Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. [US] ** Spoilers **

Kirby

FreudianSlippers wrote: »

I dint think I agree with you on this. They've effectively wasted 5 episodes building the character dynamic and almost almost forcing the audience (through reluctant characters) to believe this team works best as a unit. Whedon has also written the characters to fit closely with the Firefly types to this effect.

I'm not really sure about that. In what way does any of the characters on SHIELD resemble River....or Jane? Or even Mal. The characters on this show are far too noble and do-goody to fit in with the firefly crew's archetypes.

Sudden Valley

They are the law enforcement/NSA of the new world which make it seem like a supernatural procedural. The main guy Ward? reminds me a lot of Riley from Buffy which is not a good thing. I only can really stand the two nerdy scientists and possibly Ming-na, the other actors are annoying.

Kirby

I get the comparison as they are both quintessential soldiers but the similarity stops there.

It's early in the show but from what we've seen so far, Ward seems to be his own man. He has no problem talking back to Coulson apparently and still seems pissed at Skye even though everyone else has forgiven her.

Riley was utterly whipped. His moral compass was dictated completely by professor Walsh and then later by Buffy. Everything he did or said was dictated by either woman. The only independent action he ever took was leaving.....and that took two seasons....and even asked her if she would let him leave first! :P

pixelburp

I think people are overestimating the Whedon effect in this show; of all of his projects arguably this is the most well-leashed and mainstream of the lot. I'm happy to be wrong, but I can't honestly see how ABC would give him free reign to simply bump characters off whenever he passes down the orders from on high, especially when the cast are so carefully modelled along such hackneyed archetypes as they are. As much as I'd like to see Ward bumped off - even if he was vaguely human-like this episode and has loosened up a little - the script can't help tip its hand towards the contrived romantic tension between himself and Skye (even if the two actors have absolutely zero chemistry together. Whatever you feel about Fitzsimmons, at least those two have a relationship that feels genuine), and this alone says to me that the apple-cart is unlikely to be upset. Just a hunch.

As to the episode, yeah I'll give credit where credit's due, it was one of the strongest to date. I would argue it was a bit too soon to be putting one of the main cast on death's door, simply because Simmons wasn't really that well-defined until now; maybe if she got her own episode first then the peril might have seemed a bit worrying. If she was killed off, I probably would have felt a strong sense of 'so what?'

Of course, as usual this show couldn't resist the endless New York references, even if they finally decided to put Coulson's anxiety about his 'death' front & centre. It just about justified the endless name-dropping, and hopefully will open up a new avenue.

Quibble of the week: the globe-trotting is nice, but it'd be equally so if SHIELD at least appeared to consist of agents from the international community. Fitzsimmons don't really count tbh, and it'd make the concept less obnoxiously American if there seemed to be a bit of diversity in its payroll

But with Coulson's apparent maverick behaviour around SHIELD, it got me wondering about future arcs and how things might be shaping up (I'm going to spoiler it because it ties in with some of the upcoming Marvel films):

The trailer for Captain America sequel seems to suggest its focus is going to be about the corruption of SHIELD and how Cap & Ageny Fury will be fighting the Enemy Within. With that in mind it's hard to imagine how this won't have ramifications for the TV show.

I'm wondering then if Coulson's part of this greater arc, given Fury himself set this team up; perhaps he already suspects the rot has set and is trying to create a faction to fight it. This latest episode made attempts to reinforce the idea that Coulson is bucking procedure in SHIELD and isn't exactly well-liked; maybe the 'Centipede' plotline is just a red herring, or indeed a cover identity for a rogue SHIELD faction, and the arc for Agents... will dovetail with the Captain America sequel's. Considering we're already going to get a Thor2 crossover, Marvel would be mad not to do the same for Cap America 2

Sudden Valley

Kirby wrote: »

I get the comparison as they are both quintessential soldiers but the similarity stops there.

It's early in the show but from what we've seen so far, Ward seems to be his own man. He has no problem talking back to Coulson apparently and still seems pissed at Skye even though everyone else has forgiven her.

Riley was utterly whipped. His moral compass was dictated completely by professor Walsh and then later by Buffy. Everything he did or said was dictated by either woman. The only independent action he ever took was leaving.....and that took two seasons....and even asked her if she would let him leave first! :P

I was more thinking that his only qualities are that he's brave and dependable- which are great qualities for a soldier but boring qualities for a character. i do completely agree with your assessment of Riley though!

