Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. SN3 EP13 – ‘Parting Shot’

This review contains spoilers.

Last weeks episode finished off with Hunter and Bobby in the belly of a plane that Malick is riding off in, after his success in turning Anton Petrov to his “cause” and convincing him that Phil Coulson is the head of Hydra.

The episode opens on Bobby and Hunter being interrogated by Russian authorities. After a small sequence, we cut to Bobby and Hunter elsewhere – and a caption reads ’34 hours before’ – instantly, I’m excited. I’m a huge sucker for narratives where you’re presented with a current situation, and then the rest of the time is spent showing you how the characters got there.

Kickass, really great things about the episode:

This was a really Hunter and Bobby centric episode, and seeing them work together was actually really great. We haven’t had a hugely intense look at them working together in SHIELD so a whole episode dedicated to them? Awesome.

It was also cool to see them discuss their relationship in terms of SHIELD, and them bringing up the sacrifices they’ve not only made as a couple (never getting to go away together, no honeymoon), but as people – namely, the fact SHIELD constantly makes alliances with people they shouldn’t, Ward being a prime example. They constantly talk about the ‘Greater Good’ but then they end up getting damaged later.

The fight scenes this episode were incredible – they were really wonderfully choreographed, as per usual with this series, and there were some really stand-out moments – slow-mo Daisy kicking ass, Daisy and Bobby fighting together, and Bobby and Hunter fighting off security guards. It’s just awesome.

The episode twist, of going from Espionage to Assassination real damn quick. I loved that the initial plan was infiltration and intel gathering, because SHIELD is in a terrible position, and if Russia thought America was coming in hostile on them, it would cause a lot more problems for just SHIELD. I also liked this weeks Inhuman – a man who could manifest his shadow as a sentient being. He was also a political Inhuman, and the first of his kind.

Enjoyable family moments I loved:

So first things first, MACK IS BACK. After his mysterious just not, being around at all for the last episode, I was glad to have him and his sarcastic quips back. I also have a note about this particular exchange;

“You’re going to need some transport, is that going to be a problem?”
–Insert Hunter punching a Russian man in the face-
“No, I think we’re good.”

What we also learn from this episode are that Hunter and Bobby are the King and Queen of bullshitting. The detective interrogating them says something along the lines to Hunter of “It’s impressive. How you can talk about absolutely nothing and make it sound like information” – that sounds an awful lot like most adults.

FitzSimmons are BACK! Finishing each others sentences and working together again – it’s really fantastic to see and it made me really excited. This was especially heightened by the fact that Hunter apparently shares nature documentaries about the planet dying with the two and gets them to watch them so they can all sit and discuss it together – absolutely adorable.

I think we all also know the ultimate team moment of this episode: the ending. But I’ll come to that later.

The “meh”/”why.” stuff;

 This episode didn’t have many moments I didn’t like – but one moment I did sigh at was May’s speech to Hunter about how she’s still angry about him shooting Ward even when it could cost Andrew (SN3 EP4 – Devil’s You Know) – but then she talks about how SHIELD is for the great good? Don’t get me wrong – anyone and their dog knows Hunter’s choice was driven mostly by vengeance for Bobby, but considering Ward was the head of Hydra, and he had a metric tonne of weapons at his and Hydra’s disposal, I would honestly say he made a better call than risking Ward getting away. So I feel like that moment was a contradiction – but, it did lea to Hunter and May being friends again, and Hunter making quips later to her that she smiles at.

Overall, I really liked this episode – I feel like it’s my favorite so far of 3B. The narrative was great, the cinematography and fight choreography was really something else, and it was one of those great episodes where the team act like a family. I also felt like this episode, while seemingly filler, moved character issues forward a bit more. We had a major change in the teams layout, and it also gave a close look at just how precarious a position that SHIELD is in right now. This precarious position is only more heightened by the fact Malick has political influence all around the world – making him all the more formidable, because he is untouchable.

The final scene of this episode with The Spy’s Goodbye broke my heart. It was such a bittersweet ending, and by the time the second shot had been purchased for Hunter and Bobby’s table, I was an absolute mess.

