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I Finally Figured Out Why Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Isn’t Engaging

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I Finally Figured Out Why Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Isn’t Engaging

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I Finally Figured Out Why Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Isn’t Engaging

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Published on May 13, 2015

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Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

What is my problem with Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.?

This year I was able to, for the most part, watch Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. without having to dig through the guts of each episode. I was really looking forward to this approach. Focusing on singular episodes in a show structured to mimic an ongoing comic book was making me a little batty, for one, and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.‘s structure as a network television show isn’t designed to withstand that kind of scrutiny. The more I focused, the uglier it got. By stepping back, I thought, I could better appreciate the show.

Instead, I just got bored.

(Spoilers ahead for Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. season 2 finale and Avengers: Age of Ultron.)

But why? This past half-season the show was going to great lengths to include at least one twist in each episode, and some of the twists were pretty fun. Hey, Sif is here to teach them about the Kree! Then the team hustles off to fight Skye’s dad and his merry band of losers. But don’t look now, there are two S.H.I.E.L.D.s! And a village full of super powered Inhumans. And their leader is Skye’s mom! And she’s CRAZY. When listed out like this, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. does not sound at all like a boring show.

Yet, when thinking of notable episodes from these 12 episodes, only the season finale and “Melinda” come to mind. The season finale is all pay-off, so it’s understandably exciting. “Melinda” is a different kind of story, though. It’s almost entirely self-contained and while the impact of the story is greater if you know the context of the Inhuman storyline, that context isn’t necessary. “Melinda” tells a story of the impossible emotional situations that normal people can find themselves within during an age of heroes, gods, monsters, and inhumans. It fulfills an expectation that I’ve always carried for the show: depict how normal folks are reacting within the emergence of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. “Melinda” does that without flinching and as a result, that small story feels larger than all of the world-altering plotlines the show throws out.

But isn’t this essentially Skye’s story over the course of these 12 episodes? Now gifted with powers, Skye has to learn renegotiate her friendships, her place in the world, and her trust in her own body and capabilities. That’s an important story to tell in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, one that actually requires the decompressed nature of a television series. I would wager that most, if not all, of the viewers of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. have spent a lot of time wondering what their lives would be like if they had superpowers, so Skye’s storyline is going to be of interest in that regard. I’ve certainly wondered that. (FYI: I want Gordo’s powers. But also I want to keep my eyes and not have a pipe tunneling through my liver.) So why did I not find Skye’s episodes-long story as interesting as “Melinda”?

Is it simply up to the actors? This is a fairly subjective quality that varies from viewer to viewer, and while my own boredom with Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is just as subjective, I don’t think I can entirely pin it down to the actors. The show has its share of standouts, for one. Ruth Negga, Adrianne Palicki, and Kyle MacLachlan tend to steal the scenes they’re in, even when they’re handicapped with the same mumblety-gook “let’s do this/this is a war” dialogue that every secret agent or super villain show/movie seems to use.

Maybe that’s it. I’m searching for some possibly-undefinable quality that makes Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. flat and drab in comparison to Agent Carter, Daredevil, and the Marvel films and it may simply boil down to the quality of the show’s dialogue. A writer who is truly masterful at dialogue can elevate a story beyond its weaker elements. The recent Age of Ultron is an excellent example of this. Regardless of what’s happening in that film’s story, it’s a pleasure just to hear Tony Stark talk in that arrogant, nervous, and wounded tone of his. And it’s fun to hear him in conversation with any of the characters because their dialogue is also suited towards their particular viewpoint and history. Even Vision, who has existed on screen for less than 30 minutes, has a distinctive vocabulary and cadence that reflects his artificial nature and his origins as J.A.R.V.I.S. and Ultron. Really, the only character who doesn’t get distinctive dialogue is Quicksilver, and you could still interpret that as a purposeful foreshadowing of his death.

Captain America couldn’t say Thor’s lines without sounding weird. Black Widow couldn’t say Tony’s lines without sounding weird. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. lacks this distinctiveness. You can insert nearly any of the show’s dialogue into the mouth of another character and it wouldn’t sound odd. The show sparks to life in the rare moments when this isn’t the case, in fact. MacLachlan’s Hyde character is so alluring in part because no one else on the show can mutter as blissfully and crazily as he can. Coulson himself gets a lot of these lively moments. There are particularly robotic-yet-fatherly comments only he can pull off; moments where you just hear the specific way he says something and you know: that’s Coulson.

