, would also mourn Sousa even if their relationship was over. This just opened up a whole lot of thought and possibilities and untold story there. You also never know. It’s Marvel. I never would have predicted this—Sousa in a multi-episode arc of AoS’s final season being on the Zephyr with our team Coulson. And are we going to see Peggy this season. WILL WE SEE PEGGY.

This so far is everything I hoped for when they did the time jump to the 30’s at the end of S6, and I hoped they would cross paths with those early SHIELD characters from Agent Carter. Agent Carter was a show cut down way too soon, so this acts as a little bit of a needed coda for Sousa even without the Endgame tinkering.

“Anxiety attack” — YO YO SAID THE THING. I SAID THAT IN MY POST LAST WEEK.

Okay, so May suddenly being a powerful empath is probably more than mere emotional trauma. But what a twist for a character who has always buried her emotions deep while feeling deeply, and then, because of the tech that healed her and brought her back to life, has her emotions dampened to where she can’t feel, becoming an empath where she feels everyone else’s emotions too much.

May touching Coulson and picking up nothing with her empath powers. OUCH. Yes Coulsonbot is effectively Coulson with Coulson’s memories, attachments, moral compass, but it’s machine generated. Not organic. So that would probably be why May felt nothing off him. Does that mean Coulson bot’s feelings aren’t “real” — I don’t think so. Enoch is a bot and his feelings are real. Coulsonbot’s feelings are real. But it’s not the same as the og Coulson. When May’s emotions normalize, how’s she going to handle this Coulsonbot. Her lack of emotion is keeping her from having to deal with that right now.

And WHY is May suddenly an empath.

Entire SHIELD cast looks stunning in period dress of every decade, confirmed.

The black & white, the directing in this was stunning.

How much did Clark Gregg enjoy getting to read those noir Coulson voice overs, how much. A lot I’ll bet.

And in conclusion: DANIEL SOUSA.

[plinys]

okay but like as someone coming from being hardcore dctv the past few months (specifically legends of tomorrow) and convinced to watch the framework episodes of aos because there was a cosplay i wanted to make and people in twitter said i wouldnt need more than those episodes of context to understand whats going on, it is really interesting to see how two very similar concepts on the outside were really different in actuality. like i expected that framework was going to be almost completely like doomworld - a world that the bad guys shaped to their needs putting them on top and putting their rivals in their own personal hells for their enjoyment. the problem is, doomworld is created by number one petty bitch eobard thawne ( + darhk/merlyn) vs framework which is created by AIDA ( + fitz / radcliffe) now when doomworld was getting going a lot of us speculated that the legion of doom put the legends in their "worst nightmares" like sara made to kill her family, nate having nobody believe him, stein being unable to see his family - these things made sense. however, there's people like amaya and ray and rip who don't really fit this mold at all (and jax who kind of does?) and then canon said that really it was just eobard / darhk being extra af and teasing the legends for their evil enjoyment shitty thing to do basic villain plot, check. the difference is that framework is different. its not just villains being dicks, it is not their greatest fears come to life. rather its a world with no regrets for those on the inside may regrets what happened in bahrain. fitz regrets not having a father growing up. mack regrets losing his daughter. coulson regrets becoming a shield agent. (i dont know mace well enough to tell you what he regrets but thats beyond the point) the point is, unlike petty bitch eobard who was like "i want this evil world that is mine", AIDA is a robot that has been corrupted (like we learned nothing after ultron) one that was built not to lie and to help others, but was instead taught over time that sometimes lying could help people and sometimes humans didn't know what was best for them this is why she did things like killing radcliffe (to keep him in the framework where he preferred) ect now you may be thinking but okay ?? how does taking away all their regrets lead to a world run by hydra? when you step back and think about it - especially after the context of this past episode it really makes sense obviously we have may letting the girl live in bahrain which leads to a fall out over inhumans, people being aware of them sooner and fearing them. we have fitz a very intellegent and prominent scientist now raised by someone who tells him to push down sentiment for ambition and who is a major player in hydra. we have mack who has his daughter back and really i dont see that as a major play on time time line but it is cute so theres that and then we have coulson, who by not becoming a shield agent, is not there to be a major push in the phase 1 mcu movies, no coulson for pepper to turn to when tony is being attacked, no coulson to call off the shot being taken on thor, not coulson to bring the team together (if there ever was a team) after his death by loki so we've got a world where there's no avengers, most everyone fears inhumans, and hydra has one of the worlds top scientists - and we all saw how close they came in ca:tws, is it all that shocking that even with the most minimal of manipulation by AIDA, that just by eliminating their regrets this would had been created now im not saying the evil robot hasnt messed some things up, hadnt maybe cut out the alexander pierce of this world to put herself at the head of hydra - what better way to be the puppet master in case everyones happy endings go astray? or hasnt killed off those who she did not like in the real world, disbelieving that they deserve happy endings in regret free worlds yeah sure, but to be fair, they fucked up her code versus the petty bitches that built doomworld so while doomworld is a super villains wet dream, id argue that framework is more of a flaw in the code created by the players of the game, which is why having watched both of them is so interesting (and leaves me in a place where i get to complain about both shows for their similar yet very different alternate earth plotlines)