It was such a beautiful way to say goodby to two really significant characters from the SHIELD roster, two agents that have come so far and become such an integral part of the team. It really solidified that these people aren’t just spies who work together – they’re a unit, they’e friends and they love each other. This final scene was so perfect, and a fitting farewell to two great Agents – for now, at least.

Seeing as their was no hide nor hair of HiveWard this episode (which surprised me considering his huge dramatic ending in The Inside Man), I imagine next episode will bring him forward. Given the ending of the episode featuring Malick’s daughter who wants to meet “someone” – and I can only assume that someone is Hive.

I’m hoping that from this point on, with the new team and information, we’ll start to see major progress and we’ll build up to an incredible, action-filled finale that this show has now become famous for.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. SN3 EP12 – ‘The Inside Man’

This review contains spoilers.

Last episode, we left off on HiveWard playing the worst game of ‘pull my finger’ known to man, whilst Coulson and the team gear up to take on Malick, to take down the final head of Hydra once and for all. Alongside this, we find out the President has assigned our favourite General Talbot as the new head of the ATCU.

 This weeks episode is largely a good, old fashioned undercover episode. It’s good to see these kinds of episodes where the whole team work undercover with new stories and names, and show the spy work SHIELD also does outside of helping the Avengers.

The episode starts with a flashback to the mid-season finale scene where Coulson kills Ward by crushing his heart inside his chest – because what better was to violently and personally kill the man who shot the person you love?

The flashback then proceeds to show the gross and violent possession of Ward’s corpse, and a series of flashbacks of Ward’s life before and after Shield before it cuts to his possessed face opening it’s eyes and saying “Grant Ward. I wish we could have met under different circumstances.” It makes Hive all the more terrifying that to accompany his ever decomposing Ward-Suit, that he constantly refers to himself as “we.” – and the other part of the “we” there probably isn’t Ward.

Then, they proceed to drag in Lucio, the Inhuman cop from Bouncing Back who can paralyze people simply by looking into their eyes – at first he’s bandaged, but then Hive demands to see his eyes. Creepily (but kind of predictably enough.), Hive isn’t hurt by this Inhumans particular power, which naturally causes Lucio to be just a little bit on the afraid side. Then Hive proceeds to step backwards out of an outline of his body, and when Lucio asks “what are you?”, Hive responds with “What are we?” before sending the outline of himself forward. Yikes.

Then, we open up the episode post the Agent’s of S.H.I.E.L.D logo and we’re in an airport with General Talbot and his very angry wife, Carla. He’s asking her not to leave like this, to which she angrily responds telling him he’s always put his work above his family, and now they’re paying for it. Talbot calls after her, looking rather defeated, that he will fix it – and Carla storms away with one last disappointed look. I can’t help but feel a bit sad about it – it was fairly obvious from their last interactions that they have a deeply loving relationship. (Taco Tuesday’s was so adorable.) Then Phil meets up with him, and they proceed to talk/argue about their roles and relationship now, and about the undercover operation they’re involved in – and then we find out shortly later, much to the others agents horror, that Talbot has Creel on his side.

The next 40 minutes of the episode, we’re treated to Talbot and his overwhelming inability to do espionage. The man was in the army for God’s sake, and yet, the man can barely hold it together. He makes casual racist ignorant (“I don’t just wear a dress for anyone!” – regarding the ceremonial robe he’s been asked to wear to honour the country he’s in, and “It’s good to finally put faces to all of your unpronounceable names” – oh, oh dude. Why have you been made head of the ATCU when it requires being a people person.) There’s also some really cool spy moments in there, including Coulson using his high-tech prosthetic to create film gloves for his team-mates to break into their targets rooms and try and find out which one of them is working for Malick.

Then, during the meeting in which three very important politicians want to make a sanctuary state for Inhumans, the absolute unthinkable happens – Talbot blows Coulson’s cover wide open. He exposes the team, Phil’s arm, everything – and then just when you think it couldn’t get any worse, Malick strolls on in and tells the room that Phil Coulson is the director of Hydra.

At the point, I briefly started to worry about the direction this show is going in – because it makes literally no sense for Talbot to be Hydra, and it wouldn’t have held the same shock value as say, when Ward turned out to be Hydra. However, it turns out that Malick has Talbot’s son (which explains Carla’s fury in the beginning of the episode.) – and Talbot is bound to helping him to save his son.

