Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Parting Shot
March 23, 2016 3:03 PM - Season 3, Episode 13 - Subscribe

Bobbi and Hunter become ensnared in an assassination plot after tracking Malick to Russia. As S.H.I.E.L.D. races to save the lives on the line, the team is changed forever.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich (22 comments total)
 
Twice now SHIELD has had piles of agents in the same building as Malick and has let him get away.

I'll miss Bob and Hunter. I think I'll miss Hunter the most - his irreverence was good comic relief. Don't want too much grimdark.
posted by dazed_one at 5:18 PM on March 23, 2016


Yeah f you show, you don't tell me when to cry, I do. I'm not crying about Bobbie and Hunter, nope nope nope!

Actually, Hunter always reminded me of my ex-husband. Both good and bad things.

I know they're great actors and all, but frankly, FitzSimmons will never even remotely have the same level of chemistry as those two did. Let's hope that Coulson and May have a quickie or something, they also have at least SOME chemistry (only saying this because it's a MCU show where all the characters need to be romantically paired at some point, though I can't understand why -- IT JUST DOES).

fuck it, I'm kinda over this storyline and ready for ZombieWard to just eat the whole SHIELD team. Feels like they're going to include some filler between now and the Civil War crossover episode, which is what happened in the lead-up to the last one.
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 5:26 PM on March 23, 2016 [1 favorite]


I'm rather disappointed they've written the two most enjoyable characters out of the show - I suspect a lot of the fun that it's found recently will go with them. Here's hoping their spinoff quietly fails and they slip back in as mercs again or something.
posted by coriolisdave at 6:00 PM on March 23, 2016 [1 favorite]


It's a bad decision. I don't know what happened last year or whenever it was that they first considered doing this -- I think I read they were afraid that this show was weak in ratings and didn't want to make it worse -- but it's still not a good choice. Bobbie and Hunter added a lot of appeal and charm to the show and their absence will be felt more keenly than you might think given the size of their roles.

Was I supposed to recognize the significance of Malick's daughter? The actor seems familiar and so I don't know if I'm supposed to recognize her from being on the show previously (and this was a reveal) or if just know her from somewhere else.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 6:40 PM on March 23, 2016 [3 favorites]


Yeah, not a fan of B&L leaving, especially with so little buildup and for reasons that don't make a whole lot of sense.

Hey, Malick has a daughter and she's a good shot. Isn't that fascinating?

Has Ward finished eating yet? If so, is he going to do something now?
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 6:57 PM on March 23, 2016 [1 favorite]


I spent the entire sequence with Malik and his daughter wondering if her appearance was supposed to mean something. Uh... I got nothing. Maybe she'll be worth caring about next week.

Also part of the secretly crying over the B&H goodbye. I was expecting someone to die this episode so maybe the anticipation of a death made me more edgy. I'll miss them on the show and hope they bring someone else on to balance the dynamic.
posted by toomanycurls at 9:00 PM on March 23, 2016


Yeah, I didn't get the Malick's daughter thing either. Really seemed tacked on for no good reason.
posted by dazed_one at 9:16 PM on March 23, 2016


Why would you have to disavow agents when your agency doesn't formally exist? That's nonsensical. If you are a prime minister and there was a coup against you, and the conspirators are all dead, AND they were your political opposition, then who do you have to justify letting them go to? And as if the Russian PM can't just do whatever the fuck he wants? What a terrible, confected piece of writing.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 9:24 PM on March 23, 2016 [8 favorites]


Yeah, and his whole argument was that someone would have to take the blame. So it makes sense that the two people who are blamed for this are let go?
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 10:28 PM on March 23, 2016


I hope the B&L pilot is a success so they get their own show.
posted by Pendragon at 12:25 AM on March 24, 2016


Yeah, I didn't get the Malick's daughter thing either. Really seemed tacked on for no good reason.

I assume she's SOMEONE. Someone important.

Look, there's a lot of hate for this episode, I understand.
But, damn, the spies' goodbye scene was an amazing bit of television. My friend teared up (a lot, but she does).

I, of course, got my #nerdrage on because they didn't frame a shot of a teary Mac as a reference to 'Even An Android Can Cry'.

The rest of the episode was a filler plot, and I sometimes struggle to care about SHIELD, but it keeps winning me back with character moments like the May/Hunter scene, so keep watching.
posted by Mezentian at 4:09 AM on March 24, 2016


I think back in the day Fitz & Simmons had as much charisma and added as much fun as B&L have now. I'm curious now that B&L are gone if that is going to pick back up again. Much more than most other TV shows, I think it may have serious writing/plotting problems with running more than two or three entertaining characters at once. This seems to leave about two "boring character" plots an episode.
posted by humans are superior! at 4:15 AM on March 24, 2016


I was left unmoved by the 'Spies Goodbye' scene - I guess the departure was such a writing contrivance to get the character off to their spin-off that it broke the 4th wall too badly for me to accept it as in-show-reality. Definitely seems like a bad decision to bump them out mid-season - we're not going to get to see them react to the return of Ward/Hive now?
posted by oh yeah! at 5:35 AM on March 24, 2016


I was left unmoved by the 'Spies Goodbye' scene - I guess the departure was such a writing contrivance to get the character off to their spin-off that it broke the 4th wall too badly for me to accept it as in-show-reality.

PREACH! The show didn't earn that scene, it was just all plot.

That said, I'm deeply disturbed there weren't scenes of Hunter making soup or talking with Simmons about making sandwiches for Fitz. That would have been great character moments.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 5:45 AM on March 24, 2016


PREACH! The show didn't earn that scene, it was just all plot.

Look, I saw the plot mechanics, but I lived it.
Me.
My heart is clockwork.

