Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

[Spark Of Spirit]

That was definitely the most okay thing I've seen in a while.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

While it's still too early to judge the series based only on one episode, it seems like it could potentially bee too convoluted for its own good. I got hints of an Angel season 4 vibe, here, and I did NOT really enjoy season 4 of that show, aside from a few great episodes. I kind of hope that this series can remain episodic-by-nature, but with some overarching elements that can connect a grander plot in the background that could be summed up in the season's finale. The best seasons of Buffy and Angel were able to do that. Ideally, it'd be great if this show were like Serenity and it was completely focused on really good stand-alone episodes, but being that it's based in a Universe that can get so up its own ass with continuity, I don't see that happening.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

This week's episode was a step-up from the premiere, IMO, but only just by a little. It's pretty cliche and predictable stuff for the most part, but I do like how the team started coming into their own in this episode, and the characters are now starting to slowly show a bit more dynamics and chemistry between one another. I do feel that the character arcs that were set up in these episodes seem as though they might go down a predictable path, but since this is a Joss Whedon series, perhaps he's making it seem that way on purpose and will throw a curve ball at us later on in the season. That said, even if it does go down the predictable route, I have to make note that so did the first season of Buffy, so it may just be a thing where he wants to establish these characters first and then move onto bigger and better things.

I also like how they toned down the references to the Avengers in this episode. There were still a few obvious ones, but not to the point of potentially alienating a viewer who went into this show blind to the Marvel Movie Universe. Aside from that, the other positive is that I feel that the humor started to work in this episode. A couple of criticisms that I have mostly lies in how the writers handled the dialogue, here. A lot of it just feels too stilted and cliche, and I was able to predict so many lines and which characters would end up saying them by the beginning of the episode itself. It felt too much like "textbook" writing tropes to me, though there were a few clever quips thrown into the mix.

Other than that, we got a neat little cameo appearance from Nick Fury in this episode! I certainly didn't see that coming.

[Avaitor]

It definitely feels like a Whedon show, as the main characters are slowly but surely growing into a weird little family.

Not a bad thing, really.

[Spark Of Spirit]

My comment remains the same.

[Avaitor]

Oh, I forgot to mention, at my screenings of the show so far, the audience applauded in unison to not just Fury, Coulson and Hill's first appearances, but Ron Glass's character in the pilot as well. Not so much for J. August Richards.

I guess that should tell you who matters in Whedon canon. Book, absolutely. Gunn, not so much.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I never disliked Gunn as a character, but he was easily my least favorite member of Angel's team. Not counting Angel himself, as well as Spike (because he's a character that I associate more with Buffy), I would have to say that my favorite character on the show was probably Lorne, followed closely by Cordelia. I also have to give an honorable mention to Doyle, but obviously he didn't have quite as much screen-time on the show as the other main characters did. Wesley was also a great character, but he became a bit of an ass in the final season. And finally, Fred was just Fred. She was a fun character, but just not as stand-out as some of the others.

[Avaitor]

I'm just now up to Angel on my ever slow rewatch of it and Buffy, but from what I recall, I can mostly agree.

Fred in particular. She was cute, but honestly, I've always preferred Willow and Kaylee myself.

[hobbyfan]

I had to watch the first two episodes On Demand due to baseball. Meh.

Ensatsu-Ken: Agents is a follow-up to Avengers, has been all along. The debate on another board has been surrounding Coulson's resurrection, and sources there have already dismissed
the use of the Life Model Decoy (LMD), a frequent, convienent plot device in the books. If Whedon's had to rewrite, that might be because Ear Loeb & Quesadilla are two of the executive producers. Loeb's got experience with live-action TV (Lost, Heroes), but he should be
kept far, far away from any Marvel TV project going forward. Same with Quesadilla.

So far, no Stan Lee cameos, which would've been too obvious. I'd expect them to do something to tie into Thor: The Dark World, which opens next month.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Ensatsu-Ken: Agents is a follow-up to Avengers, has been all along.

Did I ever say anything to indicate that I'm not aware of that? My gripe was that having too much of the series try to find some way to connect to The Avengers is a bad thing. If I want to see The Avengers, then I'll just watch the movie, and if I want to see a follow-up, I'll just wait for the sequel. What this series should be focused on is showing us a completely different experience taking place in the same Universe, and by that I mean that it should be giving us a reason to care about S.H.I.E.L.D. in the first place, which it hasn't quite managed to do for me just yet.

[hobbyfan]

Ensatsu-Ken: Agents is a follow-up to Avengers, has been all along.

Did I ever say anything to indicate that I'm not aware of that? My gripe was that having too much of the series try to find some way to connect to The Avengers is a bad thing. If I want to see The Avengers, then I'll just watch the movie, and if I want to see a follow-up, I'll just wait for the sequel. What this series should be focused on is showing us a completely different experience taking place in the same Universe, and by that I mean that it should be giving us a reason to care about S.H.I.E.L.D. in the first place, which it hasn't quite managed to do for me just yet.

I referred to your starting post when you said you figured it would be a prequel, which it is anything but. Disney/Marvel want to tie as much together as possible for marketing purposes, which is something DC/WB isn't doing with Arrow---yet. I never said you weren't aware, but the statement I referenced made me think you were expecting something different.

[Avaitor]

If you're curious, yes, Franklin Hall is a character in Marvel, and he does become a villain. So this is definitely not the last we'll see of him.

This was another pretty okay episode, but the show still isn't finding its voice. It feels like Jed and Maurissa want it to be part Firefly, part MCU, and part NCIS/CSI-like procedural all at once, and the influences clash. Hopefully this will change, but we are only a few episodes in, after all.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Yeah, the show really seems to be struggling with trying to find its own identity. I just hope that it finds it soon, because I don't want to have to wait a whole season just for this series to start getting interesting.

[Spark Of Spirit]

I actually watched an episode of Disappeared instead. The show is too average for me. If it picks up later, I'll pick it up again, but for now I'll spend my time elsewhere.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I'm going to stick with it until the end of season 1 to see if it picks up at all. If not, then I'll probably drop it.