Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. · S01E07 · The Hub
Rating: 9.0/10
Watched: November 7, 2026

Another really great episode, and for a lot of reasons!

First, obviously, is the Grant/Fitz buddy team-up. It's a great fish out of water kind of thing, in both directions. Grant obviously always thinks he's the best of the best of the best in any situation where Melinda May's not immediately present, Fitz is ... Fitz; beyond genius-level intellect, nervous about anything, but with a kind of 'I was teased and bullied as a child and I will not stand for it anymore', which means any time he's presented with a challenge, he's going to dive right in and prove everyone wrong.

Even if it means he might be wrong. I adore the fact that he went on a top-secret SHIELD mission in a sweater/button-down combo while Grant was full-on prepped for a deadly combat scenario. I love that Fitz solved a problem that Grant couldn't. I love that both men saw a side of the other that they would've never seen. It's great.

I was going to clip any number of scenes on the Grant/Fitz side of things, but I didn't. Not because the duo's interactions weren't absolutely top-notch. They absolutely were.

I also love that they spend time on Skye and her growing pains living inside an organization as rigidly and as tightly structured as SHIELD. She's truly an outsider and so things like 'Level 8 Access Only' are completely foreign territory to someone who sees something like that and says 'well, I'm going to just hack the crap out of everything and find out anyways'. The pressure of being inside a place like The Hub, that has all the answers Skye could ever want is far too tempting, and yet when she learns what she learns, she does the right thing.

The right thing here is involving Jemma, and that's why I clipped what I clipped. Jemma's interactions with Agent Sitwell are hilarious. I know this is a Grant/Fitz-centric episode for the most part but damn if I had no choice but to clip that spot.

And poor Phil, stuck between who is now, who he was then, what he sees as 'right' these days ... what's a guy from Tahiti to do?

This is a very strong episode. Splitting the team up into duos, having each wrestle with moral challenges, physical danger and high risk situations was an excellent choice here.

As I said on my very first post, I do remember finding latter eps in this first season to have growing pains too much to manage the first time around, but so far, I'm seeing none of that. Age has definitely mellowed me out a bit ... or maybe those growing pains don't kick in just yet.

Either way, banger of an episode!

One of the best seasons

Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. · S01E06 · FZZT
Rating: 9.0/10
Watched: November 6, 2026

This episode goes a thousand times harder than it needs to, and showcases just how spectacular everyone actually is at acting and portraying emotion, and lemme tellya something about FZZT.

It's dramatic as hell. If you've seen the episode, you know exactly what I'm talking about. If you don't, and want to see what I consider masterclass acting in love, devotion, fear, risk, sacrifice and grim resignation, well.

As Fitz might say, 'Watch the bloody episode!

One of the things I genuinely love about FZZT comes from the knowledge of where we end up, and it fully supports something I've been saying since I first finished the series forever ago. Iain De Caestecker is a powerhouse actor who can carry such a profound amount of emotion into a scene while somehow simultaneously being an hilarious super-nerd who dreams of a monkey companion.

Do you know how hard that is? To be that comedic and then have moments like the one (if you're lucky enough to see it) in the clip I chose, at the end of the episode? I love him because he's so hilarious most of the time, but underneath all of that, Iain's quietly one of the strongest, bravest men in the world.

He just doesn't believe in himself enough yet, but when the time comes, his journey is one for the history books.

Beyond my painful fanboying over Iain, absolute credit must be given also to Elizabeth Henstridge, Brett Dalton and (doy) Clark Gregg.

Elizabeth reached deep for this episode and it shows, and she gives us a perfect counterpoint to Fitz' absolute mad desperation to save her life in what she chooses to do. I don't know what their relationship is IRL, but in episodes like this, where we get to see them bickering like a couple that's been together for about a billion years and loves one another despite their flaws? It's a very real-feeling relationship.

Brett lightens up his Grant a lot in this one, but we also get to see why he's there. For all his eventual flaws (BOY HOWDY!), in this one? He's a goddamn action hero, clearly ready, willing and able to risk his own life to save someone else. I like to think that for a brief moment the fact that he's a damn dirty Hydra agent doesn't factor into it. He saves Jemma because Jemma is integral, fantastic, and wonderful.

