That Humming Noise | Review: F.Z.Z.T.

Most of this review was written in November 2013 but was never finished. (The original title was "I'm Agent Grant Ward") I am completing it in September 2023, over three years after the end of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and as such it contains spoilers for the rest of the series.

Opening Thoughts:

Oh. My. Thor. That is an episode.

In-Depth Thoughts:

[Original comments from 2013]
"F.Z.Z.T." is, I believe, the episode Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. fans have been waiting for. Here's what I mean by that:

There are many people who don't like Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. - people who are fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe but are disappointed with the show. I don't know the reasons each person has to not liking the show. I have only heard the opinions of a few people. But I am going to speculate that the biggest problem that people have with the show is that they were expecting a direct continuation of The Avengers, with the show having the same tone as the third act of The Avengers.

But T.V. shows are not movies. A movie has two and a half hours to introduce characters, build tension, act on the tension, and then resolve the tension. T.V. seasons, on the other hand, have 22 separate hours to go through that process. There was a lot of emotional tension and excitement in this episode, and it was possible because it had the previous five episodes to introduce us to the characters and get us to care about them. If this episode had been the first episode, then we wouldn't feel as we did about Simmons' sacrifice for the team and Ward's saving her.

Just as how the first act of The Avengers was "boring", the first five episodes had to be not as great so that "F.Z.Z.T." could be what it was. We're now just a quarter of the way through the first season. Who knows how far the show is going to climb for the rest of the season?

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Quotes:

Coulson: I don't sweat. I glisten.

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Coulson: A man of my age? That's something you say to an old person?
Simmons: Is it?

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May: Have a cookie.

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Coulson: Don't worry. You don't have to start calling me Iron Man.
May: Wasn't planning on it.

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Questions and Comments:

Hollywood has never heard of two-deep leadership. There should have been at least two scoutmasters on the camping trip, not just a scoutmaster and a senior patrol leader.

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Ooh! Blake touched Lola.

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"Everybody looks clean on their first go 'round" said the secret HYDRA mole.

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Theories: Rewatch Reflection:

"F.Z.Z.T." is in my Top 5 episodes of the series. It was the first episode where FitzSimmons takes front and center. The high stakes of Jemma jumping/falling out of The Bus was only surpassed by the Ward reveal later in the season.

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'Ship Watch:

This episode featured the first steps in the eventual Fitz/Simmons and Coulson/May relationships, which I started to pick up on in my initial comments below.

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I guess I was wrong about Simmons' feelings for Fitz. I thought she just viewed him as a brother, but [thought left open ended for ten years.]

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There really seems to be a history between Coulson and May, and not just a professional one.

Blog Cleanup

I can't believe it's already been 10 years since Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. premiered! The anniversary caused me to come back to this blog which I haven't visited in years. I was unable to continue with blogging about Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. in 2013. After Agent Carter and the Netflix Marvel series planned on continuing on a separate blog about all Marvel TV shows, but I never did. I have now cleaned up this blog like I have with some of my other blogs. I have removed or edited posts that had picture or videos that were no longer available to be displayed, or links that no longer worked. When I originally started this blog 10 years ago, Hulu was a free streaming service which allowed me to embed the episodes. Since those videos are no longer available, those posts have been removed from this blog.

Most importantly, in the years since this post was published on this blog, various accusations have been made about Joss Whedon. Because he was involved with the creation of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., I cannot remove everything related to him that I previously shared, but I can minimize his presence on this blog. I have removed some posts and altered others. Each post that has something to do with him now has an explanatory note on it.

I have started rewatching Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. from the beginning again. I do not know if I will be doing anything else with this blog, but I am keeping the option open.

Questions After Season Two

Season Two of "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." ended last night, and I have some questions that the show has yet to answer. I only have one question pertaining to Season Two. All the rest are the questions that I had after Season One that I hoped Season Two would answer, but S2 only answered two out of eight of my questions.

Where is Whitehall?"
There is no way Whitehall is really dead. He "killed" Jiaying in order to have her "immortality"...and then he was shot in the back by Coulson. Sure, her gift is not just healing but also the creepy vampire-like leeching off of other people, but somehow Whitehall must have survived. Maybe next season Ward will find him on the way to rebuilding HYDRA.


Questions that are left over from after Season One

What is The Rising Tide?
At the beginning of the first season, the Rising Tide was set up as the big bad shadow organization that the Agents were going to have to combat -- until it was revealed that HYDRA had infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D. With the team's focus on HYDRA, the Agents forgot about Skye's former employer. I still want to know more about the Rising Tide, who they are, and what they have been doing over the last two years since S.H.I.E.L.D. has been busy.

Where did Ian Quinn go with the Gravitonium?
In the third episode of Season One, Ian Quinn kidnapped Dr. Franklin Hall to help him create gravitonium. At the end of the episode Hall fell into the gravitonum and was shown to be alive inside the element, and at the end of Season One Quinn was shown taking the gravitonium off of The Bus. So where did he go? And did Hall manage to escape the mass and become the villain Graviton?

