The Whims were all aflutter with mixed emotions at the end of this week’s Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD episode. Immediately after watching the show, they sat down together to talk about it, and this is how it went:
TESSIE. So! This week’s episode was very very good, don’t you think? And yet, at the same time, very very bad.
TILLIE. I know it sounds weird, but I agree! Highs and lows, all over the place!
TRIXIE. So what was good—?
TESSIE. Well, first of all, it was funny! I mean, it was really, really funny at the beginning, when they were on the train, and they all got paired up and were pretending to be different people. Some of the things they said—
TILLIE. I know! And didn’t Agent Coulson and Simmons look funny in those glasses?
TESSIE. Funny? I think they both looked adorable!
TRIXIE. And how about Skye and Fitz, pretending to be on like…their honeymoon or something?
TILLIE. Didn’t he say something like…”You’re the least supportive pretend girlfriend I ever had”?
TESSIE. (giggling) Yes! What a riot! But what was even funnier, was hearing him talk in an American accent!
TILLIE. Actually, he was very good at that. Well, a lot better than Skye was at doing the British accent.
TESSIE. Scottish. And don’t talk about Skye. It’s too upsetting.
TILLIE. I know! You mean because she was shot?
TRIXIE. Yes! She was shot! And not just a little shot. Big time, oozing blood all over the floor shot!
TESSIE. (worried) Do you think she’s going to make it? Do you think she’s going to live?
(The three Whimsies sit quietly for a moment, thinking, then…)
TILLIE. I think she will. I mean, if they were going to kill her, they would have killed her already, right?
TRIXIE. And besides that, she’s an 0-8-4. We don’t know what that is exactly, but we know she’s something special.
TESSIE. Maybe she has the ability to heal herself?
TRIXIE. We can hope. Or at least we can hope that somebody somewhere in SHIELD knows what they can do to save her. I mean, they brought Coulson back from the dead, right? You’d think someone somewhere could do something to help Skye.
TILLIE. I admit, she’s never been my favorite character, but still, I don’t want anything bad to happen to her. And like Trixie said, she’s an 0-8-4. They wouldn’t have introduced that whole idea if they just meant to kill her off. We need to find out what that MEANS.
TESSIE. I think we’re going to find out. And hopefully really soon.
TRIXIE. Well, it won’t be too soon, girls. I snuck on the computer right before we sat down, and I saw that the next episode isn’t going to be for another month!
TILLIE & TESSIE. (together, exasperated) WHAT??
TRIXIE. Yeah. Same as they’ve done before. We’re gonna have to WAIT! A long time!
TILLIE & TESSIE. (together, exasperated) WHAAAAA!!
TRIXIE. Yeah. Too bad…
TILLIE. (suddenly) But wait! Silver lining, girls! I just remembered: the Olympics are starting soon. For a couple of weeks, it’s going to be all Olympics, all the time. So it’s not like there will be nothing to watch on TV. 
TESSIE. (eyes gleaming) Oh! I love the Olympics! I love the figure skating!
TRIXIE. I like the skiing, when they do that big jump. It’s kind of scary, but it also looks fun.
TILLIE. I like the Summer Olympics better.
TRIXIE. (shuddering) Ugh! Not me! Entirely too much water!
TILLIE. Well, snow is water. Only it’s frozen.
TRIXIE. Right. So it’s entirely different. See?
TESSIE. Hey! Hey! We’re getting off track here! What about the show? What were we talking about? Why was it good? Why was it bad?
TILLIE. Well, honestly…I think the only bad thing was Skye getting shot. And there’s nothing we can do about that except wait and see how it all turns out.
TRIXIE. But lots and lots of good stuff happened! Like how about May? When she beat up all those bad guys? And then threw a knife in the leader’s back?
TESSIE. Trixie! Really! Sometimes you seem to delight in the most horrific things!
TRIXIE. Well, they were bad guys, right? They needed to be killed!
TESSIE. Yes! But it was so…bloody!!
TILLIE. Don’t mind her, Tess. You know how she is. She’s been reading all those comic books for years and years, so she’s used to seeing the villains get killed in all kinds of horrific ways.
TRIXIE. I guess I am. But you know, it’s a lot more…what do you call it…? GRAPHIC when they do it in TV and movies.
TESSIE. And that’s a GOOD thing?
TRIXIE. Well, it is when the bad guys need to be killed!
TESSIE. Yes! But…but—
TRIXIE. (rolling her eyes) Really, Tess! Stop being such a girly girl!!
TILLIE. (breaking it up) Okay, okay! Enough already, you guys. But speaking of comic books, there’s something else I wanted to ask you, Trix. The whole time we were looking at Mike Peterson, that poor dad who got his leg blown off, you kept saying ‘deadlock, deadlock.’ And then at the end, when he had that machine leg, the camera zoomed in and we saw those words!
TRIXIE. Well, sort of. Not exactly. It’s DEATHLOK.
TILLIE. Okay. Close enough. But what does it mean?
TRIXIE. (excited) He’s Deathlok! At least, it looks like he WILL be. He’s a character from the comics! He’s a cyborg!
TESSIE. Huh?? Do you even know what that means??
TRIXIE. Half man, half machine.
TILLIE. Yes, but is he good? Or is he evil?
TRIXIE. Well, in the comics, he’s….no, wait. I’m not going to tell you!
TESSIE. Why not?
TRIXIE. Because, well, for one thing, it’s not that simple, know what I mean? Maybe there’s someone who’s good some of the time, but other times they’re evil. Or maybe they do the right things, but for the wrong reasons. Or the wrong things, for the right reasons.
TILLIE. So which is it?
TRIXIE. (gloating) I’m not going to tell you!
TESSIE. Trixie! For Heaven’s sake—!
TILLIE. No, no. She’s right. She shouldn’t tell us. We should find out for ourselves. And besides, just because this Deadlock—
TRIXIE. —Deathlok—
TILLIE. —Just because this Deathlok is one way in the comic books, doesn’t automatically mean he’s going to be the same way on the show.
TRIXIE. That’s right! With comics, you never know!
TESSIE. Okay. I get your point. And with this show, you never know, either, do you?
TILLIE. (nodding) Always surprising.
TRIXIE. But that’s good….right?
TILLIE. Yes! It’s awesome!
TESSIE. I agree! It’s awesome! It’s just so aggravating that we have to wait so long to find out what happens next.
TRIXIE. Yes, but while we’re waiting, we can watch the Olympics!
TESSIE. Oh! Okay! Good! And you’ll watch too, won’t you, Till?
TILLIE. Of course! I didn’t say I hated the Winter Olympics. I just said I preferred the Summer. But I like the Winter Olympics just fine. Mostly, I like to watch the Opening and Closing Ceremonies. I like all the music and pageantry best of all.
TRIXIE. Yeah, that is pretty cool. Lots and lots of people.
TESSIE. (sadly) But no Whimsies….
TILLIE. I wouldn’t advise it, Tess. So many people, and they’re all so big, and some of those athletes are really, really big. We’d probably get stepped on.
TRIXIE. Well…that wouldn’t be fun.
TESSIE. No, it wouldn’t…
After this, the girls talked about the Olympics, and what jammies they were going to wear to the Opening Ceremony—well, not TO the Opening Ceremony, because they’re not going, because they don’t want to get stepped on, but what they planned to wear while watching it on TV, cuddled up under blankets on the couch.
I almost felt the Whims might miss SHIELD during this next month, but knowing the Whims, I’m sure they’ll find plenty and plenty of other interests to keep themselves busy until they can see it again.
