53 seconds is all it took

[kate_nepveu]

to validate my belief that I don't want to watch Agents of SHIELD: that's the length of the previously-on for the season opener and it just made me want to yell "WRONG! WRONG!" and then flip my desk over.

(I wanted to see the flashback, of course. I have extremely grave doubts about the ability to make a satisfying Agent Carter series post-Cap 2, but, Peggy!)

. . . I suppose this post should have some actual content. *pokes at bookmarks* Here, have some fic I bookmarked to rec a long time ago and don't have time to re-read now.

Swap (1229 words) by biggrstaffbunch
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Author Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers
Characters: Steve Rogers, James "Bucky" Barnes, Sam Wilson (Marvel), Natasha Romanov
Additional Tags: Friendship, i mean they compare dicks but, ~friendship, Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Summary: Steve and Bucky switch bodies. Nothing of substance happens from that moment on.

Silly.

Five Reactions to Pepper's New PA (2746 words) by gladdecease
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes & Pepper Potts
Characters: Pepper Potts, James "Bucky" Barnes, Happy Hogan, Maria Hill, Natasha Romanov, Tony Stark, Steve Rogers
Additional Tags: Community: avengersgen, Community: trope_bingo, 5 Times, Minor Pepper Potts/Tony Stark
Summary: Pepper gets a new personal assistant - a nice young man with a metal arm who helped Pepper stop AIM scientists from kidnapping her. There's really no need for all this fuss.

What it says on the tin.

Maisie Makes a Deal (5249 words) by antistar_e
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Captain America (Movies)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers
Characters: Original Characters, Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanov, Sam Wilson (Marvel), James "Bucky" Barnes
Additional Tags: POV Outsider
Summary: Maisie's pretty sure her grandmother's new neighbors are spies.

In which a fifteen-year-old learns to trust them.

Hollow and Honeycomb (11167 words) by antistar_e
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Captain America (Movies)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Sam Wilson (Marvel), Riley (Captain America movies), Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanov, James "Bucky" Barnes, Original Characters
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Wings, Backstory, Non-Linear Narrative
Summary: Several years before Sam was born, a Supreme Court ruling decided that those who carried and visibly expressed a hereditary winged trait could not be mutilated, amputated, or otherwise altered without their consent, nor could they be discriminated against for housing, employment, etc. based on their possession of wings. // The world that Sam grows up in is one that remembers when it had been different. [Wing!fic AU.]

My note for this just says "Amazing." And it is.

Press (5932 words) by mardia
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Steve Rogers/Sam Wilson
Characters: Sam Wilson, Steve Rogers
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Always a Different Sex, Rule 63, Press and Tabloids
Summary: “So thanks to this interview, everyone thinks we’re dating,” Sam says, her voice flat. She looks up from the front page of the New York Post. The cover is a paparazzi photo of her and Steve out at the Indian restaurant last night, sitting together cozily at their table with the headline “America’s Heroes...America’s New Power Couple?” // Tony glances over her shoulder as he walks past the couch, and says, scoffing, “That headline’s awful. They should’ve at least been able to make a pun out of Falcon.”

So, so cute.

Middletown: A Study of Suburban Life (91712 words) by M_Leigh
Chapters: 2/2
Fandom: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Captain America (Movies), Thor (Movies), Iron Man (Movies)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers, Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Jane Foster/Thor, various
Characters: Steve Rogers, James "Bucky" Barnes, Sarah Rogers, Thor (Marvel), Loki (Marvel), Tony Stark, Pepper Potts, Howard Stark, Clint Barton, James "Rhodey" Rhodes, Darcy Lewis, Maria Hill, Phil Coulson, Natasha Romanov, Jane Foster (Marvel), Peggy Carter, Sam Wilson (Marvel), Original Characters
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - High School, Bullying, Some slurs, bad parents and good parents, YOUTHS, teenagers doing dumb things teenagers do, spoilers for books you read in high school
Summary: In which Bucky is the new kid, Steve is the square who takes him in, Tony and Pepper fight over valedictorian a year in advance, Thor remains a golden god, Loki remains a drama queen, Natasha commits an act of vigilante justice, Clint somehow fails to make a your mom joke, Darcy is a Satanist, Jane is a goth, Sif is fine thank you very much, Sam climbs a tree, Peggy says no, Rumlow is a bully, and Mrs. Rogers, Mr. Coulson, and Ms. Hill are all very long-suffering. // Or: the story of the year Bucky Barnes finally learned how to talk to at least one other human being, discovered J. D. Salinger, started to try in school (kind of), got a haircut, landed a punch, almost got arrested, and kissed a boy on the mouth.

