Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction SE02 EP01 - "The Plane/The Gun/The Portrait/The Pass/The Caller"

Episode Name: The Plane/The Gun/The Portrait/The Pass/The Caller
Original Airdate: January 23, 1998

1) The Plane

Michael's a pilot, following in the footsteps of his father, who died in a terrible crash when Michael was young. After landing at a small airstrip to pick up a package, Michael reminisces a bit about his father, saddened most by the fact he lost his father's wings years back. What Michael doesn't know is that there's a fuel leak on his plane, and discovers that only when a mysterious individual steals his plane, and crashes. Upon getting to the crash site, Michael looks into the cockpit to see no body, but his father's wings hanging - in short, Michael's father stole his plane in order to save Michael's life.

It wasn't hard to see where this story was going from the beginning, but at the same time, I thought it was sentimental enough, without overdoing it, to be enjoyable. Brian Van Holt, who played Michael, had that all-American boy look to him which gave credence to the idea he's a pilot, and while there was occasional corny lines (especially toward the end), The Plane was an enjoyable enough segment. I rated this segment as "True."

Rating for story: Above average

2) The Gun

With a recent string of robberies in the neighborhood, along with the fact her husband is leaving town, a woman worries about whether or not the gun her husband taught her to use would be enough to protect her. She had a dream, in fact, where she wakes up, hears a thief, and attempts to shoot him, but the gun won't go off, which isn't helping matters any. One night shortly after her husband leaves, she does hear noises - upon investigating, she sees who she believes is a thief, and wildly fires at the figure multiple times. The gun never goes off, though, which is lucky - the individual is her son, back from college. Hysterical because she almost killed her son, she drops the gun, which bounces down the stairs, causing a shot to fire - hitting a robber who was hiding in the house, killing him,

This story is a hoot in a few ways. One, the idea of a gun shooting only the "dangerous" and "bad" people, while not shooting at family members, seems to come out of some NRA member's fantasy. The idea that this, as shown, is possible causes hearty chuckles from myself. And the woman, played by Molly Cheek (by the way, fun fact: she played Jim's mother in the American Pie movies, if you're familiar with them) seems rather prone to overacting - her scream as she shoots at the mysterious figure is just ridiculously lengthy, bordering on being comedically so. I mean, the story itself isn't a necessarily bad one, but the ending was just a bit much, and all-in-all, while mostly competent, it didn't do much for me. I rated this story as "Not True."

Rating for story: Average

3) The Portrait

A painter seems to have the power over life and death - at least, that's what his clientele believe. Specializing in painting the terminally ill, William Corzine at times doubts his abilities, even though none of his subjects have ever lived to pick their portraits up. One day, a young woman, Michelle, asks for her portrait to be taken. At first, William refuses, as most of his clientele are older, appearing far more sickly. But when Michelle pushes him, he decides to do so, finding out later that she wasn't sick, just depressed over a breakup. Heartbroken over ending her life when she had so much more to live for, he paints his own portrait. He is found the next day by his assistant, dead of an apparent heart attack.

This story rubbed me the wrong way throughout. Firstly, while it's statistically unlikely that with as many subjects as Corzine paints, that all of them would die before they can pick up their painting, given the fact he has a reputation for this, the whole thing could be a self-fulfilling prophecy type deal. Which is likely what happened with Michelle - she got her portrait taken, and believing that she's going to die, commits suicide. It makes more sense given the fact she's depressed. And William's despair over "causing" Michelle's death is odd - even if she wasn't terminally ill, just like all of his other subjects, she willingly wanted to be painted, and chose to die - if that's a person's choice, I don't get why William is so messed up over this one case when he's done it multiple times before with other individuals. It seems rather selective. Painting himself at the ending was a rather expected conclusion, and this story in particular didn't seem to hold much suspense or surprise. While most of the acting was fine, and the story was somewhat decent, this didn't do it for me at all. I rated it "False."

