Good TV News And Bad TV News

Welp, there was lots of good and bad news in the world of genre TV this week.

The good news is that Supergirl was finally renewed. It was touch and go there for a while, as it looked like the show would be cancelled, but it looks like it's been given a reprieve and will get a second season

In even better news, Supergirl's moving from CBS over to The CW. Some are worried by this turn of events, but I think it's a great idea. The series should never have been on CBS in the first place, and never quite felt at home there. Let's face it, if your show doesn't have a C, an S or an I in its title, then it doesn't belong at CBS.

Supergirl will now be joining Arrow, The Flash and Legends Of Tomorrow on The CW. So far she doesn't exist in the same universe as those shows, but I wouldn't be surprised if that changes soon.

Additionally, the series will be moving its production from LA to Vancouver (where all the Arrowverse shows are filmed) in an effort to slash the budget and save money. I wouldn't be too concerned about that. The Flash and Legends Of Tomorrow all feature top notch, near movie quality effects on their budgets, so I think Supergirl will be just fine.

Plus now that Supergirl's where she belongs, maybe we'll get more crossovers like this!

In more good news, ABC announced they've decided not to go ahead with their planned Marvel's Most Wanted series, cancelling it before it even got started. Note that this is the SECOND time that ABC's said no to the series, as they also passed on it last May. Poor Mockingbird just can't catch a break! Maybe the third time'll be the charm.

Personally I'm glad that they passed on it, because the show sounded dull as hell. Mockingbird and Hunter as ex-spies on the run from various parties, without S.H.I.E.L.D. to back them up? Yawn! I almost fell asleep typing that description.

It sounded a lot like Season 1 of Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.— a superhero show without any superheroes in it. Good riddance to it, I say!

The bad news is that Mockingbird and Hunter were written out of Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. a few weeks ago so they could star in Most Wanted. This was a terrible, terrible idea, as they were two of the most interesting characters on the show, and so far no one's stepped up to take their place.

Hopefully now that Most Wanted's dead in the water, the two will be returning to S.H.I.E.L.D. They were seemingly written off for good, but if the show can bring Coulson back from the dead, it shouldn't be too awfully hard to reinstate a couple of agents.

Now for the really bad news. ABC also cancelled Agent Carter after two seasons, due to its lackluster ratings. I guess all those people who constantly whine that there are no shows on TV with strong, female leads couldn't be bothered to actually sit down and watch such a series.

The cancellation is especially unfortunate, since Season 2 ended on a cliffhanger. Now we'll never find out who shot Agent Thompson, find out if Peggy and Agent Sousa get together or get to see Peggy actually found S.H.I.E.L.D.

Even worse, now we'll never find out just how Howard Stark transformed from Dominic Cooper into Roger Sterling!

Although I'm sad to see Peggy go, I'm not exactly surprised. I hate to say it, but Season 1 of Agent Carter was... well, kind of dull. The big bad in Season 1 was Doctor Faustus, a lame villain with the even lamer power of hypnosis. 

Season 2 was a big improvement, as it featured more sci-fi and comic book elements such as dark matter and a villainess who could absorb people into her body. I still didn't think it went far enough though.

I wish Agent Carter would have embraced its comic book roots fully, giving us a fully formed pulp word full of 1940s retro technology. You know, Nazis with ray guns and jetpacks. Mad scientists who control armies of giant robots. That sort of thing. I think if they'd gone that route and embraced the craziness of Golden Age comics, the show would have been much more successful. 

Marvel's had great success with its various Netflix shows, such as Daredevil and Jessica Jones. Maybe we'll get a third season of Agent Carter on Netflix?

Marvel's Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 3, Episode 13: Parting Shot

This week on Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. we take a break from all the various storylines we've been following, so the show can set up a new spinoff series. Yep, this week's episode is a goddamned backdoor pilot. Just like The Kelly Kids on The Brady Bunch, or Assignment: Earth on the original Star Trek.

The Flash pulled this crap for most of the first half of its second season, as it pretty much became The Legends Of Tomorrow Prequel Show. I doubt that'll happen here, as this seems to be a one-and-done setup, but it's still annoying.

