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Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. |OT| Tahiti is a Magical Place (to...Hey guys, I found it!)
- Thread starter TheOddOne
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Writing your team as completely incompetent is a great thing to do.
AstroZombie
Banned
I am whelmed.
I didn't dislike the episode but something about it just feels off. They really could speed up the scenes overall. I think that's the case with the series as a whole. It's like things pace slower on purpose (maybe so they don't lose the more casual audience) instead of being allowed to play out more naturally and trust that the audience will be able to keep up. How this is filmed needs to be changed as well I think.
It was a bad cliffhanger I think. I do like Mike as a character and how his interacts with Coulson and Skye. I even liked Ward in this episode. Simmons and Fitz were good. May was the only one I didn't like and she seemed to be really off from last episode where they had her laughing after pulling a prank. Where the hell did that bit of character development go!?.
It was a bad cliffhanger I think. I do like Mike as a character and how his interacts with Coulson and Skye. I even liked Ward in this episode. Simmons and Fitz were good. May was the only one I didn't like and she seemed to be really off from last episode where they had her laughing after pulling a prank. Where the hell did that bit of character development go!?.
Pai Pai Master
Banned
I liked the episode. The pacing was a little off and the action scene in the warehouse was not too exciting for one of the few super powered battles we've had so far. The Church fight in the Thor episode was much better.
Mike's a good character to have back though (highly doubt he's gone) and the twist worked well. Looking forward to the next episode after the break.
Mike's a good character to have back though (highly doubt he's gone) and the twist worked well. Looking forward to the next episode after the break.
stop being annoying..
FTFY
Father_Brain
Banned
Well, I didn't expect the twist at the end, but this was pretty much my worst-case scenario for how little it advanced the serialized storylines. Sigh. :/
clay_ghost
Member
Guys please spoil me.
fallengorn
Bitches love smiley faces
Not one of their better episodes, I think. The teasing about the Clairvoyant was fucking ridiculous. (That whole scene is just odd.) This show holds so much back like the payoff is going to be huge, but I highly doubt it.
May did feel off in this episode, which is weird to say because she only has two emotions.
Having just the team and Mike there to investigate is moronic. What happened to the unlimited resources of SHIELD?
I've said it before, but this show takes for granted things it hasn't earned. The end result is it feels like its going through the motions.
May did feel off in this episode, which is weird to say because she only has two emotions.
Having just the team and Mike there to investigate is moronic. What happened to the unlimited resources of SHIELD?
I've said it before, but this show takes for granted things it hasn't earned. The end result is it feels like its going through the motions.
According to next episode's promo
seems like it'll be wrapped up. That and maybe the Skye's parents too?
Cornballer
Member
- Promo for next week's episode (please spoiler tag any discussion)
EDIT: Oops, looks like this will air in January, not next week.
EDIT: Oops, looks like this will air in January, not next week.
That seemed like a promo for the next few episodes to me, not just the next one. Like a "here's what happens in the second half of the season when we return" kind of thing.
I do hope those things get resolved soon though. Overall, I'm really enjoying the show so far and now that things are coming together, I can't wait to see where they go from here.
You'd think that having a single group mass producing Extremis soldiers AND the ultra high-tech eye camera thing would be enough to warrant a full on SHIELD mobilization. I mean, heck, the last time Extremis cropped up en masse it took 50 Iron Man armors to resolve the issue.
Unless Coulson is actually The Beyonder.
... and doesn't know it.
Unless Coulson is actually The Beyonder.
... and doesn't know it.
Jest Chillin
Member
I enjoyed the ep. Using Mike's kid as a hostage was telegraphed and too straight forward but aside from that I thought it was cool. I felt like the non-super part of the fight choreography was better in this episode. Smoother and better looking transitions between shots with the actors and shots with the stunt team pulling off the more athletic and acrobatic movements.
As far as the Super part of the fights.. the only thing they could realistically improve on a TV budget for super strength fights would be editing the pace to be a little faster to express the strength a bit better but it's not really a big deal imo. Felt like the entire cast was super on point with their characters.
May feeling off was especially good. Seems obvious to me with her comments to Ward (after the sparring match and after the Soldier fight) fit well with her development from last episode. She's not just the cold uncaring machine anymore, which means all emotions are going to slip through, not just happy/sad analog-esque emotions. I thought the subtly with which they handled that was good.
Cliff hanger left a bit to be desired. They probably should've had all the explosions go off at once and left it there for a better hook, but oh well.
As far as the Super part of the fights.. the only thing they could realistically improve on a TV budget for super strength fights would be editing the pace to be a little faster to express the strength a bit better but it's not really a big deal imo. Felt like the entire cast was super on point with their characters.