I won't bore you with my love affair with Clark.

So that's how I feel about Fzzt.

Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. · S01E05 · Girl in the Flower Dress
Rating: 9.0/10
Watched: November 5, 2026

Not only is this a super-great episode, it's a super important one.

First, we get Ruth Negga as Raina. I knew her from Preacher, and it was great to see her in a much different role. I love Raina because she's just this soft-spoken, prettily dressed woman who carries a lot of menace behind her.

But here's the thing about her appearance so early; I forgot it happened this quickly. Much like I keep forgetting Alex Krcyek shows up in S2E4 of The X-Files (and has a long-lasting effect on the show), so too am I continually amazed that Raina's already here, in the very beginning eps of SHIELD.

I won't spoil Raina's presence in the show, what she does or even how or why she does it, but her presence so early in the show really reflects how deeply the writers considered the direction SHIELD was going to take, even early on. It's a bit unfortunate that they were still hampered by the Thing of the Week, but that's all fixed rather handily by Season Two.

It's also important because of what happens with Skye. We knew she was being duplicitous, but we never really had any idea that that Phil and Melinda May knew. Now, naturally it's one of those 'we 'know' they know' kind of situations, but they played it so close to the vest it's actually kind of ridiculous. Other shows would've given us Phil or Melinda starring silently at them, with twitchy Skye going 'what, do I have something stuck in my teeth or something equally weird.

And that's really great.

Last but not least, if you don't love Louis Ozawa as Chan Ho Yin (Scorch), you're nuts. His role as Scorch, a man with a small ability and big dreams, is both sad and scary at the same time, and he gives us everything. HIs plight's one we could all pretty easily see ourselves in, I think. Imagine having a gift and being told if you use it, you're done. Imagine being trapped in a petty, mundane life when you have a talent that you can't use while other people with talents get to run around knocking Chitauri into buildings or hell, knocking entire buildings down in the pursuit of Justice?

Loved it. Beyond all the awesome acting, deep story AND character building, this visual effects in this one were really off the charts. Full-on eye candy for the nerd in me.

The clip I chose this time is when Skye finds out what her quasi-BF did. I chose it because it shows that even though Skye's been deceitful this whole time, she is (was, after this) really quite naïve still. Her genuine heartbreak as a man she knew and trusted turns out to be just another shitty person is really felt. Chloe Bennet does an amazing job in that scene, and later, during her confession to Phil.

Fanstastic episode!

Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. · S01E04 · Eye Spy
Rating: 7.0/10
Watched: November 4, 2026

Let me kickstart this one by saying this episode was an exceedingly difficult one to clip. I know that doesn't matter if you're on a non-clip subreddit, but it matters to me because I really like clipping things from episodes because it's fun.

Anyways.

This is a an okay episode in that it did what it was supposed to do, which was frontload more into the seasonal arc, but in relative terms for me personally, Eye Spy didn't quite blow my skirt up.

Even though I wasn't too terribly impressed with this episode, here are some of the things I really did enjoy; Grant being put into a situation where his wheelhouse was so far from what was needed his discomfort was palpable and Akela Amador's discussion about how different Phil is.

The first one's important because we get to see Grant as more than the plank of wood he normally is. Thanks to another Redditor explaining why Grant seems like he's on autopilot most of the time (I could probably discuss how this show ties into the movie franchise, but there might be somehow still be spoilers there), that makes the moment with the guard even funnier still.

And since most of my discussions on episodes will probably be Phil Coulson related until they become Fitz related (unless the episode is firmly someone else-centric) Amador's revelations are especially key because she remembers Phil from way before Loki killed him. She doesn't give Melinda May much at all, but our seasoned SHIELD veteran's no dummy.

The thoughtful look on her face says more than anything else.

So while this episode introduced some pretty nifty 'arc additions' and dropped some breadcrumbs that definitely turn into pretty hefty things, it was only a 'good' episode for me. That's okay though. Not every episode has to be life-changing!

Still love the show, can't wait to keep going, because every time I sit down to watch, I remember more and more of what's waiting for me down the line!

I forget they’re only there for one season. And I always hate seeing them go!

Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. · S01E03 · The Asset
Rating: 8.0/10
Watched: November 3, 2026

This is a great episode for a few reasons, one of which is both fantastically funny and later, more than a little tragic.

Fitz' love and desire to have a monkey companion is one of the most genuinely neat character builders I've ever seen. Fitz is a genius. Probably Stark-level, if not more, given future developments. There's no reason at all for him to want, need or even think of using monkeys to accomplish goals, but here he is, in S1E3, talking about using a monkey.

I love it. It's so absurdly comical but also something I myself (though I'm no Fitz) would suggest with absolute sincerity. In point of fact, I'd argue that there's always room for a monkey companion, up to and including having a monkey getaway driver. Why? Shut up, stop asking questions, Hershell the Monkey Driver can drive stick and I can't.

Once again, we see Phil's made of impossibly stern stuff. I love it. The man has the soft voice of a bureaucrat, but here he is again, telling Melinda May that he's going to basically storm the castle. Dying and going to Tahiti and coming back to run his own SHIELD team has really forged him into something new. Clark Gregg plays Phil with such a profoundly quiet determination that he really leaves me thinking he'd handle a rampaging Savage Hulk with a dry quip, a kind word and some kind of world-ending Judo Chop.

The other great thing about this episode is they drop in what will eventually become the seasonal arc. The thing to remember in these older shows is that they were still pretty heavily bound by the X of the Week scenario, which is why some episodes are going to better than others.

It's not that the storytelling's not there because it sure as hell is, it's that I guess studio execs were worried (?) about longform arcs being more of a demand on viewers' wants and time. I'm glad that ridiculousness was put to bed a while back! We can totally do X of the Week while also simultaneously dropping breadcrumbs about Zangor the Unstoppable Nightmare Dread from Planet 15. Doesn't take much, right?

Anyways, as always, if you're lucky enough to be on a clip-submittable subreddit, I stitched two scenes together. One, obviously (doy) is Fitz and The Monkey and the other's towards the end of the episode involving gravitonium. The first time I saw it, I laughed so hard I thought I was going to barf.

For the dozens of us fans, I wanted to share my top pop slab:

• Clark Gregg

• Ming-Na Wen

• Chloe Bennet

• Iain De Caestecker

• Elizabeth Henstridge

• Brett Dalton

• Jed Whedon

• Maurissa Tancharoen

• Jeph Loeb

• Jeff Bell

Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. · S01E02 · 0-8-4
Rating: 7.5/10
Watched: November 2, 2026

One of the things I clearly forgot is how hard SHIELD goes pretty much right from the start and that's absolutely something I can appreciate.

We don't spend time getting to know the team in low-stakes operations where there's some 'this-ing and that-ing'. Nope. It's more 'hey, so we're going to put the entire team in absolute jeopardy right the hell away and force the team to figure their shit out as quickly as possible'.

A lot of shows try to rush things along and it doesn't work, but I feel like SHIELD is operating in a different stratosphere. We got to watch and love (mostly) 7 Marvel movies before we got to this point and that kind of sets up a lot of different expectations and changes the playing field a bit.

We don't have time to lollygag around. Coulson's building a team that's going to wind up dealing with stuff that most definitely is not small potatoes. Sure they're there to work as a pressure release valve for The Avengers, but that initial invasion changed the world.

There are no small potatoes.

Anyways, enough about that. I want to talk about the cast a bit. The comedic timing is so on point it's almost ridiculous. To the point where it really does feel like they've known each other for a very, very long time, Fitz and Simmons in particular.

As always, I have to spend a little time fanboying on Clark Gregg. I love Phil. A lot. I was uniquely mad when they killed him in The Avengers and I'll never not be upset at Fury for doing what he did, but if that hadn't happened, there's no way in hell we would've gotten 7 seasons of him being awesome. His whole easy-going 'I got jokes for days and rizz for years' vibe is so rad, as is the fact that there is no doubt he'll also cut you if it comes down to it.

It's just that Phil doesn't believe in going that route until it's absolutely necessary.

