The first three episodes of the new television series Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. are not encouraging. Series writers have under-done themselves by replacing the villainous Hydra organization with different adversaries for the TV version of S.H.I.E.L.D., namely, a lame ensemble cast, average scripts, and the Damocles sword of boredom.
My number one reason to watch Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. was Agent Coulson. He lives! American actor Clark Gregg's portrayal of S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Phil Coulson is a star-making role, on a par with Australian actor Hugo Weaving's Agent Smith in the trilogy of Matrix films. Gregg portrays the perfect, buttoned-down, Competent Organizational Man, at home with S.H.I.E.L.D., or the I.B.M. of the 1960s. Gregg's agent Coulson is always calm, cool, and collected, because he's very well trained, but he's no automaton. He has a brain, and a sly, understated, dry, sense of humour. This has been the role of Gregg's career.
I thought Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. would be first-and-foremost a starring vehicle for Clark Gregg's agent Coulson, but not quite. Figuratively, and literally agent Coulson is not the one driving this bus.
That's what they call it -- Coulson's wet-behind-the ears team of first responders to anything weird -- the tricked out jet they fly around in -- "the bus." They are a disappointingly motley crew: One G. I. Joe-type, Brett Dalton as Grant Ward; two British nerd-wonk-scientists, Iain De Caestecker as Leo Fitz, and Elizabeth Henstridge as Jemma Simmons; one pilot-slash-ninja-slash-clerical worker, Ming-Na Wen as Melinda May; and one renegade hacker-with-a-social-conscience, who's as curvy as a soup fork, but just as useless.
[caption id="attachment_6330" align="alignnone" width="497"]
Sky (Chloe Bennet) is certainly striking to look at, but her character has no punch whatsoever.[/caption]
The hacker's name is Sky -- just Sky, played by Chloe Bennet, and three episodes in, she appears to be a main character, except there's no compelling reason why she's part of the S.H.I.E.L.D. team. She's supposed to be an outlaw hacker belonging to a WikiLeaks-like group called Rising Path. She acts like a Gen Y who has the skills to live with her parents until she's 40-something -- I wouldn't trust her to hack her way out of an Etch-A-Sketch. In episode three, Sky, wearing a breathtakingly snug, pink dress, escapes from bad guys by jumping out a window, and into a swimming pool. She then has to run around a bit in her wet pink dress before the bad guys grab her again. She was in a tough spot, and all ll I can say is her breasts certainly understood the gravity of their situation. Click the little animated GIF to see more of Sky's run for ratings.
Hmm. Okay so maybe the mystery of why busty Sky is part of the cast isn't such a mystery after all, certainly not compared to the mystery of how agent Coulson survived death at the hands of Loki. But, I was looking forward to a way above average spy show, not a burlesque show. The real mystery is why the series is so average, given it's strengths:
What was I expecting? Well, spy stuff to be sure. The original Nick Fury Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D comic was cashing in on the success of The 1960s Man from U.N.C.L.E. TV series, which is really old now, but still way better written (first two seasons at least), and more fun to watch than Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
If I could compare Gregg's agent Coulson to Weaving's agent Smith, then I think I can also compare Agents -- a spinoff from the Marvel movies, featuring a secondary character (agent Coulson) -- to the British TV series Torchwood (2006-2011) -- a spinoff from the Doctor Who TV series, featuring a secondary character (Captain Jack Harkness). Like Agents, Torchwood also surrounds Captain Jack with a multi-disciplinary team which, like S.H.I.E.L.D. quietly intercepts the basically weird, and covers up the incredibly weird. Where Coulson is apparently hard to kill, Harkness just-plain can't be killed. Of course, Harkness will f**ck anything, so there are differences. While Torchwood 's writing was uneven from episode to episode, it was fundamentally a good TV series, verging occasionally on the great. The Children of the Earth mini-series was pretty great.
One high point of the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D pilot episode was the running gag about Coulson's vintage red Corvette, which he brought with him on the flying "bus." He called the 'Vette "Lola", and there were midlife crisis jokes about middle aged men and sports cars. In the final scene of the pilot we find out that Lola isn't just a vintage 1960s Corvette, it's a vintage 1960's S.H.I.E.L.D. Corvette -- it flies! And that rocked! A direct link to the flying cars -- Porsche 904s apparently -- S.H.I.E.L.D. used from their first appearance in a Marvel comic.
