Tuesday night after watching Marvel’s Agents of Shield, the Whimsies were strangely quiet and pensive. I asked if anything was wrong, and they asked a few questions about Skye. We discussed some possibilities about what might be going on with her character, and I thought everything was settled, but then, when I woke up in the middle of the night, I could hear the Whimsies whispering about the show. This is what I heard:
Tessie. Pssst! Hey, Till! Trix! Whatta ya think?
Tillie (sleepily) Whatta we think about what?
Trixie. Huh?
Tessie. About Skye?
Tillie. (exasperated) Tessie! Are you still worried about that?
Trixie. (wide awake) Well…I’m sort of worried too.
Tillie. There’s nothing to be worried about, Trix.
Tessie. But she’s a double agent!
Trixie. Yeah…What if she does something to hurt the others?
Tillie. Now wait a minute, you two. You heard what Miss Chrissy said. We don’t know anything for sure yet.
Trixie. That’s true. But what do you think is most LIKELY?
Tessie. Good question, Trix! Whatta ya think? I mean…is it going to end good…or bad?
Trixie. I like Skye. She’s really pretty, but she’s also kinda goofy sometimes, so I don’t mind her being so pretty. But I don’t like her enough to put everyone else in danger!
Tillie. Stop worrying, you big silly! There’s no danger. At least not yet.
Tessie. But you heard what Nick Fury said! He told Agent Coulson she couldn’t be trusted.
Tillie. And Agent Coulson said, yes, he knew that. But you know he isn’t going to let anything bad happen.
Trixie. (nodding) He’s very smart.
Tessie. And he’s magical.
Tillie. He is?
Tessie. Well…he’s been to Tahiti. And that’s a magical place.
Tillie. There’s no magic about it, Tess. Coulson’s smart. And he has everything under control.
Tessie. But what about that other thing Miss Chrissy said? About Skye maybe being….a TRIPLE agent?
Trixie. Right! I mean, Skye didn’t look very happy when she texted her Rising Tide friend. Maybe she’s not really on board with the Rising Tide so much anymore.
Tessie. That’s the way it looked to me.
Tillie. Me too.
(Three Whimsies pause a moment, pondering. Then…)
Trixie. So what did it mean…when she said “I’m in”?
Tillie. It could mean so many different things.
Tessie. Like…it could mean….”I got into SHIELD, now I can destroy them from the inside!”
Trixie. That’s what I’m afraid of!
Tillie. OR…it could mean…”I’m on board with whatever the Rising Tide is planning next.” And maybe she really means that—
Tessie. Or maybe she doesn’t! Maybe she’s starting to like her new friends at SHIELD and really doesn’t want anything bad to happen to them.
Trixie. Maybe she’ll rat out the Rising Tide to SHIELD!!
Tillie. Wait a minute! Think about this: We don’t know anything about the Rising Tide. We don’t really know if they’re good or bad. Maybe they’re good guys too.
Trixie. You think? I don’t know…
Tessie. Well, here’s something to think about. That person that sent her that message, were they really from the Rising Tide?
Tillie. (puzzled) Why wouldn’t they be?
Tessie. Because they said, “The Rising Tide is in a holding pattern.”
Trixie. So?
Tessie. So….if it’s someone from the Rising Tide, and Skye KNOWS its them, why do they say, “Rising Tide”? Why not just say “We’re in a holding pattern.” Or even just, “In holding pattern”?
Tillie. Good point, Tess! We’ve never texted, but we know a little about how it’s done. You don’t get all verbose and flowery about it. You try to make your messages short and to the point.
Trixie. Verbose?
Tillie. Flowery…
Tessie. Right! And why would someone who’s IN the Rising Tide say “The Rising Tide”?
Trixie. Ooh! Ooh! I know this one!
Tillie. You do?
Trixie. Sure! This happens in Comics all the time. Like, if Doctor Octopus is not pleased, he doesn’t say, “I’m not pleased.” He says, (in a big strong voice) “Doctor Octopus is not pleased.”
Tillie. Oh, well that’s just great!
Trixie. It is?
Tillie. No, it’s NOT.
Tessie. Why not?
Tillie. Because if you think about it, the only people who use their own name when they’re talking about themselves are the VILLAINS!! Good people don’t talk about themselves that way.
(The three Whimsies think…worried…)
Trixie. (suddenly) No, wait! That’s not true! Sometimes Johnny Storm refers to himself as “Little Johnny.”
Tessie. He does?
Trixie. Yeah, he does.
(They all breath a sigh of relief…)
Tessie. So then…that doesn’t necessarily prove anything.
Tillie. That’s right. I think ANYTHING is possible at this point. It’s way too early yet for us to know what’s going on.
Trixie. Yeah. And besides, remember what Miss Chrissy said about the director, Joss Whedon? Remember what she told us about when he did that Buffy show?
Tillie. You can never be sure, and you never know what’s going to happen next.
Tessie. And the most obvious answer is probably not the answer at all.
Trixie. Except when it is, because he KNOWS you won’t think it’s the answer, so he makes that the answer…and then you’re surprised that it was really that easy!
Tillie. It’s just good storytelling, to keep the audience guessing.
Tessie. So I guess we’ll have to keep watching to find out.
Tillie. Maybe we’ll find out something more. Maybe not.
Trixie. Well….you know what I want to find out?
Tessie. Something else about Skye?
Trixie. No.
Tillie. (rolling her eyes) Then it must be something about Thor!
Trixie. (also rolling her eyes) NO. I want to find out about that fish tank.
(Three Whimsies giggle, then sigh….)
Tessie. Yeah….how cool would that be…to have a plane with a fish tank….
(They sigh again, then settle down, and finally go back to sleep, dreaming about flying on a plane that has a fish tank.)
