Shrink me, baby. Shrink. Me.

Just remember, it's unethical to hook up with one's psychiatrist.

From the promo, Admiral Adama is the new director of Not!SHIELD. Awesomesauce.

I am becoming less and less happy with AoS. I make no bones about having shallow taste in TV, but I want the show to have Coulson kicking people's butts, literally and figuratively, and I don't want to have so many people plotting against him and all that. I know we're in build up to Ultron, and it looks like they ramping up to Civil War (bleh), and I want to see Coulson looking smug and pleased for a change.

But May's ex was very nice.

I don't think I like Gemma any more.

Just remember, it's unethical to hook up with one's psychiatrist.

I'll get a new one. Hell, I'll see Hannibal Lecter if it gets me Blair Underwood.

Also, I can't help reading it politically; it seems like AOS is pissing on every point Winter Soldier ever made. In the Marvel Universe, Captain America, the symbol of what was best in "The Greatest Generation" takes an action that makes him a cross between Snowden and Chelsea Manning. Except that he still gets to do physical butt kicking too. And AOS the POV character Sky starts out by being an open info advocate and ends up deciding that the people need to be protected from knowing too much. And the story is largely about all the harm done by the exposing of Shield. "Ya know what we said in Winter Soldier? Just kidding?". And I know that Joss is pretty liberal, but story tends to have its own logic, and I think that is definitely there. Not the main point, but all the more powerful for being taken for granted rather than foregrounded.

Hell, I'll see Hannibal Lecter if it gets me Blair Underwood.

This made me laugh and say "Hell, yeah!" at the same time.

It bothers me that Coulson is so pro-Index.

But all the kudos to Skye's Dad, taking the hit that "We just pulled out of there to shut you up, you're none of us, go meet your judges" calmly, putting on his jacket, tidying his hair, and walking out head high. That was cool.

So, NuSHIELD, affiliated with Stark (doubtful to me)? Or holdovers from the World Security Council?

I am becoming less and less happy with AoS.

I really WANT to like it more than I do. It has really good moments, but none of them hook together to make a great episode. Even the reveal of "the *real* SHIELD" made me just go "Oh, for fuck's sake, really???" when I think I was supposed to go "OMG, show, you are so crafty and clever with your shocking twists!"

Everybody lies (I seriously can't keep track of who is keeping what secret from whom anymore, and they just add more secrets every episode), most of the scenes are lit too darkly, and it's just stressful drama all the time.

Though -- and I've said this before -- casting Kyle MacLachlan was GENIUS. I love Crazy Dad SO MUCH. Was this episode the first time he explicitly said he did whack-ass experiments on himself in order to be stronger? I'm wondering if they'll alter his comic-book backstory a little and make his experiments an attempt to recreate the super soldier serum (because in the MCU, that's how we got the Hulk, so I would buy Crazy Dad's massive rage and super-strength as a result of that).

To be fair, now that I think about it, last night's episode was always going to fall flat for me, since I watched it immediately after The Flash, which was straight-up embrace-the-crazy, yelling-at-the-TV, AWESOME.