Tahiti is a magical place. Not so much anymore.
This last week's episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., again, upped the ante on this television series. Plenty of Easter Eggs, lots of new plot complications. We also have been given hints of FAR more to come with the AoS: Uprising story arc, which includes Captain America's shield transposed upon the SHIELD logo.
So. Where do we go from here?
Let's review some of the developments in this last episode or so:
*Skye herself is a "Shield Object of Interest". She is right up there with Thor's Hammer as being on SHIELD's radar.
*Deathlok is now working for The Clairvoyant.
*The Clairvoyant is VERY interested in how Coulson survived Loki's attack on him at Thor's cell in Avengers. He/She/It will do ANYTHING to find out what happened with "Tahiti".
*Director Fury is not available to take Phil Coulson's urgent request for assistance. Coulson is Fury's "one good eye", and has a special command relationship with the Director. SOMETHING is occupying him quite urgently.
*Agent May is taking the shooting of Skye VERY hard. Now, I do not necessarily buy that she is Skye's mother, but there is something about how emotional she has become over Skye's brush with death.
*Nick Fury gave Phil Coulson a LEVEL TEN classified document, the file pertaining to Coulson's death and recovery. However, the file was a red herring in many ways, as the doctors and facilities spoken of do not exist in the SHIELD command structure.
*The facility where Coulson WAS recovered from death is an isolated facility with zero connection to SHIELD. Nick Fury had to make a deal of significant repercussions to get Coulson fixed up.
*The two soldiers guarding the facility where TAHITI was located do not set off some general alarm when agents of SHIELD show up on the doorstep. They simply keep asking for the proper countersign until Coulson's team force their way into the facility.
*And, yes, The Blue Guy, who was being pumped with GH.325, along with MANY additional compounds. Who is he? What is his connection with Coulson? Why is he only half-there, his lower body missing? Perhaps a crashed alien damaged in a collision? And what is being done to him - simply keeping him alive, or actually trying to repair him?
*And Skye revives when she is given GH.325.
ADDITIONALLY:
*Captain America is working for SHIELD actively now.
*HYDRA or another hostile organization grabbed Bucky and, with the help of Arnim Zola, turned him into The Winter Soldier. This agent has been working against SHIELD in significant roles for quite an amount of time, while Cap was locked in the ice.
*We have hints that there is a rogue element in SHIELD that has perverted the organization into something it is not supposed to be. Nick Fury has been working to dismantle this shadow command structure within SHIELD, and it's pretty obvious that Robert Redford's character sends Winter Soldier after the agents in SHIELD who are still loyal to the organization.
SPECULATIONS:
*Skye is the linchpin of the series. Whether she turns out to be Jessica Drew/Spiderwoman, or an alien hybrid, remains to be seen. But The Clairvoyant is using her as a pawn in his game of chess with SHIELD to gain knowledge of the resurrection of Coulson, which is VERY important to The Clairvoyant's plans.
*Coulson was revived in the TAHITI environment, and the blue alien (?) was in that portion of the facility. There has to be some connection between Coulson and the alien. IS THAT MAR'VELL, and is Coulson the MCU version of Rick Jones? And is it furthermore possible that Skye ends up Captain Marvel?
*Agents of SHIELD will be VERY closely tied to the Marvel Studios films for the rest of this season at bare minimum.
*The base that Coulson and team penetrated to get their hands on GH.325 was not a Hydra base, not AIM nor Centipede. They had an alien in there. That was a S.W.O.R.D. base. The fact that the general alarm was not raised when SHIELD showed up lends credence to that speculation. All they got was the repeated phrase, "How was the drive from Istanbul?", looking for the proper countersign. This is not an adversarial situation until SHIELD breaks into the SWORD base.
*Lady Sif chasing Lorelei will have a tie-in to the Asgardian artifact the team uncovered a few episodes back. And, what the hell happened to Odin at the end of Thor II??? Will we get some small understanding from the episode next week?
*Ramifications for Fury lying to The Avengers regarding Coulson. Coulson's resurrection is going to be VERY upsetting to Stark, Rogers, and Thor. Lady Sif will recognize Coulson and tell Thor, Rogers has GOT to find out about Coulson being alive in Winter Soldier, and Stark finding out cannot be far behind. So how will this affect the events of Avengers II? Because as we draw near to THAT event, Agents of SHIELD will be in a whole new realm of activity, and the tie-ins for that movie will be HUGE.
*Finally, we have been told that Captain America: The Winter Soldier will set up the events for Avengers II more than any other Phase Two film. So, hints of an AI (created by HYDRA-SHIELD?) that is going rogue may be dropped. The rift within SHIELD will be immense by the time Avengers II comes out, and the general public will have seen THREE Helicarriers in the sky above Washington, DC, with two crashing and burning into the city. There will be a general hue and cry for protection, and many will be blaming the presence of superheroes as causing other worlds and supercriminal organizations to take it out on the public. And if we see worldwide destruction in Avengers II, one can only imagine what backlash will be felt.
So, ramifications and implications abound, with Agents of SHIELD tied closely to events in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. There is any number of possibilities that can ensue for the rest of the season, and in multiple seasons to come.
Agents of SHIELD gives the MCU a lot more depth, and, as time passes, we will be seeing much more of Marvel Comics in our weekly doses of the world of The Avengers.
'Nuff Said, True Believers.
Excelsior!
******************************* "Clark Gregg reprises his role of Agent Phil Coulson from Marvel’s feature films, as he assembles a small, highly select group of Agents from the worldwide law-enforcement organization known as S.H.I.E.L.D. Together they investigate the new, the strange, and the unknown across the globe, protecting the ordinary from the extraordinary. Coulson's team consists of Agent Grant Ward (Brett Dalton), highly trained in combat and espionage; Agent Melinda May (Ming-Na Wen), expert pilot and martial artist; Agent Leo Fitz (Iain De Caestecker), brilliant engineer; and Agent Jemma Simmons (Elizabeth Henstridge), genius bio-chemist. Joining them on their journey into mystery is new recruit and computer hacker, Skye (Chloe Bennet).
"Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Marvel’s first television series, is from executive producers Joss Whedon (Marvel's The Avengers, Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Jed Whedon & Maurissa Tancharoen, who co-wrote the pilot (Dollhouse, Dr.Horrible's Sing-Along Blog). Jeffrey Bell (Angel, Alias) and Jeph Loeb (Smallville, Lost, Heroes) also serve as executive producers. Mister Robert Parigi (King of the Hill, Beavis and Butt-Head", "Love Object", Tales from The Crypt") also acts as Associate Producer. "Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D" is produced by ABC Studios, Enemy Mutant, and Marvel Television."
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