Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. |OT| Tahiti is a Magical Place (to...Hey guys, I found it!)

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Aren't they running the risk of burning people out on the MCU?

Agents of Shield, near quarterly Marvel movie and now there's 4 more shows coming thanks to Netflix. I fear they are going to burn people out on the MCU by the time Avengers 2 rolls around...

I think the Marvel universe has enough variance to offer that people won't burn out on it that easily. There's sci-fi up to space opera levels, there's urban fantasy/horror, mystery/thriller/spy action and of course the basic action. And so far, we've only gotten basic action and some sci-fi elements (but no outright sci-fi movie which we'll get with Guardians of the Galaxy next year).

Also, not every Marvel movie is MCU - a few properties aren't owned by Marvel Studios (X-Men, Fantastic Four and Spider-Man in particular), so while these movies come out, they're not part of the MCU.
 

hamchan

Member
Is it bad that I've only just seen the first two episodes of Arrow and I already like it more than all of AoS? Not that it's the comparison that most readily comes to mind. Every time I see the characters interacting on the ship, I think "this isn't nearly as funny or compelling as the average library visit by the Scooby gang in Buffy". And that's really what the show had to nail if it wasn't going to use the extended MU to throw C and D list villains at us, along with creative solutions on how a normal agent would deal with those kinds of threats. You can only watch Bourne er Ward crush hapless mooks and Skye hack into something she's not supposed to hack without getting arrested so many times.

Because Arrow actually feels much more ambitious than this show, even with a lower production budget. They certainly aren't afraid to put plenty of DC heroes and villains into the show. Their fight scenes are pretty well shot too.

The writers of Arrow are much better too, with the ability to write fast paced storylines, and episodes that have a good mix of "problem of the week" and pushing the overarching stoyline along. Arrow especially has something unique with the island flashbacks and present day, so that's two storylines they can push along at the same time. It's a great set up. Conversely SHIELD isn't very arc-driven at all and I feel that's a huge problem. There's just nothing to hook people into watching. To me it still feels like we barely know the main cast and they come off more as annoying, smug people instead of being funny.

Anyways, keep watching Arrow. If you liked the first half of season 1, which most people agree are the weakest in the series, then the later episodes will be great for you. SHIELD still feels very saccharine, like it was made by a bunch of boardroom execs instead of a creative team, while Arrow feels like a labour of love from people who are fans of comic books.
 

Sblargh

Banned
Because Arrow actually feels much more ambitious than this show, even with a lower production budget. They certainly aren't afraid to put plenty of DC heroes and villains into the show. Their fight scenes are pretty well shot too.

The writers of Arrow are much better too, with the ability to write fast paced storylines, and episodes that have a good mix of "problem of the week" and pushing the overarching stoyline along. Arrow especially has something unique with the island flashbacks and present day, so that's two storylines they can push along at the same time. It's a great set up. Conversely SHIELD isn't very arc-driven at all and I feel that's a huge problem. There's just nothing to hook people into watching. To me it still feels like we barely know the main cast and they come off more as annoying, smug people instead of being funny.

Anyways, keep watching Arrow. If you liked the first half of season 1, which most people agree are the weakest in the series, then the later episodes will be great for you. SHIELD still feels very saccharine, like it was made by a bunch of boardroom execs instead of a creative team, while Arrow feels like a labour of love from people who are fans of comic books.

Well, damn, now I have to watch Arrow
 
Arrows two strengths are the ability to pull anyone from DC into the plot and the fact that being on CW means they don't have to build suspense.

SHIELD moves slow because they're trying to build suspense. The problem is that the way they're going about it just doesn't seem to grab many viewers. Coulson's plot is teased too much with no progress and Skye's was probably introduced a bit later than it should have been (the double agent red herring did it a disservice).

I absolutely disagree that Arrow has better writing. The romance stuff is hamfisted terrible (a hallmark of CW shows) and there are entire characters who seem useless and universally hated. Arrows fight choreography and breakneck pace are what retains the viewers. That and montages of Oliver working out with no shirt on in nearly every episode (No seriously.. I think I've seen the Salmon Ladder more in Arrow than I have in Ninja Warrior).
 