Centipede, A.I.M., Erskine, and HYDRA
Throughout the first season, people were turned into super-soldiers by being given the Centepede sereum, a combination of the Extremis serum created by A.I.M. in "Iron Man 3", Dr. Erskine's super soldier serum which was created in "Captain America: The First Avenger", and gamma radiation. That raises four questions:

• What is Centipede?
  
• How is Centipede related to A.I.M.?
  
• How did Centipede recreate Dr. Erskine's super soldier serum?
  
• How is A.I.M. related to HYDRA?
  

New Home

Wow!!! That was an amazing season!!! This summer, "Brian Blogs Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." is moving to a new home, "Brian Blogs Marvel TV", which also will cover the upcoming "Agent Carter" series as well as the future Netflix Marvel shows. http://brianblogsmarveltv.blogspot.com/

BBAoS On Hiatus

This blog is going on hiatus until further notice.

"The Hub" - Clip 1

Episodes 7-9 Synopses

"The Hub" - November 12, 2013

Dangerous secrets are being kept from Coulson’s team, and he works the system to save Ward and Fitz when they are sent on a Level 8 classified mission that may end in tragedy.


"The Well" - November 19, 2013

In the aftermath of the events chronicled in the feature film Marvel's "Thor: The Dark World," Coulson and the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. pick up the pieces--one of which threatens to destroy a member of the team.

"Repairs" - November 26, 2013

Coulson and his team are haunted by a mysterious force that threatens to destroy them all, and only a secret from May's past can save them.

A Compliment And A Smile | Review: The Girl In The Flower Dress

Updated 9/25/2023

Opening Thoughts:

Okay, I am finally posting this review two weeks after the episode aired. The reason I am late posting this is because I am lazy and love to procrastinate I had a lot to say about this episode. At least one good thing about nobody reading this blog is the fact that if I am late or post an incomplete review, nobody cares.

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Goodness gracious, great balls of fire! #Scorch #agentsofshield
— Brett Dalton (@IMBrettDalton) October 23, 2013

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Best Quotes:

May: Having trouble sleeping?
Coulson: No, I feel great. Just have a little extra energy to burn.

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Raina: Have you ever heard of Steve Rogers? No. But Captain America, now he's on the news. On a lunch box. On a poster on the wall.

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Lydon: You're a hacker, Skye. Not SEAL Team 6.
Skye: No, but he is.

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Coulson: Oh crap. They gave him a name.

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Questions & Comments:

Why, when the fire from Scorch's explosion goes into the vents and up on the roof, does the fire make a 6 and then have a ball of fire go through the circle of the 6? Does that have any significance?

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Who was the guy in the prison? And who is The Clairvoyant?

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The biggest question of the episode (and the one with the biggest theory) is, Why is the truth of Skye's parentage classified by S.H.I.E.L.D.?

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Theories:

[Insert theory about Skye's parentage here.]

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Every week there is another clue that Coulson is not himself. I still say clone.

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If you haven't read it yet, here is my theory that Fitz is going to die in an upcoming episode: Theory: Agent Fitz Is Doomed [UPDATED]

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'Ship Watch

When May was talking to Coulson about laying out the mats and going a few rounds just like the old days, it seemed like she was flirting with him. Could May and Coulson have a history? Of all the possible 'ships, I thought that May/Coulson was the least likely happen. Maybe that explains her reaction to Coulson and Camilla Reyes.

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Skye and Ward's relationship looked like it was heading in a good direction, then Oh No!, Skye sleeps with her ex-boyfriend and almost betrayed the team. I guess Skye/Ward is back to square one. :(

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Defending Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Clark Gregg and John Campea, via the AMC Theatres Pinterest.

The following is my open letter to John Campea, senior editor of A.M.C. Movie News and host of A.M.C. Movie Talk and Mail Bag. In a recent Mail Bag video, John criticized Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and he is not the only person who is doing so. I have three arguments as to why AoS still needs to be given a chance.

John,

On today's "Mail Bag" episode, you criticized "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D" and said to not even try to defend it. Since AoS is my current TV obsession, I am going to defend the show, and the first argument I am going to use I got from you.

You say that some people who don't like the first "Hobbit" movie do so because they expected it to be a continuation of the momentum from "Return of the King", but "The Hobbit" was the beginning of a new story so it needed to find its own tone. The same is true of "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D". I think that many people who say that they don't like AoS is because they expected it to have the same feel as "The Avengers". "The Avengers" itself started off slow and had to build up to the excitement. The same is true with AoS. It has only had five episodes. It needs to start slow to begin the new story, and then it will start gaining momentum.

