Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. [US] Spoilers

Dman001 · 27-09-2013 10:23pm

Meh, thought it was quite average, what I was expecting from Network television really. I was hoping though that we would see something "special" seeing as Whedon was involved. The set looked quite cheap, the script wasn't great in places and could be very cheesy at times. I know it's TV, so I wasn't expecting a movie-type set with huge budgets. But I was expecting a bit more than that. They also seem to be veering towards a "Superhero of the week" type set up, which I can't stand. I feel it gets old and boring after a while.

That said, The Avengers were always a bit of fun - it was never the gritty atmosphere that Batman brought. The show was a but of fun, and didn't take itself too serious. I really respect what they are doing too, bridging the gap between cinema and TV.

wampyrus77 · 27-09-2013 10:28pm

yes the avengers was good, but shield shouldnt they didnt formed the avengers, Captain American, Ironman and thor with help from spiderman and hulk formed the avengers in comics and avengers and shield are enemies in comics even so they are on same side

Kess73 · 27-09-2013 10:58pm

Wondering if Coulson is a LMD. The bit near the start where Hill and the Doctor are talking about him made me think that.

Edit: Just looked back through the thread and seems someone else had the same idea.

Patty O Furniture · 28-09-2013 2:08am

Will Agent Hill appear in further ep or only the pilot?

evilivor · 28-09-2013 12:32pm

The kid from The Fades was really annoying in this.

Optimus Prime · 28-09-2013 12:42pm

Kess73 wrote: »

Wondering if Coulson is a LMD. The bit near the start where Hill and the Doctor are talking about him made me think that.

Edit: Just looked back through the thread and seems someone else had the same idea.

Im still going with Cyborg, heard a rumour he is someone called Vision, but i dunno who that is.

Im sticking with my cyborg theory, my wife was watching it last night and when the doors are pushed off the van by the bad guy when he has skye, everyone ends up on the ground except coulson he does this Matrix style dodge of the van door, its blink and you miss it but he clearly bends backwards with Neo fast reflexes to avoid it.

flazio · 28-09-2013 2:13pm

I thought it was great fun, and that's what passes for entertainment with me, fun.
I understand why some people are wishing it had a grittier undertone (e.g. Dollhouse's prostitution) but sadly TV execs aren't fans of pre watershed grit, hence the many axings of great series before time. Netflix and the like are now showing this up but in the mean time the Network television scope hasn't changed much.
It's one episodes, there's more to come. I'm on board.

wampyrus77 · 28-09-2013 4:24pm

they cant do that to vision because vision isnt cyborg he is android with soul of wonderman inside him only reason he goodie because he has soul of wonderman inside him without the soul of wonderman he still servant for Ultron. when wonderman and nearly died from ultron attack and then Ant-Man transfer his soul to android vision to persevere him, someday Ant-Man will return wonderman to natural body until then his soul stays inside android vision, and there's difference between android and cyborg.

28-09-2013 4:33pm

wampyrus77 wrote: »

they cant do that to vision because vision isnt cyborg he is android with soul of wonderman inside him only reason he goodie because he has soul of wonderman inside him without the soul of wonderman he still servant for Ultron. when wonderman and nearly died from ultron attack and then Ant-Man transfer his soul to android vision to persevere him, someday Ant-Man will return wonderman to natural body until then his soul stays inside android vision, and there's difference between android and cyborg.

Oh sweet Jesus. Look it's an adaptation and as such one hopes that the writers will do something a little more than simply slavishly work off existing stories. The most boring adaptations are ones like Sin City which feels little more like a live action motion comic

conorhal · 28-09-2013 5:48pm

Mitch Connor wrote: »

Enjoyed as a light kids show.

Only the pilot, so will be interesting to see if later filmed episodes will get a bump in production values.