Rating for story: Below average

4) The Pass

Stealing the morgue pass from his roommate's father, who is a doctor at the hospital the two young men are staying at, Kevin and Eddie decide to explore the morgue, as their boredom is near intolerable. After a new arrival is left on a gurney, Kevin dares Eddie to peek at it - Eddie agrees, as long as the two of them can leave once he's done so. Unfortunately, things go downhill from here, as Eddie pulls back the sheet and stares into the eyes of what appears to be himself; already afraid of his own mortality, he dies due to a heart problem. Kevin wakes up the next morning to hear the nurses talking about what a shame it is that the doctor lost two sons the previous night - one due to a heart issue, all because he saw his twin brother's body, who died in a car accident.

This story, much like The Gun, just seems a bit on the ridiculous side. Make no mistake, I believe it to be a true story, as it's entirely possible, but the overacting is just too much. Eddie's scream when he sees what he believes to be himself (pictured above) is one of the funniest things I've heard in the last week. It just doesn't ring true whatsoever. The story on it's own is perfectly fine, but the actors didn't make it believable, as far as I'm concerned. It's an amusing story as it is, but given the subject matter, I'd have expected something more.

Rating for story: Below average

5) The Caller

Clive Kincaid is a shock jock who gets his thrills mocking his callers, which he does quite often. One night, during a storm, he gets a repeat caller, claiming to be his long-lost son. While the producers can't hear any caller, Clive is driven off the wall by the words of the caller, along with seeing things pop up around the studio. Eventually, Clive breaks down crying, the caller getting what he wanted - Clive to show some remorse for not being a part of his son's life. After the story, we're informed that there was an electrical malfunction, and no call had gotten through to the studio.

The Caller's a decent story - it's not amazing, but it does feel more competent than many of the other segments in this episode. The radio host was a bit of a dick, so I don't feel all that bad for him. Overall, this was an average, fun story. I consider this story to be true, as it's not impossible for a radio host to have a mental breakdown on air (look at Alex Jones, for example).

Rating for story: Average

It's sad, really, but the first episode of the second season of this series isn't really all that amazing or memorable. Overacting plagues a few of the stories (The Gun and The Pass, mostly), and were it not for the first story, which I enjoyed probably more than I usually would have given it's predictable path, this episode would be veering toward being rated below average.

Truth be told, the only note-worthy thing about this episode is the introduction of our new host, Jonathan Frakes, taking over from James Brolin. Frakes isn't all that different from Brolin, and I suspect that nothing large will change during his tenure as host. Both Brolin and Frakes seem charismatic and well-spoken, so either way, you're in for a decent time.

Still, this episode really didn't offer up the best it could have. Not only that, but my rankings insofar as whether the stories were true or not didn't end up to well, as I only got one correct. If you've not been keeping track with my overall score, here you are:

For episode: 1/5

Overall: 12/35

We still have plenty of episodes left, so theoretically I could get out of the slump I've been in, but thus far, my guessing ability has been rather lacking in accuracy.

But back to this episode, it was really a far more average affair than you'd hope from this series. Even The Plane, which was the only story I rated above average, wasn't really a classic story such as previous segments (such as The Subway and The Viewing were), So the second season is getting off to a rough start, but hopefully with the coming episodes, the quality of the stories will pick up a bit.

Rating: Average

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Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. SE01 EP02 - "0-8-4"

0-8-4's a moderately generic, albeit enjoyable, second outing for Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. While portions are steeped in somewhat familiar tropes, the episode ends up being a fun romp further fleshing out our characters and the team as a whole.

Episode Name: 0-8-4
Original Airdate: October 1, 2013

After a quick flash-forward, teasing us with a disaster on the mid-flight the Bus (the plane of Coulson's team), we're taken 19 hours earlier, immediately following the Pilot.

Skye empties out her van, deciding to come aboard the plane and join Coulson's team as a "consultant." Neither May nor Ward want Skye there, both believing her to be a risk and liability (Ward's main concern being that Skye's a member of the Rising Tide, a hacking organization, while May's gripe is that along with Fitz and Simmons, they'll now have a third individual not fit, nor trained, for combat). Coulson defends Skye, stating that the fact she thinks differently than SHIELD is a positive, along with the fact she's extraordinarily gifted in terms of her ability to hack. 'She hacked into SHIELD twice from a laptop in a van', Coulson states. 'Imagine what she can do with SHIELD resources.'

