Marvel TV: 'Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.' - The Thread

[k1]

Loved it. The episode flew by. My wife said it felt like a movie the way it was put together. Can't wait til next week.

[goflyblind]

i didn't notice any woman's bare feet. this isn't a joss whedon show.

[ShadowDog]

I agree they should have been way more subtle with Book's comment. Something like "He creeps me out." And leave it at that for now.

The show was what I expected, slick, overproduced, and fun.

[Tripe]

i didn't notice any woman's bare feet. this isn't a joss whedon show.

They will come...


Listening to the show right now, will have to watch it tonight.

[ScottotD]

I loved it too, my only minor issue is they're not going to be able to bring in anyone too badass or powerful as either a hero or a villain without it seeming weird they don't join or aren't taken on by The Avengers... however I'll be disappointed if they don't draw mostly from the Marvel U.

[goflyblind]

i didn't notice any woman's bare feet. this isn't a joss whedon show.

They will come...

... and so will he. *marxeyebrowwiggle*

[Tripe]

Ok so, it sounded great, can't wait to see it.

[Nunyerbiz]

I thought it was a bit dull... Not that I was expecting any grand Avengers style CGI assaults... but the meat and potatoes of the script weren't anything more than a standard police procedural... and the two techie members of the team were annoying out of all relation to their screen time... But it's a pilot, and pilots are typically a bit bumbling / fumbling anyways. As with any new show, I'll need a good half season to figure out if it has staying power once it finds it's legs.

[LucasM]

I thought it was a bit dull... Not that I was expecting any grand Avengers style CGI assaults... but the meat and potatoes of the script weren't anything more than a standard police procedural... and the two techie members of the team were annoying out of all relation to their screen time... But it's a pilot, and pilots are typically a bit bumbling / fumbling anyways. As with any new show, I'll need a good half season to figure out if it has staying power once it finds it's legs.

I looked at it as your standard origin story for the agents that would comprise Coulson's team.  Like you said about pilots, those generally don't have as much depth to them as other stories will.  But, despite that, the story was quite engaging for me.

Having seen Whedon's other shows, I have some tiny idea of just how 'big' they can make this series, building off of the group that was collected just in this episode, though obviously much more will be added with time.  Since Jeb and Maurissa were heavily involved in Dollhouse and Dr. Horrible they have demonstrated storytelling depth as well as Joss' capacity for same.  Given that this episode was an origin story, I thought they still managed to do a lot with it.  Not only did they set up a huge number of future subplots with just the hints they dropped with each character as to how they got where they are, but to utilize already-known sources for the antihero's power source so we aren't bogged down as much by his origin (though it does set up future 'where did this come from' issues, there's nothing that has to be figured out immediately other than how to stop him), so the focus can remain mainly on the SHIELD team dynamics.

I do agree that the wonder twins were initially annoying, but hopefully they'll be toned down a tad in the future, now that they're symbiosis has been somewhat established.

[Raven]

Liked the first episode.  Nice to see Preacher from Serenity cast again. 

[mrbasehart]

Beautiful women with snappy dialogue in Joss Whedon show alert!

I liked it. 

[Johnny Unusual]

A good start, but not great.  I don't know, it just wasn't clicking... yet.  But there was a lot of info to get through to set up the premise, so I think they did a good job with some great gags.  I just wasn't invested in the main plot.  The new agent isn't a very interesting character yet, but I like the fact that he's a more generic black ops guy, and that Coulson has more super-hero based values and is more interested in helping people rather than covering stuff up.

I'm sure we'll see SHIELD deal with splinter cells and shadow cabinets down the line, but it's a nice change of pace.  It also plays into the idea that Whedon doesn't really like the idea of super-heroes with guns, but having that option be the least desirable one and having the traditional rifle replaced with a sci-fi life saving machine at the last second.

My favourite bits:

"Welcome to level 7.  Sorry, there was a dark corner and I couldn't help myself."
Coulson drugging the new guy.
It's a little poop with knives sticking out of it.

Can we agree that Coulson wins this show.  I hope everyone else on the cast can catch up (at least when they have the opportunity to have more characters.  Too much info dump)

Theories:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

As Lucas suggested, Agent Coulson is a LMD.  I predicted that when Coulson was announced for the show.
Skye is actually Jessica Drew, former brainwashed agent of HYDRA.
Rising Tide started as a regular Anonymous group that got secretly taken over by HYDRA, AIM or the Zodiac.
Though I don't expect the Submariner to show up, Rising Tide might also be a faction of Atlantis.
As it was mentioned in this episode, Project Pegasus is going to be a big MacGuffin for the first season.
The Doctor that Mike Peterson met is a female version of Jonas Harrow (a lesser villain who's big deal is that he's created a lot of other villains.  Or she's a less ostentatious version of Doc Trauma, who has a similar MO.

Things I hope we'll see:
Damage Control
The Agents of Atlas (super-heroes from the 50's)
Quasimodo (an evil living computer.  Not a great character, but a creepy visual who probably won't make it into any movie)
Guest appearances from movie characters.  Just around the time the next Marvel movies arrives as a taste.  Think how many people will tune in if they are promised a hint of stuff to come in an upcoming movie!  Yeah, you probably won't get RDJ, but maybe Chris Evans or Sam Jackson.

[Tripe]

Things I hope we'll see:
Damage Control

This, always this.

[Johnny Unusual]

I SMELL SPIN-OFF!

[k1]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Nick Fury cameo!