[dotthings]

Agents of SHIELD 7x09 “As I Have Always Been”

This ep is making me sad about the show’s ending. It’s not the last episode but it’s about endings, and changes, and what comes next, and experiencing loss.

Sousa’s been sitting by Daisy’s medicalpod since she went under, yes he seems to really really like her doesn’t he?

I like how “Where’s Coulson” “Charging” seems like a perfectly normal statement.

Directed by Elizabeth Henstridge woo hoo!!

Daisy is having to Groundhog Day this, isn’t she? Yep. It’s Groundhog Day. Coulson is too??

Ouch Coulson having to watch them die over and over. The man whose superpower is dying and coming back.

“Did it occur to you I might know something about watching my friend die over and over” DAISY OUCH

“I will watch all of you die, one by one, everyone I love, because someone decided I should. I’m a machine now. I have programming.” COULSON OUCH

“Why do you care”

“Because you don’t”

That was sweet.

Sousa definitely seems to have a type and it looks like I was right about Daisy being a bit Peggy-like.

I would like if this time the person Daisy gets involved with doesn’t turn out to be a duplicitous hacker, a sociopath, or die. If they are getting Peggy/Sousa together. It’s not clear how much of what happened between them during the time loop will be carried over as time goes forward normally now, but it’s confirmed they like each other. And fair is fair. The MCU erased Sousa and erased Peggy/Sousa with the way they get Peggy with Steve, and as much as I love Peggy/Sousa, I’m good with Sousa finding someone else too, if that’s how things are in canon. Even though I will always ship Peggy/Sousa the most. But since MCU canon went the way it did, I’d rather not have Sousa pining and lonely for having lost Peggy forever, I’d just as soon have him be happy, as Peggy lived her life with Steve. Daisy and Sousa are both good beans and they make a good team and they’re adorable together and they do both in fact deserve this.

Awww no Enoch. He never knew loneliness until he met team SHIELD because he didn’t get attached to any humans until team SHIELD, and therefore, feel it if he’s separated from them or loses them or they lose him.

“It will be your last mission together” and Enoch says they all survive. But it won’t be team SHIELD exactly like it is now forever, and that’s part of life cycles and nature of families, not just life and death, but change comes too. Which doesn’t mean they never see each other again or stop loving each other or even never work together again. I think it just means change.