There’s also some side action going on with Lincoln and Daisy but it’s not an awful lot – it’s mostly them fighting and being cute. And oddly enough, pushed to the side is this little tidbit – Creel’s blood contains the secret to stopping people with Inhuman blood from transforming. Why this is only a side story and not a massive focus, I’m not entirely sure, but it does crop up an argument between Daisy and Lincoln, with Lincoln on team “not everyone should change” and Daisy on team “It’s a birthright and if this gets into the wrong hands they will wipe us out”. Both have really valid points – it’d be nice to have control over the people who could turn and use whatever powers they’re given to murder or hurt people, but who gets to decide that path for another person? I wish this had been given more focus than just fleeting scenes between the spy-story side of things.

Overall, this is a fun episode. It doesn’t hold anything too consequential in the main characters story lines, because by the end of it, Talbot’s son is safe again and Phil and Talbot go back to their “hate-buddy” routine. I think if they’d kept the child with Hydra longer, kept using Talbot as a pawn, it might have held some more weight, but this was just more of a filler episode. That’s not a bad thing – it was still a lot of fun, and I always really enjoy the undercover SHIELD stuff a lot. The gadgets, the cover stories, it’s just good old-fashioned spy stuff that makes the show enjoyable.  It’s a bit of a fluffy episode with some action, a few character pointers and very little development, but that’s honestly fine, as long as this is just a bit of ground work for the adrenaline pumping stuff we’ve become used to on this show.

 Well, all was fun until the end of the episode.

About halfway through the episode, Hive asks for five regular, healthy humans to be delivered to him. Under the assumption he’s going to choose one as a host body because Ward’s is literally rotting around him, he’s left alone with them – and outside, you hear a lot of horrifying screaming that seems to even make the bad guys deeply uncomfortable.

And then the end of the episode reveals why they were screaming. Because standing in the middle of five skeletons, red bloody and still with a bit of flesh on them skeletons, covered in human slime and blood, kneels Hive. And slowly, oh so slowly, he rises up and stands, dripping so much of this sickly ooze, rising until he looks dead into the camera through the muck, staring right into you for a really uncomfortably long measure of time, before the episode ends.

It’s very rare of Marvel, particularly Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. to go all out on the gore like this. While it has had it’s gross connotations and it’s violence, I can’t pinpoint much of a moment when it’s been that grim and visually shocking. It had a tonne of weight behind it, and it’s made me scared and excited to see what Brett Dalton’s character is going to do next.

I’m hoping next episode, more actual plot will start to weave it’s way into the main team, and that we get those full rich episodes that make this show fantastic.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. SN3 EP11 – ‘Bouncing Back’

Last night saw the return of Marvel’s “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D”, the television series based on Phil Coulson and his team as they deal with their own sets of problems in the MCU, fighting to keep SHIELD up and running whilst coping with the fallout from the main movie stories.

Obvious spoilers if you’re haven’t caught up/ watched the show yet.

Season 3 thus far has seen Coulson dealing with his loss of limb, and the whole team dealing with the aftermath of the Terrigan contamination in the ocean, helping find newly turned Inhumans and trying to help them and the public become safe. It then also saw the turning of Andrew, May’s ex-husband whom she was reconciling with, into an Inhuman with a desire to take out other Inhumans. It also saw the controversial argument of how to handle Inhumans and of how the public should see them.

The mid-season finale, “Maveth”, ended on a massive massive high – which saw us finding out that the man Jemma fell in love with on the alien planet was dead, and possessed by the creature – a creature of immense power. It then also saw beloved traitor/anti-hero/villain/murderer of women Grant Ward killed rather violently by Phil Coulson himself. It was a huge, action packed finale with so many questions to answer and so many places for it to go.

So how did “Bouncing Back” hold up?

Considering the show is coming back off of one of it’s massive and now infamous hiatus’s, it held its own very well. I’m glad we didn’t have an instant throw down of “AAH PLOTS AND THINGS” because realistically, it needed to reintroduce itself to it’s audience after a long time away. And it did exactly that.

The episode introduced us to a new Inhuman, affectionally named “Yo-Yo” for her ability – she has superspeed, but she has to go back to a fixed starting point – much like, a yo-yo. In the comics, she’s actually known as “Slingshot”, but considering her powers come about for completely different reasons than “I had fish for dinner that day”, I think it’s a nice nod to the comic book alias.