There aren’t enough of these moments in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. to sustain my interest through 12 hours of plot twists and gun fights. (Quick aside: Wow have the fights gotten better on this show.) But is it only the dialogue that keeps me distant from this show? Agent Carter had some pretty sharp writing, but I wouldn’t call it groundbreaking. Daredevil‘s dialogue is distinctive but it also goes out of its way to be portentous and heavy and tough to digest. It’s not a reason I would give for suggesting Daredevil over Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., but nevertheless I would suggest watching Daredevil over Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D..

Because the Netflix series has style. As did Agent Carter. As do the majority of the Marvel films. Hell, give Guardians of the Galaxy another watch. That movie’s story makes no sense but it’s bursting with style and personality. Guardians rode that vibrancy to a widespread success that would sound baffling to anyone pre-2008. (I can imagine me circa 2007 saying something like, “The moviegoing public loses it’s shit over a tree that repeats one line over and over? Whatever, buddy.”) Style is important to storytelling: it’s how a story communicates its qualities to a casual observer.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. doesn’t communicate in this manner. Its sets are generic, the characters all dress in the same muted colors, and the show is so darkly lit that the characters tend not to contrast with their environment, making the visuals flat and unengaging. This visual sense of the show combined with its generic dialogue drowns out the more exciting elements of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

This weakness in the show is something I’ve been struggling to identify since it came on the air but it wasn’t until this recent block of episodes that I realized that Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. was reminding me of another Whedon show: Dollhouse. The two shows share a very similar dark, muted, and unconfrontational visual aesthetic despite their strong premises, and Dollhouse similarly struggled with engaging its viewers (and its network) in the same manner. Until “Epitaph One.”

Like “Melinda,” the strength of “Epitaph One” came from shaking loose from its shows established aesthetic and telling a personal story. For those of us sticking with Dollhouse it was a breath of fresh air. Oh, the show can be this good? This is extremely promising MORE PLEASE.

I don’t think S.H.I.E.L.D. needs an “Epitaph One.” It’s been a slow burn, but S.H.I.E.L.D. has been getting better and better, but I do think the show runners need to take a lesson from their own Dollhouse episode and boldly state a clear direction for the show going forward. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. needs to shuck off its drab, shadowy quality, stop holding the audience and its own characters at a distance, and embrace a direction beyond its initial premise.

This is one of the reasons I think the season 2 finale “S.O.S.” is so notable an episode. It’s insane, for one. It’s chock full (chock, I say!) of crazy things that can only happen in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But its final scenes also establishe the possibility of the show going a much clearer, leaner direction.

So here’s my suggestion. Get rid of the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. name and visual style. Call the show Secret Avengers from now on.

Secret Avengers

(Yeah, I know they’re called “Caterpillars” in the actual comics. “Secret Avengers” is a better name.)

Captain America: Civil War will put all the heroes in the Marvel Cinematic Universe at each other’s throats in one year’s time. And by this point that’s kind of a lot of heroes. We’re now past explaining how people get powers. The genie is out of the bottle. The fish oil is flying off the shelves! The Marvel Universe is now HERE and the Avengers can’t be everywhere. Someone needs to deal with these threats without making cities fly through the air. It’s time for Secret Avengers.

This is where Coulson has been going all along, really. He’s a born assembler, that one. I want DaisyQuakes and Mockingbird and Deathlok and whomever else shows up next season (SPEEDBALL) bursting onto the scene and taking down losers, then heading home to their support team FitzSimmonsMackMay. If Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. isn’t going to tell stories about normal people dealing with this insane new super powered world then maybe it should head in the other direction and become a straightforward super team show. There’s certainly a place for them in the wider cinematic universe. You wouldn’t call a Secret Avengers to take down Ultron, but you would for that Kree warrior from the Sif episode, or the Serpent Society, or Graviton (whenever he wakes up).

It did a lot of the hard work getting to this point, but I think Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.s day is over. This universe is brighter, weirder, and more colorful than ever. Secret Avengers…assemble?

 

Note: You can join the discussion about this season (and the next) in this thread.

If Tor.com contributor Chris Lough had teleportation powers no one would be able to consider their lunch safe from his clutches. NO ONE!

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Chris Lough

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9 years ago

I’ve also struggled with this show. I haven’t even kept up this season, I’ll have to binge later. I want to like it, but I feel like it’s often stuck treading water between movies.