The style of this is hilarious and carried me through what I recall to be some wheel-spinning in the plot, such as it is, and also my disbelief that Steve Rogers in any era would never have thrown a punch before he met Bucky Barnes, because, really?

There's more, but I don't have time to sort through the maybe-rec tag now.

Comments

[sovay]

that's the length of the previously-on for the season opener and it just made me want to yell "WRONG! WRONG!" and then flip my desk over.

I've never seen the series—may I ask?

[kate_nepveu]

Sure.

Spoilers for _Agents of SHIELD_ season one and _Captain America: The Winter Soldier_.

As you know spoiler-Bob, _CA:TWS_ ends with SHIELD in ashes, having been revealed to have been infiltrated by HYDRA from the start, and also having had all-too-similar goals in the first place (see: Project Insight, which Steve told you was a bad idea even *before* it turned out to be HYDRA, Nick Fury). Fury fakes his death and burns his eyepatch, Natasha vanishes to figure out her new identity, Steve and Sam go looking for Bucky. SHIELD is comprehensively dust.

_Agents of SHIELD_, which resurrected Phil Coulson with oooh-mystery-what-fucking-ever, deals with the _CA:TWS_ fallout about 2/3-ish through its season. Coulson and his team go on the run, from HYDRA and also the US military.

And then Nick Fury shows up and tells Coulson he wants him to re-start SHIELD [*]; a base of hidden tech is laid at Coulson's feet; and the previously-on ends with him being addressed as "Director Coulson," with his team arrayed behind him.

[*] In a bit that's not in the previously, Fury tells Coulson that he resurrected him using a bit of hand-wavery that was meant to save an Avenger, because he considers Coulson to be one. As one review put it, "It says some interesting things about the way fandom approaches different "types" of characters that Skye was so universally trashed as a "Mary Sue" that the show actually had to reference it... while Coulson's entire arc from Avengers to this episode has been having the A-Listers of the Marvel Universe repeatedly tell him how awesome he is and how they all want to be his friend. Just sayin."

I just. WRONG.

[sovay]

and the previously-on ends with him being addressed as "Director Coulson," with his team arrayed behind him.

Yeah, never mind.

[genarti]

Seriously. Wow.

I watched one episode of Agents of SHIELD back when it was just starting up, bounced off it, and haven't wandered back. Nothing I've heard about it has convinced me that I would want to. But the prospect of Peggy Carter and Gabe Jones and all was tempting. Maybe someday I'll get around to watching select scenes of this episode (season?) and fast-forwarding past anything that doesn't involve the '40s folk, but aieee.

[kate_nepveu]

Agent Carter is supposed to be a separate series (airing during AOS's break, I believe), there was just a couple-minutes bit with them all in the opening here.

[genarti]

Oh excellent! I knew Agent Carter was a separate show, but I'd somehow gotten the impression there was a lot more flashback stuff in this episode than I guess there was. In that case, I don't even need to get around to Agents of SHIELD for that.

[kate_nepveu]

Recaps claim that it's just the opening that has those folks, so ff 53 seconds in and you'll be good.

[(Anonymous)]

Here you go:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCPahNjyr84

That's it - no more flashbacks in episode 2 X 01.

Laura Dickerson

[kate_nepveu]

Thanks!

[tavella]

Yeah, so glad I didn't even give it another try this season! Also, I'm somewhat comforted, as someone who heartily disliked Coulson from Thor on, to see other people who aren't fanboys.

[kate_nepveu]

Heh. Solidarity.

[skwidly]

Yeah, I'm still not sure why this bothers you so much. Coulson is probably the most popular MCU invented character. People fucking love Coulson. Why is his being Director a problem?

[kate_nepveu]

Well, I don't love Coulson, I think he's terribly boring.

But the whole point of _Cap 2_ was that SHIELD in the shadows thinking it knew what was best for the world was _wrong_, that they didn't know any better and that their isolation and high-handedness made them in fact indistinguishable from HYDRA.

Starting SHIELD up again in the shadows, not accountable to anyone, but relying on the strength of character of a single guy [*] to provide a moral compass--that's missing the point so far that it's not even on the same continent.

(Note that if SHIELD's leadership were the problem, the movie would have ended with Steve in charge. And that ought to give fanboy-Phil pause, if nothing else.)

