Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D: The Asset

“You forget, I saw plenty of action with the Avengers!”

“And you died…”

At last! After the introductory episode, and an episode which serves to introduce us properly to all the characters, we get a regular sort of episode. Finally, I get a chance to pass a value judgement. And this episode, while not exceptionally good, is not only the best so far, but is quietly promising for the standard we can expect.

The plot is a classic bait and switch, with our supposedly kidnapped S.H.I.E.L.D scientist having manipulated his own apparent abduction from our less-than-stellar millionaire baddie for his own ethical purposes. It also plays on the fact that we don’t quite know Skye yet and therefore have doubts as to her loyalty. I’m sure that her continued links to the Rising Tide will have real significance later, but for now her apparent conflict of loyalties is just a bit of misdirection. Another thing which will have significance later is the mysterious fact of Coulson’s resurrection, of which we are again reminded.

The episode looks good, beginning as it does with an amazing CGI sequence. But the episode is essentially about the characters. Agent Ward may be abrasive, and he may have doubts about Skye in particular, but he seems more and more to be doing this for fatherly reasons. He seems to bond a little with Skye, however, which is both surprising and a possible hint of a possible future romance between the two of them. Skye, still new to combat, shows her bravery and resourcefulness both by volunteering for her underground mission and being bloody good at it.

 
Just to round up with a word about the other characters… Fitz and Simmons continue to be comic relief with no hint of any further depths, while Agent May, interestingly, finally decides that she actually wants to become involved in combat again. Surely her backstory can’t be too far away. The baddie, tycoon Ian Quinn, is something of a Bond villain cipher, and the script mocks him for his free market, right wing views in a pleasing little example of a dig at this show’s big corporate parent. Let’s see what happens next week, though. I want more superheroes and supervillains!

Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D: 0-8-4

“It’s the best chocolate in the world.”

“Could use some sugar.”

“Americans!”

So far this is looking like a typical Joss Whedon show in the way the early episodes develop. As with Firefly, we have a first episode to establish the premise and a second episode to fully introduce us to the characters and get a full handle on who they are and what they are like. This was something that was lacking last episode.

We begin with some bloody good CGI of a plane and that, and Agent Coulson in grave peril. We then cut to a caption saying “19 hours earlier”, just as once happened with Mal Reynolds. Again, very Firefly. We are then introduced to this week’s McGuffin, sorry, 084. This gives us an excuse for the team to go to Peru and engage in a team building exercise, except in this case with peril instead of paintball. Along the way, we get to meet and old flame of Agent Coulson who will no doubt never be referred to again, especially as she’s now dead and that. Oh, and we end up with a cameo of Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury (ooooooh!). That’ll be the plot then.

But the point of this is to flesh out the characters for the benefit of us, the viewer. So let’s have a look at them. Agent Coulson is all cheery and mysterious and that, and yes, he gets a line to remind us of his recent unexplained death. Agent May is a real badass who, for some mysterious reason that will no doubt be explained in, oh, about four episodes from now, hates combat and much prefers to just fly everybody around. She is taciturn, mysterious, and so far comes across as a bit of a female Wolverine.

We have our British scientist types, Fitz and Simmons, for comic relief and to do the science bits of the plot. Presumably some background will be sketched in later. Skye, we know from the first episode. And finally there’s Ward. He’s gruff, militaristic and generally a bit like Riley from Buffy. Again, no doubt he will soon acquire a hinterland.

So that’s it. We know them all a bit better now and will know who they are next time. That was this episode’s job and it did it well.  This being a Whedon show, I confidently expect the initial set up episodes to be followed by quality. And it seems the season arc may have begun. Skye, our audience identification character, turns out to still be working for these Rising Tide people. OOOh errrr.

Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D: Pilot

“It means someone really wanted our initials to spell ‘Shield’!”

Oh dear. It’s been a while, hasn’t it? I’ve got no real excuse either. Just living and that. Home life, work, Doctor Who conventions, pod casting, and two gorgeous cats. And throughout all this time I’ve carried on making my usual blog notes for many things I’ve watched, both film and telly. There is a bit of a backlog for Dollhouse(notes completed up ‘til the end), Grimm, Buffy, Angel, and, well- how should I say this?- two entire television series right up until the end! One of them is four seasons long!

So I’d better get on with it. After all, I’m a massive Marvel geek, albeit one who stopped getting the comics with any regularity back in the 90’s, and rapidly becoming just as much of a Whedon geek. Plus, this is the first time ever that I’ve seen a Joss Whedon show on its original transmission. Well, I say original transmission, but we Limeys are seeing this a full three days after you Yanks!

SO, what to make of this first episode? Joss himself both co-writes and directs, and his fingerprints are all over both the dialogue and the general look of the thing. Of course, being a first episode, it’s a bit of a blur and it will take a bit of a while to get to know all the characters. But the supposedly late Agent Coulson is back from the dead with his dialogue made suitably snappy for him to be able to star in a Joss Whedon show. There is also a white coated scientist who is, at this point, notable only for being played by Ron Glass. More prominently, we have Agents Hill and Ward, technical British people Fitz and Simmons, and some other people. Most importantly, we have Skye, a hacker turned agent and Mike, a superhero played by none other than J. August Richards, who suddenly looks older than he did in Angel.

The opening dialogue recalls Torchwood in that it is set after the events of The Avengers and the “battle of New York” and the full outing of superheroes, and an alien invasion into the bargain. Everything has changed and we’ve got to be ready. In addition, the scenes with Mike at the beginning remind me of the first season of Heroes, but, mercifully, nowhere near as long winded.  As ever, Whedon has fun with the tropes. Mike’s story echoes that of Spider-Man’s origin and also that of many Marvel heroes. Wonderfully, Mike is quite aware of this, responding to the doctor who gave him his powers, when she tells him that it’s a disaster that “No, it’s an origin story”. Even more gloriously, Skye is set up early on as an agent of a mysterious organisation and antagonist, only to be revealed as a lone wolf hacker and captured within the first few minutes.

Skye compares Shield, while in conversation with Mike, to men in black and makes them sound sinister, but it seems that Whedon is anxious to avoid this cliché and takes pains to emphasise that they are in fact quite nice. This immediately gives the show a very different feel to Dollhouse, in spite of some superficial similarities.

Marvel Universe geekery is kept quite subtle, although there is an obligatory reference to Professor Erksine and the Super Soldier Serum. There are numerous mysteries, not the least of which is who gave Mike his powers, but for me the most pressing point is whether Mike is going to stay on and join the team. I get the impression that he isn’t dead, and Richards is far too good an actor to waste as a one off guest star.

One more thing: I had a red car called Lola way before Agent Coulson did! Just sayin’. That aside, this were well good.