ChocolateRob
9 years ago

Seriously, we get that you don’t like it. Just stop watching it already and leave the rest of us to enjoy it in peace.

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Colin R
9 years ago

I don’t know about your name change, but I think you’re getting your wish about it basically being Secret Avengers.

I think there is a simple answer to what has been holding Agents of SHIELD back: the movies. And the politics of a ‘shared universe’. By the time they were ready to start making it, they had to deal with the fact that SHIELD was disintegrating. Then they had to deal with the fact that it was back–and that, understandably I think, Whedon had no interest in mixing the show into an already crowded movie, and less interest in allowing Coulson to show up again.

The show has always been dodging the effects of the movies. But I think they are settling on the Secret Avengers premise, and I think it will work. There are enough ‘Enhanced’ people in the movies now that having a super-powered team in the show will not step on anyone’s toes. Focusing on a secret program rather than on SHIELD also helps. And finally, they’re SECRET. No need for the films to engage them at all if they don’t want.

If Agents of SHIELD isn’t as distinctively stylish as Daredevil or Agent Carter, I think it’s still pretty fine by the standards of network television. They have a good cast, and better guest stars. They do need to step up their game though, because even though I don’t watch Flash I am pretty sure that that guy is fighting an evil telepathic gorilla, and come on ABC/Disney, you’re not going to let the CW one-up you, right?

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9 years ago

While I don’t disagree with any of your gripes, I just don’t……care?

I’ve loved worse looking shows(Buffy for one). Not everything has to be everything to all people(very Tasha of me, I know). I like this show for the characters, for the action scenes, for the conundrums it presents(even if it doesn’t particularly engage with them). I don’t need cool colors and distinctive set designs.

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SamJ
9 years ago

I had the realisation 1/2 way through the first series that this show was twisting itself in knots to explain itself. The team was weird (seriously, Skye makes no sense), but they didn’t really gel, so there was a lot of hard work. I’m on the shelf about whether they fixed this.

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9 years ago

I’m with Aeryl for the most part. I think the show has been getting better and better and most of the people I talk to seem to agree. I understand that there are some issues and some episodes are definitely better than others but I do think you are being way over critical. Or perhaps viewers like me are just less demanding. Shield is more straightforward of a show then Agent Carter perhaps, and doesn’t necessarily tackle the same issues all the time the way Carter does but it’s still a pretty good show. In my books, there are many many worse shows on TV then Shield is.

Jason_UmmaMacabre
9 years ago

I’ll probably get nailed for say this, but here goes. Agents of Shield, S2 was much more engaging than Arrow, S3. I feel like Shield took a giant leap forward this season from the drab and boring 3/4 of S1, while Arrow took a step back in S3. Maybe it was just that no one could step into Deathstroke’s shoes. I never would have thought this a year ago, but at this point, I look forward to Sheild more than Arrow.

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Colin R
9 years ago

I like SHIELD but I also like Gorillas, so maybe they can work Gorilla-Man into Agent Carter. Jimmy Woo, Venus, Robert Grayson all would fit in easy without complicated effects, so they could surely splurge on Ken Hale! And then maybe they can show up as ATLAS in Agents of SHIELD afterward.

You can do this for us, Marvel.

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Colin R
9 years ago

Heck they could even step up their game, and add Red Ghost and his Super-Apes as agents of Leviathan! We can’t abide a gorilla gap!

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Random22
9 years ago

Yeah, the biggest problem with Agenst of SHIELD is still SHIELD. It is still, even devoid of Hydra, an NSA/CIA hybrid organization dedicated to suppression and not freedom. The showrunner response to that criticism has been to use editorial dictat to make the people they face even worse instead of making “our heroes” better. Asshole vs Asshole just is not interesting, since, no matter how you slice it, an asshole wins either way. Ultimately the inhumans are in the right and simply turning their leader into a vampire-destroyer does not change that. That and we’re still hanging onto Ward so they can have the broody sarky Angelus analogue in the show, for god’s sake someone just off-him and we can move on from the fustercluck of season 1.

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ba?ba?
9 years ago

Thank you for Age of Ultron spoiler.

digrifter
9 years ago

MAoS hasimproved so much! Sure, the dialogue isn’t the greatest, but the relationships are where it’s at.

(Plus, the fight scenes are lightyears better — Skyequake is a BAMF!)

I’m looking forward to Season 3.

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9 years ago

I haven’t had a problem watching AoS, I find it much more engaging then Arrow or The Flash.