So now we know how Mockingbird and Hunter are going to ride off into the sunset and into the pilot for their own series. I'm skeptical about the whole thing. Removing these two characters from Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. is a terrible, terrible idea. Mockingbird and Hunter were part of the reason the series turned around and became watchable in its second season. Mockingbird's one of the few characters on the show who has an actual personality, and Hunter's the source of any and all humor. Getting rid of them is going to leave a huge hole in the series, one I'm worried can't be filled.

Plus a series about two non-superpowered ex-secret agents on the run sounds dull as hell to me. That's what made the first season of Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. such a snooze fest. It didn't start to pick up until Marvel realized people wanted to see actual superheroes in their superhero show. 

But I was dubious about Agent Carter when I first heard about it though, and it turned out pretty good, so who knows? Maybe The Mockingbird And Hunter Show or whatever it's called will be worth a look after all.

Maybe if we're lucky their pilot won't get picked up, or if it does it'll be cancelled after a few episodes and the two characters will come back home where they belong.

As for this episode, it wasn't much of a setup. It was slow, needlessly complicated and boy was it talky. Honestly I didn't understand a lot of it, at least on a first viewing. Plus I don't get why Mockingbird and Hunter's actions are suddenly such a big deal, and absolutely must be punished. Nothing they did in this episode is any different from anything EVERY character on the show has done many, many times before. There were no repercussions then, so why now? Other than so they could get disavowed and skip over to their own show, that is?

SPOILERS!

The Plot:

The episode opens with Mockingbird in custody in Moscow, accused of killing three Russian government agents. Her interrogator asks her what she and Hunter were doing in Moscow in the first place. 

We then get the dreaded  "34 Hours Ago" flashback, to shortly after last week's episode, in which Mockingbird and Hunter were stowing away on Malick's plane, headed for a meeting in Russia. Malick's plane lands and they follow him to a decommissioned power plant in Siberia. 

They contact Coulson on Zephyr One. He suspects Malick is building an Inhuman army in the plant, and says to find out for sure what he's doing, but not to kill him, as that'll cause an international incident.

Mockingbird and Hunter observe the plant. Hunter says this is the first time they've spent along together in years. They see Malick's men moving an Inhuman into the plant. They're about to go investigate when they're surrounded by Malick's guards. They pretend they're lost, and were simply hunting for mushrooms (in the middle of the night?). Quite rightly, the guards don't buy their story, so the agents knock them out. Mockingbird hears radio chatter that the Russian Cabinet Ministers are arriving.

Mack, May and Daisy land in a Quinjet, and Mockingbird and Hunter board and fill them in. Mockingbird's the only one fluent in Russian, so she gets to infiltrate the plant. May takes Hunter with her.

Mockingbird sneaks into the plant, knocks out a guard and dons his uniform. Mack and Daisy enter a security room and monitor the situation. May and Hunter find the body of the Russian Prime Minister's personal attache. 

Meanwhile, Petrov tells Malick he still wants to create a reservation for Inhumans, and the Prime Minister's against it. He says General Androvich, the Minister of Defense who's secretly and Inhuman, killed the Prime Minister's attache. Petrov wants Malick to smooth things over with the Prime Minister. Malick says he can't get involved, because the matter's now bigger than any one nation. He suggests letting Androvich "take care" of the Prime Minister. The whole thing's very complicated, so don't worry about trying to understand it, or we'll be here all day.

Coulson realizes Malick is staging a coup. Mack sees Androvich on a security camera, and notices something odd about his shadow. Coulson detects the Russian Prime Minister's plane heading for the plant. He suspects Malick is setting up the Prime Minister to be killed, and tells the Team to protect him at all costs.

Eventually they figure out that Androvich can project a sentient "shadow" of himself. The Prime Minister arrives and argues with Petrove. Hunter takes him away, while Daisy, Mockingbird and Mack battle Androvich. His shadow form attacks Mack and knocks him out. Mockingbird and Daisy try to fight it, but their weapons go right through it, as it can alter its density at will.

Hunter rushes the Prime Minister out of the plant, killing Petrov along the way. The shadow appears in front of them. Mockingbird tracks down Androvich and kills him, which causes the shadow to dissipate. Hunter and Mockingbird are taken into custody.

