It could be a "the licensing agreements don't allow us to mention telepathy" sort of thing, but I always took that sort of "Oh, come on, TELEPATHY!?!?!" line in AoS to be a little joke. A nod to the fact that even with all they've seen, some members of SHIELD still have lines that their imaginations can't cross.

I didn't know this at the time, but I think the helicarier was meant to drive home the point that the mercenary named Bob that Deadpool recognizes and has a short conversation with mid-fight is actually "Bob, Agent of Hydra" one of Deadpool's sidekicks from the comics.

"Without movies like The Godfather, Citizen Kane, or Tommy Wiseau’s The Room, would people even be able to recognize an idea like regret? Or honor? Or love? Almost certainly not…"

This is a problem with turning a book with so many story lines and narrators into a t.v. show imho (and they're doing a good job, I say).

I can see right now how this might seem like an unnecessary distraction for people who are ignorant of the spoilers (as in "oh whatever he's totally over, can we just get rid of him now?"). It's partly the limitations of the serial and visual nature of a T.V. show though, as compared to a book, imho.

Now it's gonna get tough not to be spoilery while continuing this discussion, so I must be careful, but sure, I guess maybe we don't see X in the books per se. However, if you see the after effects of X, and X having happened is discussed after the fact, it's not really true, I'd say, to claim that "X isn't covered…

Theon is going through hell, guys! Now I’d like to know who his torturers are! I’ve read that this is material that’s not really covered in the books, and there is that feel of a thin thread of info being stretched as far as it can in these early episodes.