Darkmakaimura

Can You Imagine What SureAI Is Going To Do With Garfield?
I just caught up on the last two episodes. Show seems to be getting better. I'm also probably the only one who actually likes Fitz/Simmons. I mean Simmons is ridiculously adorkable.
 

Darkmakaimura

Can You Imagine What SureAI Is Going To Do With Garfield?
why is it that as GAF is losing interest in the show, I'm beginning to enjoy it? (or vice versa?)
I would say I've become more interested in the show. Started off horribly but I'm settling in on it. Like you, although, I'm actually beginning to enjoy it. I really hope this doesn't get pulled before we found out about Skye.
 

Funky Papa

FUNK-Y-PPA-4
I just caught up on the last two episodes. Show seems to be getting better. I'm also probably the only one who actually likes Fitz/Simmons. I mean Simmons is ridiculously adorkable.

Pretty much everybody is falling for Simmons ATM.

Skye is old and busted. Simmons is the new hotness.
 

Sblargh

Banned
Also, nobody talking about Victoria Hand, they managed to reduce Victoria Hand to somebody we don't even remember it exists not even to whine about. We aren't even being shallow and talking about how pretty she is.

I was about to whine about how we still are not getting Marvel mythos into the show when I kind of remembered that "oh yeah, that character I really liked from the comics appeared and... kind of... existed I guess."
 

Funky Papa

FUNK-Y-PPA-4
Let's be honest though...Skye is one low cut top away from taking the number one spot back.

Y9PnnoU.png


I won't deny it.

Edit: Both of them are seriously tiny ladies. Like, comically short for an action show.
 
I've had a theory that Coulson is a robot for a while now and it seems every week they keep backing up the theory. Always repeating Tahiti is a magical place. Last week he said he was "rusty" and this week Skye said "he's like a robot version of himself" that's all I remember off the top of my head.
 

Sblargh

Banned
They are just trolling us.

Coulson actually died, but Fury made a deal with Mephisto to bring him back. Skye is Mephisto's daughter and actually one of the infinity gems alongside the Tesseract and Aether.

The whole team is designed to put her in danger in the hope she dies so Fury can loophole his way out of the deal, but Coulson, thanks to hellish influences on his soul, can't let that happen. So the show is actually a meta-show, where SHIELD watches them do those things and design the next scenario where they might fail.

FitzSimmons are actually Wong and Clea. Warden is Dr. Strange. And while the three of them use illusions to prevent Mephisto from knowing the truth, they are the ones actually trying to defuse this mystical timebomb.

Mae is actually a Slayer. This whole thing is a secret season of Buffy.
 

sleepykyo

Member
While the ending trailer was nice, the whole episode felt pretty dull. The doomsday device was already done in the graviton episode. I'm not asking for superheroes, but I'd rather see a 3 way between Shield, AIM and Hydra over Shield's short list of superhumans than another episode of Shield going to inoffensive third world country and beats on bland security troop. Having them fight over that list would give the series more direction than the Coulson teasing.
 

Weapxn

Mikkelsexual
I've enjoyed the past two episodes. Nothing crazy groundbreaking or anything, but enjoyable. I'm going to aim to stick it out for the whole season, especially because I'm very interested in seeing what they do with the back 9.

On the other hand, I am growing a bit restless waiting for them to introduce a season villain. We're what, 7 episodes in now? Come on.
 

Darkmakaimura

Can You Imagine What SureAI Is Going To Do With Garfield?
I don't think this show will last long enough for us to see Fitz and Simmons drop the platonic relationship and just get jiggy with it.
 

Eppy Thatcher

God's had his chance.
I will say - I liked how they portrayed fitz in this last episode as a genuinely useful asset to the team. No bumbling ridiculous scientist shit. A few common "This is the down and dirty... get your game face on" moments but nothing patently absurd.

Skye is useless. Worst part of a meandering show. Really need either a big bad or Hydra to show up and give SHIELD in it's entirety something to worry about and go after.

Something about watching an "AGENTS of SHIELD" show and basically never seeing actual Shield agents is really rubbing me the wrong way.
 
I will say - I liked how they portrayed fitz in this last episode as a genuinely useful asset to the team. No bumbling ridiculous scientist shit. A few common "This is the down and dirty... get your game face on" moments but nothing patently absurd.