I think that's crystalized my view of it, it's a live action saturday morning cartoon.
That said, I can't quite write it off after one episode, I thought Hannibal was a pretty awful 'Criminal Minds- Baltimore with a serial killer of the week' format, but it improved greatly as it went along.

conorhal · 28-09-2013 5:51pm

wampyrus77 wrote: »

i know one puzzles me since coulson is coming back from the dead how come he isnt zombie

Who says he isn't 'Tahiti' seems to have been darkly hinted to be more of a metaphor than a vacation destination.

conorhal · 28-09-2013 5:58pm

Bacchus wrote: »

He's got a bit of a cult following from the fans over the course of the movies.

With regards to the comments saying it looked cheap or dated compared to the rest of TV, I wonder is it just that it is a very bright, chirpy show that it gives that impression? Take a few recent critically acclaimed shows, Breaking Bad, Dexter, Mad Men. They all have varying levels of dark themes and gritty realism.
In Breaking Bad, the tone is obviously dark and even the style of the filming is very muted, with a lot of grey & muddy greens set it a gritty world.
Dexter is in sunny Miami but beneath that there are gritty murders and a very dark humour.
To take something completely different, Mad Men doesn't deal with murder or meth but it's characters are superficially 'perfect' with some serious dark stuff lurking beneath.

My point here is that, maybe we, the audience, have become so accustomed to "dark reality = quality TV" that when a show like this comes along it feels cheap?

I can certainly see how it won't appeal to some people. Even fans of The Avengers may be disappointed it wasn't something grander. I note a few people expected it to be more 'cinematic' on this thread. Well, it ain't cinema. It's TV and in my opinion, it's a breath of fresh air in a season of gritty shows (Walking Dead, Breaking Bad, Mad Men, Ray Donovan, Boardwalk Empire etc.)

I think perhaps the real problem is the actors, they all have a certian 'American daytime soap opera' veneer to them. It's like Harrison Ford said the George Lucas when he read the script for Star Wars, 'Yeah, you can write this $h1t, but can I say it?'
Sometimes you need really solid character actors to make the rediculous sound plausible. This cast simply don't cut it for me. They're reading the lines, but I'm not buying it because they're desperately over selling. I mean, does anybody believe that Mr. Hard Ass 'I've killed people' could actually open a packet of bic razors without a hand from his acting coach?

RobbingBandit · 28-09-2013 10:09pm

Are there any super heroes in the marvel universe that can bring someone back to life, the LMD theory is the most likely but for some reason I think it could be something else.

bluesfan · 28-09-2013 10:25pm

LMD seems the most oblivious explanation to me. The rumour about Vision while not making sense in regards to how that character is portrayed in the comics would however tie into the fact that Ultron is to be the villain in the next Avengers film.

wampyrus77 · 28-09-2013 10:45pm

hold a second at the end of avengers film its show the next villain face and its Thanos face i thought he was going next villain the avengers going have to face off against

28-09-2013 10:49pm

wampyrus77 wrote: »

hold a second at the end of avengers film its show the next villain face and its Thanos face i thought he was going next villain the avengers going have to face off against

For someone whose supposedly a big Marvel fan you really don't seem to know much about the various live action projects. Thanos was never intended as the villain of Avengers 2 and I'm assuming that his inclusion in the first film was a nod to the fans as well as a way of showing just how huge the universe is. Thanos will play a part in Guardians of the Galaxy and will most likely appear in one of the subsequent Avengers films.

bluesfan · 28-09-2013 10:50pm

wampyrus77 wrote: »

hold a second at the end of avengers film its show the next villain face and its Thanos face i thought he was going next villain the avengers going have to face off against

I thought it would be Thanos as well but the next film is titled "Avengers: Age of Ultron", unless this is a fake to throw people off the scent

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2395427/

flazio · 28-09-2013 11:17pm

Who's the foe for Thor 2?

wampyrus77 · 28-09-2013 11:20pm

i never saw the full title of the next avengers movie only heard going be avengers 2, but i know full title of next avengers movie "Avengers: Age of Ultron", its not bad choice of a next villain since he is one most common of avengers villains and of Ironman villains, but it would leave people despair since they showed Thanos face at the end of the avengers movie.