Mr.Nice Guy

Oh man, I think they blew it with this recent episode! Up until the final part it was the best one yet and the way they played up that she had

sacrificed herself needlessly

was fabulous drama...and then they ruined it.

I like that character but that was a total cop out and it's the kind of cuddly ending that you'd expect from the likes of Spielberg.

The final part of the show was just like total cutesy Saturday evening viewing and to me it was a totally wasted opportunity.

I was actually reminded of an episode of Lost from an early season when it was good, where

Michael ends up shooting Libby which had not been his plan

. It was still great drama, though. If the makers of this show had been in charge at that time, there would have been some sort of rescue effort achieved and it would have lost its effect.

Just felt very frustrated after this episode of Shield because I thought they could have turned a corner with this one.

They bottled it, frankly.

flazio

Jeez, you guys really are hard nose sods aren't you?
Anyway the talk between Coulson and May at the end got me thinking about this upcoming Thor 2 tie in episode.
(Thor 2 Spoiler)

I wonder are they going to tell Coulson that his 'murderer' Loki died and what effect this has on him.

wampyrus77

ive watch episode 5 the Asian man with powers of fire he reminds me of Sunfire from xmen not scorch there big surprise, Sunfire more popular marvel superhero then Pyro and Scorch and Sunfire has been in marvel data base longer then Pyro and Scorch and they got scorch nationally wrong he should American not Asian, that why i thought of Sunfire im very surprise they pick scorch for his superhero name when i saw him 1st because he is Asian while Scorch is American according marvel comics

brianregan09

The Marvel Studios division doesn't have the rights to any X-men thats why people like Sunfire can't be used

Mark Hamill

brianregan09 wrote: »

The Marvel Studios division doesn't have the rights to any X-men thats why people like Sunfire can't be used

Is that not only in the movies? e.g. Marvel own Spiderman in cartoon form, but not in movie form.

wampyrus77

sunfire never appeared in xmen movies, but he appeared xmen and spiderman cartoons and comics in 70's, 80s, 90s onwards and he was part of xmen team but went solo, and he also his own comic series since 80s, The Classic Marvel Figurine Collection Issue 125: Sunfire and pyro is The Classic Marvel Figurine Collection Issue 141: Pyro, no scorch issue yet from The Classic Marvel Figurine Collection

McLoughlin

wampyrus77 wrote: »

sunfire never appeared in xmen movies, but he appeared xmen and spiderman cartoons and comics in 70's, 80s, 90s onwards and he was part of xmen team but went solo, and he also his own comic series since 80s

Sunfire will be part of the Big Hero 6 film in 2014.

wampyrus77

ok but why Scorch nationally is Japanese and but in comics he is Tommy ng from USA and that why i thought of Sunfire because he nationally is Japanese.

TheIrishGrover

I thought he was Chinese in the episode, no?

wampyrus77

ok he from Hong Kong he still from asia not america which scorch is from USA in comics not Hong Kong

pixelburp

Considering how much an irrelevant, minor character 'Scorch' (god, still a terrible name) is in the comics - afaik - and considering how often any ethnicity change is usually in the other direction, bleaching the non-white characters for middle-American tastes; does it really matter?

wampyrus77

im watching episode 6 on channel 4 on d is advert sponsorship is psp vita lol sony sponsors marvel Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. how get the rights to sponsors from Disney owns marvel now

brianregan09

Mark Hamill wrote: »

Is that not only in the movies? e.g. Marvel own Spiderman in cartoon form, but not in movie form.

I think its all the live action properties are in together cartoons,games and other related merch is diffrent

wampyrus77

alien helmet reminds of skrull race from fantastic 4 comics, cartoons and silver surfer comics, cartoons

Manach

Should be interesting how they tie in Thor II in next week's episode.

wampyrus77

thor 2 doesn't resemble dark elves from the comics and Malekith they look completely different from the comics from the movie.

pixelburp

Manach wrote: »

Should be interesting how they tie in Thor II in next week's episode.

