Seven Notes on "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D."
Wednesday, September 25, 2013 at 9:10PM It wasn't long into the pilot episode of Agents of SHIELD last night that I realized something unflattering about myself: loving Joss Whedon was so much more fun and pride-inducing when it was a subculture and not the culture. If you loved Buffy The Vampire Slayer AS IT WAS AIRING you were, in point of fact, a very awesome person. Everyone loves Buffy now so loving it is expected and the only reasonable thing to do. Yelling "first", which is stupid trolling when it happens virtually on the internet, is actually deeply pleasurable when rooted in real life. So writing about SHIELD now feels a bit lame since I know everyone will be doing the same. "It doesn't need your opinion!" you try to reason with yourself to prevent the babbling, knowing that talking about something that literally everyone is talking about is roughly the same ROI as talking about something that literally no one is talking about. In both scenarios no one notices in the din/silence. (But then you end up having one (opinion!) anyway because you always do. And it's Joss Whedon and you can't help yourself.)
Seven notes on the pilot after the jump...
The characters look too generic
It's common knowledge that casting for television shows is less adventurous than casting for movies since different appeals are required and the decisions are committee-based rather than artistically driven (movies have test screenings after they're made... tv gets test group focused before pilots even air and shows are very often recast in major ways if test audiences take issue with any characters or actors). But even though you need more relatable and less alien beauty than you'd want from, say, a movie star*, you should still try and differentiate the characters somehow within your show. It can be as simple as hairstyle and color. Why are all four of the show's major women brunettes with shoulder length hair?
Since the men are in black suits and most of the characters are also dressed in very dark similar clothing (shadowy government espionage organization, remember) from scene to scene it feels a little oppressively dark, sleek and shiny in the way, say, Nancy Meyers movies feel oppressively blonde, tasteful and beige.
*If you're confused as to my meaning think Connie Britton and Julianne Moore. Compare and contrast! They make excellent mirrors in this regard as they have reddish hair and are in roughly the same age range (Connie is 7 years younger) and are both just gorgeous... but their beauty is perfectly scaled to the medium they've excelled in.
Pilots are rarely indicative of what good shows can do
The greatest thing about TV as a medium is its ability to evolve and grow over time. Without exception Whedon's show history (Buffy, Angel, Firefly, Dollhouse) reveals series that took time to find their voice or suggested an evolving sensibility even if the evolution was stopped short by cancellation. Agents of SHIELD is totally smart about this setting up all sorts of possible detours to take and one obvious through line.
Hit & Miss Marvel Referencing
Loved the casual name-dropping in jokes like Agent Ward (Brett Dalton) having the "best espionage score since Romanov" but sometimes it leans REALLY shamelessly or hard into the "You love Marvel Movies, don't you? Buy this t-shirt!" synergy, including that opening shot of Avengers dolls on sale and with the (temporary) villains who are a bit like lame versions of the internally combusting baddies in Iron Man 3
Mediocre moment that might lead to great moments
He really doesn't know does he."
He can never know."
Good moment that thinks it's a great one.
Agent Coulson's Resurrection, the thing just discussed above, which is suspect. You've been waiting for it. And you get it with all the snarky charm you're expecting. But it's maybe too expected. And very Whedon as Agent Coulson (Clark Gregg who I loved before you before this role "FIRST!") emerges from an inky black corner of the room into the spotlight where Agent Ward is yammering about his Level 6 clearance.
Welcome to Level 7.
Sorry that corner was dark and I couldn't help myself. I think a bulb is out."
Skye (Chloe Bennet), the captive, interviewing her captorGenuinely great moment.
The best moment in the pilot -- which I swear I keep typing as "the trailer" as if this episode is all Coming Attractions! which hmmm, maybe it is -- was super sly and funny. Agent Coulson is threatening Skye with a truth serum only to then shove the needle into Agent Ward instead, a turnabout recruitment ploy that is a funny twist and genuine surprise. But the joke doesn't end there, it turns out to be a volley for the comic spike of Skye's interrogation of Ward which serves to make all three characters more endearing which is super important in a pilot.
If that weren't reward enough, the scene also makes you complicit in the plot because even though it's ridiculous you are rooting for it in a "this is totally going to work!" way, willing it into being savvy and reasonable ... simply because it's great fun.
Whedonesque
The ratings for this Avengers spin-off were predictably gargantuan, dwarfing Whedon's previous shows, but the joy while watching was arguably the inverse. Whedon's voice is still there, sure, but with portion control as if he's rationing the goods now. Perhaps he's eager to save something for himself until he's out from under the contract of the behemoth corporation that now owns his vocal chords. B
Reader Comments (11)
I liked it but I've been having trouble putting into words just what was lacking about it for me (aside from the generally bland characters). I think 'with portion control as if he's rationing the goods now' gets at it a bit.
