Marvel's Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. 1.03 The Asset **** SPOILERS ****

Television, Movies Games and Books Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
#1

Episode Summary from en.wikipedia.org:

S.H.I.E.L.D. searches for one of its assets, Dr. Franklin Hall (Ian Hart), who was kidnapped by his former research partner Ian Quinn (David Conrad). He wants to use Hall to take control over the planet’s gravity by building a giant “gravitonium” generator. Heading to Malta with the team, Skye volunteers to infiltrate Quinn’s mansion so that Coulson and Ward can rescue Hall. Skye tricks Quinn into believing she is betraying S.H.I.E.L.D. for Rising Tide to get his guard down. However, Coulson soon discovers that Hall perpetuated his own escape and wants to destroy the massive device. Hall believes he is in the right, but Coulson warns him doing so would end up killing millions. Their violent disagreement leads to Coulson being forced to not save Hall as he falls into the middle of the generator, seemingly vaporizing him. Coulson orders that the gravitonium be placed under high security and off the books. S.H.I.E.L.D. does not notice that Hall may still be alive.

Please use this thread to discuss the series’ third overall and first season third episode The Asset. Rule: Please keep spoilers limited to those revealed during the series up to this episode only.

#2

So… Are we truly to believe that Skye has made up her mind whose side she is on? (A little soon dont’cha think? And a little too clean and neat a package?) I do think that she trusts the team more than she trusted Quinn, but I don’t think she trusts the Government that S.H.E.I.L.D. works for. I think she will be tested again and again before she truly makes up her mind, or believes that SHEILD is truly what they claim to be.

#3

I think she will be tested again and again before she truly makes up her mind, or believes that SHEILD is truly what they claim to be.

Agreed! Overall I liked this episode the best so far. The part where Quinn asks her if she has what it takes to pull the trigger and she doesn’t had me laughing my ass off enough I missed the next scene.

#4

We felt the same watching this on the DVR last night…I think it added a touch more of seriousness too that was missing in the first two episodes, I get that most of the movies had a light-hearted feel to them…but these people are dealing with serious crap with major consequences and it was good to see it treated accordingly

that said there certainly is more to Skye then meets the eye, she handled herself WAY too well for a kid right off the street…

I kept calling that damned gravity well a “Stargate” though…couldn’t help it!

#5

I enjoyed this episode, still keeping an eye out for small things in the background, and liking the talk between the newly formed group. I also assume that we saw the creation of Graviton, (whoops, just saw the confirmation that that was what happened.)
Also looks like S.H.I.E.L.D. has been picked up for the full season, so good news!

#6

Have to agree - for all the lightheartedness in the movies, I was hoping for a bit more of the tone of Buffy/Firefly/Angel/Dollhouse where even though there is comedy, wit, and tension balanced between real connection between the characters (even in the pilot of Firefly - just did a rewatch) the shows had an overall seriousness about them.

I loved the reveal about the truth serum (check out my prediction in the pilot thread :D), and Coulson finally making a tough call at the end. Can’t say I was a fan of Skye throwing the gun down, but glad that it worked you Fenatic :slight_smile:

Overall, I’m still enjoying it, but as Nightwing said over on the new Legends of S.H.I.E.L.D. podcast (with Beef and the Operator), I’m more excited about where Arrow is going this season, and the decisions Oliver Queen is having to make, and how they impact those around him.

To be fair, and again to crib from the Legends guys, now that Joss has had the series picked up for a full run, I’m hoping that we’ll see the development of longer story arcs.

#7

Skye has proven up to this point that she is opportunistic. She is using S.H.I.E.L.D. for it’s training, to gain insider information for The Rising Tide, and as a nice place to hang her hat for the time being. But the moment she thought she could betray S.H.I.E.L.D. to her advantage she took it. She was legitimately intrigued by Quinn’s offer to hire her. Only when Quinn confronted her with the fact that she didn’t have any family did she decide to go against him. Because of what happened with her foster parents, The Brody’s, I doubt that she will commit to S.H.I.E.L.D. for a long time because of that. She is simply trying to become self sufficient right now and S.H.I.E.L.D. is the best place for her to obtain the training to be self sufficient.

#8

Yup. She definitely wasn’t ready for the situation she was in - including pulling the trigger. Skye needed S.H.I.E.L.D., and more specifically Ward, to come in and save her. She knew enough to delay, but not enough to complete the mission herself.