May and Ward arguing with Coulson over Skye

FitzSimmons (technically two people, though it's hard to tell) awkwardly welcome Skye onto the Bus, and lead her to her small room. Over the intercom, May (who pilots the plane) informs everyone to get ready to go airborne, and Ward, clearly unhappy, tersely gives Skye an overview of the safety procedures of the plane, telling her to read it.

Simmons and Fitz welcoming Skye

Simmons and Fitz giving a tour of the Bus to Skye

As stated at the end of the last episode, a '0-8-4' was discovered in Peru, meaning an item of unknown but potentially dangerous properties. Skye asks Coulson what the last 0-8-4 was, to which Coulson replies, "A hammer" (for more information, see Thor).

Upon landing in Peru, we have some cute dialogue between Fitz and Simmons, along with Coulson letting Skye know that one of the reasons she's here is to, if need be, throw the people off the scent of the 0-8-4 if it becomes dangerous (or, in other words, lie to the people, which is something that, as a hacker, Skye takes issue with), Coulson reasons that panic is best avoided to allow professionals to quietly take care of the situation.

The 0-8-4 itself seems to be mechanical in nature, and lodged into a 500-year old Inca temple, though it's been there much longer than 500 years, according to assessment done by FitzSimmons. Simmons suggests it could potentially be alien in nature, whereas Fitz believes it to look almost like German engineering.

A side-view of the 0-8-4

Meanwhile, Ward briefly speaks with May, calling her the "Calvary", a sort of nickname she earned from her actions in Bahrain. May, however, seems hesitant to accept this tribute, and doesn't want to be referred to by that name. This discussion is shelved, though, as military forces from the Peruvian government converge on the temple, led by Camilla Reyes, a former colleague of Coulson's. While at first alarming Coulson's team, they claim they're here to protect the 0-8-4 from the local rebels in the area.

Reyes and Coulson

Surprised at seeing Reyes here, they talk and reminisce about their past, as Ward goes back into the temple and alerts Simmons, Fitz, and Skye of the new developments, sparking a heated discussion between Skye (who seems to support the local rebels, as they're standing up against the government's mining policies) and Ward (who doesn't like the violence caused by the rebels).

Ward's reaction to Skye's support of the rebels

When local rebels attack, Ward directs them to leave the temple, arguing with Fitz over the procedure to remove the 0-8-4. While Fitz wants a special container for it (as it has a fluctuating power core), Ward, who feels that's a waste of time in this situation, just grabs it out of the wall. After some combat, Ward and May are able to safetly get Simmons, Fitz, and Skye back to the Bus, with Coulson and Reyes close behind. Without major casualties, they're able to take off, bringing Reyes and her men with them.

Beforehand, though, Fitz explains what he's been trying to explain for the past five minutes - that the 0-8-4 seems to be fueled by Tesseract energy (think Hydra and the first Captain America movie), and it's unstable. It's full of lethal amounts of gamma radiation, and could well be a danger to all on board.

Fitz explaining the energy behind the 0-8-4

Coulson's team taking stock of the dangers of the 0-8-4 (contained within the black bag)

Coulson unsuccessfully tries to apologize to May, as he promised her that she'd see no combat as the pilot of the Bus. May, as drenched in as much seriousness as ever, appears unmoved by Coulson's attempt at apologizing. Meanwhile, the rest of the team bickers over various things, due to their lack of communication and understanding - Fitz and Ward arguing over Fitz's inability to explain the dangers behind the 0-8-4, Ward arguing to Coulson that he's a specialist, and could have eliminated the enemy if he wasn't bogged down by non-combatants, etc. Skye chimes in with saying that given the fact the team's only on their second mission, she might as well be team leader, given the dysfunction apparent, and more so, simply that Ward and FitzSimmons "don't like each other."

Coulson's attempted apology toward May

Ward and Fitz arguing

Coulson agrees that there's work to be done, and gives them this great quote:

We still need to iron out the kinks, but Ward, you can speak six languages. Simmons, you have two PHD's in fields I cannot pronounce, and Fitz, you are a rocket scientist, so work it out.

Fitz and Simmons further look into the 0-8-4, concluding that they're lucky their electromagnetic devices didn't set it off earlier, and that it could shoot out an immensely powerful laser, giving them even more reason to worry for the safety of those on the Bus.

