someone learned the lesson to only threaten someone with a gun if you intend to pull the trigger.

i agree.

i have read only a couple of comics in my life, and none of them pertain to SHIELD, so i'm as in the dark as you.

i'm not sure that follows. we're talking about being sure your brain wasn't tampered with by some secret nazi. that requires a level of trust several orders of magnitude greater than trusting a teammate or member of your family. i can buy that everyone trusts each other (and that coulson is above suspicion just…

he doesn't seem all that interesting, really. you're just seeing that because you're comparing him to the black hole of interest that is agent dark fistjaw.

agreed. look, i'm not saying it would make much sense if that were the case, and i'm certainly not saying the writers forsaw that leap of logic. it probably didn't occur to them, like it didn't to me. HOWEVER, in coulson's and may's place, i think any of us would be just as eager to rule out any possibility that our…

one major mistake, i think, was making coulson such a huge character. i'm STRONGLY on team phil — i think he's awesome — but part of the reason he was such a strong presence in the films is because he was used so judiciously and was such a minimalistic character. his whole brief was "dry; pragmatic; reacts…

i feel like skye's hair after the lola escape was a response from the showrunners to audience criticism about her perfect hair.

your point about Hydra looking for the TAHITI intel ruling out pierce's involvement is decent. i hadn't thought of that. however, given that the only person fury answered to IS pierce, and given Hydra's obsessive compartmentalisation, it's more than plausible that pierce and/or "the clarvoyant" could have been running…

the only quibble i have is that i refuse to see this as a high bar for the series' potential. imagine if, graded on a curve, this episode were a mere B! what delights those A episodes would have for us.

honestly, i've been seeing that skye all along. but i tend to forgive shitty writing when i see potential behind a character. i think she's brave, smart, funny, and doesn't take shit. i just conveniently overlook when she's written petulant, whiny and stupid. i want SO BAD for this show to be good that i'm VERY…

true. they have the balls, but maybe not the length on the lead around their necks. working with ABC, marvel and disney can't be easy. i really don't envy jed and maurissa.

i honestly think it could've been great the way it was, if it was written better.

i do too. and the azula parallel is a good one — i don't think he's being set up to have a crisis of conscience; it felt more like the "nothing personal" mantra of Hydra backstabbers is being set up as a contrast to coulson and team's "family first" attitude, and after deathlok's kill-ward order, those…

in fairness to whedon, he's known for being pretty aware of actions' consequences and repercussions. i mean, AGAIN, it's not his show, but it's worth keeping in mind.

i laughed way too hard at that joke. what an esoteric joke.

ah. thank you.

oh, really? thanks for that clarification. i thought he grew up in the riverlands, from his closeness to the tully girls. i can picture the fingers, but i don't really know where they are.

dinklage has a consistency that gillen lacks. also, his performance is so full of aplomb that it's hard to be distracted by his accent (which, you're right, is not very good). the portrayal of littlefinger is really hampered by gillen's command of the accent, i think. but honestly, i just don't think he's a very…

i don't think an acting lord of the vale will have the support on the ground to march an army somewhere. the arryns were beloved; littlefinger is an outsider. besides, what good is an army on its own? i hardly think littlefinger wants to lead an army to that iron chair. that's not his style. i sincerely doubt…