That leads me to my second point. I have not seen many of Joss Whedon's shows, but I have heard from fans that his shows (like "Buffy") needed to take a couple seasons before it found its groove. As mentioned above, "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D" is just beginning. It needs time to establish the story, characters, and setting. I have a theory about something big that is about to happen on the show, and if I am correct, it will give AoS a big kick in a new direction. Since AoS is part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, I am sure that Whedon and Jeph Loeb have multi-season plans for the series the way that Kevin Feige has plans for the next few years of the MCU.

Finally, because "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D" is my new TV obsession, I watch each episode four times. I am not saying that everybody needs to be as obsessed with the show as I am, but I always catch something I missed the first time around. I think each episode needs to be watched more than once, the way you and I watched "The Avengers" more than one time in the theaters.

In the end, though, TV is subjective the same way movies are. If you have different opinions then I do, that does not mean you are wrong and I am right. But "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D" really is a great show, and I have a feeling that it is going to get even better real soon.

Thanks for listening to my ramblings,
Brian

Theory: Agent Fitz Is Doomed [UPDATED]

Originally posted on October 10, 2013

The official description for Episode 1.06 "FZZT" has been released, and states: "When floating bodies turn up, Coulson and the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D must hunt down an elusive killer. No one is safe--not even the team--on 'Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.'"

I want to focus on the part that says, "No one is safe--not even the team". The photo used for the press release is of Agent Leo Fitz. I think that this is a clue that Fitz might die in the episode. And that is not the only clue that has been given that Fitz is doomed.

I first got a bad feeling about Agent Fitz's fate when the promos using Stevie Nicks' song "Soldier's Angel" first premiered. Agent Fitz is prominently featured during the line "No one walks away from this battle". At that time I got a bad feeling that Fitz might not survive, and now I have even more possible proof to support my theory.

If any character from "Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D." could die, I think that Fitz is the one that is expendable. Don't think that I don't like Fitz - I do, even more after the most recent episode. But I just feel that the most likely candidate for a character death would be him.

I think that episode six is too early for a character to die. But the description says that the team is chasing a killer and "No one is safe--not even the team". I am tired of TV shows that put the main character(s) in peril, but you know that they aren't in real danger. If a TV series like "Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D." killed a main character in the early part of its first season, it would be a really gutsy move.

As much as I don't want Fitz or any other character to die, if it does happen, I would be sad but I would respect the show and its producers.

UPDATE: October 18, 2013

Michael Ausiello of TV|Line is reporting:

Check it: A prospective new TV pilot just landed a big-time actor as its star, but the up-and-coming producer/writer behind the future series can’t pitch it to a single network. Heck, he can’t even discuss it with anyone — and that’s because there’s a spoiler bomb embedded within the top-secret project.

You see, the headliner in question is currently starring on a popular hour-long drama series. And if word were to get out that he has committed himself to a new full-time gig, it could potentially ruin a major upcoming twist: his onscreen death.

So the scribe has graciously agreed to keep his script — and his stealth casting coup — under wraps until the morning after the character meets his end.

On the bright side, I hear he won’t have to keep his trap shut for much longer.

This might be evidence to support my above theory. Does Iain De Caestecker count as "a big-time actor"? I don't know. But everything else seems to fit.

Other Updates - October 19, 2013

According to SHIELDTV.net, a representative from the fansite attended New York Comic-Con and spoke to Marvel's Executive Director of TV Communications who has seen episode 6 and says the episode will make us cry in a good way. Read the full post.

Also, SpoilerTV.com is reporting that episode 7, "The Well", will now air as episode eight, and episode 8, "The Sandwich Incident", will air as episode seven. It is unknown why the episode orders are being reversed, or how the episodes relate events of episode 6. (UPDATE: This point may be inaccurate.)

UPDATE: October 24, 2013

After seeing the preview for episode 6, which ended with everyone crying and Fitz screaming, I thought that my prediction was going to come true about Fitz dying that episode. But now Marvel has released information about the upcoming episode titled "The Hub":

Dangerous secrets are being kept from Coulson’s team, and he works the system to save Ward and Fitz when they are sent on a Level 8 classified mission that may end in tragedy in "Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.".

The episode number is not being given for "The Hub", but it is probably episode 7, and the "may end in tragedy" might still be Fitz's death. (UPDATE: Official press release confirms that "The Hub" is indeed episode 7.)

UPDATE: November 1, 2013
Okay, now they are just messing with me. Marvel just released the synopsis of episode 8 which reads:

In the aftermath of the events chronicled in the feature film Marvel's "Thor: The Dark World," Coulson and the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. pick up the pieces--one of which threatens to destroy a member of the team.

To recap: In episode 6, "No one is safe--not even the team." In episode 7, "Ward and Fitz...are sent on a Level 8 classified mission that may end in tragedy." And episode 8, something "threatens to destroy a member of the team."

Sigh. I have such a good theory, and yet every new episode press release from Marvel confirms and contradicts my theory at the same time. I just can't wait for the episodes to start airing again.