The episode also featured, and handled well, the subject of police brutality in other countries and the severe in-balance of justice in certain areas of the world. I also absolutely adored the ending – where she chose to stay in her home country instead of going with them to join SHIELD. It shows a chance for SHIELD to grow and develop, to become a world-wide force once again, and this time, with the right people at the controls.

There was also the whole issue of FitzSimmons and their ever perilous relationship – considering Fitz had to destroy her ex-boyfriends possessed corpse, and that they shared a rather intense kiss, viewers weren’t sure where and how this was going to go. This episode seemed to point in the direction of them trying to rebuild and “start again” – it’s going to be interesting to see how they do this, considering everything they’ve been through and how different they are as characters, but it seemed like the adult thing to do, and it’s a really refreshing development to see after the past season and a half of them being in pieces.

And then, there was the whole thing about Ward’s cold pale corpse being used as an alien vessel. Brett Dalton’s acting is absolutely wonderful. He’s done an insanely good job as Grant Ward, the mentally twisted and very complex ex-SHIELD/Hydra agent. He plays the perfect all-mighty alien power that’s come back to earth. He’s mostly silent, but his cold, purple and grey exterior paired with the small tilts and facial movements makes for a genuinely subtle and scary villain for us to look forward to.

Overall, this was a very enjoyable episode. No, it wasn’t this super duper action filled incredible episode, but that’s not really what’s needed after a long time away. What we need is a re-introduction to the plot points, to the things left hanging after the events of “Maveth” and this is exactly what this episode was. And now, it’s pointed to where the show is going from here and what foes the team are up against this time.

NEW “CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR” TRAILER DROPS

Ladies, gentleman, all in-between. A new trailer for the highly anticipated Captain America: Civil War has dropped.

And it’s two minutes and twenty-seven seconds of flawless, beautiful perfection. And it’s led to a lifetime of crying from me and every other Marvel fan going.

Honestly, this is a really flawless trailer – the Russo brother’s have been absolutely perfect in executing their marketing, they really have. It’s probably mostly because we all know roughly how the story goes, but with the huge differences between the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) and the actual comic books, they also know that realistically – we have no clue what’s coming.

So, let’s break it all down.

By the looks of the trailers, and what we’ve heard so far, the bulk of this movie is (obviously) centering around Captain Rogers, as he blurs certain lines to try and protect Bucky Barnes – and considering Bucky was, until recently, the brainwashed Winter Soldier, a lot of people do not want him protected. Riding on that, is also General Ross, here to ask for heroes to sign up for the Superhero Registration Act – and whilst some seem to agree with the idea of monitoring heroes, keeping their actions in check, not everyone else does.

And such, all at war seems to break out.

The trailer looks like it’s going to be, as recently described, “an emotional horror movie” – you’ve got Steve and Tony fighting sure, but then you’ve also got Bucky going after Rhodey, you’ve got T’Challa coming off of a car onto a motorcycle to stop him driving away, there’s ANT-MAN ON HAWKEYES ARROW and just tonnes of the usual phenomenal stuff. Alongside the Scarlet Witch seeming to wrangle Vision down into a crumpled mess, Black Widow kicking men in what appears to be task-force gear, and Crossbones showing up, this trailer was already all levels of hype.

And then, the Russo’s did it. The Russo’s finally, finally did it. They revealed Spider-Man.

And this might be a snap judgement considering he’s in it for all of a few seconds – but he’s perfect. He’s so perfect. This trailer has captured Spider-Man and everything he should be, after coming home to MCU for his big debut with only a short clip and a few little words. Tom Holland, Russo’s – well damn done.

Captain America: Civil War hits UK cinemas April 29th 2016.

Collector Corps Unboxing: Deadpool Box

 

Collector Corps is a type of collectible goodie box, along the lines of Lootcrate and BeautyBoxes, but with a bit of a nerider, Funkier flair (see what I did there?). Every two months, a new Marvel Comics themed box is released, containing goodies exclusive only to subscribers – each box is themed differently, ranging from the Villians box to the Secret Wars box.

February featured their most romantic box yet: Deadpool.

