Marvel Cinematic Universe general stuff

It won't happen, not unless Kevin Feige is a secret poster, and maybe it's a terrible idea: but perhaps the TV series would work best to lean into the multiverse now established and set the shows on their own universe(s) - rather than stay wedded to the MCU. Make a whole thing of it, that 5, 6 shows centre around a different earth where things went differently enough that if required, something like Secret Invasion might have had the room to spin its own yarn. Not once off cos then the whole thing becomes frivolous, but have a TV timeline that can bring some crossovers and Big Events of its own.

Seems like the TV shows are too hamstrung by either having to tee up something movie related, or because they're movie characters everything has this sheen of redundancy about it cos nothing is allowed stick. Netflix's MCU of sorts worked when it did because it was its own ecosystem, and we saw the ceiling of its stakes.

Dunno can't keep track of prevailing complaints of others; but I do see that the TV series are floundering and really failing to ignite the broader audience's enthusiasm, even those long-term MCU viewers who have been here since Iron Man / The Incredible Hulk. And if recent comments are taken as gospel, Disney's Overlord isn't exactly stoked about the succession of flubs either. Loki Season 2 has definitely restored my energy but beyond that ... ?

Well then if you can't do something the same size and scope as the blockbusters - then that's even more justification towards the redundancy of the TV shows linking with the cinematic aspects, isn't it? Netflix's shows worked when they did - cos they were definitely imperfect vehicles; hello Iron Fist - because they defined an enclosed scope, limitations and perspectives. Jessica Jones was liked because it was a smartly written show about emotional trauma, PTSD, manipulation - and even a degree of "who can you trust?" funnily enough, with David Tenant's Kilgrave a chilling villain who used people like puppets. I was cold on it at the time, but it didn't lack impact; fundamentally the writing was good. None of these concepts are worth a damn if the writing's total shít.

I don't agree though that without heroes present, you can't engender a sense of shock or tension around the Skrulls - there's an entire sub-genre of the espionage genre about hidden agents, sleeper cells and so forth. Just this year we had Slow Horses' Season 2 tackle that plot. Secret Invasion had the template, right there. How do you make an audience care? Well, again that's just down to good writing, 'cos good writing and execution will get an audience to invest in anything within reason. Good writing got audiences to love a talking racoon and sentient tree after all. MCU HQ could have done something clever with Secret Invasion; instead it took every least-effort decision possible, executed with a minimal level of panache.

Now, to be fair one must acknowledge CoVid having a hand on these productions, but ye gods this is yet another MCU show that I'm just not inclined to keep watching because it's doing nothing with a killer premise. "shape-shifting aliens take over the world covertly" should have been an easy win - instead we've had ... ... fffsssshhhhhhggghhhhh ... that's me blowing a raspberry while shrugging my shoulders, lol.

Winter Soldier is the apt comparison here: an outing that did something with its paranoia over who might or mightn't be HYDRA - bleeding even into Agents of SHIELD (not coincidentally the moment that show took off). Secret Invasion has had the air of something that just expected its audiences to show up and be happy Sam Jackson was on-screen.

The Echo and Agatha shows remain entities that leave me with an abiding sense of ... "but why?" Can't for the life of my figure why these shows were made, beyond the previous saturation policy. Maybe I'm missing some noisy, significant cohort of Echo fans shouting for their favourite to arrive.