Seems like there's three possibilities as far as I can guess if they're going to have a definite 'sequel' to events in Thor 2. Assuming it's set in same place as the movie's climax, I presume the Scooby gang will either (spoiler text for those yet to see the film):

1. Try and recover some Dark Elf tech that fell into the Wrong Hands, but that has been done to death on this show already tbh, so I hope it's not that.
2. Some of the 'Aether' stuff is still in the city, so there's a mini-crisis while they try to locate and gather the energy. Again it'll probably involve some Wrong Hands getting a hold of it.
3. The gang chase the monster still seen to be lurking the streets at the end of the credits. Personally I hope it's this one as the two above are just variations on what we've seen already; a straightforward, fun monster hunt could add a dash of excitement and energy that's often sorely lacking on this show. We don't need another 'alien tech' storyline...

CastorTroy

For the Thor link

I'd go with the dog link as it's not something that would spoil the movie, at the same time tying in.

wampyrus77

lol keeping that alien helmet under wraps, what someday the aliens came back to claim what rightfully theirs, do you think shield will give it to them and alien helmet could sending transmitter signal the alien source where it came from i think going be conclusion to this episode in near future

Bacchus

wampyrus77 wrote: »

lol keeping that alien helmet under raps, what someday the aliens came back to claim what right theirs, do you think shield give it them and alien helmet could sending transmitter signal the alien source where it came form i think going be conclusion to this episode in near future

Challenge accepted

lol keeping that alien helmet under wraps, what if someday the aliens came back to claim what's rightfully theirs? Do you think shield will give it to them. Also, the alien helmet could be sending a transmitter signal to the alien source where it came form from. I think this is going to be the conclusion to this episode in the near future.

Apologies if English isn't your first language.

pixelburp

A poor episode that was so generic and by the book it was hard to find myself caring what was happening. This application of such a safe formula means it all feels terribly small-scale; everything's so undercooked there's no sense of threat, or that events matter. It also doesn't help that the audience surrogate continues to be either completely grating, or just plain uninteresting.

Coulson: "Sorry Skye but you don't have clearance to know about the mission. Also, you're technically a prisoner to be fair."
Skye: "I don't care. I need to know because reasons! I'm a hacker so information must be open or something. Also teamwork is super!"
Coulson: "I am suddenly moved by your illogical passion and will yet again flip-flop from company man to caring, paternal leader. Isn't teamwork super?"

And then there's the mystery of her past that surely nobody seriously cares about. Ooh a SHIELD agent dropped her off at the orphanage. Uhm, ok? I think maybe the question of her being a double-agent was killed off too soon. At least then the mystery was a more tangible, immediate one that had potential for conflict. Agents of chaos can work well; instead she just mopes and complains about the system she's willingly participating in.

It's not all negative mind you: Fitz and Ward actually work well together, and while it could just be her ludicrously pretty face, Simmons is growing on me & was quite funny when trying to bluff her way past that Agent (even if like the rest of show, the comedy can be quite forced)

Oh and regards the Thor tie-in, I saw a promo for the next episode:

looks like it's what I feared & yet *another* alien-tech-out-of-control episode. Sigh. The opportunity was there to have a fun monster/alien hunt that would freshen things up a little, break the repetition and add some much-needed cinematic spice to proceedings. Nope! Seems like they're reaching for the low hanging fruit. Again.

humanji

Yeah, it's become a show I watch while doing something else. There's nothing really surprising happening, so you don't have to think too much about what's happening. But I have to admit that I did laugh at a couple moments (Fitz dealing with being caught, for example).

TheIrishGrover

OK, I'll admit it. Yawn. I still like Coulson (And Ward's growing on me) but Fitzimmons and especially skye are getting more and more annoying each episode. It makes good background noise but it really needs to do something different if it has any chance of seriously holding interest. (Or getting a season 2. Don't think it'll get one at this stage)

Average-Ro

I would have loved to have a hunt after the alien dog next week, but I never thought it would be feasible considering how much the cgi would cost to put that alien on screen.

CastorTroy

I liked that Coulson finally caught himself saying Tahiti was a magical place. And his "conversation" with Mai.

Looks like Skye's mother was a SHIELD agent that was murdered, at which point Skye was taken away by another agent to find a new home.... Wonder if her mum was Lily Potter