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teel77
9 years ago

Chris, since you clearly aren’t into the show is there someone else who could take over the weekly recaps? I really enjoy them and hope they make a triumphant return in the fall!

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9 years ago

You know what this show needs…

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Colin R
9 years ago

I’m ok with Speedball if they also introduce Hairball.

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Ernestine Henry
9 years ago

Well regardless I have been loving AOS from the beginning and it just gets better and better each season I do wish that Captain America /The Avengers stop using AOS to help boost theur movies. AOS is a good show with alot of ass kicking and I hope they keep going. Those that continue to compare this show to The Flash/Arrow its no comparison each have their qualities so if you don’t like AOS then just don’t watch it.

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9 years ago

I like the show much better than Chris, but see his point about the writing. The scripts could use a bit of punching up, and the different characters don’t have lines that have distinctive voices for each of them. While the actors can make up for some of that, it would work a lot better if the dialog did some of the heavy lifting for them.
I also agree on the visual feel of the show. They don’t need to do the gaudy costumes from the old SHIELD comics, but even something as simple as putting the SHIELD tactical guys in dark blue with black web gear, and HYDRA tactical guys in dark green with brown web gear, would do a lot to make some of the action scenes clearer instead of just everyone wearing black. And while the Quinjets are good, some additional SF vehicles and weapons would be nice. More flying cars than just Lola, for example.
And some sort of technical advisors who could help them improve the realism of the spy/spec ops stuff would be a big help. Instead of this being ordinary, real people dealing with a superhero world, we have folks that don’t feel rooted in the real world. One area where they have improved, however, is in the fight scenes, which just keep getting better.
I don’t know if the higher ups would go for a new name for the show–they might see it as encroaching on the movie world’s turf. But I think the name Secret Avengers would be a lot more appealing.
But like I said, I am a lot happier with the show than Chris is. I don’t think wholesale changes need to be made, only more of the tweaks that have been making the show better all along. I liked Skye’s story, which was made much more appealing by a bravura performance from Kyle MacLachlan. And Skye ending up as first member of a secret group of superpowered agents is a great new thread that will be picked up next season. The fact that Coulson lets Skye drive Lola indicates that he has a new right hand man (any hand pun strictly unintentional). I am glad Bobbi and Hunter will be staying with the main show, as they were strong additions to the cast. I am glad Ward is setting himself up as the new master of HYDRA, as Brett Dalton is doing a great job of playing an unhinged lunatic. And I look forward to seeing Simmons return from her goo absorption with some sort of new powers or abilities. And Coulson is back to being in charge of SHIELD, having shown himself as a clearly appointed heir to Fury (entrusted with implementing the Theta Protocol), and a cool head in their clash with the Inhumans, making the right calls in a chaotic situation. The show is definitely heading in the right direction.
Don’t yield, back SHIELD!

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puck
9 years ago

WAIT. So we lost actual review posts of AoS, to be replaced by rather insulting “discussion threads” on a BLOG whose purpose is CONTENT, because the one person tor assigned to watch the show DOESN’T LIKE IT?

??!???!?????!!!!!!

Chris, I’ll be honest. I really like your writing style. I like that you recap with humor and opinion rather than a boring blow-by-blow other sites tend to do, but DAMN I’m with #14. If you are done with this show, then pass the torch to someone else who might actually want to watch and write about it. It’s just crazy insulting to tor readers to do nothing on season 2 and cap it off with a “This is why I hate the show you guys like.”

I (for one) have only watched the first ep of Daredevil because although I really like Cox (and other actors promised in further eps), I found that first episode boring beyond belief, and horribly, horribly sexist tropey (when it wasn’t being boring tropey). The stunts are nice, but at least in that first ep I’ve no idea what you mean about good visuals. I might give it a couple eps more, but in a world so chock full of shows (COMIC shows at that!) and so little time, I feel it’s a show’s basic duty to hook me in that first episode. It’s not MY duty to hang around and punish myself, hoping it’ll get better.

I don’t feel that way about AoS. Great cast, interesting storylines, good production values and stunts. It’s not perfect, a good chunk of that in part due to the above mentioned “holding pattern” it has to sometimes do, but I can’t hold that against it. I don’t care for Skye (still) and you are absolutely right about how a good portion of the characters use the same quips and morals dialogue, but that’s a small sin in the overall “bad TV” picture.

