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I don’t watch much television anymore. We have the TV on in the house a lot, but it is usually background noise. And if I do watch something, it is generally a sports game or some random show on DIY or Food Network. There are exceptions to this rule, but overall I just don’t watch TV series like I used to. I just don’t have time to get invested in shows. Plus, I think I’m still bitter about that second season of Heroes.
That being said, I’ve been a comic book fan for a long time, and even though I’ve always enjoyed DC over Marvel, I wanted to give Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. a shot because after all, it does involve superheroes.
Below are my quick pros and cons.
Pros:
- Agent Coulson – Had the best lines and overall the best character on the show. They’ve added a bit of intrigue behind how he survived The Avengers which I expect will be a plot point in future episodes.
- Special effects – Well done by Television’s standards.
- A few funny lines that made me chuckle.
- Melinda May – Very mysterious character, but had immediate presence. Could be a great figure if brought along correctly.
- Nice tie-ins to the greater Marvel universe rather than pretending the show exists on an island outside of the movies.
- Tons of little eggs that could potentially pay off in spades down the road.
Cons:
- Outside of Agent Coulson, almost every character is a cliché or a stereotype. I didn’t care about anyone else except for maybe Melinda as mentioned above. Characterization is how the show will win me over so it had better do something to improve upon this glaring weakness.
- Like most Whedon projects, there are some whitty bits of dialogue, but there are also some really cheesy lines or even scenes. Those were definitely evident here.
- Not a very tight plot….tried to do too much in the pilot (as well as introduce too many people at once). Would have preferred a slower introduction into this part of the world.
- Several moments of what I felt was lazy storytelling.
- Too much cheesy/campiness at times.
- Everyone seemed to like the ending use of Coulson’s car but I honestly thought it was pretty dumb (especially when he threw on the sunglasses). I was expecting him to say “Roads? Where we’re going, we need no roads.” a la Back to the Future.
Overall, it was an ok pilot but nothing that blew my mind. Without Coulson, it would have probably lost my interest. I’ll give it another week or two before bailing, but I really need to see something better than what we were given in the first episode.
On a side note, It’s been announced that in 2014 we’ll see a Gotham Central television show which will follow a younger Detective Jim Gordon as he tries to clean up Gotham in a pre-Batman world. If it’s anything like the comics the show will be based on, I’m definitely there.
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