This
post is late because I wanted to be able to put my thoughts on the
new Marvel Studios show out there.
I
liked it a lot. I didn’t love it, but the foundation was set for me
to feel that way in the future. I think it was very smart to keep the
pilot somewhat grounded and basic. We got a mild introduction to the
cast of characters, the nature of this portion of the Marvel
Cinematic Universe was established, and the overriding conflict was
set up. Nothing too heavy was thrown at us and nothing too concrete
was, either. At this point we really don’t know what to expect from
the show and I think that’s a good thing.
The
weight of the former task rested mainly on the shoulders of Clark
Gregg. Bringing his character, Agent Coulson, into the show was a
brilliant move not only because he was such an integral part of Phase
1 of the MCU but also because he died. That second fact is being used
as Mysterious Plot Point #1 on the show, which is a compelling reason
to watch. It was revealed in the pilot that there is more to
Coulson’s seeming resurrection than we – or Coulson – know.
The
latter task was accomplished by a subtle scaling down of the things
that we saw in Avengers.
What we saw there was the highest echelon of SHIELD operations –
bases deep underground and high in the sky. The entire world was at
stake and SHIELD’s top resources were utilized. In the Agents
of SHIELD pilot we got the
ground-level operation. Office buildings and mobile operations
centers in jumbo jets. Slightly more mundane settings, but
accompanied by all of the livery of the movies – SHIELD crests
everywhere, guest star Cobie Smulders as Maria Hill in her skintight
SHIELD jumpsuit, a very familiar-looking case to store some Chitauri
tech. We’ve seen these things before and they are all cues that
this is a familiar universe.
Another
interesting – and liberating – plot point is that SHIELD is no
longer a completely covert operation. After the Battle of New York,
SHIELD had no choice but to make its presence publicly known. So now
we have neat-o SUVs and sedans with SHIELD logos on them. Also, we
don’t have to worry about agents running around and doing big
things in broad daylight. Because that’s another thing this show is
apparently going to offer – big things in broad daylight.
This
world knows about superheroes. It knows about Tony Stark and Thor and
Captain America. And while it loves them – there is a celebrity
worship facet to the narrative that I am looking forward to seeing
pop up from time to time – the world is also a little bit nervous
about them.
Side
Note: There is a slightly disparaging line about “cosplay girls
hanging around Stark Tower”. I’m curious to see the social media
reaction to that.
The
entire closing act of the pilot centers around the idea that after
the Battle of New York the average Joe is left wondering what his
place in the world is. It’s a theme that was touched on in Iron
Man 3 that I think is worth
exploring further in a longer format.
Speaking
of Iron Man 3,
there is direct fallout from that narrative in the form of Extremis
being exploited by the unknown Big Bad of the show. In addition to
utilizing gamma radiation and Chitauri tech for nefarious purposes,
this entity is bastardizing Extremis technology. I’ve got to admit
- it was pretty thrilling to see such a recent development depicted
in that way. It’s just one more device that shows how tightly
meshed the TV and movie narratives are.
While
Agents of SHIELD
got all of the above tonal elements right, that success would be
meaningless without the right cast. Obviously Clark Gregg is a key
element (for now, anyway), but he is surrounded by a cast of
newcomers that we as viewers are going to have to accept as our new
heroes. I am lousy with names, but I actually managed to pick up a
few in this show. I don’t know exactly what that means, but
typically I don’t remember characters’ names until the second
season of a show. I’ll do a quick rundown here:
Agent
Phil Coulson – Everybody
loves Clark Gregg. His job here is to put a team together for reasons
that are slightly unclear but basically “We need just a few people
to build a show around”. I would love to think that he’s going to
be around for the long haul, but the Mysterious Secret of his
resurrection creates an out for once this cast is established. We’ll
see.
Agent
Melinda Mae (May?) – I am
predisposed to thinking Ming Na-Wen is awesome. Her character here
has a Mysterious History that I’m sure will be revealed over the
course of the show. She does not want to be doing the field work that
Coulson has recruited her for, but he feels that it’s what she
should be doing. I like this character quite a bit. She might be my
favorite on the show right now.
Fitz
& Simmons (Fitzsimmons)
– These two annoyed the piss out of me at first, but by the end of
the episode I liked them quite a bit. Their sheer delight in nerdery
and technology was a lot of fun. I look forward to seeing their
characters develop beyond just being tech geeks and – given that
this is a Joss Whedon show – the inevitable demise of one or the
other.
Skye
(sp?) – In addition to
being easy on the eyes, this new SHIELD recruit is a ball of fire and
energy (not literally – I thought I should clarify that given the
nature of the show). To me, she successfully walked the line between
being sassy and enthusiastic and just being an asshole. I also liked
her response to the aforementioned cosplay line, admitting she’d
done that once. Also, I think there is potential here for her to end
up as a Big Bad. As Coulson said – they don’t know anything about
her; and that doesn’t happen.