This morning I also remembered an old quote of Whedon's that I always liked: "I'm not an adult! I don't want to make responsible shows with lawyers in them. I want to invade people's dreams." That's what's missing for me. I enjoyed the episode but it's not gonna be 'invading my dreams' any time soon. Here's hoping it'll pick up.
It was perfectly fine, but I think it lacked something special to entice me back week after week when we already get this universe so many on the big screen anyway. And, as you say, it's kinda like B roll footage or, actually, just like most other spin off series. The ingredients are there but... missing the original magic. It's like, okay, so you're just going to give us Mini Marvel? Nothing really wrong with that, but I don't think I enjoy superheroes enough to watch it every week.
And, yes, as something who watched Buffy not only as it aired, but when I was in high school (It began in my first year of high school and ended in my final year of high school) I felt even more attached.
I reviewed it all the fuck over my blog, and said the same thing as you about the brunettes.
By the way, the villains aren't "a bit like' Iron Man 3. They name-checked "extremis", which is the villain-making thingy from Iron Man 3.
I'm a Whedon fanboy through and through and liked this just fine, but like you and others have said... SOMETHING was lacking. There are still the a-ha great moments though and I'm hoping that the pressure of executing this pilot and creating a jumping off point is what caused most of the off-ness. But hey 12 million people just watched a Whedon TV show. How's them apples?
I remember watching Night Tracks on TBS and seeing this ridiculously beautiful woman sing "You Give Good Love". The video was not that impressive, but the woman lit up the screen in a way that literally made my heart ache and the song was amazing. Part of me has always been a little sad that shortly afterward she became WHITNEY HOUSTON, the goddess, icon, diva, etc. that became a world-wide legend. It felt like I lost something vital; when it was this incredible voice playing at one in the morning on a local station because MTV couldn't be bothered to play videos by black people, it was a revelation. Later, she felt overexposed and overdone.
I wasn't first in when it came to "Buffy". I didn't start watching it until the third season, after a friend told me the tragic storyline of the second season. But I know exactly what you mean. There's something bizarrely empowering and rewarding about being there when it began. There's something vaguely disappointing about loving someone's work when what you hope for - that everyone knows how great they are - ends up with everyone actually knowing how great they are. It's no longer a cult, it's an established fact.
I liked Shield. I'll watch the next few episodes.
But a part of me wishes I could go back to a time when I knew nothing about Joss Whedon, and an episode of "Roseanne" could break my heart because of a poem Darlene wrote and the third season opener of "Buffy" would make me forever a series fan even if I missed all the good stuff the first time around.
A part of me wishes I could see Whitney sing "You Give Good Love" and she was only singing to me and the camera guy in the video.
As someone who isn't super into Whedon or Marvel films:
Enjoy the ride! Its pretty cool someone you like is getting rich so in a few years he can make whatever movie he wants to for the rest of his life.
I'll just be over here mourning Breaking Bad and worshiping The Grandmaster. (Zhang Ziyi for supporting actress!)
It was fine. There seems to be a misconception that all Joss Whedon pilots are dreadful, but whilst the Buffy pilot is cheesy, its snappier-than-thou dialogue and instantly lovable characters make for one hell of a compelling first episode. Angel is a bit of a misfire, since the show was better once it dropped the detective angle, but both Firefly and the original Dollhouse pilot (which is available on the DVD) show a real growth in terms of understanding what needs to happen in a pilot whilst also serving as something more interesting outside of that. Which made this seem a little drab in comparison.
It's fun, but the ambition that made Joss Whedon's other shows stand out just isn't there.
I agree the pilot wasn't stellar (and I think you nailed the reason in your final "Whedonesque" paragraph), but it had enough to it to keep me interested for a while.
I disliked the blatant cues about each character's mysterious past, but I'm willing to let that slide because it was the pilot. The one thing that seems to be consistent about Whedon is his eagerness to subvert genres: vampires in Buffy, sci fi in Firefly, spies in Dollhouse. I would not be at all surprised if Shield eventually has almost nothing to do with superheroes.
I didn't like it. Not terrible, but not good either. Everything was so bland and lifeless. The characters are so uninteresting, none of them unique. And I hated the hacker girl, she was super annoying. I know pilots are rarely good but they are supposed to grab you somehow with something, this one didn't.
Nathan, I am embarrassed to admit I have never seen anything Joss Whedon has done. But this savvy article is so witty and sly and entertaining that I might check out some old eppys of Buffy, which is playing on one of my cable channels. The Nancy Meyers line is PRICELESS. Once again, you show why you're one of the funnest bloggers around.
brookesboy -- awww. that's sweet. but do start buffy from the beginning. it's such a great series that uses the medium to really develop its themes and evolve.