May feeling off was especially good. Seems obvious to me with her comments to Ward (after the sparring match and after the Soldier fight) fit well with her development from last episode. She's not just the cold uncaring machine anymore, which means all emotions are going to slip through, not just happy/sad analog-esque emotions. I thought the subtly with which they handled that was good.
Cliff hanger left a bit to be desired. They probably should've had all the explosions go off at once and left it there for a better hook, but oh well.
Skye is the soul of the show.
Father_Brain
Banned
Unless I missed something, this is the sum total of what we learned tonight about the serialized plotlines that pass for mythology on this show:
-The eye devices from the fourth episode were Centipede's handiwork. This was pretty obvious, but it hadn't been established before, so I'll give the writers a small amount of credit here.
-The FitzSimmons gun stabilized the serum in Mike's body. This was initially sold to the audience as being of great significance to Centipede's plans, but since they were perfectly happy taking Coulson instead, I guess it wasn't actually that important.
-Coulson's resurrection is somehow important to Centipede. This is the first time in ten episodes that this subplot has been given some kind of stakes beyond Coulson himself.
-Absolutely nothing about what Centipede is, what their ultimate plans are, who Raina is, or who "the clairvoyant" is, except from the incredibly vague tidbit that the clairvoyant is seen with some kind of quasi-religious reverence.
It's as though the writers were competing with each other to see how little development they could get away with almost halfway through the season.
Agents of SHIELD is the television series as cynical, manufactured product. Its primary purpose is clearly not to flesh out the MCU, or to tell compelling, entertaining stories about ordinary people in a world of superheroes, monsters, gods, and aliens, but to leverage the proven success of the Marvel brand to boost ABC's ratings in the young male demographics which it was previously failing to reach. Our entertainment is a secondary concern at best.
And I say this as someone who still somehow kinda likes the show.
-The eye devices from the fourth episode were Centipede's handiwork. This was pretty obvious, but it hadn't been established before, so I'll give the writers a small amount of credit here.
-The FitzSimmons gun stabilized the serum in Mike's body. This was initially sold to the audience as being of great significance to Centipede's plans, but since they were perfectly happy taking Coulson instead, I guess it wasn't actually that important.
-Coulson's resurrection is somehow important to Centipede. This is the first time in ten episodes that this subplot has been given some kind of stakes beyond Coulson himself.
-Absolutely nothing about what Centipede is, what their ultimate plans are, who Raina is, or who "the clairvoyant" is, except from the incredibly vague tidbit that the clairvoyant is seen with some kind of quasi-religious reverence.
It's as though the writers were competing with each other to see how little development they could get away with almost halfway through the season.
Agents of SHIELD is the television series as cynical, manufactured product. Its primary purpose is clearly not to flesh out the MCU, or to tell compelling, entertaining stories about ordinary people in a world of superheroes, monsters, gods, and aliens, but to leverage the proven success of the Marvel brand to boost ABC's ratings in the young male demographics which it was previously failing to reach. Our entertainment is a secondary concern at best.
And I say this as someone who still somehow kinda likes the show.
Jest Chillin
Member
That's a red herring hint for those who don't remember details all that well. The significance of recognizing Mike was that they could leverage him since Reyna knew he had a son. The organization behind Centipede already solved their primary serum issue when they took the platelets from the guy with the power of Fire in The Girl with the Flower Dress episode. That's the reason why they were able to jack up the amount of serum their soldiers had.
Father_Brain
Banned
I'll have to rewatch the scene in question later, but I thought the significance was that the soldiers in this episode still needed regular serum injections, whereas Mike didn't/
Orbis Tabula
Member
Haven't watched it yet, not reading the spoilers, just curious. What's the general opinion on the episode? Good? Better than average? Worse than average? What we've come to expect?
GamerKingFaiz
Member
Oh sweet, there are more episodes!
I was looking at the list of episodes on Wiki, and it seemed like the season was ending right there, and I was pretty upset they ended on a cliffhanger!
Ice cold.
Weapxn
Mikkelsexual
How about you read this thread and figure it out for yourself?
I'm so sick of people asking this bullshit question.
Father_Brain
Banned
The last of these. Better than the weakest episodes, not as good as the best, but it didn't do a ton to inspire confidence for the next twelve episodes, though at least it looks like the Coulson reveal won't wait until the end of the season.
Yes, but not to the extent where I'd recommend it to anyone who quit watching around that point.
GamerKingFaiz
Member
I actually thought episode 4 was where the show did a 180.
Jest Chillin
Member
They mentioned injections along with other maintenance that their soldiers have to constantly undergo, but the full extent of the maintenance that Mike undergoes isn't really explained either. They say that Mike is "stable" but only in reference to exploding (which is what the fire guy's platelets solved). The Centipede Org needs to give their guys regular injections, but they don't ever say why exactly and considering that their guys are even further modified than Mike, it's hard to say why.