President Ellis discusses the two with the Russian Prime Minister. Ellis says the PM should be happy his life was saved, but he says now he has to explain why three members of his cabinet are dead (two of which were trying to kill him). The PM says someone's got to pay and it won't be him. Despite the fact that this sort of thing has happened pretty much every week on the series since it started, this time it's suddenly a big deal, and Mockingbird and Hunter are facing execution.

Coulson meets with Mockingbird and Hunter and says he's arranged an escape route for them. They refuse, saying they're prepared to sacrifice themselves to protect S.H.I.E.L.D. Coulson realizes he can't talk them out of it. Coulson and Ellis tell the interrogator that Mockingbird and Hunter don't work for S.H.I.E.L.D. and are simply what they say they are-- a pair of lost and confused tourists.

Back on the Zephyr One, Coulson explains to the rest of the team that Mockingbird and Hunter are now free, but they've been disavowed, and can never speak with the rest of the cast or be agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. again (uh-huh). 

Mockingbird and Hunter sit in a bar somewhere and plan their first ever vacation. A waitress brings them a shot from an "admirer." They look around and spot Simmons. Soon they receive several more drinks, and spot Fitz, Mack, May and Coulson. Mockingbird tells Hunter that this is the "Spy's Goodbye." The gang all raise their glasses and toast them, despite the fact that they're not supposed to acknowledge them in any way ever again, and file out.

Malick is shooting skeet at his palatial mansion (I guess). His daughter, who we've never seen or even heard of before, appears and asks how things went in Russia. She asks when she's finally going to get to meet Hive Ward.

Thoughts:

• Not a lot of thoughts about this episode, so this'll be quick.

• Oh good, it's another "34 Hours Earlier" episode. I hate, hate, HATE these. It was an interesting storytelling technique the first thousand times I saw it on TV and in movies, but it's starting to wear a bit thin.

• When he's being interrogated, Hunter says his full name is Amadeus Ravenclaw Hunter. It's really Lance, but no one ever calls him that, and I like this fake name much better.

• Simmons tells Daisy and Mockingbird that Androvich's shadow creature is made of sentient dark matter. Two things here. First, that's obviously a tie-in to the dark matter that was a big plot point on Season 2 of Agent Carter. And it's supposedly a big deal in Marvel's upcoming Doctor Strange movie. Secondly, that's real good science there, Gemma! She makes this incredibly intuitive leap and posits this theory after observing the creature for all of five seconds.

• For all his immense size, Mack is one of the most useless fighters ever. He gets knocked out AGAIN this week. He needs to start training with Agent May, STAT!

• Oh, I get it! The title refers to the "Spies Goodbye" that everyone gives to Mockingbird and Hunter. Groan.

• The teary "Spy's Goodbye" the cast gave to Mockingbird and Hunter felt a bit hollow to me, and didn't seem like it'd been earned. Do the various agents really care all that much for these two? If so, they've never really shown it before. Last week Daisy and Mockingbird got into a heated discussion over Inhuman rights, and May flat out told Hunter that the two of them were definitely not friends.

Then suddenly in this episode Daisy and May can barely hold back the tears as they put on brave faces for their banished comrades. Talk about retcons!

• So who's Malick's daughter? She seems to know pretty much everything he does, so he obviously keeps her in the loop. And she's anxious to meet Hive Ward. I have no idea where they're going with her, but obviously her sudden addition is going to have something to do with him.

Marvel's Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 2, Episode 6: A Fractured House

A lot going on this week, as we meet a member of Evil Ward's family, we find out a tidbit about May's past, and Mockingbird becomes a (hopefully permanent) member of the Team.

SPOILERS!

The Plot:
A HYDRA team disguised as S.H.I.E.L.D. agents attacks the UN, killing several delegates and injuring Col. Talbot. This plan immediately turns the world against S.H.I.E.L.D., and I have to wonder why it took so long for HYDRA to think of it. And wasn't the world already against S.H.I.E.L.D. anyway?

