Loved it? Hated it? What did you think of "The Man Behind the Shield"?

[Welling_is_pretty]

So this episode was very up and down, for me. I enjoyed getting to see the past with Coulson (level 4) and May (level 3)--though May's bangs were a little distracting.
Whenever we see pre-Avengers Coulson I can't help but think of that Marvel short "A Funny thing happened on the way to Thor's hammer".

I get that they were setting up/backstorying a Coulson/May romance but this was more retcon that I didn't buy. Phil and Melinda have never acted like they were ever interested in dating so, while it was good to have this set up, it doesn't jibe with the rest of the run of Agents of SHIELD, IMO. Also, it made me wonder what Melinda's reaction was when she was told that Phil had been killed in the Battle of New York?

Also, what was the 084 and what happened to it? *wonders*

The villain's backstory was...meh, to me. though I did enjoy Phil's bit about not even noticing him because he went on so many missions. Cute.

Nice to see FitzSimmons back in action again (feels like forever!).

Okay, the LMD switchout. I'm still confused as to timeline stuff but this just seemed a bit ridiculous to me. Also, now that Daisy's a robot (sorry, android) she won't have her Quake powers anymore, right? I can't tell if these LMD's know they are or not but if she doesn't and she goes to use her powers, she's going to be in for a rude awakening!

I really thought we were maybe going to get May back this episode or starting winding down this storyline (score a big win for the team, as it were) but instead it's going on? I'm not that happy about that. It's just dragging on a little too long, I guess, for me. I'm ready for them to wrap this up.

So, as I said, up and down for me.

[jon-el87]

though I did enjoy Phil's bit about not even noticing him because he went on so many missions. Cute.

I agree. Characters having perfect memories is a cliché (ex. the series Cold Case, where everyone always remember what happened decades ago, in great detail), so it was a nice break from that.

Also, now that Daisy's a robot (sorry, android) she won't have her Quake powers anymore, right? I can't tell if these LMD's know they are or not but if she doesn't and she goes to use her powers, she's going to be in for a rude awakening!

Probably not. But, given that Radcliffe has the Darkhold, it wouldn't surprise me if he's found a way for the LMD to mimic the abilities of the original.

I really thought we were maybe going to get May back this episode or starting winding down this storyline (score a big win for the team, as it were) but instead it's going on? I'm not that happy about that. It's just dragging on a little too long, I guess, for me. I'm ready for them to wrap this up.

Yeah, it has been dragging on. Thankfully, I've heard, the next episode will apparently be the conclusion of this arc.

[Welling_is_pretty]

Characters having perfect memories is a cliché (ex. the series Cold Case, where everyone always remember what happened decades ago, in great detail), so it was a nice break from that.

It is an overused trope--to have characters remember, if not everything, then almost everything. It was nice to not have that here.

But, given that Radcliffe has the Darkhold, it wouldn't surprise me if he's found a way for the LMD to mimic the abilities of the original.

Hmmm, hadn't thought of him using the Darkhold that way. Interesting.

Thankfully, I've heard, the next episode will apparently be the conclusion of this arc.

I heard that too. Haven't seen this week's episode but I heard it wrapped the storyline up, which kind of relieves me.

[AsteroidMike]

The LMD switchout was confusing to me, too. I admit it was a pretty big shock when I saw that all 4 of them were replaced but when Simmons brought up how things felt weird, it had me wondering what exactly was the timeline of how things went down. My guess is they were all ambushed offscreen and then taken to the sub and then AIDA left. When exactly, I'm not sure but I venture that Coulson got caught immediately after he stopped talking to the Superior, because the next time he's shown is when Mack is fighting with the henchmen over Mace. Now when Daisy gets replaced I'm not sure.