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Scott Ferrell
9 years ago

I’m with those who say if you don’t like it don’t watch it. Don’t get on the interwebs and complain. AoS is better than 90% of the crap they put out on network TV. I think they’ve done a good job building characters your can care about while intertwining their storylines with the MU movies… It’s not like they can just ignore it.

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9 years ago

I think Chris has several valid points. Maybe next season they will have someone else review the show if Chris does not want to but if he wants to continue to review it then I say that is just fine.

Sometimes a show is just ok. It is not a bad thing to point out where the show could improve.

I wanted to like Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. I really did. And then I just found it boring.

So as many people like to suggest I did stop watching it.

But that is not how successful television works. People have to watch it to keep it on the air. To generate revenue.

And since Daredevil was brought up…. It is more stylish visually.
I would not say it is much better but it was not boring.

a bit too violent for a character who (like all good guys) claims not to kill people. They may not die but they get real close when he gets going.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D shoud be visually stylish for one very simple reason.

It is a spin down from movies to television of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It is little side stories from a grander tapestry.

If Winter Soldier and Age of Ultron are like a Couture Dress wherein they are grand visual statements of skill and expense to make a stunning impression then Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. episodes are the shoes and the handbag and the necklace. It is less expensive but no less important in supporting the greater ensemble.

Tessuna
9 years ago

What is with all the “if you don’t like it, don’t write about it” comments? Really? I thought this blog is about an opinion, you know, just thoughts about the show, no “only nice and good things to say about show I really like and is perfect in every way.”

Plus, I agree with all the criticism. AoS, even though they were so full of surprising twists lately, somehow managed to bore me most of the time. And that is just not right.
I must admit that I kept watching just for one character: Fitz. I honestly think he’s the only interesting one. Something about him, maybe the fact that in the world full of people gaining superpowers he had the “normal” sort of power – just being briliant – then almost lost it and was strugling to get it back in very “ordinary human” way, made me care about him. If this show would have been centered around him, not Skye…

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Joe Maurone
9 years ago

To each his own; I enjoyed the finale more than I did the whole of AGE OF ULTRON….

Anthony Pero
9 years ago

I loved this season. It was uneven, but it hit so many awesome notes, especially WITH Skye, whom I like both as a character the performance… And the production values are very high… you want to see what dark palettes that don’t pop look like? Check out Arrow. Which I love, don’t get me wrong, but dark green and dark red, and black, running around on dimly lit sets…

I get a certain amount of the criticism… but I don’t see how any of it can’t be leveled at every show on TV that isn’t named Game of Thrones. I think the bottom line is, like you said, the show BORES you. You aren’t connecting with it, for whatever reason. That’s ok, nothing wrong with that. Like you said, its subjective. There is nothing objectively wrong with the show, though. The performances are good, the characters are as layered as they are on any other show, the production values are high, the writing is serviceable. I disagree that anyone could say any other characters lines. Simmons has her own dialect, obviously fitz does as well this season. Mac is under-developed, but the actor is making up for it. Hunter is far more sarcastic than anyone else on the team. SOMETIMES he and Bobbi could trade lines… but that’s to be expected. They were married and they serve the same function on the show. Its why they keep them separated from scene to scene for the most part. Skye is completely unique, except when she’s TRYING to act like May earlier in the season, because May is a hardass, Skye is in pain, and she thinks that’s how to deal with it. But none of that is lazy writing. Its all intentional.

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9 years ago

The show has been constantly entertaining for me this season and is one of the few that people I’ve talked to seem to be jumping on late.  People asked if it was true that season two seemed to be going better than season one and gave it a second shot.  It’s one of the ones we discuss every week.  One of our constant debates is if other people are expecting a movie budget for a network television show.

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9 years ago

I watched the last episode and I was like, ughhhhhh. Some parts of it were soo lame. I mean when Skye’s Father went all Monster and started galivanting through the halls after people – it was sooo lame. And also, they were in a SHIELD base and there were NO OTHER SHIELD AGENTS ANYWHERE to handle the guy. I mean, come on!?

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9 years ago

The visual drabness is one of my main gripes with the series. Everyone and everything is either black or shades of very dark grey (I’m expecting LEGO Batman to file a suit), and all the sets are perpetually dark. There’s no strong, visual way to distinguish characters, factions, good and baddies. There’s no life in the environment.