Skye is useless. Worst part of a meandering show. Really need either a big bad or Hydra to show up and give SHIELD in it's entirety something to worry about and go after.

Something about watching an "AGENTS of SHIELD" show and basically never seeing actual Shield agents is really rubbing me the wrong way.

I think useless is a bit much. She's a hacker and it was her hacking that revealed the truth about the extraction to the rest of the Bus team.

Also, they're all SHIELD agents except Skye. They're just not all field agents.
 

Sean

Banned
I feel like people were expecting SHIELD to be basically The Avengers: The TV Show. And since it's a tv show, it has less production qualities than people were expecting. The next episode looks cool, I still need to go see Thor 2, though.

Can't really blame people for expecting that though, it's the way ABC advertised the show for months.

"A new series from Joss Whedon, the director of The Avengers"
"The saga that began on Marvel's The Avengers continues on TV" (quick shots of Thor's hammer. Hulk, Capt America's shield etc) then cut to a guy jumping out of an exploding building

And I don't think production quality was the issue viewers had with this show, it was the characters/writing.
 

Eppy Thatcher

God's had his chance.
I think useless is a bit much. She's a hacker and it was her hacking that revealed the truth about the extraction to the rest of the Bus team.

Also, they're all SHIELD agents except Skye. They're just not all field agents.

I mean.. i understand that they are "Shield" agents... but they are missing a lot of bravado and look and feel of SHIELD from the comics. Very little in the way of world wide army presentation. I know they are the focused, small strike team but in the comics even the shield scientists are dangerous as hell if they need be.

And yes she is a hacker. A loose cannon jokester hacker that keeps going against their rules and creating "drama" for their team. Like there wasn't someone better suited as the main boss hacker already IN shield at the time?

At the end of the episode I found myself thinking - so SHIELD deliberately didn't tell them about the extraction (or lack there of) because they knew she would hack into their systems and reveal the truth and Colson would rally and go get his team by himself.... instead of just telling them that they have to handle their own extraction?
SHIELD is mysterious and definitely compartmented in the comics but... really? Seems like they go out of their way to give her something to do and it comes off as lazy to me.

And believe... i really WANT to like this show. It's just that they are making it kind of hard at this point in time.
 

Veelk

Banned
At the end of the episode I found myself thinking - so SHIELD deliberately didn't tell them about the extraction (or lack there of) because they knew she would hack into their systems and reveal the truth and Colson would rally and go get his team by himself.... instead of just telling them that they have to handle their own extraction?
SHIELD is mysterious and definitely compartmented in the comics but... really? Seems like they go out of their way to give her something to do and it comes off as lazy to me.

And believe... i really WANT to like this show. It's just that they are making it kind of hard at this point in time.

What? I didn't get that impression at all. That would be ridiculously stupid because of the hundreds of unknown factors involved. I just thought that after they did the extraction themselves, Drew was just saying a "Wow, they are pretty badass and reliable (to themselves) afterall." sort of thing.
 

anaron

Member
Another (mostly) strong episode. It's getting to the point where I'm just enjoying watching these characters interact and that goes a loooooong way for a procedural.

They really need more SHIELD HQ and agents involvement because this episode -- at least for me -- actually felt like it took place in the MCU. My biggest disappointment though was Victoria. She didn't feel particularly imposing or as snarky asshole in a way I would've liked.
 

strobogo

Banned
I mean.. i understand that they are "Shield" agents... but they are missing a lot of bravado and look and feel of SHIELD from the comics. Very little in the way of world wide army presentation. I know they are the focused, small strike team but in the comics even the shield scientists are dangerous as hell if they need be.

And yes she is a hacker. A loose cannon jokester hacker that keeps going against their rules and creating "drama" for their team. Like there wasn't someone better suited as the main boss hacker already IN shield at the time?

At the end of the episode I found myself thinking - so SHIELD deliberately didn't tell them about the extraction (or lack there of) because they knew she would hack into their systems and reveal the truth and Colson would rally and go get his team by himself.... instead of just telling them that they have to handle their own extraction?
SHIELD is mysterious and definitely compartmented in the comics but... really? Seems like they go out of their way to give her something to do and it comes off as lazy to me.

And believe... i really WANT to like this show. It's just that they are making it kind of hard at this point in time.