[*] Nevermind the issues I have with him replacing Nick Fury.

[silveraspen]

(Note that if SHIELD's leadership were the problem, the movie would have ended with Steve in charge. And that ought to give fanboy-Phil pause, if nothing else.)

TRUTH.

[*] Nevermind the issues I have with him replacing Nick Fury.

The ONLY way I have managed to make that part work in my mental canon is imagining/knowing that Nick is off to Europe and parts elsewhere to lead his own work in his own way; he's done with SHIELD too.

I was somewhat excited for the premiere of this season, because I liked last season a lot better once they hit the WS stuff and it wasn't all just long eternal buildup with the occasional comics character thrown in as a nod to get people excited about canon interweaving, but given what happened to Victoria Hand in last season's finale and what I hear happened to Lucy Lawless's character in this premiere (haven't made time to see it yet)... I am SERIOUSLY disappointed.

[kate_nepveu]

I do not understand why they bothered to get Lucy Lawless just for that.

[sovay]

Starting SHIELD up again in the shadows, not accountable to anyone, but relying on the strength of character of a single guy [*] to provide a moral compass--that's missing the point so far that it's not even on the same continent.

Yeah. I actually quite like Coulson in the movies—I don't know what he's like on Agents of SHIELD—but I do not like a complete rollback of the moral complexities of the established universe and the implication that Coulson is so awesome, he can solve fifty years of systemic corruption just by being a mild-mannered middle-aged white fanboy.

(Note that if SHIELD's leadership were the problem, the movie would have ended with Steve in charge. And that ought to give fanboy-Phil pause, if nothing else.)

That!

[mikeda]

On the other hand, while centering SHIELD around Coulson isn't a permanent solution it probably works well enough for the next few years. From Fury's point of view he may see that as enough time to fit all of the pieces of his various projects together.

(I don't really believe that the new SHIELD is Fury's only project. He's naturally a wheels within wheels sort of person.)

[kate_nepveu]

solve fifty years of systemic corruption just by being a mild-mannered middle-aged white fanboy

Exactly.

[ejmam]

I watch this with my teens, and we're still enjoying it. But a thing that I thought was interesting was how sure Coulson and his buddies were of his moral rightness, when I thought it was obvious that the show demonstrated how many sketchy decisions were going on. Which of course goes back to the movies, where he isn't a good guy, he's the face of dangerous secret organizations that steal stuff and people because they want to control all the toys.

One episode had Coulson ignoring all the rules and endangering people because he was sure he could reform the Big Bad, who was an old friend. The NEXT EPISODE had Skye reviled as a traitor because she bent a few rules to save the life of an old friend. I assumed this was deliberate, to showcase how dangerous it is to have a powerful organization (and just the team is such) define right by who is doing the action. But now I'm not as sure.

[kate_nepveu]

I certainly would like to think that your reading is the one intended and the direction the show is going to take.

[mkozlows]

I have not been watching this show, because it's terrible, but if there's one thing I know about Nick Fury, it's that when he disappears and leaves someone else in charge... Nick Fury's still running the show.

[kate_nepveu]

Normally, yes, but I'm starting to think of AoS as a pocket universe where these rules apparently don't apply (especially since they can't afford to have Samuel L. Jackson appear very often--he wasn't visible in the previouslies, because then they'd have had to pay him).

[filkerdave]

I'm kind of glad I don't watch TV

[(Anonymous)]

That means you missed the bonus that Simmons existed this entire episode solely to cheer Fitz on.

That better not be permanent.

[kate_nepveu]

Yeah, I read spoilers so I heard about that. Not good.

[mikeda]

(Rot13)

Fvapr Fvzzbaf vfa'g npghnyyl gurer, vg vfa'g yvxryl gb or creznarag.

Jr ner rkcrpgrq gb frr gur erny Fvzzbaf yngre guvf frnfba.

[(Anonymous)]

I know the plot reason given. I just think it is completely out of character/contrary to her previously stated understanding of the situation.

And I think it was a misstep to have that plot exist at the same time Coulson was made Lord High Mary Sue despite Ming Na Wen's character actually doing all the managing. And Skye's plot purpose being how Ward feels about her.

I think a good way to have not made that situation feel cheap would have been to show Simmons' motivation this episode, and the stinger next ep or later. Simmons having a major shift would have been really nice to not shove offscreen, especially when we had all that time to watch Fitz angst in place instead.