Agents of SHIELD. Season 1 Discussion Thread

My only problem with that is that I don't understand how or why it was a neverending vacuum in the first place.

 

Because I wasn't arguing that with you? The only point I was arguing was what Coulson's afterlife comment implied.

 

Ratings took a drop, which is hardly unexpected. Sadly, it wasn't able to beat out NCIS.

 

Here's the thing about decompression that film and TV always gets wrong: it stops once the pressure equalizes. And the reason explosive decompression is called that is because it happens almost instantly. If a hole were blown in the side of a plane, the higher-pressure air would shoot out the hole and within moments the interior of the plane would be at the same air pressure as the exterior, hence no more suction. At that point, the only danger would be from the intense wind of the air racing by outside and the dangerous air currents that would create. The Bernoulli Principle might create some outward suction, but not very intensely.

Not to mention that when May fought with the pilot, the stick was pushed forward and the jet descended to a lower altitude, which would be why they still had a reasonably comfortable air pressure after the decompression.

Sure, they still fudged it a lot by showing Coulson fighting the suction for, like, a whole minute when it would really have been over in a couple of seconds. But other parts of the sequence, like the air remaining at a breathable pressure in the cabin or the suction being gentle enough that a flimsy life raft could block it, weren't nearly as bad.

 

Much as I enjoyed it, you could pretty much characterize the entire hour as empty fluff. The sudden appearance of Jackson's Fury didn't strike me as any more farfetched or unbelievable than anything else that happened.

Although I do agree they probably should have toned down his anger a notch or two. Somehow it seemed a bit much after the rather lighthearted adventure we had just watched.

 

I didn't read that as anger, just exasperation.

And given the stress Fury is under 24/7, I imagine he welcomes an opportunity to vent a little bit!

 

Well.. the show is still not clicking completely for me.

Some few bits and pieces were ok (the show acknowledging the physical attractiveness of the cast or the post credits scene) but otherwise it fell quite flat.

It's still in the setup phase it seems with some info about characters appearing and setting up new stuff to explore but i miss the sparkling Whedon wit he showed on Buffy, Angel, Firefly etc. Maybe i should drop my Whedon expectations a bit but it's hard to do.

I will of course stick around and hope for the best but if that episode is the indicator of the general level of the show i'm a little disappointed.

So my hopes rest on the fact that the overall plan of the show works out, that the cast finds some chemistry and that we get some unique vibe out off it instead of leeching off the movie universe.

 

Kay, so...

Two down.

Coulson's still bad ass.

That's pretty much all I care about.

 

Episode two was a hell of a lot better.

The final episode for this season is when they'll figure out that the slingshot is alie and that a faction inside SHIELD has been hoarding alien tech.

 

I'm still meh about the show.
Handsome guy and hacker girl are so bland, so dull. I, in fact, I hate that these two are the leads of the show. That scene with them... ugh, ugh.
Fitz and Simmons... better... but still annoying.
And in this episode, it featured bad guys to stupid to succeed. "Hey, we've captured the plane, what should we do with these hostages... I know, let's put them together, with the ability to talk to each other... nothing possibly could go wrong there!"
I expect something smarter than this. And please don't say, well, it's a comic book tv show... no. It's lazy. That's what it is. It's lazy.
Actually, after two episodes, that's what I would call this show: lazy.

 

I rate the show OK. So far the only character I care much about is Coulson. With the exception of the Wonder Twins, I can see the rest of the characters fleshing out in a few more eps and they'll be fine. The Wonder Twins, though, to me, are an extreme annoyance that I can do without. I'm still giving this show the benefit of the doubt, but they need to flesh out the characters better. The only one with any real dimension at this point is Coulson and to a lesser extent is the hacker chick.

 

Actually the soldiers easily outnumbered and could have taken the alien tech from Coulson back at the temple site. The entire charade of pretending to be on their side and then taking the plane over later was kind of pointless and unnecessary when you think about it.

 

Not pointless to them. They (thought they) got a plane ride to where they wanted to go without being attacked by the rebels.

 

I thought the twins were marginally more bearable in this episode, but yeah, they're still pretty damn annoying.

 

Coulson is the lead of the show. Clark Gregg gets first billing, then Ming-Na Wen. Brett Dalton and Chloe Bennet are third and fourth.

I don't think fighting for their lives together against the attacking rebels was a charade. I had the impression that Reyes didn't decide to try to hijack the plane until after they were aboard it. She told Coulson she made the decision "when I saw your team," but from what she saw of them at the pyramid, they probably looked pretty capable, given how Ward and May handled themselves. I don't think it was until they were on the Bus, when Reyes saw the full team bickering with one another, that she decided they were vulnerable enough to attack.

 

No.

Sure, Coulson is the boss of the team, and both Clark Gregg and Ming-Na Wen get top billing because they're the relative big names in the cast, but the show is clearly focused on Meh 1 and Meh 2 for the actual stories. Coulson is, at best, on equal footing with them.

 

So focus on Coulson and Ming-Na and ignore Things One And Two and the Wonder Twins. I've always found it easier to sit through a Joss Whedon series if I ignore about half the cast.

 

I suppose if you want to be pedantic about it, sure, those two have higher billing. But as has been pointed out Ming-Na and and Clark have had longer careers, and Clark is the most recognizable component to this spin off.

However, meh 1 and meh 2 are clearly being set up to be big components of the show. Will they won't they? When will Meh 2 be revealed to be a traitor, but then not really? Meh 2 is our entry point into this universe, she even was the first voice we heard.

The production is investing a lot of airtime to these two...

It would be easier to ignore if they just weren't there. And basically your advice is to ignore 50% of a show.

Or, Meh 1 and Meh 2 could've been better cast.

 

“You know, I have the authority to downgrade your ass to a Winnebago.”

Pity that, not only was that throwaway scene by far the best part of the episode, it was the *only* good thing about the episode. I say they should dump the whole cast except Clark Gregg (and maybe Ming-Na) and make it the adventures of Coulson and Fury. Who doesn't want to see that?