Agents of SHIELD: SOS

Agents of SHIELD ends its second season with a two hour special. They clear the decks for next season pretty thoroughly. I’ve commented about Avengers: Age of Ultron being a clash of idealism, Tony Stark’s and Steve Rogers’. There’s a lesser version of that here, with Gonzales’ mistrust of supers running smack into Jai’s paranoia about SHIELD. A lot of what happens here comes from echoes or ripples from those two opposing mindsets. Too bad more of them weren’t listening to Coulson.

Daredevil Episode 5: “World On Fire”

Things take some ugly turns in “World on Fire,” the fifth episode of Netflix’ Daredevil series. It opens in the aftermath of Claire’s beating. She checks her bruises and wounds, and cleans herself up as best she can. She and Matt end up talking about his powers, how they work, how he sees the world with his gifts. His sort of almost vision is shown, and it really does kind of look like the title, “A World on Fire.” Claire makes a joke that, if that’s all she saw, she might want to punch things, too. They also talk about the strangeness of lawyer by day, vigilante by night. Claire makes a joke about not getting the “rich, playboy” type of hero she has heard about, which could be reference to Iron Man, a subtle joke about DC’s Batman, or just a general funny line. She passes along the name “Vladimir” that she heard while she was a prisoner.

Agents of SHIELD: The Dirty Half-Dozen

Agents of SHIELD has a very action packed episode with “The Dirty Half Dozen.” It starts with Raina getting more of her visions, none of which look really good. She wakes up find Jai watching her sleep, which is kinda creepy, really. They argue some about Raina’s powers, and how they will be used. Then Jai and Cal have an argument that turns into more of a discussion. It does appear that Cal is making some progress towards controlling himself. Gordon teleports back with bad news about Lincoln.

Looking Ahead to Netflix Defender Series

With the launch of Daredevil, Netflix is moving in to a corner of the Marvel Universe. The series has gotten great reviews, and within two weeks of the thirteen episode season one being released, they’ve announced plans for season two. I have to admit I’m excited by this, as I’m loving the first season and the ties to the larger Marvel Universe. Daredevil has a 97% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes, which if nothing else is generally a good sign.

Daredevil Episode 4 “In the Blood”

Episode 4 of Daredevil, “In the Blood,” opens with some background on the Russian mobsters that Daredevil has been dealing with. The two brothers, Vladimir and Anatoly, were in prison together in Siberia. They escaped in a grotesque manner that shows how desperate and committed they were to being free.

Agents of SHIELD: Frenemy of My Enemy

You know those comedies that have scenes with someone walking in on just the wrong part of a conversation, or seeing the very few moments of an otherwise innocent conversation that makes everything look bad? That was “Frenemy of my Enemy” on Agents of SHIELD this week. Only with a lot more serious problems coming out of it.

Daredevil Episode 2: Cut Man

The second episode of Daredevil is titled “Cut Man.” In fighting, a cut man is someone who takes care of a fighter between rounds and after a fight. This works on a few levels for this episode.

Agents of SHIELD: Melinda

In an annoying over-all trend on comic book shows of late, a good bit of this week’s episode of Agents of SHIELD is told in flashback. “Melinda” tells about how May earned her nickname of “the Cavalry.” The flashback is set seven years ago.

Agents of SHIELD: Afterlife

There’s a tradition of good SHIELD agents being on the run from bad elements in the organization. It’s happened in the comics a lot, especially with Fury. This was also a good bit of Captain America: The Winter Soldier. That tradition continues here, as Coulson and Hunter are being pursued by Gonzales and his version of SHIELD in “Afterlife,” this week’s episode of Agents of SHIELD. Coulson and Hunter have a very entertaining scene with a used car salesman to open the episode.

Daredevil: Into The Ring

Marvel has been doing a fantastic job of expanding their Cinematic Universe. I was really impressed with the concept of Agents of SHIELD (a bit less so with the execution at times), tying together a tv show with a series of hit movies. So when I heard about the Netflix series coming up, my two reactions were, “Those could be really amazing,” and “Damn, I guess I finally need to get Netflix.” Yeah, I’m the one guy who didn’t have it before.