Agents of Shield: Odd vibe from series

[Morrus]

This.

I have a background in comics. I have a STRONG background in comics. If anything, it hurts the show for me. I was hoping for Heroes; I got Buffy. That's not a compliment; I never liked Buffy and it went off the air eleven years ago. TV has moved past (way the hell past) Buffy. The show feels cheap & low-budget in a way Heroes didn't, even when Heroes sucked.
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Wow! Opposite land!

I was hoping for Buffy. I got Heroes, sadly.

 

[Umbran]

I couldn't believe in the relationships between the people and the way they acted.

The strength of much of Joss Whedon's work seems to be in developing chemistry between the actors/characters. These are the hallmarks of Buffy, Angel, Firefly, and the Avengers movie as well.

Unfortunately, since Joss is busy with movies, he's not on hand to provide whatever magic he normally does to make chemistry happen, and I think that, ultimately, is the problem.

 

[Jester David]

The strength of much of Joss Whedon's work seems to be in developing chemistry between the actors/characters. These are the hallmarks of Buffy, Angel, Firefly, and the Avengers movie as well.

Unfortunately, since Joss is busy with movies, he's not on hand to provide whatever magic he normally does to make chemistry happen, and I think that, ultimately, is the problem.

That's likely a big part. Joss helped create the show, did the initial brainstorming, and then handed this off to some people he likes.

I just watched episode #16, "The End of the Beginning":

While I'll continue to watch the show, I'm getting an odd vibe from the show.

The production quality and acting are fine.

What is odd is the lack of depth to the story, and the lack of emotional resonance I'm having with the characters.

Does anyone else have this reaction? Does having a strong background in the comics (I don't) make a difference? Is the show just tuned for a very young audience?

The characters are a big problem with the show. There's no real everyman to latch onto and serve as an audience proxy. Because they're spies, the entire cast is hypercompetent. And the one character that's meant to be the "newbie" is a bit of an unlikable Mary Sue.

The show also suffers from having to be set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. There's so much lore to draw on in the Marvel U, but they can't touch any of it because a movie might have dibs. Heck, even Power Man and Iron Fist are getting their own stuff. So it can't make its own lore, but neither can it really use the lore it's being given.
But, at the same time, the show is meant to tie into the movies, acting as a bridge between films. So it's almost a marketing device. I think they were treading a little water until Winter Soldier came out, knowing it was going to shake up the dynamic and status quo.

I actually liked the last episode. The Clairvoyant twist was interesting, just what I expect from Whedon. And it'll be interesting to see how the May thing shakes out.

 

[trappedslider]

So it's almost a marketing device.
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Drop the almost and you'd be 100% right on the money

 

[LightPhoenix]

The big problem with Agents of SHIELD, in my opinion, is one of perception. Even though they stated it multiple times, it seems like everyone thought it was going to be (basically) the post-Avengers SHIELD sequel. It was never going to be that, and they were (in my opinion, of course) perfectly clear about that. I mean, people are still talking about production values like anything on non-HBO (and maybe even HBO) TV could match a $220-million dollar summer blockbuster with the better part of a year of post-production. Not to mention Fox still owns the rights to the term "mutant."

I think the rest of the problems the show has (and there are problems, no argument there) would have been more easily forgiven if it weren't for the Avengers hanging over its neck. I do think the show has gotten better over time, but with expectations so sky-high I don't think there was really anything they could have realistically done to get people to give it a chance.

 

[Nellisir]

I mean, people are still talking about production values like anything on non-HBO (and maybe even HBO) TV could match a $220-million dollar summer blockbuster with the better part of a year of post-production.

I'm not measuring it against the Avengers. I'm measuring it against Farscape, Battlestar Galactica, Heroes, and other shows like that, and I still think Agents is one step away from latex noses and vampires.

 

[Nellisir]

Wow! Opposite land!
I was hoping for Buffy. I got Heroes, sadly.

You come here and watch mine; I'll go there and watch yours. Problem solved.

 

[delericho]

I watched it until it started its UK hiatus, I don't know whether it came back or is yet to return, but I don't think I'll bother watching it when it does.

It's been back for three weeks now (I think). I think 4OD should still have the episodes available to watch, and it's back in the Friday night slot it had previously.

I can't help you on your decision whether to watch or not, though. Since it got back it's been pretty much more of the same.

 

[Hussar]

I got to binge watch the entire series recently for the first time. I thought it was fun. The characters were interesting, the story lines are decent enough and it is starting to bring out lots of goodies.

It's a pretty standard first season for any show like this afaic. Going back and watching the first season of most shows and they suck pretty hard. It takes a while to get their legs and I'm pretty willing to cut a lot of slack. Then again, that's not always true. Galactica took off running and then went into a nose diving tail spin in the third season (again, AFAIC).

Then again, maybe I'm just not all that discerning. It's fun. It's a diverting forty minutes or so and isn't too terribly insulting to my intelligence. I can live with that. Of course, being very, very far out of the loop when it comes to pop culture means that I had pretty much no idea what to expect going in. That helps a lot.

 

[tomBitonti]

Not that (I think) its entirely bad, it just seems to fall flat given the production quality, and the actors seem good enough.

It's almost if they are deliberately avoiding any major tension in the stories.

For example, in the latest episode, #16, "The End of the Beginning":

Spoiler

The tension of Ward killing the clairvoyant, then being blasted by Colson for killing the wrong person, was let sit for all of about 30 seconds.

The tension of Ward going against orders to kill the clairvoyant. Ward is emotionally flat for the whole sequence.

The mystery of who was bugging the plane. That was a little tension, in that the character's didn't know. But the audience already did. No reveal at all.

Almost none of it was used to heighten the shows drama. There was so much dramatic potential, all wasted.

Thx!

TomB