Guardians of the Galaxy never i heard of Guardians of the Galaxy until i saw last night 1st of episode Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D on channel 4 one adverts show the Guardians of the Galaxy it could be the news while watching channel 4 last night it showed Guardians of the Galaxy and they said Thanos will be appearing in it,

wampyrus77 · 28-09-2013 11:25pm

flazio wrote: »

Who's the foe for Thor 2?

Malekith

but he completely differently look from the comics

Mr E · 29-09-2013 10:18am

Some very off-topic posts have been deleted (sorry Wampy)

cena · 29-09-2013 10:51am

Is there a repeat

sky23 · 29-09-2013 12:08pm

cena wrote: »

Is there a repeat

It was already repeated yesterday at 7pm

cena · 29-09-2013 12:20pm

Damn that wasn't home than

evilivor · 29-09-2013 12:22pm

cena wrote: »

Damn that wasn't home than

It's on RTE2 at 8 tonight.

sky23 · 29-09-2013 12:24pm

didn't even know it was on rte don't watch it much

wampyrus77 · 29-09-2013 1:02pm

try

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/marvels-agents-of-shield/4od

the_syco · 29-09-2013 10:55pm

Wait, did they just to the

Back to the Future

scene at the very end?

sky23 wrote: »

didn't even know it was on rte don't watch it much

Oh, and

username

irony

Greyjoy · 30-09-2013 10:41am

conorhal wrote: »

Sometimes you need really solid character actors to make the rediculous sound plausible. This cast simply don't cut it for me. They're reading the lines, but I'm not buying it because they're desperately over selling. I mean, does anybody believe that Mr. Hard Ass 'I've killed people' could actually open a packet of bic razors without a hand from his acting coach?

Yeah, for me casting was the big flaw in the pilot. For a team of supposedly elite agents they mostly felt like new recruits. The combat expert Ward looked like he should have been throwing a football around at a college kegger party instead of being a bad-ass agent. The scene between him and the hacker, Skye, was especially cringe-worthy. It felt like something out of an episode of Buffy. Now that would have been fine if they had both been teenagers but as an adult conversation it was awful.

There's enough potential in the series that I'll keep watching but I wish they had made the roster a little more experienced instead of taking the lazy way out and casting a bunch of pretty young things. Coulson & Melinda May were the only characters I found interesting from the line-up.

stevenmu · 30-09-2013 1:38pm

I enjoyed the first episode.

But I think it's not sure if it wants to be an adult show or a kids show and it ends up not really being either.

I'm also not sure how well Coulsen will work in this type of setting. A lot of what made Coulsen great in the movies was the contrast between him and Stark's loud brashness. It was more about what he didn't say and do than what he did. He's a great character, but not sure yet how well he'll work as a lead.

groovie · 30-09-2013 9:24pm

I sat through this, I think that it's really terrible. The budget looks to have been spend on fx, the casting is quite poor. Ward and Sky could have come from a poor mans Warehouse 13, Coulson needs a foil so he doesn't come across as too smarmy, the lab team are just sad, the Asian lady is so patently a nod to quota ethnic casting,
"for colour, you know"?:rolleyes:

Plot is poor, the 'bad guys' are poor, the flying car, are you ****in' kidding me? Is this show aimed at 10 year olds? In which case disregard my criticisms and forgive my bad language. The good guy speech near the end was cringe-worthy.
I'm out, but best wishes to all fans of this show. I hope that it works out for you, sincerely.

wampyrus77 · 01-10-2013 3:40am

i bet Coulson is a clone of the real Coulson that died in avengers movie and his Superiors never want him to know hes a clone.

groovie · 01-10-2013 7:34am

wampyrus77 wrote: »

i bet Coulson is a clone of the real Coulson that died in avengers movie and his Superiors never want him to know hes a clone.