May came to the table.
MAY!
I admit 'Most Wanted' is a curious option for ABC, but: I'm not out.
(Admittedly, I want to see the whole Hawkeye-Phantom Rider arc play out, but I think my chances of that are less than seeing US Agent show up.)

Simmons about making sandwiches for Fitz. /em>

Reverse that: perfection.
Wait, Fitz is the guy, right?

posted by Mezentian at 6:18 AM on March 24, 2016


the departure was such a writing contrivance to get the character off to their spin-off that it broke the 4th wall

Agreed.

One contrivance I'm glad they didn't lampshade, and in fact called out, was that Bob's "Russian Soldier" disguise was ridiculous. I had a giggle when the body guard asked her where her tie was.
posted by dazed_one at 7:30 AM on March 24, 2016


I'll miss Bob and Hunter. I think I'll miss Hunter the most - his irreverence was good comic relief. Don't want too much grimdark.

I guess nobody has to miss them too long, if they successfully spin up a new show. I'm skeptical that they're going to successfully spin out a show from a show that consistently does meh performance but maybe they think a two person spyish show can be cheaper and have a lower bar for success?

Why would you have to disavow agents when your agency doesn't formally exist?

I am comfortable with the idea that they're burned in such a way that they can't be effective anymore, if the Russian PM wants to make an issue of it. If he won't wink and nod and let them on their way, and instead wants to create a paper trail and put it in The System such that they can no longer operate in any circles where the job might need them to go. I could buy the idea that the PM is going to say hey, these two straight-up killed a high-ranking military officer in front of a bunch of other government witnesses and I am not going to burn political capital making them fall into line and cover it up.

But they sure didn't convey that in any sensible way, did they? They say disavowed because it sounds cool even though you actually talked to them in front of witnesses and got them out free and clear. They flip back and forth on whether the PM is being sneaky or dense and Coulson plays it like he doesn't know B&H but then he sneers in a very transparent way at the PM for not showing them gratitude.

I don't mind AoS as light heroish comic universe stuff; I find it overall and pleasant ensemble show. But they should quit trying to tread in spycraft that has them doing social engineering and treachery. They can't pull it off.

Twice now SHIELD has had piles of agents in the same building as Malick and has let him get away.

I don't really understand how they are going to try to keep threading this needle on killing. I'm not clear how they do anything but let him get away. The President said he's all kinds of connected and you can't go publicly after him... so can you just kill him? Surely you can't capture him can you? Because if you're not willing to assassinate people then what do you do with him? And if he's all that jacked in, surely there's some repercussions to removing him from his structure, even if he doesn't have stuff in place.

It's so weird the MCU seems capable of dealing with this stuff when you have Killgrave over in Jessica Jones using his ability to set up a spider-web of self-protection based on a persuasion power and upper-middle class money... but a super-rich and powerful person like Malick they seem to be unable to imagine him doing the same?
posted by phearlez at 8:22 AM on March 24, 2016 [1 favorite]


Yeah, I didn't get the Malick's daughter thing either. Really seemed tacked on for no good reason.

I assume she's SOMEONE. Someone important.


Only possibility that came to my mind is that they're going to make the MCU's version of Sin be Malick's daughter instead of Red Skull's daughter.

I am sad to see Bobbi and Hunter go, but the cast was a little overstuffed, they really didn't have enough screen time to go around for everyone. Also they increased my enthusiasm for Marvel's Most Wanted a bit by casting Oded Fehr in it (even though they really should've cast him as Dr. Strange, I'll take what I can get).
posted by mstokes650 at 8:59 PM on March 25, 2016


Guys, don't be sad that Bobbi and Hunter are leaving. Sure they were the best part of the show. But we're going to get more Ward! More Ward! Everyone loves Ward, right? Zombie Ward with an even narrower range of emotion will be great, right?

The Spy's Goodbye scene had me throwing stuff at the TV. So much schlock and fan service. And not even a pretense of operation security. All of the super-secret SHIELD agents in one bar, loitering in spotlights, while B+H are under surveillance? A simultaneous toast? Why not give the DJ some James Bond theme song to play for the moment too? OK, so that moment isn't supposed to make sense as a plot device, it's supposed to be emotion for us true fans. But the show hasn't earned that. Rosalind's death, that was a plot element where they earned some emotion (and badly fumbled it). B+H wandering off after one Russian spy caper goes awry? Meh.

Beginning to think I may have to cross over to hate-watching. Did I mention Ward? More Ward coming! Zombie Ward!
posted by Nelson at 6:31 AM on March 28, 2016 [1 favorite]


I will miss Bobbi, but my chief disappointment with this episode is that Hunter didn't catch a bullet to the skull. Man, do I dislike that boring-ass dude. They never really fit in the show, to my eye, and a spinoff makes some sense, but I sure as shit am not watching it if Hunter's one of the stars.
posted by restless_nomad at 10:11 PM on March 30, 2016


Nthing everyone else that (a) I hate this idea of putting them on another show, (b) hate the whole disavowal thing, and (c) it's just weird.

I enjoyed spy's goodbye, but yeah, not too plausible. Also irritating that it got rid of the more fun characters. I don't get why there's this insistence on a spinoff for this show.
posted by jenfullmoon at 7:37 AM on March 31, 2016 [1 favorite]


No one notices Bobbi floating around suspiciously during an important meeting where all the other flunkies are standing still at attention? No? Okay, I guess.

Why can Bobbi and Hunter work for SHIELD still if they break out of there, but not if they're released this way? Their cover is blown either way, it's not like breaking out will make the Russians forget about them.

Did they say the shadow was made of dark matter? Like the dark matter from this season of Agent Carter?
posted by vibratory manner of working at 12:45 AM on April 15, 2016


« Older Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: The In...   |  The Flash: Trajectory... Newer »

You are not logged in, either login or create an account to post comments