The other thing that bores me to death is the kind of series where the good guys keep on losing for 21 episodes (or whatever the length of a season is, minus one) to enemies who are obviously superior both in firepower and organizational skills, but manage to subvert all odds in the finale. I know the rise of the underdog is a favourite trope in TV storytelling, but after a while it just becomes depressing on top of implausible (see: the Ori arc of SG-1, where 90% of the people I knew stopped watching in favour of Atlantis).

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9 years ago

@26, No, there are no other SHIELD agents.  Coulson has a tactical team of like five people, May, Bobbi, Hunter, Skye and himself.  Everyone else who works for SHIELD are technicians.  REAL SHIELD had some tac people, but they were all on the Iliad.

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9 years ago

As far as the comments about who reviews the show, I see three issues:

1.  If whoever is reviewing the show is not connecting with it, they are not likely to enjoy that work.  That’s not good for them or us, because its harder to get their best effort.  (Sure, sometimes it’s fun to dig into exactly why you’re bored by something or dislike it, but for me, that gets old very quickly.)

2.  When the review is uniformly dismissive or negative, and that doesn’t match most of the commentary, most of the discussion centers on that division rather than on the show.  That’s not good for us either.

3.  Finally, I’ve noticed that as the reviews have stopped matching my opinion, and the commentary has matched it more closely, I skim the review and go straight to the comments.  If many people are also doing that, we’d be better off with a new reviewer or a discussion page.

None of this is a slap of the reviewer – I never connected with Firefly, to name but one show-that-is-squee-inducing-for-many-but-not-me.  Sometimes it just doesn’t work for you; doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with you or it. You should just find something that does work for you.

 

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#RGB
9 years ago

You know what the best part of this review is?

The comments.

Lots of people think this show is great.

Like the other commenters, I don’t think its bad, I just don’t think you like. Which is fine… but why force yourself to watch and review it?

Maybe you have a friend who likes the show that can  do the review?

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#RGB
9 years ago

To be a bit more fair… you say in your review that the show is basically a lead up to a big finale and pretty much everyone liked the finale.

That doesn’t make it bad or lazy.

Hot Fuzz is a movie that is nothing but banana peels up until the end, AND IT’S A GREAT MOVIE.

That’s why I think so many commenters think you’re being dismissive of the work as opposed to doing a good review.

This review can be summed up.

“The show is doing exactly what it was and has intended to do, fans seem to like that its doing that, but it’s boring. I like these other shows better.”

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9 years ago

I don’t mind negative reviews, it gives me something to think about when I see a contrasting viewpoint.  The SHIELD reviewer on ComicsAlliance, for example, was very hard on the show, but the reviews were written in such a witty and snarky way, I looked forward to seeing them every week.

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9 years ago

I appreciated getting to see this perspective, as a new-ish MCU fan deciding whether to start watching “Agents of SHIELD” — thanks!

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9 years ago

@33, As another “newish” MCU fan, in that I’ve never done the comics, I think the lack of known comic properties is what turns off a lot of more hardcore comics fans, and that this is why Daredevil is considered so much better.  I was vaguely aware of some of the Daredevil characters from the older movies, and while I enjoy the show, I’m not of the OMG WOW BEST TV EVAH a lot of people I know, who are hardcore comics fans and are middling AoS fans. 

I think for those people coming into Daredevil, and seeing characters they recognize causes them to elevate the show above what it is, while the lack of that on AoS has led them to judge it more harshly.

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9 years ago

I enjoy Agents of SHIELD. For a show in the tricky position of having to subject its plot to the movies, it does very well, and is getting continuously better. I have always thought that it needs more superpowers. It needs to embrace the fun and awesomeness of being in the Marvel world, rather than trying to be dark and complicated. I feel like we finally got this in the last few episodes. Skye can now control her powers and throw people around, we have Fitz being awesome with science, and is Grant Ward now the head of Hydra? I have never looked forward to the future of this show more.

While we’re comparing Daredevil and AoS, did anyone else notice that Skye was in the same orphanage as Matt Murdock?

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9 years ago

@35, Yes, and now I’m DYING for a crossover!

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Hossein
8 years ago

I completely disagree with you I really love every episode I watch ,,  I believe It’s the best tv series , it really is,, and It is absolutely the best comic series,

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Rosie Powell
8 years ago

I must admit that I am not a fan of the show’s second season.  For me, it was a major disappointment after the first one.  But judging from your last words, I get the feeling that you wanted the show to be about costumed super heroes and not about a government agency that dealt with super heroes and other strange matters involving aliens, super powers, etc.