Agents of SHIELD. Season 1 Discussion Thread

[Nick Ryder]

Well I'm giving SHIELD a bit more slack for a couple reasons 1 - it's a Marvel/Disney production which means that the 'suits' are probably trying to be very safe right out of the gate, it's not super Alias action level yet - even Alias while the first few episodes were good, had some nice action, more for the technopop music I think than any actual action - I think they want to save the really 'good' stuff for when they know people actually WANT to watch another 'super secret agent' show.

2. I can totally see WHY they went with a pretty much unknown set of characters - they have complete freedom, they can kill 'em, they give 'em super powers, they write them out and it won't feel like 'OMG HOW CAN YOU DO THAT TO THAT BELOVED CHARACTER"

I think really the ones who are all like 'meh it's okay.' are getting jaded on other similar genre shows and other shows that really try to push the envelope. Keep in mind, this is on ABC - which equals 'play it safe'. Castle has succeeded because it keeps the formula intact and relies on the witty banter, romantic subtext and the fact that it's funny. But if you break it down, if you watch Castle back to back to back to back, like it is on TNT lately, you start to go 'didn't I just see this?'

And don't get me wrong I LOVE Castle - Castle and SHIELD are on my DVR weekly and I make a point to watch them every week.

I think people on boards like this came into it expecting well, a lot more. Like Alias or Homefront or something more shocking. Yeah they're kinda generic right now, but I like the quirks so far - honestly I'm kinda hoping the big white guy goes away - and maybe... his days are numbered anyway. Maybe he DOES get killed somewhere later on as a shock ending. Fitz/Simmons are fun I like them. Skye's kinda weird and probably a double agent but then again... could she be working for Fury sorta on the down low, like HE was the one running the Rising Tide or something and it's a matter of seeing if she'll do the right thing or betray SHIELD. Fury's known for doing shit like that.

Although I DO want to see more actual Superheroes in the show and I would like to see more 'classic' SHIELD things touched on. Zodiac keys. Hydra. AIM. Baron Von Strucker. Madam Hydra. The Secret Empire.

Next week does seem like it's setting something up... maybe I'll get my wish.

 

[Borgminister]

She's got balls?

 

[Venardhi]

It sounds like their budget is really hurting, though; I believe that's what hurting the really showy stuff.

There is no rule that says they need a big budget to tell great stories.

They don't even need to tell great stories, I can deal with adventures of the week, I just wish they would tell their stories better. Make things matter, make their choices have repercussions, let them fail when they fuck up or even just fail because that is what happens a lot of the time, make admissions of fraternal abuse not appear as if created just to be tossed out for sympathy and to add a new note on a character's bio or at least do it with a bit more tact.

I like the show, honestly. I like a few of the characters and I really like the moments where it feels like a live action comic book. I want them to do the same show, but better.

 

[RJDiogenes]

Wow, some sad posting in this thread. SHIELD is a great show. I've loved every episode so far. Coulson's a fantastic character, of course, and so far it's been free of all the adolescent grittiness that's plagued so much pop culture over the past years. The secondary characters need to be developed, and that process has started with Wade and Sky-- I love how they've learned from each other in the past two episodes-- and now needs to be extended to the Techno Twins and the Cavalry. The format of the show is flexible-- we've gone from Mad Scientist to Jungle Adventure to James Bond so far-- and doesn't need yet another Big Bad. And it certainly doesn't need to do anything stupid like killing off characters. Hopefully it can maintain its ratings as is, because I'm loving it.

 

[Kytee]

over all I liked the episode, and I'm enjoying the show enough to stick with it this season. I liked the story this week and the fact that the guy they were rescuing didn't want to be rescued; Was I the only one who got the impression that Coulson anticipated this response ?

Not a huge fan of Coulson wearing a suit on the extraction mission, I agree it was meant as a gag but it really stood out as out of place. If they had to climb or crawl or anything having close flapping around like a suit does would just be problematic.

One odd thing that I noticed, when Ward disarms Mr. Cowboy we see him take a double barreled break-action shotgun from the guy; however as Mr Cowboy hits the ground we can hear Ward rack the slide of a pump-action shotgun off screen before the camera returns to him and we see him holding the cowboys gun.

