Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Under a cut and on LiveJournal so that those who don't want spoilers can avoid them.
It's a good show for the most part. So far all we've seen is a pilot and usually Whedon's shows improve significantly after all the exposition gets out of the way. That's also usually when they're cancelled, but we won't get into that rant here and now.
The Good:
1. Agent Phil Coulson is back. Yes he died during the last Avengers movie. The exposition portion of the program explains how he's back. The suspension of belief is easy enough. C'mon, people, it's a show based upon a comic book in same universe as The Avengers, Spiderman, and X-Men.
2. Lola. I can't hate on a vintage Corvette like Lola. Except for the part that will be on The Bad list below. But it's so not the car's fault.
3. The ensemble cast. Ming Na is awesome, as usual. The rest of the cast is mostly awesome as well.
4. The production values are mostly good. I can see them going for a comic book-y feel to it and I get it.
5. It passes the Bechdel Test. The cast is somewhat diverse.
The Bad:
1. Here's where the first major spoiler comes in. Lola. Can fly. I pulled a muscle eye-rolling at that. Completely unnecessary and FAR too much with the exact same visual as from Back to the Future.
2. A cast member that's a little A LOT like Eliza Dushku's character in everything. It's one thing to see her particular style of inflection on her. In moderation. It's irritating and grating to see it on others. I see great potential for Mary Sue here and I'm hoping they go through the effort to make it not so. Time will tell. To be clear, I'm not blaming the actress. I'm blaming her direction and writing. Her character is quickly becoming a Whedon trope.
3. The cheese. That moment...in every 80s adventure TV show...when the ensemble solves the crime or completes a task...where everyone looks at each other and smiles. Yea, this show had it. Barf.
4. Scientists are magic and can do the impossible on demand. Need a cure? We can do that! In time for the episode to finish in less than an hour and before someone destroys the world...and some junk. Who needs actual scientific method? Science is magic! I would have been more satisfied if the characters were modeled more on Q from the James Bond movies. However they weren't. One was supposedly a biochemist but didn't actually do anything biochemistry related. Cal Tech and UCLA are right there - I know there are lots of people who would love to be science advisers for the show.
Minor nit-picky points:
1. Some of the special effects were a little too...special. High def TV can show production flaws with absolutely no mercy. The easy fix for this is to blur your effects. They didn't.
So there you have it. It's not a bad show and it displays great promise. I sincerely hope the writers and producers pay special attention to it to keep it from being cliche. I'm hoping they'll have some longer plot lines because wrapping everything up in an hour will become cheesy. I realize a pilot has to wrap up in an hour, but beyond that they can do what they want. It would be awesome for them to crossover with others from the Marvel Universe. It's my understanding that parts of the universe are under contracts with different production companies, making this difficult. However we know from the exposition that The Avengers are able to make appearances, even if as toys and "video flashbacks".
It's a good show for the most part. So far all we've seen is a pilot and usually Whedon's shows improve significantly after all the exposition gets out of the way. That's also usually when they're cancelled, but we won't get into that rant here and now.
The Good:
1. Agent Phil Coulson is back. Yes he died during the last Avengers movie. The exposition portion of the program explains how he's back. The suspension of belief is easy enough. C'mon, people, it's a show based upon a comic book in same universe as The Avengers, Spiderman, and X-Men.
2. Lola. I can't hate on a vintage Corvette like Lola. Except for the part that will be on The Bad list below. But it's so not the car's fault.
3. The ensemble cast. Ming Na is awesome, as usual. The rest of the cast is mostly awesome as well.
4. The production values are mostly good. I can see them going for a comic book-y feel to it and I get it.
5. It passes the Bechdel Test. The cast is somewhat diverse.
The Bad:
1. Here's where the first major spoiler comes in. Lola. Can fly. I pulled a muscle eye-rolling at that. Completely unnecessary and FAR too much with the exact same visual as from Back to the Future.
2. A cast member that's a little A LOT like Eliza Dushku's character in everything. It's one thing to see her particular style of inflection on her. In moderation. It's irritating and grating to see it on others. I see great potential for Mary Sue here and I'm hoping they go through the effort to make it not so. Time will tell. To be clear, I'm not blaming the actress. I'm blaming her direction and writing. Her character is quickly becoming a Whedon trope.
3. The cheese. That moment...in every 80s adventure TV show...when the ensemble solves the crime or completes a task...where everyone looks at each other and smiles. Yea, this show had it. Barf.
4. Scientists are magic and can do the impossible on demand. Need a cure? We can do that! In time for the episode to finish in less than an hour and before someone destroys the world...and some junk. Who needs actual scientific method? Science is magic! I would have been more satisfied if the characters were modeled more on Q from the James Bond movies. However they weren't. One was supposedly a biochemist but didn't actually do anything biochemistry related. Cal Tech and UCLA are right there - I know there are lots of people who would love to be science advisers for the show.
Minor nit-picky points:
1. Some of the special effects were a little too...special. High def TV can show production flaws with absolutely no mercy. The easy fix for this is to blur your effects. They didn't.
So there you have it. It's not a bad show and it displays great promise. I sincerely hope the writers and producers pay special attention to it to keep it from being cliche. I'm hoping they'll have some longer plot lines because wrapping everything up in an hour will become cheesy. I realize a pilot has to wrap up in an hour, but beyond that they can do what they want. It would be awesome for them to crossover with others from the Marvel Universe. It's my understanding that parts of the universe are under contracts with different production companies, making this difficult. However we know from the exposition that The Avengers are able to make appearances, even if as toys and "video flashbacks".