Senator Christian Ward, who just happens to be Evil Ward's big brother, goes on a public rampage against S.H.I.E.L.D. Skye questions Ward about his older brother. He tells her the same story he did last season, that Christian "forced" Ward to try and toss his younger brother down a well. Coulson infiltrates Christian's office and questions him. He says the exact opposite, that he had to save his younger brother from Evil Ward. Apparently they're both equally manipulative, lying bastards. I bet Thanksgiving at their house was a riot.

Meanwhile, Mockingbird and Hunter get reacquainted, and we find there may still be a spark or two between them. Fitz accuses Simmons of abandoning him in his hour of need, which is kind of true.

Coulson offers to hand over Evil Ward to Christian if he promises to knock off the S.H.I.E.L.D. witch hunt. Christian agrees, and during the prisoner transfer Evil Ward escapes, to absolutely no one's surprise.

After HYDRA wipes out a S.H.I.E.L.D. safe house and its inhabitants, Talbot offers his condolences to May, indicating he may be finally be softening his stance toward them. And a mysterious man with a connection to Coulson shows up at a tattoo parlor.

Thoughts:
• Coulson finds an "I Hate Mondays" coffee mug in the S.H.I.E.L.D. kitchen and asks if somebody brought it from home. Was that Grumpy Cat on the mug?

• Agent May was once married! And not surprisingly, it doesn't sound like it ended well.

• The S.H.I.E.L.D. operative based in Belgium was Agent Walters. I poked around online to try and find out if she was from the comics, but came up with nothing. I guess everyone who appears on the show isn't necessarily from the comics. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.

• There seems to be a lot of duality on this show. There's FitzSimmons of course, the two nerdy science kids. Trip and Mack are both black, tough-guy technicians. Lance Hunter is the new bad boy, who's seemingly a replacement for Ward. And now we have Agent May and Mockingbird, who pretty much perform the exact same function.

I don't know if there's a reason behind this, but I thought it was worth pointing out.

• Mockingbird gets a cool new costume and goes back to being a blonde, which made me happy. It makes me even happier to realize there's now a full-fledged Avenger (from the comics at least) on the S.H.I.E.L.D. team. I'm hopeful she'll stick around for a while. Her interactions with Hunter were a lot of fun.

• Evil Ward tells Skye that his brother Christian is even worse than he is. I kind of doubt that. Did Christian kill several dozen people in cold blood last year, like Evil Ward did? They're both master manipulators and it wears me out trying to figure out which one is lying more than the other.

• May, Hunter and Mockingbird enter the safe house in Belgium and are attacked by vicious HYDRA agents. During the battle, Mockingbird hits one of the HYDRA men on the arm, promptly knocking him out as he falls to the floor like a sack of laundry.

I've heard of a glass chin, but a glass forearm?

• After the battle, Col. Talbot shows up at the safe house. His right arm's in a sling from the HYDRA attack at the beginning of the episode. He offers his sympathies to May, going so far as to shake her hand. With his hand that's in a sling. Apparently he's faking his injury in order to get some time off.

I think they threw in this scene to show that Talbot is finally changing his opinion toward S.H.I.E.L.D., but it felt unearned. There hasn't been enough time yet between his "shoot all S.H.I.E.L.D. agents on sight" mode and this "you guys aren't so bad after all" stance.

• Coulson has removes Evil Ward from his cell and transfers him to Christian. Of course en route, Ward dislocates his thumb, slips out of his cuffs, kills the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents transporting him and escapes.

Did anyone NOT expect this to happen?

Coulson knows how dangerous Evil Ward is, listing the many people he's killed and the atrocities he's committed, and yet he walks him out of the headquarters surrounded by just a few guards. 

Why let him walk out at all? Why not sedate his ass and carry him out on a stretcher? Or put him in some Hannibal Lecter rig, complete with straightjacket and face mask? It makes me wonder if Coulson knew he would escape, and this is all part of some convoluted plan on his part.

I predicted a couple of weeks ago that Evil Ward was eventually going to have to escape. He pretty much had to, unless they planned on keeping him in his little cell for the rest of the series, which would have been ridiculous.