Skye tries to fix up her relationship with Ward, bringing him a drink, and explaining her feelings behind the Peruvian uprising: for the first time in history, the downtrodden are combining their forces and working together for a common goal, each one with one part of the solution, so the whole combined could possess the complete solution, which Skye finds both beautiful and inspiring. Ward admits that the two of them see the world differently, and that while Skye finds it admirable that each person brings a piece of the puzzle, Ward was trained to be the "whole solution."

Ward speaking with Skye

While Skye and Ward are connecting, Coulson is becoming suspicious of Reyes, especially due to the fact she's coming onto him far more forcefully than what he remembers. Ward, after noticing that Reye's men aren't drinking their alcohol, subtly tips off Skye. This is all for naught, though, as May is taken out with sleeping gas, and Fitz is caught by another of Reyes' men - effectively, Reyes has taken over the Bus.

Reyes' men prior to taking over the Bus

One of Reyes' men with a scalpel to Fitz's throat

Coulson is held captive by Reyes, as she needs him to verify the change of route to SHIELD headquarters when they call in. If he doesn't, SHIELD will blow the Bus from the sky. While Coulson suggests that maybe that's the best option, as it would keep the 0-8-4 from Reyes' hands, Reyes knows Coulson well enough that he wouldn't risk the lives of his team in such a fashion.

In bondage, the rest of the teams bonds together - Simmons apologizes to Fitz for pushing him into the field, Fitz claims he should have learned kung-fu, and from both Sky and Ward, FitzSimmons learn that May is the "Calvary," and immediately believe that they're going to be okay (as the name has legendary status among all those in SHIELD).

May (off camera), Skye, Simmons, Fitz, and Ward tied up

We learn from Reyes that Peru commissioned the creation of the 0-8-4, but it was lost during a conflict years back. Reyes wants it back so that Peru can end the rebel conflict and stabilize her country again, or as Coulson sees it, "take control over" Peru.

Reyes speaking with a tied-up Coulson

Meanwhile, working together, the five of them formulate a plan (step one, getting untied, becomes an easy one to complete, as May simply breaks her wrist to free her hands, and easily takes out the guard), and are able to set off the 0-8-4, blowing a hole in the side of the plane. Many of Reyes' men get sucked out, and Ward almost suffers the same fate, but is saved by some quick thinking on Skye's part. May is able to get to the cockpit and stabilize the plane, and Reyes is tied up by Coulson after he saves her life.

The five captors discussing how best to get free and save Coulson

Coulson saving Reyes

Ward being saved from flying out the plane by Skye's quick thinking

Coulson, Ward, Skye, Fitz, and Simmons after disaster is averted

At a secret SHIELD base named 'The Slingshot,' the 0-8-4 is flung into the Sun while the team watches. All seems well; May encourages Ward to become Skye's supervising officer, and the team finally seems united, when Skye receives a text from the Rising Tide (a hacker organization she's a member of), and after a delay, replies, "I'm in."

The team watching the 0-8-4 launch off

In a humorous ending, we get a surprise appearance by Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) chastising Coulson for getting the plane blown up after only six days back in the field. He further forbids Coulson from making any additions to the original schematics, after which Coulson quietly informs Fitz that he'll have to scratch the fish tank idea.

"Don't talk to me about authority."

As a whole, 0-8-4 is a pretty fun, albeit occasionally generic, episode.

The plot in itself isn't anything overly special - what really makes it work is the team dynamics and different characters the show has to work with. I discussed my first opinions of the characters in the Pilot, so I'll examine them all again with what we learned from this episode.

Coulson continues to show himself as the type of leader you'd want to be following: he has faith in his team (even when many wouldn't), he has faith in Skye, and he stands up for the actions of his team when push comes to shove. Obviously, the team isn't functioning at it's highest level at the moment, but Coulson consistently believed that his team could work out given time, and he's proven correct. His faith in Skye is well-placed, as she really came through when she saved Ward's life. On a side-note, if she really is working with the Rising Tide, as the ending suggests, I get the sense that Coulson, while believing the best, is aware of the possibility.

His background with Reyes, which seems to be a romantic entanglement, didn't stop him from doing what needed to be done, and while he can harbor emotional feelings toward others, that doesn't make him freeze up when doing his job. At the same time, he shows that he cares about his team - his apology to May, while it ended with a comedic line, was sincere, and one could tell that he really felt bad about the fact May got into a combative situation.

