This week’s episode of Agents of SHIELD dealt with *gasp* time travel. If you’ve been watching this season and this Pod so far, you know that something related to time has happened to this team, so that really isn’t a spoiler. If you haven’t been watching, what the hell, man? GET TO IT. This is io9. We do the work.

Sometimes I feel like a broken record, but sometimes the facts have a repetitive bias: This show doesn’t brake for no one. A common criticism of those who stopped watching way back in the simpler times of Season One was that the show was too slow. Well, that time was spent building the framework (!!!) for what was to…

This must be the place, because Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is back from a long break, and we’re ready to roll straight to the War Infinity, with a brief, but awesome stop in Wakanda along the way. SHIELD is a television show that takes place within the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This statement is true to certain degrees,…

The past season saw the show split up into three separate “pods” (smaller story arcs). Last night, all three of those pods came crashing together in a cacophony of destruction, death, mustaches, sadness, and awesomeness. At first I was bullish on this new format, but after last night, I’m sold.

When the world is going to shit and anxiety seems to be our new “normal” emotion, I’m grateful that there are shows like Agents of SHIELD on the air to provide some distraction and break from the absurdity that is 2017. For 62 minutes (I record extra because this is Marvel so you never know and those “SHIELD will…

Well shit. Last night’s Agents of SHIELD was a doozy. This “pod” - as it appears the mini-episodes contained within each season are being called - has really focused on what it means to be a person and the nature of consciousness. Aida may have got what she wanted (with some alterations), but is she real? What about…

There is something to think about after last night’s episode of Agents of SHIELD: It’s weird how they are “being political” by pointing out propaganda and sexual harassment. I am old enough to remember when “being political” meant talking about how tax cuts affect different areas of the country or whether we are or…

That was an intense episode. I know it’s all part of the Matrix Framework and it doesn’t really matter unless one of the people plugged in (or downloaded, AGNES) die, but I couldn’t help but feel like even if it’s “fake,” punching Nazis and toppling Hydra should be priorities. This show is doing an awesome job of…

Can we please get off this ride now? I’m ready to go back to the real world. Is that too much to ask? This was the Empire Strikes Back episode of this Framework arc, because even though our rebels got some small victories, the empire came out on top in the end. Although, I do like the rebel alliance vibe virtual…

I’m glad those SHIELD agents followed Captain’s orders in The Winter Soldier, because this “What If” story about what could have been is pretty messed up. It’s been a hot minute since Daisy and Jemma hacked into the Framework, but we finally got to see what all the hubbub was about. Just kill me already.

This week’s episode was the end of the Ghost Rider arc, but hopefully not the end of Ghost Rider in the MCU. Robbie was my favorite on-screen Ghost Rider (once you get through the nostalgia of Declaration of Independence and Ford Mustang thief Johnny Blaze) and I can’t wait to see what else is in store for that guy…

Happy Holidays everyone! I hope you had a great time with the fam bam, ate too much, got into fisticuffs about your local politicking, and bought too much crap on credit. TIS THE SEASON. But now we’re back, with this family we’ve grown to love over the past three and a half seasons, and it’s time to get into…

This week was all about Ghost Rider. There were some advances and references to the other plot lines (like FitzSimmons’ relationship and the Darkhold), but the meat of this episode was Ghost. Motherfucking. Rider. And god damn did it deliver.

This season seems to have two themes going on at the same time, and even though this episode actually showed us the Darkhold and had a maybe little Dr. Strange connection and a pretty cool Ghost Rider (the one with the Donorcycle, not the Dodge) reference, it feels like it spent more time exploring the conflict…

I thought I had it all figured out, I did. I thought I was smart enough to figure it out. Instead, Marvel went and threw a little rouge on us, and I don’t know what’s yet to come. Seriously, I’m lost this season. Think about it: Every time we get a hold on something, a tweak or a change is thrown our way, making…

Marvel is digging deep this season. Great googly moogly. Because some early 2000's business people wanted immortality and great power, it’s entirely possible that Marvel Zombies, vampires, werewolf’s, and RED FREAKING SONJA are now canon in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Because of the implication. We knew this season…

Lawdy. It was a long summer, but we’re finally back. And, true to form, Shield hit the ground running. Whatever complaints you may have about Shield, filler episodes is not one of them. We developed about eleventy questions that need answering this season, and I predict that about half will be answered before…

I don’t like how AMC started this whole trend where shows take a three to six month break right in the middle of their season, effectively making two season finales and two season openers. I feel cheated. I understand that it’s good for business and stretches their seasons out a little (like Agents of SHIELD is 22…

We just finished our third complete season of Agents of SHIELD (let that sink in, after all we’ve been through, it’s only been three seasons so far. It would have taken some shows six or seven seasons to get to where we are now), and things are completely bonkers. An old complaint about the show was the pacing for the…

Last night’s episode was the tie-in episode to Civil War, and I was completely happy with how they did it. Recently I’ve said that I didn’t think the tie-in would be as monumental as the tie-in to Winter Soldier, and in a way, I was right and wrong. I was right because the events of the movie didn’t really change…