Season 5 Rant Thread (through 5x10)

I agree with the notion that if two people agree on everything, then only one person is doing any thinking. This would be a very boring site if there were no disagreements.



There is some debate on this thread on whether there is such a thing as filler. I am on the side of there being too much filler. The first five episodes and much of the sixth were devoted to exposition and setup. At the end of the sixth episode things started happening, and the characters made it to the surface, only for another episode of mostly exposition. If this were the first season of a show that would take place in this setting indefinitely, then this would not be so bad. However, this was a ten-episode arc, with two thirds of this arc spent on exposition and setup.

There may be random moments that seemed like filler but will become very meaningful once we see the final 12 episodes of the show.



I agree with just about everyone here.



Had he survived, he could have answered all the questions, which would have made the arc much shorter.



The point was to take up time. I suppose that killing Grill was an important moment for Flint.



He was the main exposition character. Our Jemma Simmons (as opposed to the television Jemma Simmons) talked about how it is important to show rather than tell. Unfortunately, there was a lot of telling, and Deke was the main teller.



In addition to introducing Kasius's Inhuman slave market, this also reinforced the idea of Simmons being an Inhuman whisperer (seen with Vijay Nadeer in season 4), which became useful with Flint in "Past Life."



I liked Tess. Her death felt a little too close to being stuffed in a fridge for my comfort, so I did not mind her being brought back. As noted in other posts, her resurrection reminded us that Kree blood can be modified to revive a human who has died.



I was not hoping that she would overthrow Kasius. First, there was no indication that she would be a more humane leader than Kasius was. For example, in a plotline that was dropped, Kasius was drawn to Simmons's compassion, whereas Sinara was a bit contemptuous. Second, I liked the dynamic between Kasius and Sinara and did not want to see them on opposite sides.

It is common in fantasy/science-fiction worlds for nonhumans to have significantly longer lifespans than humans. This may be a long shot, but I would love to see a young Kasius and Sinara accompany his father to earth in the second part of the season.



Unfortunately, the person who monitors screen time by character does not publish data by episode. Maybe someone else should at least look at the amount of dialogue that each character has per episode as a proxy for screen time.

As it turns out, Deke is the only character who has had more dialogue this season than Kaisus had. They are on top largely because Deke provided a lot of exposition, and Kasius provided a lot of speeches. Kasius's loquaciousness played an important role in the ninth episode when Mack and Elena could count on him monologuing long enough for the Lighthouse denizens to move the bombs.

I liked (or, at least, loved to hate) Kasius, so I am happy that he stuck around. However, I do not think that he should have had more focus than any of the characters that we have grown to love over the first four seasons.



Does anyone remember when it took Daisy several episodes to control her powers, and then only with the assistance of people who were experienced in helping Inhumans learn how to control their powers?

I understand Mack and Elena wanting to adopt Flint. He recently lost Hope. I would not go so far as to say that Flint is a replacement for Hope or a rebound, but Mack is probably feeling very paternal now. Elena probably senses this and is supporting Mack.



His purpose was just to be another exposition character.



I do not disagree with what you said, but you seem surprised by this. Elizabeth Henstridge is chronically underused. For example, through the midpoint of season four, Simmons was eighth in screen time, behind three characters who did not appear in every episode. So far this season, Simmons is eighth in terms of dialogue.

I admit that I was not fond of the makeup that she wore. it was almost as garish as the makeup that Henstridge wears in public appearances.



I agree, but, as you (and everyone else) noted, Iain De Caestecker was not available at the beginning of the season. It helped that we saw a lot of Fitz in "Rewind."



Part of this is that Ming-Na Wen's (and May's) injuries force May to play a different role from what she normally does. Most of the time, May is not a character who wears her heart on her sleeve, so inscrutable expressions are not that unusual. One thing that I have noted is that May has become much more of a hugger than she was before. In "Uprising," she was completely shocked when Simmons hugged her (admittedly when May was rather disoriented). Now, she often greets female characters with hugs.



They did lead a successful rebellion that freed the surviving humans from the Kree. I like them, but I consider them to be the most expendable of the major characters.



Interestingly, in terms of dialogue, she has been less prominent over the first ten episodes of this season than she has in any ten-episode period of the show, with less than a third of what she had in the first ten episodes of the show. I agree that Chloe Bennet has grown a lot as an actress.



I do not know if it could have been condensed down to four or five episodes, but It could easily have been condensed to eight episodes. I expect that the first ten episodes will make more sense after we see the next twelve episodes, but some of the plotlines will be dropped.



The main problem with Inhumans was the writing. Number two was the acting. The quality of the sets falls well down the list of problems. On Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., the writing is better, and, with this cast, we never have to worry about the acting. As long as the acting and writing are good, I am OK with the rest.

I am in the camp that would rather have this show with a low budget than to have the show cancelled. The one place where I would draw the line is that they better not cut Iain De Caestecker, Elizabeth Hestridge, Clark Gregg, Ming-Na Wen, and, I think, Chloe Bennet has earned a place on this list as well.

One counter opinion about the effects comes from the the Visual Effects Society, which nominated "Orientation" for Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Episode.

I agree the fight scenes have been weaker than normal. Some of this is due to budget cuts, but some of it is that May is injured and is not as capable of doing what she did before.