I mean, I guess one could come away with the thought that the injections are necessary because the serum isn't fully stablized in the soldiers as compared to Mike, but nothing aside from stopping the explosion I don't think the benefits of Fitzsimmons anti-serum have ever been explained.
Gherid__lacksGPS
Banned
Enjoyed it overall, choreography was a bit better. Liked the car drive with coulson/ward. I like mike too, but at the same time he's kind of a mental midget. People seem to want answers every episode want resolution, say it drags on and is boring. I guess i can understand that, but personally I don't mind the slow reveals. I get dragging out the coulson ordeal, it's pretty substantial considering the investments he's had with the movies and fan love But, also hope they wrap it before the final episodes.
Simmons: "So firm and symmetrical..." legit lulz.
Poor skye. You can snuggle up to me honey; got piece of hardware for you and loads of data i'd like to upload into the back end of your mainframe. Don't worry, I'll make everything better.
Simmons: "So firm and symmetrical..." legit lulz.
Poor skye. You can snuggle up to me honey; got piece of hardware for you and loads of data i'd like to upload into the back end of your mainframe. Don't worry, I'll make everything better.
dead souls
Member
This show is just awful. I had literally no hype for the fall finale and it still managed to disappoint me. All I was thinking during this episode was "You know, if it was Wednesday I'd be watching Arrow."
So looking over the Wikipedia page, all ten episodes have had different directors and most of them have different writers too. That explains a lot IMO.
Really think it's stupid to do something like that. Especially early on in a series when you're trying to establish a shows identity, you need a core creative staff that are all on the same page with each other.
Really think it's stupid to do something like that. Especially early on in a series when you're trying to establish a shows identity, you need a core creative staff that are all on the same page with each other.
The entire show has this "by committee" feel - you NEED someone in charge with a vision. Otherwise you get nothing.
LOL wait, what? That's the way TV operates!
Uh.
The tone/style on the show has been veering all over the place. It can't figure out what it is. It's flirted with the '90s saturday serial style, it's flirted with a more alias-style show (which was actually good) but now in this episode its back to this mediocre action show with stupid characters who make dumb decisions because the plot requires them to.
Episode 4 and Episode 7 felt like something with promise. Episode 9/10 have felt like ten thousand steps backward.
Television is a heavily collaborative medium. Everyone's on the same page because that's just how it works. There's just a whole bunch of people who don't particularly care for the content of that page.
Mercury Fred
Banned
I decided to stop taking this show's abuse-- Masters of Sex helped remind me of the pleasures of a wonderful first season. I'm impressed that some of you are sticking it out and thrilled to be able to scan your summations rather than waste another moment watching this show.
Okay, well, let's go back and look at what was said:
This poster, quite literally, complained about how 99% of television is written and produced -- with different writers and directors assigned for each episode. Do we take issue with Mad Men's 9 different writers and 9 different directors during its first 13-episode season? How about the 8 different writers for the first season of The Sopranos and 11 different directors?
No, because that's how television operates. The writers' room is a collaborative experience with someone at the top.
There are other reasons why SHIELD might feel like its not sure what type of show it wants to be. Being ignorant on the television creation process and laying the blame on different writers-per-episode is not it.
Rafa=FedKilla
Banned
Looks like they are saving sexying up Simmons for the midseason finale....
Oh, of course. I was just trying to say that he wasn't wrong about the problems even though he was definitely wrong about not understanding that eps get farmed out to different writers.
NotTheGuyYouKill
Member
I really liked this episode. SHIELD continues to improve, I think. I found Simmons' lust for Mike absolutely hilarious.
princemarth23
Member
Didn't really like this ep much. I was kind of bored.
Admittedly I could be way off the mark here, but the few dramas that I've ever bothered to look at credits for usually have a core/regular team in place.
If you look at the "List of 24 episodes" wiki for example you'll notice the same handful of directors and writers throughout most of the series. Jon Cassar directed 60 episodes, Brad Turner directed 46 episodes, etc. As a big fan of Lost I remember seeing Jack Bender's name a TON as director. Prison Break's first season had 7 writers do 22 episodes. Game of Thrones first season has 4 directors and 4 writers. Frank Darabont wrote half of The Walking Dead's first season. Breaking Bad's first season had 4 of the 7 episodes written by Vince Gilligan. Banshee's first season had only two writers (and that's the best show of 2013 IMO).
Maybe those shows are an anomaly, I dunno. I just think the writing/directing on Agents of SHIELD sucks and was trying to come up with an explanation for it.
Of the first ten episodes, four were written by the showrunners. The other six probably by other members of the writing staff. I'm betting in the second half of the season, you'll see all of these names crop up again. All the directors for the show are very qualified. What you perceive as sluggishness is partly due to editing and partly due to a show still trying to figure out what it wants to be. Directors don't have nearly as much power on television shows as they do on movies.
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