Still love FitzSimmons, they amuse the crap out of me

Any idea why Coulson didn't slingshot the black gravity goo at the end ? I thought 0-8-4 suggested that this was standard operating procedure for powerful crap they can't control? I didn't get any impression that Coulson thinks Dr Hall is alive .

-Kytee

 

[Trekker4747]

Any idea why Coulson didn't slingshot the black gravity goo at the end ? I thought 0-8-4 suggested that this was standard operating procedure for powerful crap they can't control? I didn't get any impression that Coulson thinks Dr Hall is alive .

-Kytee

I'd think throwing a bunch of goo that dicks around with gravity uncontrollably into the sun would be a bad idea.

 

[TheSeeker]

I'm sticking with SHIELD but, really, only out of some sense of loyalty to the MCU but, right now, it's not a show I'm raving about or would itch to get people to watch.

This is pretty much how I feel. I really want this show to be great, but so far it is not giving me any of those "oh my god, this is awesome" feelings.

It has potential though, so I'm willing to wait.

 

[Captain Craig]

Still love FitzSimmons, they amuse the crap out of me

-Kytee

They are annoying. Show has been improving except them as I see it.

 

[ALF]

The major flaw with this show is the hacking character. What's her name, Sky?

She's the epitome of cheap writing: a super sexy heroine who apparently is socially awkward, has no friends, etc etc we've seen this a million times before and it's not very exciting. I can only feel indifference towards statuesque models who are trying to play the frumpy "every(wo)man" and really have no effort to put forth to succeed, yet you know it will inevitably happen. It's probably a little insulting to the audience to use that kind of cookie cutter character, for women especially. The rest of the characters are more or less interesting.

Well, every moment Sky is not on screen is good. When she is on screen, it's not good. Maybe it's not cheap writing per se, but studio influence? "Note: Put a non spy in the show so that people will feel grounded, etc" Anyway, those were my thoughts on ep.3.

 

[TheSeeker]

I'm not seeing the "socially awkward" part at all.

 

[LaxScrutiny]

Skye Theory

It was mentioned upthread that Skye just doesn't come across as intelligent or skilled enough to be the world's greatest hacker.

I am wondering if this is on purpose.

Look at what the writer's could have done. Claudia from Warehouse 13. Charlie from Supernatural. Felicity from Arrow. Let's throw in Topher from Dollhouse for gender fairness. All of these characters had something that made them believable: A personality that was quirky enough to make us believe that they were THAT good.

Skye doesn't have this. She is ballsy, but really not that smart, not that focused, not that dedicated, not that obsessive.

The quirks that make Fitz and Simmons somewhat believable as geniuses, at least as far as the genre tropes go, are completely lacking in Skye. Is this on purpose?

Here is my thought: Rising Tide is available to her through a secret secure channel in her cell. So here is the thing, what if she is not the hacker? What if the hacker is elsewhere, and she is just the front? What if every brilliant hack she does is being pulled off by someone else behind the scenes?

Look at what happens in "The Asset." She goes to her phone and she has an invite. She doesn't have access to her computer, there are no firewalls to break through, she sends a text, and a moment later she has an invite to the party.

Who did she send the text to? Quinn? Or Rising Tide?

Skye doesn't come across as a genius. She comes across as a groupie that provides the face and voice for the real anti-goverment nerd(s) that spend 24/7 in front of a computer screen and have no clue how to address the public.

So, I might be completely off base, but if it isn't something lke this, the IMHO the character is very poorly drawn and needs some serious revision to be believable. Given the writers' previous efforts, I think they have more in mind than what we've seen so far.

 

[Kytee]

Re: Skye Theory

I'd think throwing a bunch of goo that dicks around with gravity uncontrollably into the sun would be a bad idea.

Very good point, they probably like the sun the way it is.

It was mentioned upthread that Skye just doesn't come across as intelligent or skilled enough to be the world's greatest hacker.

I am wondering if this is on purpose.

.

The quirks that make Fitz and Simmons somewhat believable as geniuses, at least as far as the genre tropes go, are completely lacking in Skye. Is this on purpose?

Here is my thought: Rising Tide is available to her through a secret secure channel in her cell. So here is the thing, what if she is not the hacker? What if the hacker is elsewhere, and she is just the front? What if every brilliant hack she does is being pulled off by someone else behind the scenes?

Look at what happens in "The Asset." She goes to her phone and she has an invite. She doesn't have access to her computer, there are no firewalls to break through, she sends a text, and a moment later she has an invite to the party.

