Agents of SHIELD political commentary

I've been really enjoying the current storyline in Agents of SHIELD. It's doing a virtual-reality take on a sort of a mirror-universe story, and it has a bunch of great moments, and the return of a character I've missed, and some pretty compelling emotional stuff. (There is, of course, also some handwaving and goofiness.) (Um, and I doubt this storyline would be a good place to start watching; there are a lot of elements that are deeply woven into what's happened over the past couple seasons.)

But one of the things I've been enjoying most has been the not-so-subtle political commentary. A high-ranking Hydra agent in a recent episode said “we will make our society great again.” The phrases “nevertheless, she persisted” and “alternative facts” have also figured prominently.

And the show's writers are even taking a stand against Marvel's corporate party line. In a recent episode, a student asks if Hydra are Nazis. Alt-Coulson explains that Hydra predates the Nazis, but Simmons says they are indeed Nazis: “Every last one of them, and don't you let anyone forget it.” I wonder how Marvel executives reacted to that.

(...That line is a little bit odd in-universe, because all of the main characters on the show are very very aware of the ancient pre-Nazi origins of Hydra in the MCU, having spent much of a season interacting directly with that origin; in fact, as far as I know, this show is the only part of the MCU that's explored that origin. But it was a great line nonetheless.)

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