Mike
(aka “Not Luke Cage”) –
I don’t know how permanent a role J. August Richards will have on
the show, but I’m hopeful he’ll be sticking around. He is the
first superpowered individual that this new SHIELD team deals with
and his character arc is very relatable. He’s a dad who is just
trying to get by and agrees to have the gamma/Chitauri/Extremis tech
– called Project Centipede - implanted in him. The Extremis makes
him go a little crazy, but SHIELD comes to the rescue. Granted, this
is more of the trademark Whedon “redeemable bad guy” that I was
complaining about yesterday,
but it was short-term and different enough to work.
Agent
Whitemeat Bad Boy –
Despite the fact that he was presented as a primary protagonist I
can’t remember this guy’s name. He was fine. The guy kind of came
off like an Amateur Hour Eddie McClintock, but I’m sure over the
course of the series he will grow and develop his own character. He
was the butt of many jokes and for now that’ll do.
Evil
Doctor Lady – Also easy
on the eyes. She appeared to be a victim early on, then was revealed
to be behind Not Luke Cage’s Project Centipede implant. I doubt
she’s even near the top of the mysterious Big Bad organization, but
I bet we’ll be seeing here frequently. She played innocent and evil
equally well.
We
were also treated to appearances by Cobie Smulders and Ron Glass(!).
I imagine we’ll get occasional appearances from Smulders for big
plot occurrences, but I’m hoping we could see Ron Glass a bit more.
I
was completely satisfied and entertained by the first episode of
Agents of SHIELD.
It gave me a cast that piqued my interest without overwhelming me
with characterization and backstory. A world was established that is
familiar, but that is a new layer to one we already know. To me it
was very reminiscent of the Star Wars Expanded Universe in that the
movies presented a huge, shiny surface world that could be taken in
over the course of a few hours, but the show (or books and comics in
the case of Star Wars) presents a much deeper and more engrossing
world that we will be able to settle into and learn about over the
course of (hopefully) several years. Enough of the familiar was used
to grab my attention, enough mystery was revealed to keep it.
Side
Note: There were a lot of Whedonisms peppered throughout the show –
Skye telling Not Luke Cage, “With great power comes… a bunch of
crap you’re not ready for,” and Coulson asking Skye if she was
ready for this “Journey into mystery”. Also – Lola flies.
Sleepy
Hollow
Before
I go I wanted to touch on Sleepy
Hollow. I wasn’t
neccesarily excited about this one, but I was intrigued. I wanted to
see how Washington Irving’s short story could be adapted into a
weekly drama. While I enjoyed Tim Burton’s vision, the animated
Disney adaptation is still the best.
Yes
– still
the best.
If
I had written this after watching the pilot there would be an
entirely different tone. That first episode was excellent.
It had a fantastic atmosphere, great music, a good cast, and a clever
variation on the well-known tale of Ichabod Crane and the Headless
Horseman. In 42 minutes the creators managed to set all of that up,
as well as establish the rules of the world and the mythology that
was being used (mostly witchcraft and biblical apocalypse with a
touch of Illuminati/conspiracy). The two leads – Crane and a female
police officer – had good chemistry and were likeable. As a matter
of fact, the policewoman (sorry – names again) is probably one of
my favorite new characters on TV in a long time. She broke a number
of stereotypes, but in a subtle way that didn’t say, “Here’s
this character that’s going to break stereotypes”.
So
at the end of the series premiere we had a centuries-old conspiracy,
weird supernatural stuff, a clear set of goals, and a new team to
root for. The stale roles of believer and skeptic seemed to have been
moved past, as the modern-day policewoman had already seen too much
to doubt.
Then
the second episode started and for some reason she’s treating
Ichabod like he might still be crazy and acting like the
stereotypical skeptic. Despite fighting a Headless Hessian and seeing
all kinds of magic shit just one episode prior.
And
then the – admittedly well done – Monster of the Week showed up.
And managed to totally succeed in everything it needed to do without
the heroes saving anybody.
And the heroes only defeated it by blowing it up because it just so
happened to be in a room full of explosives.
The
second episode wasn’t just not as good as the pilot, it felt
comparatively incompetent and almost like an afterthought. It was
like a professional author wrote a story and then let some high
school kids continue it.
With
so many similarly-themed shows out there – Supernatural,
Once Upon A Time,
American Horror Story: Coven
and a bunch more – Sleepy
Hollow really needs to be
excellent. And this second episode was not. I’ll stay tuned because
it’s possible that this sophomore episode was an aberration, but to
have gone from such an excellent pilot to such crap so quickly pretty
much killed my enthusiasm. I’ll keep you posted.
-Phantom
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