Hello! I am not your usual Agents of SHIELD reviewer because last week (if you recall) our reviewer gave up because the show is awful.
Or is that … was awful? Let’s discuss. I’m optimistic.
1. Best Episode Yet!
Right. Well. That wasn’t hard to beat, now was it?
But, seriously, that was the best episode of this show yet. The bar is incredibly low after the first two episodes (which I am now 100% convinced should’ve been a two hour-long season premiere so that this could be the “second episode”), but this episode finally hit where it wanted to go: no more cheesy SyFy-style sets, an actual focus that made sense within the context of the characters, a use of the team dynamic, some kind of pay-off with the character arc. I was happy.
In discussing this show with most of my friends, I compare SHIELD to Angel. Angel, the spin-off of Buffy (and a show I’ll happily admit I just saw in its entirety for the first time even though I watched Buffy when it aired), was pretty miserable in its first few episodes. Sorry, Angel apologists, but it’s true; in those first handful of episodes, that show had NO IDEA what it wanted to be, and it showed. It essentially wanted so much to appeal to fans of Buffy that it fought for footing in its first set of episodes, but when it finally figured out what it wanted to be it came out of the long shadow Buffy cast.
I’m pretty confident that this is the case here. The show wants so badly to appeal to fans of Avengers that it’s only hindered by trying to live up to that ideal, to fighting for the same execution and style. This episode, the show seemed to have some sense of identity and purpose; give it a few more episodes and I think it’ll be the show we want it to be.
…. buuuuuuut, all that said?
2. Still Not A Great Show
So, it’s better, but it’s definitely not there. I can’t be the only one who feels that, right? There’s one particular reason why which I’ll get to in another one of my points, but for the most part it just feels like the show is still just chugging along on a track paved for it. This was very much a safe episode, even if it was something I liked watching; it was Iron Man 2 to Marvel’s Iron Man, not trying to be particularly better than what came before it but trying really hard to be just as good under the assumption that that’s what will make it awesome.
I think that Agents of SHIELD, three episodes in, has a lot of potential. But, really, by three episodes we should see the show that it wants to be; the potential should be gone and replaced by a firm identity that gives us all what we want. And while I will relent to the idea that fan hopes and hype should not be what a show caves to, it would be nice if it didn’t take three episodes to give incentive to tune in. It would be even better if I could firmly tell already lapsed viewers (ie our former SHIELD reviewer David Harper) that, yeah, he really should get back on the bandwagon.
It’s kind of like comics, right? Marvel will launch a new series full of characters you like that costs $3.99 (or whatever), and you’ll really want to love it because you love Character X but it’s not good enough to spend $3.99 on it on a monthly basis. And, ok, I’m not paying for this in any particular way, but it’s still not worth the $3.99.
Yet.
My biggest problem is:
3. Coulson is Still the Only Likable Character
Maybe I’m just a jerk, but gosh, I just don’t care about anyone on the show yet. Am I supposed to? I think so.
I think my issue is that most of the characters seem forced, as if we know we’re supposed to like them so, hey, here you go. Look at how sassy and sexy they are! But my issue is, that doesn’t work for me. It fits in with Whedon’s biggest created trope for his programs to an extent, but everyone here feels… I guess, at best, they feel derivative? Skye is Winifred Burkle with more confidence, Fitz and Simmons are Willow Rosenberg, Grant is Paul Ballard; they’re all essential archetypes. And, OK, this episode did a little bit to develop Grant and even Skye, but I’m not convinced personally.
Continued belowThere’s an unfair curve at play, obviously. We know Coulson throughout all the Marvel films. We know his quirks, his charm and we see it on play a lot throughout the show. In fact, Coulson’s development here is rather exceptional; the final moment where he has to make his choice? Nice touch there, and it really drives home what separates Coulson from the Avengers. (The added scene with assembling the gun was a nice nod as well.)
But all in all, I can’t say I care much for the cast because the cast have been given so little time to have any real personality, and the scenes in which they do feel a little forced — or, at worse, cliche. I guess I like Fitz and Simmons, but they’re barely anything at this point in the show. It’s basically Marvel’s Coulson and Friends Hour Starring Chloe Bennet.
4. The Biggest Missed Opportunity
So, OK, if I asked you what the point of SHIELD was, what would you say? Because if you asked me, I would say that its to build the Marvel brand and introduce new aspects of their comic universe into the shared cinematic universe. That’s what I assumed anyway; maybe I’m making an ass out of you and me here, but as much as I think a SHIELD TV show is cool, I would wager that that is its underlying purpose.
So why isn’t that happening? In three episodes, we’ve had references to the movies and only one singular comic introduction that hasn’t been made. Why wasn’t Quinn related to some nefarious organization we’d known before? Throw in a short nod to Hydra as his funding and, hey, a subplot begins! Or, better yet, why not just have Ian Quinn be a character from the books, or insert a cameo?
And, yes, I know there’s the one character. We can talk about him in the next section.
My bigger point is: for a show that could do a world of good in introducing an unknown audience into a realm that you and I assumedly share (you’re on this site because you’re a bigger fan of comics, right?), it’s totally dropping the ball. Arrow introduces a character from the comics, what, once per episode? And they figure out ways to make it work; here’s Count Vertigo, and he’s not like he is in the books but you and I get the wink and the nod while everyone else says, “Hey, what’s this Villain’s Month comic and should I buy it now?”
Let’s get real: Agents of SHIELD should be selling comics. The biggest way to do it would be to utilize the source material. Ten bucks says that no one is going to go out and buy old issues of “Avengers” and “Thunderbolts” to catch up with whatever happend to Graviton.
Which is my segue into talking about Graviton.
5. The Stinger Explained
For those of you who didn’t pick up on the reference, Doctor Franklin Hall also goes by the name Graviton in the Marvel Universe. A supervillain birthed from a science experiment gone wrong merging his own particles with graviton particles (derived from gravitonium and other Totally Real Marvel Science Stuff™), Hall is the focal point of this episode who is shown as still alive to a degree in this week’s stinger.
Graviton is known for being totally cool and starring in scenes like this:
Yeah. I know.
But, still.
First of all, I like that SHIELD has weekly stingers. Smart move. If they learned one thing from the Marvel films, I’m glad it was to use this.
Second of all, I like the nod. I like it a lot. I’m disappointed SHIELD couldn’t go up against a real threat yet and is still sort of noncommittal about the role that the extraordinary plays in the show, but the road lights are there. Graviton can come back and hopefully they can do more with him than they did with Charles Gunn Extremis Guy™.
The point is, just like in the films, the stinger still puts a little extra juice into show. It gets me excited. I want to tune in, I want to see more like that. I want to see where the Graviton story goes, if anywhere. It gives me something I’m unabashedly excited about in this show, and it’s the only thing that does — which I guess is a little funny given that it’s such a minor thing. But, still.
And, you know, Graviton isn’t even that cool or interesting. But, come on! Supervillain potential! Lets do this, SHIELD! Ramp it up! You’ve got momentum, don’t lose it!