I don't think SHIELD intended for Skye to hack and give the information to Coulson. At all. What I got was that no one at SHIELD really cares much for Coulson getting his own team and doing what he wants, with queen bitch trying to fuck the team over just because.
 

anaron

Member
Also I've noticed a very obvious trend with people clearly rooting for this show to fail and it's weird. I get being disappointed, disliking it, etc, but are some people really that offended by this show's existence to call it "atrocious" and for its cancellation?

Because at worst it's still just mediocre.
 
I mean.. i understand that they are "Shield" agents... but they are missing a lot of bravado and look and feel of SHIELD from the comics. Very little in the way of world wide army presentation. I know they are the focused, small strike team but in the comics even the shield scientists are dangerous as hell if they need be.

And yes she is a hacker. A loose cannon jokester hacker that keeps going against their rules and creating "drama" for their team. Like there wasn't someone better suited as the main boss hacker already IN shield at the time?

At the end of the episode I found myself thinking - so SHIELD deliberately didn't tell them about the extraction (or lack there of) because they knew she would hack into their systems and reveal the truth and Colson would rally and go get his team by himself.... instead of just telling them that they have to handle their own extraction?
SHIELD is mysterious and definitely compartmented in the comics but... really? Seems like they go out of their way to give her something to do and it comes off as lazy to me.

And believe... i really WANT to like this show. It's just that they are making it kind of hard at this point in time.

Well the purpose of their team is supposed to be Elite but it seems to me they let Coulson hand pick the members. So rather than compiling a team of fully capable agents, he went specialized with mostly rookies.

I mean Fitz and Simmons are fresh out of The Farm. Ward, while an Elite field agent is fairly new himself judging by his relatively low clearance level. May and Coulson are the only vets and May's only there because Coulson trusts her due to their history. I mean, maybe I'm reading too much into it but I get the vibe that he very deliberately went with talented people who aren't too deeply entwined into SHIELD as a whole. Whether there's a purpose for that, we don't know yet.

Also, I got the feeling that Victoria Hand was just bullshitting. Given the scope of the mission it was probably a test specifically to test whether or not they'd toe the line and "trust the system." From how people have described Hand's character in the comics, I can easily see her having a problem with the Bus team now that she knows that they're not against going rogue if they feel like it.
 
What I got from the last episode is that Coulson's team isn't viewed as elite and they are deemed mostly expendable.

Level 1-6 an army of redshirts confirmed. Like those faceless guys who got crushed by Iron Monger, or all the brainwashed agents who got murdered on the helicarrier. Probably don't even get a pension until level 20.
 
Why would SHIELD demote Coulson from being Fury's right hand man in charge of the Avengers to running this ragtag group?

It's a magical place.

Edit: To be more specific.. because of his death. This is a test run to see if he can still cut it. That's why everyone he talks to who knew him before constantly comments on how normal he is or isn't acting. How in or out of character he seems to be.
 

johnsmith

remember me
I'm 2 episodes behind and have 0 desire to get caught up. I think their biggest screw up was making it a procedural instead of a serial. I haven't watched a procedural show since House.
 

sleepykyo

Member
Why would SHIELD demote Coulson from being Fury's right hand man in charge of the Avengers to running this ragtag group?

Someone had to take the fall for the helicarrier getting wrecked in the Avengers movie and it wasn't like Coulson was alive to protest.

Just Chilling's idea has a lot of merit as well.
 

Won

Member
Last episode felt like the writers were yelling the plot points into my face instead of telling them through a compelling story.

The episode also made it clear that Skye needs to die pretty fast. Insufferable character at this point.
 
So I wonder if Coulson will make it into or be spoken of at all in Winter Soldier.

I'm not expecting to see him in the movies again till probably Age of Ultron.

I imagine that he will run into some members of The Avengers and they will be kinda surprised and say "Coulson!? Hey, We thought you were dead...."
Coulson: "Yeah I was, Now I have my own...[interrupted]
Avengers: **Already turned away and left to go do something important and exciting**
Coulson: "....my own team..." :(
**Sky walks over and pats him on the back**
Skye: "Hey there big guy, you still got us" **points over to Fitz/Simmons who were just off screen tinkering with some gadgets**
 
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