[caption id="attachment_6335" align="alignnone" width="497"]
Gotta admit, "Lola" is a pretty fly Corvette![/caption]
My number one reason to watch Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. was Agent Coulson. He lives! American actor Clark Gregg's portrayal of S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Phil Coulson is a star-making role, on a par with Australian actor Hugo Weaving's Agent Smith in the trilogy of Matrix films. Gregg portrays the perfect, buttoned-down, Competent Organizational Man, at home with S.H.I.E.L.D., or the I.B.M. of the 1960s. Gregg's agent Coulson is always calm, cool, and collected, because he's very well trained, but he's no automaton. He has a brain, and a sly, understated, dry, sense of humour. This has been the role of Gregg's career.
I thought Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. would be first-and-foremost a starring vehicle for Clark Gregg's agent Coulson, but not quite. Figuratively, and literally agent Coulson is not the one driving this bus.
That's what they call it -- Coulson's wet-behind-the ears team of first responders to anything weird -- the tricked out jet they fly around in -- "the bus." They are a disappointingly motley crew: One G. I. Joe-type, Brett Dalton as Grant Ward; two British nerd-wonk-scientists, Iain De Caestecker as Leo Fitz, and Elizabeth Henstridge as Jemma Simmons; one pilot-slash-ninja-slash-clerical worker, Ming-Na Wen as Melinda May; and one renegade hacker-with-a-social-conscience, who's as curvy as a soup fork, but just as useless.
[caption id="attachment_6330" align="alignnone" width="497"]
Sky (Chloe Bennet) is certainly striking to look at, but her character has no punch whatsoever.[/caption]The hacker's name is Sky -- just Sky, played by Chloe Bennet, and three episodes in, she appears to be a main character, except there's no compelling reason why she's part of the S.H.I.E.L.D. team. She's supposed to be an outlaw hacker belonging to a WikiLeaks-like group called Rising Path. She acts like a Gen Y who has the skills to live with her parents until she's 40-something -- I wouldn't trust her to hack her way out of an Etch-A-Sketch. In episode three, Sky, wearing a breathtakingly snug, pink dress, escapes from bad guys by jumping out a window, and into a swimming pool. She then has to run around a bit in her wet pink dress before the bad guys grab her again. She was in a tough spot, and all ll I can say is her breasts certainly understood the gravity of their situation. Click the little animated GIF to see more of Sky's run for ratings.
Hmm. Okay so maybe the mystery of why busty Sky is part of the cast isn't such a mystery after all, certainly not compared to the mystery of how agent Coulson survived death at the hands of Loki. But, I was looking forward to a way above average spy show, not a burlesque show. The real mystery is why the series is so average, given it's strengths:- Created by Joss Whedon who directed the 2012 Avengers movie out of the park.
- Clark Gregg's agent Coulson is compelling when he's only saying monosyllables.
- Fifty year of Marvel S.H.I.E.L.D. continuity to draw on.
- Even S.H.I.E.L.D.'s greatest writer/artist Jim Steranko was consulted.
What was I expecting? Well, spy stuff to be sure. The original Nick Fury Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D comic was cashing in on the success of The 1960s Man from U.N.C.L.E. TV series, which is really old now, but still way better written (first two seasons at least), and more fun to watch than Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
If I could compare Gregg's agent Coulson to Weaving's agent Smith, then I think I can also compare Agents -- a spinoff from the Marvel movies, featuring a secondary character (agent Coulson) -- to the British TV series Torchwood (2006-2011) -- a spinoff from the Doctor Who TV series, featuring a secondary character (Captain Jack Harkness). Like Agents, Torchwood also surrounds Captain Jack with a multi-disciplinary team which, like S.H.I.E.L.D. quietly intercepts the basically weird, and covers up the incredibly weird. Where Coulson is apparently hard to kill, Harkness just-plain can't be killed. Of course, Harkness will f**ck anything, so there are differences. While Torchwood 's writing was uneven from episode to episode, it was fundamentally a good TV series, verging occasionally on the great. The Children of the Earth mini-series was pretty great.
Her name was Lola
One high point of the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D pilot episode was the running gag about Coulson's vintage red Corvette, which he brought with him on the flying "bus." He called the 'Vette "Lola", and there were midlife crisis jokes about middle aged men and sports cars. In the final scene of the pilot we find out that Lola isn't just a vintage 1960s Corvette, it's a vintage 1960's S.H.I.E.L.D. Corvette -- it flies! And that rocked! A direct link to the flying cars -- Porsche 904s apparently -- S.H.I.E.L.D. used from their first appearance in a Marvel comic.
[caption id="attachment_6335" align="alignnone" width="497"]
Gotta admit, "Lola" is a pretty fly Corvette![/caption]The drawings of Jim Steranko ►
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