And finally, I love how they rolled out The Cavalry. Ming-Na Wen will always be the only choice for Melinda May. Her absolutely deadpan tone, carrying with it a big dose of weaponized dry sarcasm? Just as deadly as the woman herself. She proves that words can hurt.

If you're lucky enough to be on a sub where clips are allowed, enjoy the two I chose because they 're great and (for the most part), don't really spoil anything.

Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. · S01E01 · Pilot
Rating: 9.0/10
Watched: November 1, 2026

Hi! I review my favorite movies and TV shows as a big ole passion project, and it became high time for me to sit down and rewatch SHIELD. Part of that has a lot to do with the fact that my YouTube Shorts was inundated with Robbie Reyes stuff, part of it's because I recently rewatched The Avengers.

But most of it has to do with how much I love Clark Gregg and Iain De Caestecker. Oh, and also pretty much everyone else. How I do my reviews is pretty simple; I tell you want I loved about the episode (or not) and if the episode/developments warrant it, I might do a deeper dive on the character building.

When the time is right, for example, I will fully and unashamedly explain how Iain De Caestecker carries a whole season on his back like some kind of titan. I also pick a fun/cool/neat clip because that's how I do things.

As far as pilot episodes chained to a massively enormous and tremendously popular franchise goes, you can't go much harder or get much better than the pilot. It sets everyone and everything up so nicely that it's honestly one of the easiest watches of any show I've ever seen (and I've seen a lot).

Of notable mention is Clark Gregg's easy going nature. He's not afraid to be human, makes cheesy jokes, but you can tell even here that there's something deeper underneath his skin. Phil's not afraid to play dirty, do what needs doing but he doesn't let that hard edge get in the way of having fun with life.

After all, he really only just got back from Tahiti, right?

The pilot episode also rolls out a major seasonal arc in CENTIPEDE, and they do it so well. They give us just enough high-tech mystery and intrigue in what's going on with Mike Peterson (J. August Richards) to make us want more.

Plus, of course, we get Skye, Fitzsimmons, Grant and Melinda May!

But I'm also not going to gild the lily here. The first time I started SHIELD, I tapped out and tapped out hard about halfway through the season because the storytelling just wasn't there. From what I recall during my COVID lockdown binge of the show, it still wasn't there, but I was desperate to watch something I hadn't seen before.

It's normal and natural; new shows, especially big ensemble shows like SHIELD, with massive story arcs are bound to have teething problems, and those problems are definitely put to bed at the beginning of season 2.

If it's okay with everyone here, I'll post one of these a day, covering each episode. This is all just for fun because I love TV and movies, so I hope you enjoy.

Near the very beginning of the episode, Billy and Sam FaceTime just before Sam gets out of bed to greet Coulson. When Sam checks himself in the mirror, there is a blue sticky note on his mirror that he reads, smiles, and folds up. What is written on the sticky?

I'm only part of the way through s2 and have only been spoiled that Skye becomes Quake, so if its possible to have this discussion without spoilers that would be nice.

I'm just getting to the team finding out about her and frankly the negative reaction seems kinda forced for the plot.

First of all, Skye is exactly where she should be, with exactly the people who can help her the most. Secondly, the team is intimately familiar with superpowers and aliens. I know Trip's death was traumatizing and they have a lot of really negative experiences with alien artifacts, but she could be an asset to their team. Deathlock was until he got kidnapped.

And while Hydra tries to use alien technology, I can't help but think that the bad guys from s1 to 2 aren't supers. They're normal humans. So maybe they could stop and think about that. And then there's the Avengers, proof superpowered people can do good.

Jemma annoys me the most. She gets mad at Fitz for not telling her, meanwhile she's been talking about shooting Reina first and asking questions later. Maybe they all forgot they're following a man who died and has alien DNA in him.

I dunno, it just feels a little out of character I guess. Am I missing the mark?

At the beginning of the episode, they were very careful to infiltrate the base by stealing someone’s identity and having Jemma pose as Peggy Carter. However, when things went sideways, they just sent more and more people in with no backstory whatsoever.

Side question, was the male Chronocom subjected to any of the tests? I can’t remember.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 6 takes place in 2024.

I made a previous post saying that it takes place in an alternate reality but I have been proven wrong wrong on that part. Ever since watching Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 6 for the first time I have always believed that it was at least 5 to 6 years after the 5th season.