When he popped open the door of the van, I thought that he was a clone, tbh.

humanji · 01-10-2013 12:08pm

I really enjoyed this. It was pretty much what I expected in that it was light and breezy with a darker overall story arch. Kind of like A Town Called Eureka. Some funny lines in it (I liked Coulson appearing out of the dark corner. It's a silly joke, but made me giggle).

I'd guess that Coulson is a LMD, because (as pointed out above) he reacts a little too quickly to be human (or highly trained, like Black Widow etc). And the LMDs are always used by SHIELD. Does make it exciting to find out what he is though.

Skerries · 01-10-2013 12:28pm

I don't think he went to Tahiti, I think he went to Belize

01-10-2013 4:30pm

Just after watching the pilot and I'm wondering if I saw a different 42 minutes to everybody else as there's no way that the episode I saw is worthy of all the rave reviews. I've enjoyed most of Whedon's work and would class Firefly as on of televisions finest shows but I found the Avengers film seriously mediocre and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is in the same league. Well no, that's not really true. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. looks and plays out like one of those Asylum mockbusters only with a better script.

The whole thing had a strange mid 90s shot on VHS feel and the CGI was poor, even by TV standards. The script was good if not exactly all that good and many of the one liners felt forced. Colson standing in the dark was a neat way to introduce him again but it wasn't funny and felt like one of those contrived Whedon situations set up simply for a cheap gag.

Clarke Gregg is the only aspect of the show that truly worked. I've never understood the fan affection for Coulson and his death in the Avengers did absolutely nothing for me and the way it's used doesn't ring true. After all why should Thor or Captain America care about one person they met for 5 minutes over the hundreds of millions of people whose lives are in danger? I'm hoping that away from the hustle and bustle of the big stars we'll see Gregg get a lot more to do and it's obvious that his resurrection is going to play a huge part in the series.

The whole gods vs. humans theme isn't one that I'm particularly interested in and the way that the show used it again and again is something I'd like to see abandoned. It's obvious that were won't be seeing Thor or Captain America in the series, well we may get cameos around the time that the their films hit theaters but that'll be the extent of it. With that in mind it would be interesting to see the show explore some different avenues to the films. A much more grounded approach to the concept of super heroes would be quite interesting, films such as Super and Special explored something similar though I don't see AoS going anywhere as dark but that's not to say that they can't explore what it is for a normal human to posses such power. It was hinted at in the pilot, all the talk of an origin story but it discarded in favor of some cheap looking set pieces.

Cobie Smulders must be rubbing her hands in glee as it's clear she's going to be coming on boards full time once HIMYM ends this year. Walking from one smash hit to another is a pretty sweet set up and if it does go ahead I hope that they don't do something as bland as killing of a major character as looking at the cast it would most likely be Ming-Na Wen and I have to admit that it's refreshing to have a show give a 50 year old woman a whole lot of scenes to kick ass. Her character and Coulson are a great contrast to one another and I can see it becoming one of the shows most interesting relationships. Speaking of relationships the less we get of Fitz and Simmons the better. Their bumbling Laurel and Hardy double team isn't funny or interesting and I can see it starting to grate rather quickly. It 's pretty much Topher from Dollhouse only twice as irritating.

I know it sounds like I hated the pilot but I didn't. It was an easy way to pass 42 minutes and there's a whole lot of potential there but there's nothing there that justifies all the rave reviews. It could quite easily develop into a show that does become a genuinely great piece of cinema but the pilot was the very definition of throw away fluff that's quickly forgotten. It's the kind of show you'll enjoy as you watch it but will have forgotten all about it an hour later.

expectationlost · 02-10-2013 5:04am

entertaining enough but way worse then the first ep, dialogue was very forced and everything heavily signposted and spelled out

another saturday evening kids show in weekday primetime aimed at adults?

but its not under the dome or revolution bad, I'll watch it

Mr E · 02-10-2013 8:49am

Not a bad 2nd episode. Great (and unexpected) cameo at the end - hopefully it opens the doors for other movie characters to make an appearance.

titan18 · 02-10-2013 1:12pm

Other than Coulson, the rest of the characters are pretty crap. Hopefully, they'll start to improve

ScumLord · 02-10-2013 2:06pm

groovie wrote: »

Plot is poor, the 'bad guys' are poor, the flying car, are you ****in' kidding me? Is this show aimed at 10 year olds?.

