![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Larry Young raised a point of interest over at spunkybean.com during his review of the episode as a whole. I'll wait while you read that, and then quote about half a paragraph that I'd like to address here with my opinion.
Okay?
Good.
The quote:"One of the things I just don’t understand is where S.H.I.E.L.D. fits in après-Winter Soldier. They haven’t really spelled it out other than they’re persona non grata to civilized society, and the ATCU has seemingly been activated to confront the threats S.H.I.E.L.D. used to. But, incongruously, they’ve still got access to quinjets and the Zephyr and whatnot, so they’re still a going concern. I loved the ol’ “S.H.I.E.L.D. isn’t a secret, but what we do is.” Now it seems simultaneously fractured and disavowed and fully-funded and a going concern, which causes a little narrative dissonance."
I answered him directly elsewhere, but I want to put the answer down here on LJ as well:
What SHIELD is now? Operating on something maybe two or three ladder-rungs above a shoe-string budget. They can run maybe 100-200 cell-sized "field offices", a handful of larger bases including the Playground and whatever drydock "64" was sitting in up until Ultron hit Sokovia, a couple of squadrons' worth of Quinjets and Zephyr-One, and I think that's about it for now.
Going a bit further with those thoughts:
Coulson would love to get that Official Hunting License back from Washington, Turtle Bay, anyone else in a legal position to grant it and the cash flow that would go with it. Whatever money they're running on right now is likely coming from assets derived from Fury's Toolbox. How long it took Fury and whoever else to set it up, I can't even begin to guess. Fury probably had 20-30 years since SHIELD poached him from the US Army to the Insight Disaster to accumulate that wherewithal.
How long can Coulson's Crew keep running on that tankful?
Only the writing team of the series and the offices of Jed and Joss Wheden, Melissa Taurenchen, Ike Perlmutter and Kevin Feige probably know for sure. And they're not telling. Yet.
That's it.