Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
One Door Closes
Season 2, Episode 15 Preview :: Art of Evolution

3/27/2015

I didn't want this!

Well then, Bobbi, maybe you should have stopped this instead of saying that Coulson was a threat and had to be removed. What did you expect?

According to this print, the fifth of twelve, it looks like Bobbi Morse (a.k.a. Mockingbird) will be playing the prominent role in the next episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., "One Door Closes." But which door? And on whom is it closing? The titles always intrigue and scare me a little, especially last year's "Turn, Turn, Turn" and "Beginning of the End." Going by title alone, it sounds like another important one. Going by the sneak peek, it also looks fantastic, which is in keeping with the rest of the series. If there's ever an episode that isn't fascinating or fun in some way, then that would be a rare oddity. This is a series that just keeps getting better, more intricate with all its moving pieces, deeper with its relationships.

Speaking of deeper, I sure hope these final episodes of the season don't leave emotional scars like the last. The first season saw the team betrayed by one of their own and the organization they dedicated their lives to, the organization they thought was protecting the world, spectacularly intertwining the series with the Marvel Cinematic Universe in Winter Soldier, which had been tried earlier on a smaller scale with Thor: The Dark World. Wait, what am I saying no emotional scars? The more the team has to overcome, the better the writing, acting, and story; the more that world draws me in. So what I should be saying is that I hope for more heartbreak for Coulson, Skye, Fitz, Simmons, and May. I don't know who will be on their side at the end (Hunter, hopefully), so I'm sticking with the core team, the people I loved from the beginning. But instead of distraught and on the run for their lives, I would like them to get more of foothold to push back. Stategically striking Hydra agents where they lived was a good start. Two S.H.I.E.L.D.s joining forces would be another step in the right direction.

I haven't seen the print that screams "the one" I have to get this year, though I'm sure "One Door Closes" will have greater meaning when the episode airs. I still want to make Bobbi and Mack my punching bags - more so than Ward, because his is an old wound while theirs is fresh. Artwork that's all about Mockingbird will not be my favorite until my feelings about her change. I guess I can't call it treachery since she's working for another organization that seems to be trying to make a difference in the wreckage of what Hydra left. But I can't stand people who insert themselves in others' lives and pretend to be their friend and colleague only to stab them in the back. It would be lovely if, after "the real S.H.I.E.L.D." tries to take down the real S.H.I.E.L.D., they could realize they need to come together to fight against the real enemy. I don't know if anything like that happened in the comics, so I can't wait to see what comes. According to Fury, people like Coulson were the heart of S.H.I.E.L.D. That was never more important than after the revelation that Hydra had so thoroughly infiltrated it. So after everything Coulson has been through, and the goodness he carries, he deserves to be the one to rebuild S.H.I.E.L.D. into what it should have been. There's no one better.

Sadly, I must go now. Fridays are the days I SKIP BREAKFAST just to write about these prints. I need to go hunt down a bagel, but I'll leave you with some final thoughts. The best moment for me was Coulson bringing Skye to a safe house for a few weeks' isolation, which led to a goodbye hug that I knew was coming. You could just feel it. That's how brilliant the actors are, how well done this series is. It's written right so that moments like these occur and they are incredibly satisfying. It's a small moment, but a powerful one. There are always mediocre series where people who have been through everything together still seem distant. They don't get relationships right, because the case of the week is always more important, and everything suffers; there's no balance, and the writing in other areas tends to be just as incompetent and meaningless. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. knows better.

This is the kind of show that is in such good hands that they even make some of the bad guys sympathetic. People aren't always villains for villainy's sake. They have motivations. Even though he did the worst thing and is a bit unstable, I still have moments where I care for Ward, the manipulative prick. It was great to see him again. (Brett Dalton is also a punny delight on Twitter.) And poor brainwashed Agent 33. She is struggling with having no identity. It doesn't help not having a face she can call her own.

A great example of humor on the show to lighten things up in the midst of the darkness, just like anything in the wonderful MarvelWhedonverse, was the Ward/Agent 33/Talbot subplot. The moment I finally liked Talbot was when he said that he would be up to his ears in Edible Arrangements. This was after pointing a gun at his wife, yelling at her, and bringing her to tears, thinking she was a disguised Agent 33. Humor is important. It makes me care far more for characters. It's charming and disarming, and when these people get hurt, it hurts worse than if they never cracked a smile.

If I had seen "Love in the Time of Hydra" a second time this week, I'm sure I'd have a lot more I could recount, but that's it for now. Can't spend all day. Remember to order your print before they're gone. One Door Closes, like all prints, is limited to 100 pieces. And if you missed the preview for next week...