This episode reintroduces the anti-Inhuman terrorist group Watchdogs, which first appeared in the fourteenth episode of Season Three. I enjoyed that episode as the S.H.I.E.L.D. Team scored a victory over the terrorists. I say I enjoyed it until I watched "The Uprising" and decided to read up on the Watchdogs. In the Marvel Comics the Watchdogs group was originally created to symbolize censorship and repression. "Watchdogs" in particular was code language for "Conservatives" and "conservative values." Some Leftist commentators were thrilled with the AOS plot, viewing the Watchdogs as a commentary on current events. To the Left the Watchdogs are symbolic of President Trump's supporters.
In the context of AOS episodes the political and social symbolism of the Watchdogs is never openly declared. But, if the AOS writers accept the symbolism of the comics, then it puts a whole new meaning into their plots. They would be covertly slandering their conservative viewers. Certainly, the violent Watchdogs deserve to be eliminated because they are targeting people solely for their physical characteristics. In reality the MCU and X-Men universes are pretty scary places for normal people. There is a saying that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. A person without power would have no reason to trust a powered person, such as Maria's reaction to Yo-Yo. The Inhuman message is "we're really nice people. We wouldn't hurt anyone except the bad guys."
The reality is that the powered person cannot avoid using his power and without some kind of regulation there would be bloodshed. The Sokovia Accords are intended to restrict the military or law enforcement deployment of enhanced individuals. However, it doesn't address the unilateral actions of enhanced individuals, which could happen in a variety of situations, whether accidental or intentional. The AOS series does not adequately address this issue. J. Michael Straczynski dealt with this very issue from all perspectives in his Babylon 5 series and there the powered people were telepaths. In his novel for television there eventually was a violent war between telepaths and "mundanes," which led to the government imposing strict regulations on telepath practices. But, sadly, the AOS writers are not nearly as brilliant as Straczynski.
In the context of AOS episodes the political and social symbolism of the Watchdogs is never openly declared. But, if the AOS writers accept the symbolism of the comics, then it puts a whole new meaning into their plots. They would be covertly slandering their conservative viewers. Certainly, the violent Watchdogs deserve to be eliminated because they are targeting people solely for their physical characteristics. In reality the MCU and X-Men universes are pretty scary places for normal people. There is a saying that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. A person without power would have no reason to trust a powered person, such as Maria's reaction to Yo-Yo. The Inhuman message is "we're really nice people. We wouldn't hurt anyone except the bad guys."
The reality is that the powered person cannot avoid using his power and without some kind of regulation there would be bloodshed. The Sokovia Accords are intended to restrict the military or law enforcement deployment of enhanced individuals. However, it doesn't address the unilateral actions of enhanced individuals, which could happen in a variety of situations, whether accidental or intentional. The AOS series does not adequately address this issue. J. Michael Straczynski dealt with this very issue from all perspectives in his Babylon 5 series and there the powered people were telepaths. In his novel for television there eventually was a violent war between telepaths and "mundanes," which led to the government imposing strict regulations on telepath practices. But, sadly, the AOS writers are not nearly as brilliant as Straczynski.