The box came looking super awesome – as per usual! Collector Corps always nail it with the outside of the boxes, keeping this constant and gorgeous design. Alongside the outside of the box, the inside is just as beautiful. As per, it features comic panels of the main feature inside the box in red and it looks absolutely stunning.

Looking into the box initially, you’ve got the usual staple of the box – the Collector Corps exclusive patch and pin! As per, they’re very adorable and very fitting to their theme and wonderful little collectors items.

Onto the content of the box – opening the inner lid, I’m greeted by a T-Shirt and the exclusive variant issue comic book.

The t-shirt is an adorable Funko exclusive, featuring a neat background with Deadpool in his black and red suit on the front, in Funko style. It’s super cute, and now that I’ve changed my shirt size from Small to X-Small, it fits extremely well.

The comic in this box is, fittingly, Deadpool #1 – the variant is a cute little cover of Funkpool, munching away on some Chimichangas from his katana whilst standing on a mountain of them. It’s fitting, it’s colourful and it’s a really great variant issue.

On to the toys and figurines!

The first one was this absolutely adorable little plush I pulled out, who was sitting free in the box. He’s from the brand Mopeez Plush, and he’s so sweet! He’s very squidgy and soft so, everything you need in a plush. He’s also incredibly well weighted despite his massive head, so he’ll sit wonderfully on a bed or a shelf.

The second figurine is from the brand Dorbz – and as it suggests, this little guy is completely adorable.

These Dorbz are slowly but surely taking over, and for good reason – they’ve also featured in the Villian’s box from October, with a Loki Dorbz featuring in there.

I just really love him. He’s so detailed for something so small, and the little pony and cowboy hat just really top him off. He’s such a great edition and he’s going to look great next to Ultron and Loki from the prior boxes.

Finally, the star of the box – the moment we all wait for when unboxing the Collector Corps boxes – the exclusive Funko.

Look at him. Isn’t he just so awesome?! A little Deadpool, springing into action with katanas at the ready, and a gorgeous see-through stand to pop him on.

He’s just perfect: I love him. Like all Funko’s, there’s a wonderful attention to detail. He’s also a fantastic exclusive – he feels so unique and right for this box. He’s not too over the top, but he’s not bland. He’s in action, ready to go, and a really fantastic edition to the collection.

Honestly, Collector Corps always do these boxes fantastic – they always ensure great quality and amazing value for money. They’re consistantly great in both design of the actual box, and the execution of the goodies inside. Personally, I can’t imagine ever cutting off this subscription, and I am so very excited for the Civil War box to hit us come April.

And that’s all for now! Let me know if you’re a Collector Corp’s subscriber, or if you have any questions about the boxes and/or how I get them as a UK Subscriber.

Fare thee well,

Fran

‘Chewbacca’ Will Appear In The ‘Han Solo’ Origin Movie

The Young Han Solo standalone movie may have yet found its leading man but confirmation out of Disney reveals everyones favourite Furry-Wingman will be making an appearance.

Speaking at Deutsche Bank 2016 Media, Internet & Telecom Conference. Disney’s Chief Bob Iger dropped the Wookie Bomb that Star Wars mainstay Chewbacca will join a young Han Solo in the Phil Lord & Chris Miller Directed Anthology story.

In a interview with The Wrap, Iger touch upon the Gareth Edwards’ Rogue One, set “before what was George Lucas‘s first film.” Before revealing that Disney have “others in the works, including one, which is an origin story about Han Solo and Chewie. And that’ll come after ‘Star Wars 8’ in 2018. And then there’ll be possibly be more thereafter.”

The film will mark the first time Solo’s origin has been explored on screen under the Disney banner. Dark Horse Comics and Novel’s have previously established the early years and mis-adventures of Han and Chewie – including a dark period in Han’s life when he joined the Imperial Navy – before Disney ret-conned the expanded universe in favour of their new Marvel-led comic book timeline.

We will have to wait and see what Disney has in store for the Intergalactic-duo but with numerous actors vying for the role, it will be interesting to see who will join our favourite Wookie at the helm of the Millennium Falcon when the film hits theatres May 25, 2018.

