AGENTS OF SHIELD - First Thoughts

[dexfarkin]

Taking a brief sanity break from a fucking awful day at work right now.



First of all, it was nice to see Coulson back. Easily the strongest part of the pilot was Clark Gregg's effortless slide back into the Coulson role. It was also obvious from the onset that Joss Whedon is largely writing Coulson's dialogue, and Gregg's natural rhythms match Whedon's scripting tics. Really, it's the best synch I've seen between writer's style and actor's delivery since Matthew Perry delivering Aaron Sorkin's lines in 'Studio 60'.

J. August Richards remains a very good actor with the right kind of roles. He didn't have a lot to work with, but especially at the end, really packs a lot into delivery. Criminally underrated.

That being said, take away the connection to the films and you've got a pretty shakey pilot. It very much doesn't understand the kind of show it wants to be yet, and stumbles around between CSI procedural territory and Whedon tropes like Angel without a clear sense of its own identity. It also has the least likeable leading man I've seen in a pilot in a long time with Brett Dalton. Chloe Bennet is clearly being drawn with the Willow/Fred brush right now, which isn't a good fit in the first episode.

There's also some pretty ham fisted moments, like the interrogation. Injecting the agent with the truth serum to get Skye on-board was a nice, deft twist, immediately ruined by her basically getting her tits out on what you can tell is going to be a terrible love subplot. Contrast that to the first introduction of Melinda May, which was wonderfully naunced and understated, yet packed an incredible amount of unspoken history into a short time frame, it almost comes off as amatuerish. Again, it feels currently more like a Whedon-esque show than a Whedon show, leading me to think that he's really giving his brother and sister-in-law the reins and is more script doctoring and big picture for the show.

However, criticism aside, I enjoyed it. It had some really deft moments, there's already some engaging dynamics and performances going on (I like Simmons and could happily dump Fitz in a lake) and if the first episode shows anything, it's that Ming-Na Wen was their single best casting choice. I'm sure the plan is to make Skye and Ward the focus, but they're going to have a tough time with Coulson and May stealing pretty much every scene they're in.

I think I echo a lot of people when I say one of the core componants the show is going to need to have is the ability to effectively mine canon and re-interpret it, without getting bogged down in the details. If they try and make it SHIELD, the brand name only and entirely original villians, it's going to come off as a goofy CSI clone with superheroes. If they focus on comic canon, it's going to be lost on new viewers. To work and work well, it needs to thread that line the movies did, providing recognizable figures with an original take, appeasing both sides and staying tied in with the movie properties.

Comments

[trishalynn.livejournal.com]

I'm anticipating Monster of the Week shenanigans with some healthy The Government is Evil somewhere as well. I agree with you on your take on Ward/Skye and I think they're a terrible alpha couple. May/Coulson could be hella awesome. Fitz is fine, he's just a bit too much Topher. I like Simmons' calm.

And of course, I love Lola. But TV budgets being what they are, I suspect she'll use her hover abilities (and other abilities) much less often on a weekly basis.

If the Avengers are a family, like many have said they are, and if this team is a family, then May and Coulson are going to be the parents, with May taking the paternal role and Coulson the maternal one. I mean, that scene where May went with Fitz and Simmons to the bomb site? Yeah.

[dexfarkin.livejournal.com]

The show needs an identity to build around, and CSI with monsters isn't it. Ramiel mentioned picking up a strong Global Frequency tinge to it, and he's not wrong. If the show can basically play a re-invention every week as things get odder and odder, it will work. Or, it needs to emmesh itself into an exploration of the MU. Halfway between both, it dies a grim death.

Ward works if the plan is to kill him off horribly by episode 13. If he's your lead, wow, he's miscast.

[trishalynn.livejournal.com]

I thought it was X-Files with Superheroes, myself.

I haven't read Global Frequency, although my husband does love the concept of the GF. The fact that the Battle of New York seems to have been the unofficial signal for mad scientists and evil corporations to just go wild with human experimentation is an interesting concept that needs to be played with some more, too.

[deathpixie]

The fact that the Battle of New York seems to have been the unofficial signal for mad scientists and evil corporations to just go wild with human experimentation is an interesting concept that needs to be played with some more, too.

Fear reaction. They're faced with beings who can swat them like bugs and it terrifies them. So what do the unscrupulous-and-terrified do? Create weapons to even the playing field.

I'm really liking the psychological implications of this show. Mike's speech at the end, about how tough it was already for people like him, and then gods turn up, that kind of put it in a nutshell.

I'm also a sucker for the extraordinary and the ordinary meeting the conflict that results - see all the Common People Project stuff I did - so this show is very much up my alley.

[indiana-j.livejournal.com]

I'll have to ask my mom tonight if she got a chance to watch it and see her reaction. I pretty much agree with you on all these points - Ward had all the charisma of cardboard for me and while I liked Skye a little more, I made such a face when I realized they were going to be pairing them up. I really hope it finds its legs pretty quickly or it'll lose people without a clear tie to the source material.

Melinda May, Coulson and Maria Hill (who I'd love to have more screen time as HIMYM wraps up) were the best parts of the show for me.

And, yes, I'm happy to join the dump Fitz in a lake party, thanks.

[dexfarkin.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it needs work, certainly. But there's some strong things to build on.

The interesting question is whether or not Whedon is willing to show SHIELD as it is; an agency willing to take whatever steps necessary to protect mankind in general, even if that means hurting, abusing or killing individual people to do it. Skye's loss of innocent could be a really intriguing plotline if they run with it. Especially if we find out that as nice as Coulson and May seem, they're hardened to this and willing to take those steps.

[trishalynn.livejournal.com]

I would love to see a scenario where the whole team is set up to save the day and then either Coulson or May snaps someone's neck. It wouldn't seem as dramatic if it were Ward, too, because Ward's already proven himself to be anti-nutso superhero.

[maureenans.livejournal.com]

I'm going to be watching for a few more weeks to see if it can hit its stride. It definitely felt shakey and unsure of it's direction for the first episode. I like Fitz and Simmons though. And May and Coulson. I could dump Skye and whatshisface lead agent man in a lake. Together.

I agree about Joss having more of a broad overview of the show and script doctoring as opposed to a direct hand in everything - it's got his touch, but it doesn't feel like HIM. Well....we'll see what happens.

[dexfarkin.livejournal.com]

Basically. I'll be honest - unless it nosedives entirely I'll watch it, but it will be with less attention.

[maureenans.livejournal.com]

That's fair. I don't watch a lot of TV anymore (my current TV roster this fall is about 1000% larger than last fall) and I enjoy watching a season in a week or 2. If it can't keep my interest, I'll drop it like it's hot and then watch the entire season once it's on DVD or something.

[hex-16.livejournal.com]

This is the first TV show that's grabbed my interest since Burn Notice. It's only pilot, but Coulson and Skye are the only regulars that seemed to make an impression for me so far, but that was enough. That's not trashing the other actors. I think they were solid, and got a lot done with a little, but I'm looking forward to seeing some more development from them.