Essentially yes, While adults watch these shows (I enjoy watching Spiderman at the weekend) it's aimed at children and restricted in what it can show and of course the makers know children will accept just about anything put in front of them.

wampyrus77 · 02-10-2013 2:40pm

i find it out watching on friday for episode 2 from channel 4, i dont have abc,

pixelburp · 02-10-2013 7:22pm

In general, I think many US shows take about a half-season to warm up - for the writers to find a groove and tease out the final form & tone, with the actors also needing space to grow into their roles. Fringe is a good example here, from a similar genre - for the first half of season 1 it was a lightly-warmed up flavour of the X Files. So that in mind, it feels unfair to be overly harsh on Agents of SHIELD; but honestly? It's just stunningly mediocre so far, bordering on the cookie-cutter. Nearly every plot beat and line of dialogue dropped is straight out of TV scriptwriting 101 - specifically in this case checking off the 2nd episode / first mission tropes - and while the Marvel movies were no hotbed of originality, it's disappointing the show seems like it's rigorously obeying the TV ensemble format to a fault (so far!).

As for the episode itself: while Coulson continues to be the strongest character, followed closely perhaps by 'The Cavalry', Ward and Skye are just horrible and it's especially galling as they're clearly being set up as the alpha-male / glamour female lead, with an option on a romance . Or they would if there was any chemistry at all; Ward himself is a personality vacuum (though again, it's too early to tell if that's the script or the actor's fault), and Skye constantly looks like she walked off a photoshoot for Gap; the script wants us to think she's an underground, rebellious hacker type (with cringe-inducing 'fight the power' dialogue to boot), yet the person onscreen is basically a glamour model, lipgloss & perfectly tussled hair at all times.

I've watched worse this year for sure (Dexter, front and centre the most godawful high-profile US drama by far), but Agents... is so lacking in a unique spark it's hard to see where it might go, or how it might sustain interest over a full season.

As for the 'What is Coulson' question, well once again we get the "it's a magical place" line thrown in; it's already hard not to imagine this is a pretty big clue as to what Coulson is. We know anyway he can't be an android, having seen him bleed and scar from this episode, so I'm guessing it's gotta be something Asgardian?

Mark Hamill · 02-10-2013 9:34pm

Anybody else think Coulson ... knows? (Whatever it was that happened to bring him back, I mean) And more importantly, is not happy about it?

There is potential, IMO, that Coulson chose his team because he wasn't happy with what happened to him and he wants people he can trust if SHIELD finds out and decides to act against him. Hence his team is made up of young, new agents (without especially strong ties to SHIELD), the hacker girl (who it looks like is working with secret with someone on the outside - it wouldn't surprise me if Coulson knows about this or is the person she is in contact with) and Melinda May (an older agent, but seems very unhappy about fighting - possibly something happened in her past that makes her resent her combat experience with SHIELD or SHIELD itself - Coulson might think she will be an ally if the **** hits the fan).