For all your Furry-Best-Friend-News, stick with @mitch_rated only on Skatronixxx

Disney Star ‘Zendaya’ Joins Sony’s Rebooted ‘Spider-Man’

Over the years various incarnations of Spider-Man have had the pleasure of locking-lips with some of Hollywoods elite babes – Kristen Dunst, Bryce Dallas Howard, Emma Stone – to name but a few.

Not bad for Marvel’s self-confess Geek.

Well now Peter Parker can add Disney Starlet, model and singer Zendaya to the list, as sources out of Deadline report that the triple-threat actress is to appear alongside Tom Holland’s Spider-Man in Sony’s third reboot of the Mega-popular Web-Headed-Hero.

Details are sketchy as to who Zendaya will play but Deadline did indicate that her character will be called “Michelle“. The name will lead many comic-book fans to predict that the actress will embody the character of Michele Gonzales. The Muay Thai, Tae Bo kickboxing, shotgun wielding criminal defence lawyer and former-flamer of Peter Paker who made her comic book debut in The Amazing Spider-Man #592.

Sony’s reboot will be Hollands first solo Spider-Man movie after the British actor makes his first appearance in the role alongside Chris Evan’s in Captain America: Civil War. The Jon Watts directed film will also mark the first time a Spider-Man franchise will fall under the banner of Disney’s Marvel Cinematic Universe after both studios agreed to share the character after the commercial flop of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014).

Watts and Sony will shoot the new Spider-Man film this year with a projected release of July 7, 2017. Before then fans will be able to get their first look at Tom Holland when Captain America: Civil War opens in theatres April 29 this year.

For all your Web-Slinging-Heart-Breaker-News, stick with @mitch_rated only on Skatronixxx

‘Captain America: Civil War’ New Details Emerge

Captain America: Civil War will have major repercussions for the cinematic universe with many speculating that Cap (Chris Evans) himself may meet his end. Certainly if Crossbones has anything to say about it.

In Empire’s upcoming issue, fans will get an official glance at the HYDRA bad-guy whose known to comic-book fans as the villain who killed Captain America in the 2007 arc The Death of Captain America.

Fans will be familiar with the man-behind-the-mask as Captain America: The Winter Solider (2014) actor Frank Grillo, whose Brock Rumlow returns to get some sweet revenge against our straight-laced superhero.

The returns don’t stop there however with TheWrap revealing that fan-favourite Pepper Potts will return in a “small yet key” role in the film, once again played by Academy Award winning actress Gwyneth Paltrow. Pepper was last seen in Iron Man 3 (2013) with Extremis-enthused powers that proved helpful in kicking Guy Pearce’s Aldrich Killian’s ass.

Empire also finally revealed Martin Freeman’s role in the upcoming superhero-mash up as Everett Ross a supporter of debuting Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman). With Potts proving to be a formidable businesswomen, its likely that the two could face off on screen as Marvel traverse the political landscape within the MCU as the American government legislate for Superhero Registration.

With Captain America: Civil War hitting theatres on May 6, 2016. We will have to wait and see how the Marvel landscape will change coming out of the movie.

 

For all your Straight-Laced-Superhero-News, stick with @mitch_rated only on Skatronixxx

‘Deadpool Vs. Gambit’ Comic Book Series Announced

As Wade Wilson continues to dominate the Silver screen, X-Men mainstay Remy LeBeau looks to rain on his comic-book parade as Marvel announces Deadpool Vs. Gambit comic book mini-series coming this Summer.

The news was revealed at the recent ComicsPRO comic book submit explaining that the five-issue series will explore Deadpool and Gambits “secret, shared history”, with ComicBook.com elaborating that the two conmen worked together “just long enough to stab each other in the back.“

Celebrated She-Hulk artist Kevin Wada will bring his talent to the covers with Danilo Beyruth providing the artwork across the pages. Thunderbolt writers Ben Acker and Ben Blacker will script the story as the Merc-with-the-Mouth takes on the Cajun-sensation when the first issue debuts this June.

Marvel looks to capitalise on 20th Century Fox’s record breaking success with Deadpool’s solo movie and are surely hoping that Channing Tatum’s Gambit film will do the same when it is released in 2017. With Deadpool 2 having already been green-light however, expect more R-Rated 4th-wall breaking shenanigans to come.

For all your Comic-Book-Showdown-News, stick with @mitch_rated only on Skatronixxx