“FItz. He was my best friend.” NO MORE FEELINGS

[lizortech]

it’s getting harder and harder to seem properly justified in liking ward when literally every single marvel/aos outlet is hellbent on being finally able to actually call him in a villain even though they spent so goddamn long on a backstory as a way to explain why he is the way he is only to turn their backs on canon to assist in their lazy storytelling of not being able to find more interesting plotlines to entice the audience into continuing their watching

[etoilesdeglace]

Jemma’s “Be Safe” to Fitz was followed by a “Love, Jemma”

Fitz’s “Be Safe” to Jemma was Fitz saying I love you right back, even though she didn’t hear it

God they love each other so much it hurts and I can’t wait for more “Be Safe”s in the future…  When one of them goes out in the field alone, and the other is left behind - when Jemma’s pregnant and Fitz goes out in the field. When they’re fooling around in the lab and being the adorable idiots that they are. When Fitz is shaking or when Jemma is mentally in a dark-place. Whenever they are saying goodbye - even if it’s just to go to the store for milk or tea. The possibilities are endless and that makes me so happy. Fitzsimmons’s “Be Safe” is the same as Huntingbird’s “Don’t die out there.”

“Be Safe” means “I love you” and I can’t wait for the first time that Fitz says it to Jemma and the realization dawns on her face exactly what he means because she knows what it means.

Because she set it up, and he understands. Like he always has, because they’re psychically linked.

[blacklolitarose]

Simmons’ reaction was not really out of character. It might be considered a jump for her to suddenly want to eradicate the gifted people. But think.

Simmons is a Xenobiologist who was so fascinated with supernatural abilities that she chose it as her field of study. She probably thought herself very knowledgeable about the subject. Then, weeks after going into the field, she gets affected by an alien virus, a virus she’d been fascinated with only minutes before.

Jump to season two. The first episode we see Simmons again, she’s chased by Donnie Gil, a boy she knew briefly, and was nearly killed.

In Aftershocks she had to watch her team carry pieces of Trip away. She may be the only one besides Skye to have actually seen Trip’s body. Then, her men were attacked and killed by Raina, who had undergone a shocking transformation.

I also believe Simmons’ reaction was heightened by the emotional state she was in. She’d just lost a friend and now Skye, someone so important to her, was in danger of being infected and changed like Raina. From Simmons’ point of view, she felt the need to be fiercely protective of Skye, to the point that she had to take a difficult stance to make sure that this never happens again.

Some people probably believe that Fitz is being more caring than Simmons right now, when it comes to Skye. That isn’t really true. Simmons is being just as caring, but in a different way. She wants to protect her team more than anything and she wants Skye to know that. If anything, she’s trying to comfort Skye in this situation, not realizing that she’s actually hurting Skye.

Anyway, it’s just a terrible situation all around. I hate that yet another secret has come between Fitz and Simmons and I definitely think we need Simmons focus. We need it badly. But we’ll have to wait and see how it plays out.

[lizortech]

i think the saddest part is that ward's relying on the team thinking he's volatile to everyone including them even when he's not like he was never intending on blowing up the bus but everybody thinks he's this dangerous and violent shield-betraying hydra agent and it's so unfortunate

[lizortech]

the writers are too often giving us reasons to doubt ward, to doubt his actions, to doubt his words, to doubt who he is, to doubt who he could be. i think that's where this whole smugness aspect, i think, comes from. we're supposed to believe that he's being insincere, that he's only speaking to skye as a way to control the power. we're supposed to be doubting him. jemma simmons, who probably wouldn't hurt a fly, is standing in front of a field agent, and threatening to kill him if she ever sees him again. jemma, who we as the audience trust to be reason and logic, is threatening to kill someone. someone who saved her life on numerous accounts, promised he'd catch her if she fell. i feel like for someone like jemma, that's a big thing.

in the entirety of this season, we've seen absolutely no one look into the reasons behind who ward is, and what ward did. and if they did, they did it purely for their own gain. they've taken it all at face value, even when missions they were tasked with, made them double think. why wouldn't they do the same for someone who willingly risked his life for all of them? who was in the team because he was a specialist?

i refuse to believe that the writers aren't setting up for something big, something bigger than the ward reveal in season one. there are too many questions, too many instances where things just seem to be one big mess, too many instances where things are happening as a subtle change-your-focus-from-what's-actually-happening. there has to be something bubbling beneath the surface that we're missing. 

this season is too different for something to not be going on.