Completely Unasked For Review: SHIELD
Or, more correctly, "Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." I'm sure everyone weighed in with their opinion already, but I only just saw it and it is bothering me. So I must throw my words at the void!
SPOILERS, bitch! (oh, sorry...that's another show)
I'm not sure how I feel. It has good ideas, like the mobile command center and the use of tech with espionage. Coulson was great as always, though he seems a very different character in this. I just blame that on the medium and the beefing up of his character. I liked the trolling of the fan theories by repeating their resurrection ideas with a wink. And my favorite part is the reveal of the car, Lola, as one of SHIELD's famous flying cars. A horde of internet nerds rejoiced in a unison of, "I called it!"
As for the writing, acting, and pacing...well. Not so much. The tone of the show is more serious, yet characters break all the time to deliver an easy joke or one-liner that is jarring and completely out of the moment. And they are fairly low-brow at that (penis jokes? Come on!). The plot is simplistic and lacks any tension. Shit moves pretty fast without any setup or suspense. Just a bunch of things happening. In an age when television shows are taking their time with scenes and actors, it's disappointing to see inorganic relationships and scenarios just vomit up on the screen.
Outside of Coulson and Ming Na, everyone else is fairly...um...not good. They are barely two-dimensional, from the spy who is not a people person, to the Asian lady who is the best fighter evar, to the two Engineers from Mass Effect's Normandy crew who show up here as attractive uber-nerd techs. But worst of all is the standout Skye character: a perfect recipe of bad concept, bad writing, and bad acting all wrapped in one. Her intonation of words is grating, made worse by the fact that she narrates the opening. Her whole character seems to be a product of Michael Bay's School for Girl Hackers. She lives in a van and fights The Man with beautiful hair and top end fashion. She is meant to be the everyman character, the stand-in for the audience. Except that she is so annoying that I know no one who can relate to her.
So, hopefully this just suffers from Pilot-itis and will take its time with future episodes. Moreso, I hope they will be more interesting. This one just barely kept me involved. On the plus side, I did laugh out loud a couple of times. So that's a good sign.
SPOILERS, bitch! (oh, sorry...that's another show)
I'm not sure how I feel. It has good ideas, like the mobile command center and the use of tech with espionage. Coulson was great as always, though he seems a very different character in this. I just blame that on the medium and the beefing up of his character. I liked the trolling of the fan theories by repeating their resurrection ideas with a wink. And my favorite part is the reveal of the car, Lola, as one of SHIELD's famous flying cars. A horde of internet nerds rejoiced in a unison of, "I called it!"
As for the writing, acting, and pacing...well. Not so much. The tone of the show is more serious, yet characters break all the time to deliver an easy joke or one-liner that is jarring and completely out of the moment. And they are fairly low-brow at that (penis jokes? Come on!). The plot is simplistic and lacks any tension. Shit moves pretty fast without any setup or suspense. Just a bunch of things happening. In an age when television shows are taking their time with scenes and actors, it's disappointing to see inorganic relationships and scenarios just vomit up on the screen.
Outside of Coulson and Ming Na, everyone else is fairly...um...not good. They are barely two-dimensional, from the spy who is not a people person, to the Asian lady who is the best fighter evar, to the two Engineers from Mass Effect's Normandy crew who show up here as attractive uber-nerd techs. But worst of all is the standout Skye character: a perfect recipe of bad concept, bad writing, and bad acting all wrapped in one. Her intonation of words is grating, made worse by the fact that she narrates the opening. Her whole character seems to be a product of Michael Bay's School for Girl Hackers. She lives in a van and fights The Man with beautiful hair and top end fashion. She is meant to be the everyman character, the stand-in for the audience. Except that she is so annoying that I know no one who can relate to her.
So, hopefully this just suffers from Pilot-itis and will take its time with future episodes. Moreso, I hope they will be more interesting. This one just barely kept me involved. On the plus side, I did laugh out loud a couple of times. So that's a good sign.