Agents of SHIELD - 'Love in the Time of Hydra'

Ahh... nuts.

It's all very spy in Agents of SHIELD this week, as Grant Ward and Agent 33 go on a quest for identity and Bobbi and Mack introduce Hunter to the Real SHIELD, which is presumably a cartoon spin off which will later lead into Extreme SHIELD. Also, Skye is being moved to a bucolic safehouse and given power-controlling gloves, much to Fitz's annoyance, because he's struggling to separate 'non-acceptance of change' from 'uncontrolled and insanely dangerous powers'.

Did I mention, Ward's back? I... so don't care. I was really hoping he was dead, but it turns out 33 saved him and they're doing some crimes together. There are some cringeworthy scenes where she hits on him to try and establish some parity in a relationship where he holds all the power and knowledge. There's a decent payoff where essentially he gets her to reclaim her own identity, which was stripped from her by HYDRA and the malfunctioning nano-mask, but ultimately 33/Kara remains a fairly weak character who is perpetually controlled by someone else, either through brainwashing or emotional manipulation.

Am I the only one wondering why we're not watching this show?

Lance Hunter is introduced to Robert Gonzales, leader of the Real SHIELD and not-incidentally Edward James Olmos. With Mack on board and a senior agent played by Kirk Acevedo, I'm pretty much ready to throw in which this lot at present (they have the great advantage of not having got Trip killed because oh, poor Skye,) so there'd better be either a twist complete change of cast or a nasty secret in the bowels of that aircraft carrier.

I guess in their disfavour, they couldn't contain Lance Hunter once Bobbi took a step back, which is a bit damning of their capabilities. Mind you, I'm not that impressed with Coulson and May's tradecraft, after they got suspicious of Bobbi and Mack and played it cool by immediately asking Mack lots of obviously probing questions in a pointed fashion.