Thursday, January 12, 2017

Agents of Shield: Season 4 so far and Philinda musings


(insert spoiler warning for seasons 1-4 here)

What drives me crazy about this season of Agents of Shield is how despite its flaws, boring bits, predictable bits, and easily avoidable, face-palm and fast-forward inducing Ghost Rider storyline, when it comes down to everything happening with the core characters, I still care so much.  This show has its hooks in me so deeply that even after last season, which I like to call "My Baby Killed My Other Baby and They Made Me Watch,"* I am incredibly attached to the sagas of Coulson, May, Skye Daisy,** and Fitzsimmons.

Our new story arc, LMD, benefits so hugely by not being Ghost Rider that it almost seriously cannot effing fail. Plus, who doesn't love androids?  Good androids, bad ones, the creepiness and insidious sneaky-sneaky-ness of androids, how they reveal humanity's own potential for greatness and evil while spinning off into their own self-aware adventures of unpredictable mayhem, it's all great.  

But why do we have to go down this Fringe/Vampire Diaries retread path of having the fake robot May switched in for the real one right when Philinda was just about to happen?

Sure, it's familiar and makes us flinch with its possible implications and consequences, including the idea that moments we wanted experienced first with the real Philinda will be seen with...Fauxlinda...cringe!  Gah!  I still care so much!

Philinda's increased focus in Season 4 has been a major leap forward and one factor that kept me onboard when with so many other shows, lesser shows, I might have disembarked after last year's shark-jumping disasterpiece.

The truth is that no matter how many insane, weird, frustrating or heartbreaking twists and turns AOS takes, it's still and always captivating due to the strength of its characters, performances, and world.  Let's see how that strength may hopefully fuel LMD and guide AOS back to its previous level of Seasons 1-2A perfection (a girl can dream)...!

*Even the dreadful, forced and rushed fauxmance between Coulson and Rosalind did little to prepare me for the nosedive the season took by having Phil kill Grant Ward (I can still barely form the words).  But first, they totally destroyed the entire character of Ward as he'd been clearly and exquisitely crafted from Season 1-2A, like ripping the damn Mona Lisa off the Louvre wall, tearing it up, stomping on it, and then, just for good measure, setting it on fire and waving the flaming pieces in our faces.  

Still, I continue to love this show.  It's amazing.


**(whispers) she'll always be Skye to me!  Hahahaha (maniacal laughter).  But.  Really though.

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