Marvel’s Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. Blog 1.2 0-8-4

Writers: Jed Whedon, Maurissa Tancharoen, Jeffrey Bell

Director: David Straiton

Starring: Clark Gregg, Ming-Na Wen, Brett Dalton, Chloe Bennet, Iain De Caestecker, Elizabeth Henstridge, Leonor Varela, Samuel L. Jackson,

Synopsis: The recently assembled team of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents travel to Peru to investigate a strange artefact. However, it’s an artefact that also holds the interests of some local rebels.

The second episode had a lot to live up to. It needed to push the show into its own territory, and although it arguably achieved this, it’s a territory that has previously been occupied by a dozen similar shows and movies. Starting with one of my biggest pet peeves, the show opens mid-action sequence before coming to a halt with a subtitle that reads “19 Hours Earlier”. To me, this is just a cheap way to hook the audience into the action. It feels as though the writers can’t be bothered to build any suspense, so instead they announce “If you stick with us, you’ll get to see this cool bit.” And yes, I even felt Breaking Bad relied on this technique far too much.

While we await the exciting preview of a scene yet to come, we see the team come together for the first (official) time. The banter once again reeks of Whedonesque wit, but there is something very unsettling and irritating about it all. It soon becomes obvious that a large portion of the core characters have been ripped straight from Buffy The Vampire Slayer. Skye is clearly Buffy (with perhaps a little bit of Cordelia thrown in), while the two science fill out the Xander/Willow roles, and Coulson is a bit of a Giles. These characters worked in a 90s high school setting, but as members of an elite team of government agents, they grate. Once the similarities fade away, you can’t help but notice that this show seems familiar in every sense of the word. The brawny guy quips “In English,” after a number of science guy’s lines, showing us that the science guy is really clever, but also allowing us mortals to understand his cryptic speech. It’s one of the many familiar devices used, which also includes the Brawny guy ignoring the science guy’s warnings about a device and just grabbing it to result in…nothing. Phew!

The team venture to Peru, and as they arrive we see that the budget of the pilot episode has not transcended this far. An obvious mix of studio sets and CG becomes distracting. The same can be said for the fight scenes that are shot with quick moving cameras and even faster edits in an attempt to conceal some of the blemishes of television. After discovering the object, which is just a Macguffin that begins this story, can conveniently be used as a useful weapon, before being disposed of, a group of Peruvian cops arrive lead by Camilla Reyes (Varela). She, conveniently, has a history with Coulson and may as well laugh maniacally since her villainous intent is perfectly clear.

The lead up to where the episode began is hardly exciting, and since it takes place on a plane with people being sucked out, it’s far too reminiscent of the much better scene in IRON MAN 3. Once again it highlights this television programmes inherent flaws. I fully understand that the action, special effects, and budget are not going to be up there with the cinematic additions to Marvel’s universe, but they could at least give us a few more interesting characters. The science duo of Fitzz and Simmons reach Jar Jar Binks levels of annoyance in this episode, and Ward once again lacks any Charisma. Melinda May is still the most tolerable character, which may have something to do with her lack of dialogue. Her character is expressed through her actions, and she seems as bored with her colleagues as many viewers will. I may also just love her because her outfit has thumbsies.

Take out the references to Marvel’s cinematic ventures and Samuel L. Jackson’s last minute cameo which comes across as a desperate plea for viewers to tune in next week (it worked), and you are left with an incredibly average show, as right now it isn’t even good enough as a simple stop-gap between feature films. Fingers crossed that something will happen soon to shake the generic progression.

Best Bit: The Samuel L. Jackson guest appearance was a laugh riot. However, it also reminds us of what we all (possibly unfairly) want this show to be, as opposed to what it is.

Marvel’s Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. hits Channel 4 every Friday at 8pm.