Who did she send the text to? Quinn? Or Rising Tide?

Skye doesn't come across as a genius. She comes across as a groupie that provides the face and voice for the real anti-goverment nerd(s) that spend 24/7 in front of a computer screen and have no clue how to address the public.

So, I might be completely off base, but if it isn't something lke this, the IMHO the character is very poorly drawn and needs some serious revision to be believable. Given the writers' previous efforts, I think they have more in mind than what we've seen so far.

Well said, I'm having the same problem with the character, and I also wonder if it's done on purpose. However my pet theory is she's going to turn out to have supernatural hacking skills, it just comes to her without much effort.

The very first time she mentions her hacking skills she say's she is 'Weirdly' good with computers when talking to Mike in the coffee shop. We also have more then one bit of dialog about how she hacked SHIELD with very little tech ' A laptop she won in a bet'
To me that's like saying she can carve stone like Michelangelo; using only a wet noodle. Maybe they are just trying to emphasize how good she is and I'm reading to much into it.

-Kytee

 

[Trekker4747]

AoS has gotten a full season order. So we'll at least have 20 more episodes for them to iron out the kinks and make this show something truly special.

 

[Mister Fandango]

To be fair, Quinn did say that she just asked for an invite.

 

[Captain Craig]

AoS has gotten a full season order. So we'll at least have 20 more episodes for them to iron out the kinks and make this show something truly special.

Marvel's Agents of SHIELD given a full 22 episode order.

ABC is investing in a full first season of “Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD,” after the first three episodes of the tentpole drama drew impressive returns in adults 18-49.

Full season pickup takes “SHIELD’s” episode count to 22.

“SHIELD” opened to over 12 million viewers on Sept. 24 (the Alphabet’s biggest drama debut in four years), and while the program has seen a decline since its premiere, it is still holding strong against juggernaut timeslot competitors “The Voice” on NBC and “NCIS” on CBS.

“SHIELD” ranks as the night’s top series in key male demos, which is a notable win given the typically femme-skewing viewership of ABC.

 

[Guy Gardener]

After she hacked into their system and said "YOOHOO!" instead of bringing it all crashing down.

 

[Admiral2]

Marvel's Agents of SHIELD given a full 22 episode order.

ABC is investing in a full first season of “Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD,” after the first three episodes of the tentpole drama drew impressive returns in adults 18-49.

Full season pickup takes “SHIELD’s” episode count to 22.

“SHIELD” opened to over 12 million viewers on Sept. 24 (the Alphabet’s biggest drama debut in four years), and while the program has seen a decline since its premiere, it is still holding strong against juggernaut timeslot competitors “The Voice” on NBC and “NCIS” on CBS.

“SHIELD” ranks as the night’s top series in key male demos, which is a notable win given the typically femme-skewing viewership of ABC.

Yay!

Well, It's "Yay"for me anyway...

 

[Alidar Jarok]

Even people who don't like the show should have no interest in wanting it canceled, best as I can tell.

 

[stj]

Coulson's a fantastic character, of course, and so far it's been free of all the adolescent grittiness that's plagued so much pop culture over the past years.

Clark Gregg and a guest actor speechifying at each other about hard choices, followed by Gregg pushing him into a turbine, sorry, that's committing to adolescent grittiness. It's not just a shout out to Firefly fans.

The Coulson persona is very pleasant, but...We listened to the scientist guy explain why he wanted to kill the the ostensible guest villain by destroying the gravity whatsis. We want to believe when Coulson announces that his security measures are what they guy would have wanted, but unless you just aren't watching the show, you can't. He just said what he wanted, which was to kill Smarmy.

High school dropout who just naturally whizzes as computer science. Well, high school is more about social adjustment than education, so that's irrelevant. Nonetheless, Sky's militant ignorance contradicts the ostensible character. Reversing her alleged political commitments for no obvious reason destroys what little character she had in the first place.

SHIELD exists to preserve the status quo, no matter what. I know we're all supposed to be raving reactionaries since the Wall has fallen, but shouldn't somebody want to actually change things? Having Mr. Smarmy associate social change with nineteenth century capitalism may have suited Whedon's nineteenth century politics but it gives SHIELD an unpleasant status as villains in their own story.

 

[RAMA]

This show continues to be dumb and bland. I'm not foreseeing a long run.

RAMA