Maybe now he'll turn against HYDRA, and they'll have to team up with S.H.I.E.L.D. to eliminate him. I always like a good "villain teaming up with the good guys to defeat an even worse threat" plot. As long as they don't try and redeem him though; that would be the worst. Evil Ward's way past redemption at this point, and it's my considered opinion they don't try.

• In the tag scene, a mysterious man enters a tattoo parlor and wants some new ink. He removes his shirt and reveals his body is covered with tattoos that look exactly like Coulson's alien circuitry scribblings. I bet that's something Coulson never thought of– tattooing the patterns on himself!

So I wonder if these tattoos will give him some sort of super power?

By the way, as Tattoo Guy is getting inked, he places his hand over that of the artist. I assume he was guiding his hand as he drew the symbols, but it was kind of funny as it looked more than a little like he was giving him a tender little embrace.

Marvel's Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 2, Episode 5: A Hen In The Wolf House

Lots going on in this week's episode. Probably the biggest was the introduction of Bobbi Chase, aka Mockingbird, to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. We also get to spend some time with Skye's father, who's not exactly parent of the year, and Skye finds out she may be an alien. 

We learn that the Obelisk is also known as the Diviner, Raina has a nice dinner with Coulson and we finally find out the identity of Hunter's ex. Oh, and Fitz and the real Simmons are reunited, but it doesn't feel so good. All in all a pretty action-packed installment!

SPOILERS!

The Plot:
HYDRA is trying to weaponize the Obelisk with a plan that doesn't seem very well thought out. Raina tells Skye's father that Whitehall wants the Obelisk from him, and he says he'll give it up if she delivers Skye to him. 

Raina asks Coulson for help, and threatens to blow Simmons' cover at HYDRA if he doesn't. Coulson says "meh," and Raina follows through, exposing Simmons. Fortunately for her, Black Widow, er, Wonder Woman, er, I mean Mockingbird shows up to save her. 

Skye learns her father's whereabouts and goes to confront him, but he's already fled the coop. Skye looks at Coulson's alien chicken scratches and somehow makes the incredible intuitive leap that they're a map.

Thoughts:
• Skye's father (whoever he really is) is doing a little back alley surgery on a couple of thugs when Raina barges in. They have a heated conversation and he threatens her, coming very close to snapping her supple neck with one hand. The whole time the two thugs just sit there watching, not the least bit concerned by the goings on.

I guess it all works out in the end though as later in the episode we see Skye's father apparently lost control and killed the two thugs. Maybe they balked at his bill?

• Fitz stands in the Bus' cargo bay, watching the rest of the crew as they bustle about. Fake Simmons is there too, wistfully staring at Mack and admiring his formidable physique. Um... wait a minute. Fake Simmons is a manifestation of Fitz's psyche, created by his brain to help him deal with her absence. So that means it was really Fitz thinking that Mack is hot. Not that there's anything wrong with that!

• Over at HYDRA, Simmons is still working as an undercover science tech. She's apparently been spending her lunch hours sending covert messages to S.H.I.E.L.D. One would think she might want to, oh I don't know, type her secret messages rather than dictate them aloud to her device, in earshot of anyone nearby, but what do I know.

Back inside, Agent Bobbi Morse, who we've never seen before, enters the lab and declares there's a mole in the organization. 

I'm guessing that the revelation that Morse turns out to be Mockingbird, the superhero slash S.H.I.E.L.D. agent from the comics, was supposed to be a shocking twist, but anyone who's ever read the comics would have seen it coming from several miles away. 

If they wanted her identity and allegiance to be a secret, then why use her real name? Why not give her an alias and then have her reveal she's Bobbi Morse?

Bobbi's played here by Adrianne Palicki, who starred in a rejected Wonder Woman pilot a few years ago. Looks like she finally got to play a superhero after all!

I was a little miffed when I first saw photos of Palicki as Mockingbird, as she didn't have the character's trademark blonde locks. I didn't mind a bit after I saw her in action though, kicking ass with her battle staves. Battle staves! On TV! How awesome is that? Later on she mentions she dyed her hair for the mission, so maybe there's still hope she'll be a blonde.

