Keepin' it Reel with:
Kelsey Lawson
Hi, I’m Kelsey and television has ruined my life. If you knew me in high school, you knew me as the "Girl Who Watched Lost." If you know me now, you know me as "The Girl Who Watches a Shit Ton of TV." I am particularly passionate about quirky comedies and sci-fi dramas. I get a little too emotional while watching TV, so I often write my feelings out. This is where you come in.
Reviewing:
"Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D."
I remember scrolling through twitter last summer when I saw something that made me stop and squeal in delight. Joss Whedon was going to be creating a television show set in the Marvel universe.
I remember how excited I was to tell my dad, who’s a huge comic book fan. We’ve seen all the Marvel movies together, and he’s always telling me fun plots and characters that didn’t make it into the movies. I remember what he said to me when I told him about the show.
“Eh.”
My dad had this show summed up a year before it aired. One problem with SHIELD is that it’s not one of the Marvel movies, try as it might. First off, it doesn’t have the big name movie stars. Sure, it has Clark Gregg reprising his role as Agent Phil Coulson. Turns out, Coulson never died. Nick Fury faked Coulson’s death to motivate the Avengers, and stuck Coulson on Tahiti to recuperate. But of course we’re led to believe this isn’t the full story. “He really doesn’t know does he?” “He can never know.”
Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders) makes a special guest appearance, but it was very brief and mostly felt like a nod to the audience that she still exists and the creators didn’t forget about her.
It’s nice to know she can show up now and then to provide a familiar face because the rest of the cast is comprised of unknowns. Not that this is a bad thing. Chloe Bennet is particularly enthralling as Skye, a computer hacker leading Rising Tide, which aims to expose SHIELD’s secrets. She’s smart and knows how to get what she wants. The problem is the rest of the cast falls a bit flat. It’s really not their fault. Skye is the only one given the room to show any personality other than “tough guy” Ward, “the accents” Fitz and Simmons, and “shady past” Melinda May. As the show develops, these characters will as well. There’s enough room for these characters to shine, and they’re in capable hands. Whedon and his crew have shown they are more than capable of creating likeable characters in unlikely situations.
One thing that SHIELD did right? For a show set in a superhero world, there was just the right amount of action. It was enough to make it seem believable, but not too much that it set the bar too high for future episodes.
Instead of focusing on explosions and action-sequences, the pilot is mostly character driven. The episode revolves around Mike Peterson (J. August Richards), who’s a good man with some bad luck. He was laid off from work and his wife left him with his young son. He went to a super-secretive doctor to make him strong (re: superpowers). He was given a device called a centipede that attaches to his arm and feeds him a concoction of superjuices. The result is that it’s making Mike explosive.
Coulson rallies the team together to track Peterson down and stop him before he goes nuclear. Everyone is given their moment. Skye helps SHIELD track down Mike. Melinda May saves Skye from a gunman. Coulson talks down Mike. Fitz and Simmons find a cure. Ward shoots Mike with it. The problem-of-the-week is solved with a nice big bow on top. Skye is offered a spot in SHIELD. I have a feeling she’ll accept. Of course, there’s still some mystery left – who made the serum and the centipede? But there has to be a Big Bad.
You’ll be able to find fault in SHIELD only if you scrutinize it too closely. I watched the show expecting something big, something… movie-like. But don’t. It has all the components of a good show, and a successful show runner to back it up. This isn’t supposed to be a blockbuster movie. It’s supposed to be a TV show. And it does a fine job of that.
“Eh.”
My dad had this show summed up a year before it aired. One problem with SHIELD is that it’s not one of the Marvel movies, try as it might. First off, it doesn’t have the big name movie stars. Sure, it has Clark Gregg reprising his role as Agent Phil Coulson. Turns out, Coulson never died. Nick Fury faked Coulson’s death to motivate the Avengers, and stuck Coulson on Tahiti to recuperate. But of course we’re led to believe this isn’t the full story. “He really doesn’t know does he?” “He can never know.”
Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders) makes a special guest appearance, but it was very brief and mostly felt like a nod to the audience that she still exists and the creators didn’t forget about her.
It’s nice to know she can show up now and then to provide a familiar face because the rest of the cast is comprised of unknowns. Not that this is a bad thing. Chloe Bennet is particularly enthralling as Skye, a computer hacker leading Rising Tide, which aims to expose SHIELD’s secrets. She’s smart and knows how to get what she wants. The problem is the rest of the cast falls a bit flat. It’s really not their fault. Skye is the only one given the room to show any personality other than “tough guy” Ward, “the accents” Fitz and Simmons, and “shady past” Melinda May. As the show develops, these characters will as well. There’s enough room for these characters to shine, and they’re in capable hands. Whedon and his crew have shown they are more than capable of creating likeable characters in unlikely situations.
One thing that SHIELD did right? For a show set in a superhero world, there was just the right amount of action. It was enough to make it seem believable, but not too much that it set the bar too high for future episodes. Instead of focusing on explosions and action-sequences, the pilot is mostly character driven. The episode revolves around Mike Peterson (J. August Richards), who’s a good man with some bad luck. He was laid off from work and his wife left him with his young son. He went to a super-secretive doctor to make him strong (re: superpowers). He was given a device called a centipede that attaches to his arm and feeds him a concoction of superjuices. The result is that it’s making Mike explosive.
Reporting by: Kelsey
Lawson
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