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+---- Thread: SHIELD "Hub" 1x07 (/Thread-SHIELD-Hub-1x07)
SHIELD "Hub" 1x07 - pale boy - 11-12-2013
This episode aired November 12, 2013. What did you think?
RE: SHIELD "Hub" - Lou - 11-13-2013
I like it. Although its campy its also creating some interesting backstories. I like the Fitz/Simmons thing going on there. I thought Fitz liked Sky and Simmons liked Grant but it looks like they have something going there besides a brother sister thing. So then we might end up with a sky and grant thing.
the Baby Sky story is getting some traction. And what i thought was the writers try to plug a plot hole, that Coulsen was killed in Avengers, looks like its turning into a backstory mystery, too.
In the first episode I thought they made a big thing about calling the plane "The Bus". but now its "The Plane".
I also like shows where as the characters are developed they evolve, too. I thought last week Sky showed some interesting facets - although it was hard to say if she was changing or just revealing. But Fitz and Simmons are definitely evolving. Coulsen and May may be evolving or maybe we are just learning more about them. Meanwhile, after Coulsen and May had their Tai-chi heart to heart talk, I loved May's eye roll.
RE: SHIELD "Hub" - droid327 - 11-13-2013
I really hope they don't start "shipping" Fitz and Simmons, they work much better as pseudosiblings. I did like how they differentiated those two, somewhat, with Fitz being cool and confident (and sarcastic) in the field and Simmons being flustered when she was put on the spot - makes them a little less interchangeable, which they had pretty much been up to now. They could have easily stayed with Fitz being the over eager bumbly scientist that Ward has to babysit, but they didn't.
That being said, the "big bad Hub" storyline was completely tropey. I don't think they need to make SHIELD into the black-helicopter Big Brother stereotype and have the "Bus Team" be the heroic rogues fighting against the corrupt, bureaucratic Central Office.
I also don't know why, if they're going to introduce other "Level 8" agents to go alongside Coulson, why they all have to be completely one-dimensional emotionless robots...unless they're LMDs, of course
But then again, so is Coulson....oops spoiler alert...
As for May....ah, May, May. We get it, you're Chinese, you do tai-chi and ninja-fight and speak Mandarin. She's a rickshaw away from being a completely racist stereotype. Its not just this show either - its like all the actress ever does is be cranky and do Chinese stuff. I think I'm looking forward to when Whedon kills her off in the season finale. That scene with Coulson having a "conversation" with her just did not work at all.
I did like seeing that The Bus has vectored thrust capability. I've been bothered since the show started as to why there's so many damn engines on that plane. I'm still bothered why it has two tails, though....
RE: SHIELD "Hub" - pale boy - 11-13-2013
(11-13-2013, 12:54 PM)droid327 Wrote: As for May....ah, May, May. We get it, you're Chinese, you do tai-chi and ninja-fight and speak Mandarin. She's a rickshaw away from being a completely racist stereotype. Its not just this show either - its like all the actress ever does is be cranky and do Chinese stuff. I think I'm looking forward to when Whedon kills her off in the season finale. That scene with Coulson having a "conversation" with her just did not work at all.
The failings with Melinda May probably lie more with the writers than the actress. Most writers in Hollywood (and so many other lines of work) are white and male. And it shows. There's only so much an actor can work with, and to be frank, this show has had a lot of hiccups, not to mention issues -- like poor writing -- that have made me consider taking it off my must-watch list.
May is a problematic character in terms of race, I agree. (I think that one character might have said she had "ninja skills" or something in an earlier episode? I could be misremembering that. I hope I am.) But considering that people on Coulson's team are either the hands-on action types or the techy types, there isn't a lot of room for May to have not fallen into one of two stereotypes (stoic martial artist or tech geek). Let's hope the writers expand the cliche.
Still, given the rest of the cast, I find her to be one of my favorite characters. Her lines are the least cheesy and we haven't been given the Big Giant Sad Backstory yet. I also enjoy the interactions between May and Coulson, probably because I'm a sucker for the older, slightly world-weary characters in any story. The rest of the cast is almost like a group of previous Whedon characters with the numbers filed off:
Sky (or is it "Skye", ugh), she of the quirky name and failed snarky dialogue, is a softer, lighter Faith mixed with Buffy, one that I can't buy as a hacker for a second (and that orphaned background? Yeesh). McJaw gives off strong Riley vibes with a dash of Malcolm Reynolds, minus any charm; I wish they would have given him a better sense of humor. Fitz-Simmons are Willow and Xander put in a blender with Topher from Dollhouse and Kaylee from Firefly. Admittedly, Coulson has a touch of Giles. May is the outlier since she's more stoic and less verbal than most Whedon characters of the past, though arguably if you look hard enough you can see Zoe Washburne.
That all said, the show is steadily improving. Part of that is taking the strong focus off Sky, who is one of the weaker links in terms of characters. They've actually started to distinguish the Fitz-Simmons team (something that might have been done better earlier on with more diverse casting; for a while there, I couldn't figure out if they were supposed to be related or not). Ward was a lot more interesting paired up with Fitz. Coulson's plotline is given more screen time, so it's been the most intriguing one. May either knows more than she is letting on or suspects a lot of things.
So there are hints of something more. I'm pretty much used to the first season of any Whedon show being shaky, though TV of late has spoiled me to expect better from new television. It's weird to see a lack of A-game out of the gate nowadays.