Whatever plot lines down the road Coulson will have to deal with (such as his death, which was alluded to in the pilot), I feel that he'll be strong enough to overcome them, and more so, with his team, I don't see anything being thrown his way that he won't be able to deal with.

As I said in my analysis of the last episode, Ward doesn't see eye-to-eye with Skye at all, though the two of them do connect more in this episode, and if Ward does become Skye's S.O., then the two of them really might be able to connect better. Truth be told, I fully expect some type of romantic sub-plot between the two of them to develop, and it'd probably be pretty cute, given that they're two entirely different types of people, but given the same fact, I don't know if it'd end well. If anything, May's personality is far more in-line with Ward's, and if he ever was looking for some romantic company, he might go in that direction.

All-in-all, though, that wouldn't happen until much more down the road. Ward is a very serious customer, and takes his job extremely seriously. Hopefully he'll grow to have more patience when dealing with Fitz and Simmons, and they really seem to have difficultly communicating (which isn't entirely Ward's fault). Ward was trained in a specific way for a specific task, and breaking that mold will be hard. At the end of this episode, though, when he gives Fitz a friendly pat on the back, perhaps hope is to be had.

We learn a bit more about May, and why Ward looked up to her with such respect in the last episode. Whatever May did in Bahrain, apparently her reputation truly precedes her. At the same time, May seems utterly against the nickname cast onto her, and seems to likely want to forget the whole thing. I don't know if it's some tragic background that we'll eventually get to down the line, but the fact that May's a better fighter than Ward is, yet chooses to pilot the plane, tells us something about her character.

Much like Ward, May doesn't much trust Skye, though it's more due to the fact that Skye's just another untrained individual that May may end up having to protect down the line, which as aforementioned, wasn't in the job description when Coulson recruited her. Mostly, though, May's a bit of a blank slate right now. She's not shown too much of a personality outside of her silent act toward Coulson during his apology, so before much else can be said, I think we really need to know more about May and where she's coming from.

Whatever Skye's up to, I don't know if it'll be too much a concern. Sure, if she's working for the Rising Tide to infiltrate SHIELD, that's a problem, but as she was one of the focus characters of the opening episode, I don't believe for a second that she'll turn away from SHIELD or Coulson during their time of need. Skye's not going anywhere in the long-term, no matter what types of texts she may or may not send out.

Skye's willingness to work with and connect with Ward is an admirable trait. Though the two of them are about as different as can be, she's willing to smooth over their rough beginning and start again with him. If she does train under him, I suspect that she'll quickly begin to harbor romantic feelings toward him, and while Ward, as professional as he is, may avoid a relationship with her, I don't think the same could be said of Skye. She doesn't seem the type to hide her feelings toward others. This may bring an interesting element down the line, in which Ward knows that Skye cares for him, but Ward also suspects that Skye's loyalties are not entirely with SHIELD. Whatever happens between the two of them, it's bound to be interesting.

Lastly, we learn that Simmons pushed Fitz to leave the laboratories and go into the field, a move that Fitz seems to regret given the consistent danger they're in. The two of them are still insanely cute, and I hope we see more episodes in the future with them as the focus, as their mannerisms are deeply enjoyable to witness.

While neither Fitz nor Simmons seems to much care for Ward's personality, Fitz seems to have a more difficult time with him. I suspect that's due to the fact that Ward's a strong, physical man, and if, let's say, Fitz harbors some feelings toward Skye (as seemed to be mildly indicated early on in the episode) or even Simmons, then Fitz could easily see Ward as competition he'd not be able to beat. Like I said, I don't know how much romantic subplots are going to play into the show, but it's something to look out for should they rear their heads.

0-8-4 was a team-building episode, in which a dysfunctional team is given a common goal and finally works together and all become hunky-dory. It's a bit of a played out trope, and for that reason, this episode's on the more generic side, but I still think that it worked out decently well, if only due to the fact that the characters are a hoot to watch. I'd like the show to trend a more unique path down the road, but for the second episode, I think that 0-8-4 is about what one would tend to expect.

Rating: Above Average

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