Taking place after the events of The Avengers and Iron Man 3,
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. begins with a
superhuman hero rescuing a woman from an office explosion. A group of SHIELD
field agents, led by the not-so-dead Coulson (Clark Gregg), are assigned to take
this person into custody before an opposing group can use him toward a
destructive goal.
I’ve been looking forward to this series since it was
announced. I am a HUGE Joss Whedon fan and have loved all his shows. Well, not Dollhouse. That was a gigantic missed
opportunity. But I digress. He not only made some of the best hours of
television I’ve ever seen, but he knocked The
Avengers out of the park and made it one of the highest grossing movies of
all time. Now that he’s in charge of all the future Marvel projects, both
theatrical and television based, the fact that this show is his baby and not
based on any comic book source material means that he’s now able to play by his
own rules and do whatever he wants.
This “Pilot” episode is a great jumping off point for a
series. Starting with a literal bang and then setting up the new characters and
the return of the previously deceased Coulson, with a welcome cameo by Cobie
Smulders as Agent Hill, this premiere episode moves quickly and entertainingly
to get the audience up to speed as to what we can expect from this show over
its first season (if someone at ABC doesn’t get trigger happy and cancel it prematurely
like Firefly). We also are introduced
to a rival group that appears to be creating superheroes for mysterious
purposes in what I can only assume will be the season long villain arc.
In the character department the leads are a mixed bag. Clark
Gregg is fantastic as always as fan favorite Coulson. He’s charming and shows
off his geeky side occasionally. The explanation as to why he’s still alive is
what I predicted it to be, but there seems to be something else going on that,
hush hush, no one is talking about. I’m thinking he’s a clone. Whatevs. Anyway,
Ming-Na Wen (Street Fighter, Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, Stargate: Universe) doesn’t get much to
do as the “Driver” of the group, Melinda May, regardless of her geeky pedigree.
Iain De Caestecker and Elizabeth Henstridge are annoying as the fidgety
autistic tech duo of Fitz and Simmons. Chloe Bennet as Skye is a little too hot
and high maintenance for some hacker activist that lives in her conversion van
stealing coffee shop wifi. Brett Dalton’s Ward is very one dimensional as the
hard ass soldier of the group. I don’t necessarily like anyone in the group
outside of Coulson, but I have a feeling this motley crew will grow on me.
I really liked Angel
vet J. August Richards as the focal point of the episode, the down on his luck
factory worker who has acquired superpowers, Mike Peterson. He gives an honest
and heartfelt performance that really made me wish he was a part of the main
cast. Seeing Ron Glass as a SHIELD agent put a smile on my face too. I hope he
gets more screentime in future episodes.
Whedon’s signature sense of humor is in full force and I
realized as I watched this episode just how much I’ve missed getting my fix every
week. A lot of ideas are presented organically and seem to fit into the more “human”
angle of the show. I was hoping for more info as to how the world has been
dealing with the news that there are superheroes like Thor and The Hulk as well
as aliens out to wipe us out. We get a few lines at the beginning on this
topic, but it’s glossed over for the most part. I did appreciate seeing plot
devices from Iron Man 3 pop up
(EXTREMIS!) and the linking up of the other films. The show is well written,
that’s for damn sure. I just wanted more from this pilot episode.
Everything looks slick and the production is top notch. For
a first episode this has the typical issues that most new shows suffer from. I
hope it is able to move past them and really blow the audience’s collective
minds with all the potential I see brewing under the surface. So far this is a
fun show that has a sort of a comic booky version of The X-Files that hasn’t settled into its groove yet, but I like
what I’ve seen so far.
3.5 out of 5
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