• Mockingbird, er, Agent Morse is determined to find the mole and orders her grunts to start searching everyone's desks for evidence. Simmons soils herself as she realizes her S.H.I.E.L.D. flex screen communicator is in her drawer. 

First of all, she's in hostile territory here, posing as a member of an evil, bent-on-world-domination secret organization, and she leaves her S.H.I.E.L.D. tech in her goddamned drawer? Was she trying to get caught?

Secondly, one of the HYDRA grunts then finds the screen in Simmons' workmate's desk. Holy crap– did Simmons just throw her coworker under the bus? That's pretty hardcore! Hope they don't take him to the Agonizer Booth!

• Speaking of Simmons' HYDRA coworkers– they don't seem like a particularly evil bunch. They look pretty much like scientists you'd find in the R&D lab of any big corporation. They're working for an anti-S.H.I.E.L.D. organization– shouldn't they at least all be wearing evil goatees?

• So what exactly is Whitehall's plan? He wants the Obelisk so he can weaponize it, and mentions that with it could kill millions, even billions. Yeah, and then what? Does he want the whole planet to himself? Or is he planning on wiping out all of humanity and repopulating it with HYDRA agents?

• We finally have a name for Daniel Whitehall's Lackey. And the name is... Bakshi. I'm pretty sure this is the first time they've ever mentioned his name on the show. It's the first time I've heard it at least.

• After Simmons' identity is compromised she takes off running through the endless HYDRA corridors. She's intercepted by Agent Morse, who reveals she's also an undercover S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, and is there to help her escape.

Simmons and Bobbi then leap off the top of the HYDRA building (which I'm surprised didn't have an enormous neon logo on it) and land on the invisible S.H.I.E.L.D. Quinjet that's hovering below.

Lucky for the two of them they didn't land on either of the two prominently exposed turbine engines.

• Coulson decides to tell Skye everything, and says she may or may not be a alien. Uh-oh...

As you'll no doubt remember, I couldn't stand Skye last year because all the other characters on the show bent over backwards to bask in her amazing glow. She became the Most Important Person In The Universe, without ever doing anything to warrant such a title.

This season they've been playing down that aspect quite a bit, much her benefit. I like Skye 2.0 much better than Original Skye. 

But dredging up this alien crap again makes me think they're going to finish out the Super Skye storyline even if it kills them (and us).

• Skye's father is spying on her as she discovers his handiwork: the two dead thugs he killed when he "lost control." He sits in his car screaming, "She thinks I'm a monster! I'M NOT A MONSTER!" as he smashes his iPad in a most monstery way possible. But he's not a monster!

So what's the deal with Skye's dad? He keeps talking about not losing control and becoming a monster. Is he some kind of Hulk? Doubtful, but honestly I can't think of any other Marvel character he could be. 

There's a fan theory that he may be Mr. Hyde, who was a Daredevil villain (and not the literary Hyde). I'm not familiar enough with the character to dispute the theory.

• Where the hell is Agent Koenig? We haven't seen him for a month now.

• Mockingbird enters the S.H.I.E.L.D. base and is welcomed by one and all, except for Lance Hunter. Turns out the two used to be married.

HAW! I totally called it! A couple of weeks ago I said that the psycho ex-wife that Lance Hunter's always going on about would turn out to be Bobbi Morse, aka Mockingbird, and I was right. Granted I knew she was joining the show, so it wasn't a huge leap to connect the dots, but still.

• After the show aired Marvel released this photo of Mockingbird in her official crime fighting gear. It looks like she's going to have blonde hair after all! Awesome!

And look at that– an ass-kicking super heroine who's not wearing ridiculous and impractical high heels! Amazing!

I'm wondering if they're adding Mockingbird to the cast as a low-budget alternative to Black Widow? They're both spies, they both have pretty much the same "powers" (consisting mainly of cool ass kicking moves) and they both work for S.H.I.E.L.D. The TV series probably can't afford to hire ScarJo full time, so I'm betting they settled for Mockingbird.

I love that they're adding Mockingbird to the show, but... is she staying for good? She basically fulfills the same function as Agent May. I guess you can never have too many ass kicking women in black jumpsuits.