#9

Talk about seriousness! Coulson made the somewhat cold-hearted decision to kill Dr. Hall in order to stop the machine. He and he alone is responsible for the creation of whatever it is that comes out of that gravity ball (Most likely a Marvel character called Gravitron). This episode will have lasting effects on this series.

Skye manipulated things well but her street smarts only let her get so far. There was no one she was getting out of that compound on her own. It took everything she had just to plant the wifi bomb and survive long enough for Ward to come save her. That said I think the girl definitely has potential.

The gravity well reminded me of that stupid three axes trainer in the 1986 movie Space Camp. But I could see your Stargate reference too - especially with the event horizon.

#10

Oh this series will have plenty of Easter eggs in it. It’s the comic book way, it’s the Whedon way, and it is the geek way.

For instance, the trucker Agent Mack’s point driver, Little Girl. Did anyone else try to freeze frame and zoom in to see if it was supposed to be Agent Hill?

#11

I’m not so sure about the Truth Serum. We didn’t get confirmation for anyone, just the doubt planted that there might not be any truth serum.

Coulson did make a tough call. Way too tough. In fact that might be one of the many many many reasons Agent May asked to be assigned field work - to prevent whatever Coulson is from making the same mistake again.

I’ll +1 the Legend’s assessment on the full series. I’m looking forward to some series plot twists and turns now.

#12

I’m not sure the call was way too tough, and I think if we look forward to Ep. 4, I think May might think that Coulson is too soft/emotionally connected to play by the book.

Example 1: In Ep. 2 The bus is hijacked by Coulson’s ex and all his team is threatened, and he goes out of his way to save her and some of the team. The right call would have been to “space” her out the ad hoc air lock; the message I cam away with was that you can take S.H.I.E.L.D. agents hostage and threaten to kill them and you’ll be handcuffed and returned to your government. Meh.

Example 2: In Ep. 4 SPOILER IF YOU HAVEN"T SEEN EYE SPY [spoiler]Akela (& the Bee) is killing people, chopping off hands, committing crimes etc, and May doubts Coulson can make the hard call when it comes to his protoge, so she goes solo into the field. Coulson’s softness actually pays off in this one as she’s being coerced/controlled, but May was willing to make the hard call by herself.[/spoiler]

I get the “I’m a better field agent than you and Ward, and I’m frustrated I have to sit in the bus” or “Frack it, you NEED me or you’re going to get yourself killed” vibe from her, despite her initially wanting to avoid combat. Either way, I’m excited about May’s backstory most of all.

#13

And as the show has gone on it’s definitely showing more of that…now I can only hope we’ll see some interactions with some lesser of relevance super-people and make things a bit more interesting

This might be just the plot point I was looking for for seeing some “more then just human” people and issues to deal with on the show…I was a DC kid so I KNOW nothing about the Marvel U outside of movies and a few video games…I feel a little in the dark because of that…

And yeah she did, and not to spoil anything but the preview for next week’s episode looks like it might deal a bit more with what side is she REALLY on…my GF loves the Skye character…hope this works out better then when she latched on to Boomer in the BSG mini-series three months ago :eek:

#14

So we get to know a little bit more about Ward in this episode and his “past.” He had brothers. So odds are that he wasn’t a unique genetic engineering specimen.

Plus we know that there is at least one country in which S.H.I.E.L.D. cannot operate freely - Malta.

Memorable Quotes:

Guy On Horseback Who Sold The Backhoe To The Hijackers: “Who the Hell are you?”
Coulson: "A concerned citizens who happens to be a member of a giant bureaucratic organization that’s tracking your every move.

Ward: “But you don’t have the background or clearance or experience with any of this.”
Skye: “I know. But I do have an invitation. Well, technically it’s an e-vite.”

Coulson: “You forget – I saw plenty of action with The Avengers.”
May: “And you died.”
Coulson: “Alright team. Suit up.”

Skye: “I could get used to this people. It’s like SIRI if it worked.”

Skye: “I prefer Hacktivist.”

Coulson: “I’ll be honest. Our strategy did not take into consideration you saying that.”

Skye: “Hoping for something and losing it hurts more than never hoping for anything.”

#15

I look forward to seeing episode 4. Hopefully I’ll get to it later tonight. As far as Coulson, up to this episode so far he does try to do the right thing without anyone getting hurt or killed in both the movies and this show. He likes to think out of the box that way. This was his first act I’ve seen Coulson commit that was against that thinking.

Despite not liking Ming-Na before this series I’m starting to like her in the Agent May character. She definitely has possibilities.