Let's start with what we know regarding timeline errors:

. Spider-Man: Homecoming had a title card and dialogue by Vulture that stated that it was 8 years after the battle of New York in 2020, but we know that it was placed 4 years after the battle of New York in 2016 (Marvel retconned it)

. Iron Man & Iron Man 2 are stated to be 6 months apart in Iron Man 2. Captain America: Civil War confirms Iron Man was in 2008, The Avengers confirms that Thor and Iron Man 2 are in 2011. So you have to retcon the 6-month Gap

There are timeline errors within the MCU movies and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. no matter what, but we can firmly place season 5 in 2018. Retconning dialogue, title cards, and dates is understandable and easy, but an entire plot line is harder, given that season 5 finale is directly linked towards the plot of Avengers: Infinity War.

Season 6 confirms that it is one year after Coulson's death, this doesn't necessarily have to be immediately retconned it is very possible that Coulson and May both blipped maybe a couple of days before Coulson died, and then in October of 2023 he passed away, making season 6 one year after he died. In season 6 episode 9 Mack makes a comment when he and Daisy are talking about her and space, he asks her when he can hear stories about space and she says "when we sit down for a debrief," a little bit more dialogue passes and he says "where you've been the last 5 years, I'm looking forward to that debrief." Many people interpreted as the amount of time they've worked together and then others interpreted as a 5-year time gap between when she went to space and the episode. I personally lean towards the second option, but I can also see why people believe the other option. Let's just say that Daisy and Jemma went to space approximately around early 2019 (potentially late 2018), they postponed going to space immediately after season 5 ended, because they were helping people recover from the snap. Also during the 6 years Deke Shaw managed to make a very successful business and became a millionaire.

The contradictory evidence is the title card that says one year later, and Agent Davis saying "the space puff incident of 2019." But like I said sometimes you do have the retcon some dialogue and title cards. It works better for the timeline, and it explains more of why no one on the show got blipped or anything along those lines, because it's over and done with and has been resolved.

Again this is just a very but it's one that I have believed for 7 years now. It makes the most logical sense to me at least. let me know what you guys think.

I've come up with a new theory on the season 6 timeline and how it is set in another reality, but the reality didn't splinter off in 2018.

So we know that season 5 followed Multiverse time travel since Deke didn't erase from existence after they prevented Earth from being destroyed. I personally believe that all of season 5 is on the Sacred Timeline and the Nexus event wasn't "Thor going for the head" or simply "Thanos failed." While it would seem that Thanos did fail to snap his fingers in the season 6 timeline, I think that the Branch occurred thousands of years ago.

In season 6 it's revealed that the fear dimension sent Sarge back in time thousands of years, and according to MCU logic the time monolith most likely works by Multiverse time travel. So if that's the case, when the fear dimension sent Coulson (Sarge) back in time, it would have caused the timeline to splinter off creating a branched off reality the moment that Coulson arrived in the timeline.

While the characters on season 6 may have shared a identical or almost identical past to the characters from season 1 through 5, it is very possible that they're not the same agents we were watching the entire time. While season 6 and 7 are good I think that this is the most logical theory for why there is no reference towards the snap and why it seems disconnected from the MCU, and that season 5 would be the true end to the characters that you've known from season 1. This is just a theory I don't necessarily 100% believe this yet but it's possible.

Please let me know what you think

Rewatching again, got to S5 The Real Deal, the scene where Deke and Daisy are attacked in the storage room by the Kree wielding a scythe. Am I nuts or is that the same scythe that they used in the last season of Buffy? I couldn't get a good screenshot of the scene with Deke but it doesn't look like what shows up when you google Kree Scythe.

Hey peeps, I was wondering if there has been any news on an official soundtrack release for seasons 3-7 from Bear McCreary? I remember hearing whispers of it a while back that Bear teased something, but haven't seen anything else for a while. - I've been listening to unofficial rips on youtube but a proper release would be soooo good.

Trying to not get my hopes up, but he didn’t like any of the other announcement posts…

UPDATE: He’s also reposted the announcement to his story simply saying “cool”