They could go mad with this in the long run - have it that Fury knows that Coulson knows, but wants him to do this so that there is an semi-external team ready to act against SHIELD if the need arises (if SHIELD turns evil). Hell, they could do a Secret Invasion storyline to justify it all (AFAIK Marvel don't have the rights to the Skrulls in the movies, but maybe TV is different? They could always use the Chitauri again, if they needed to).

wampyrus77 · 02-10-2013 10:16pm

if was he was Asgardian then he would have super human strength, godlike powers and immortality, Asgard is home of norse gods in mythology, no Coulson dosnt have any those qualities, he is a clone because real Coulson died in far back

expectationlost · 02-10-2013 10:33pm

ScumLord wrote: »

Essentially yes, While adults watch these shows (I enjoy watching Spiderman at the weekend) it's aimed at children and restricted in what it can show and of course the makers know children will accept just about anything put in front of them.

its on at 8 but all they talk about is the 18 - 45 demo

stiffler123 · 02-10-2013 11:52pm

Melinda May and Coulson are the only interesting characters. The second episode was a step down from the first too. Not a fan of the hacker chick and risk assesment guy at all, early days though.

CastorTroy · 03-10-2013 12:21am

Mark Hamill wrote: »

They could go mad with this in the long run - have it that Fury knows that Coulson knows, but wants him to do this so that there is an semi-external team ready to act against SHIELD if the need arises (if SHIELD turns evil). Hell, they could do a Secret Invasion storyline to justify it all (AFAIK Marvel don't have the rights to the Skrulls in the movies, but maybe TV is different? They could always use the Chitauri again, if they needed to).

I assume they don't have the movie skrull rights because they're Faantastic 4 characters?
Was actually wondering something along those lines: Who do they have the rights to? Since I know Disney channel show Ultimate Spiderman, does that mean they have tv rights and Spidey could technically show up in this series?
And for other characters like FF, X Men and using the "mutants" term. Can they use them on tv?

Patty O Furniture · 03-10-2013 2:36am

Liked the 2nd ep, its a long way to go yet, the 2 scientists will take longer!

Maybe they should get a room

When Coulson said he took a hit

he replied back to Skye saying it was shot-ish, he had said An Asgardian stabbed him thru the heart with his sceptre, more like sayin it was nothing!

before mentioning that magical place, for some reason i cant recall :P

AlmightyCushion · 03-10-2013 5:50am

Coulson must be a clone or has been resurrected somehow and he knows it. About a half hour in Reyes mentions the car and the agents and says he's having a mid-life crisis. Coulsen then mutters something like 'more of an afterlife thing actually'.

As for the show, it's a good premise but poorly implemented so far. The characters are mostly crap. Fitz and Simmons just get on my nerves the moment they start talking. The whole team (apart from Coulson and May) act like idiotic children fighting and bickering. It's insane to think these people are supposed to be respected in their field when they have the maturity of a 6 year old. Coulson and May are good, and work well together. Coulson actually reminds me of Jack O'Neill in Stargate a bit. Although, I think he needs to be a bit more serious at times. The need to strike a good balance with his light hearted and jovial side.

The scene with Ward and May talking about Skye becoming an agent was horrible to watch. The dialogue was just desperate.

I just want to point out, for anyone that missed it, but they started to act as a team and less as individuals in this episode. Don't blame yourself if you did miss it as it was done very subtly and not rammed in your face and spelled out for the audience. 'You don't have to come up with the whole idea, just a part of it. *looks around at team*'. Coulson: 'Whose idea was it to blow a hole in the plane?' Ward: 'It was everyone's idea.'

Why did Reyes and the Peruvian's even stop to talk to Coulson. Why didn't they just shoot them, they had them surrounded and out gunned. Why wait until you get on the plane to enact your evil plan?

Bacchus · 03-10-2013 8:04am

Ok, that was pretty stupid. I enjoyed the pilot for what it was but the 2nd episode was just plain awful. Cheese overload. I can't think of anything redeeming about it... some of the one-liners were decent but in general, the writing was total cringe. I'm not sure, but I think this is what the show is aiming for... witty one-liners, stereotypical characters, attractive cast who are never really in danger & nods to the movie universe to keep the audience hooked (reference to Hydra, Thor's hammer & the cameo at the end). It'll make them bucket loads of money but I'm beginning to think they dropped the ball on this one.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. [US] ** Spoilers **

Comments

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. [US] Spoilers