Real life's been busy lately, so I haven't had time to drop by the cinema. However I have been very hyped up with Joss Whedon's return to television, so I have been watching the release dates like a hawk for the pilot of Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
The story follows events from The Avengers, and sits within the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It was an interesting choice that for the TV follow-up to the highest grossing superhero film, they chose to focus on the 'government agency'. But since it was done by the same guy who gave us Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Firefly, I had great expectations that it was going to work somehow.
I was sad when I realized that this pilot was only 45 minutes, as television pilots tend to be pivotal in helping establish both the longevity, tone and initial fan base of the series, and as such they tend to be epic-fied into something akin to a movie or double episode so that we have enough time to be immersed into their world.
So what did I think of the pilot?
On the plus note, this show looks promising from the pilot. The idea of following how the government agencies goes around doing the background business of keeping tabs on things is not looked at often. We get lots of 'could happen in the real world' crime scene investigation, police drama, mafia stories, law and order, but not much about the actual inner workings of an intelligence organisation dealing with superheroes.
I also liked how the main effort was in keeping the agents human. Every character and personality on the team I liked, with the exception of Grant. I understand he is supposed to be the tough, no-nonsense, mission-oriented muscle in the team, but the pilot did not convince me he can pull it off for an entire series. There is a scene where they went too far in showing he has a 'soft' side.
The biggest positive for me is that they finally have a main Asian cast in this show! It felt awkward for me when I watched Firefly, where all the characters were trained to speak some Mandarin, but there wasn't a single asian character main/recurring cast! Ming Na-Wen is a very underrated Hollywood actress whose most famous role is perhaps Disney's Mulan. She is the same age as my own mother, but still looks so youthful and beautiful, doing fight scenes and working with a cast that is all basically same age as her own children. But her ability to immerse herself into a role is what really makes her an amazing addition to this show. I look forward to seeing what they to with her character. On a side note, Skye played by Chloe Bennet (who is half-asian) is also very very very hot! I think I have a new television crush :)
On the negative side of things, things do feel rushed and basic. They were trying to introduce 7 characters and 2 organisation within 45 minutes. This is not easy, but I think they could have done much better. It feels like they just went with the first plot they thought up of because they were too busy to really write something more unique or interesting. While a couple of twists in the middle section did make way for some interesting interactions, they were so brief that I almost hope they will release an extended edition!
There is another element of the film that was done poorly: the foreshadowing. One of the biggest things that makes us the viewer keep following a show is the element of mystery, the unpredicability of how the narrative unfolds. From the very first scene of seeing Agent Coulsen we are given massive clues of the events that explains how he was apparently dead in The Avengers, but then is alive and kicking to lead this special ops team. I thought that was a trump card they threw away too quickly.
In fact (spoilers ahead), I want to predict two major reveals are for each main character right now (I hope I'm wrong):
- The Agent Coulsen in this show is, in fact, a clone of the original Coulsen who did die, but in order for him not to break down from having an existential crisis like Schwartzenegger in The Sixth Day,
- A large portion of the story will focus on the developing romantic tension between Skye (the really hot computer hacker) and Agent Grant (the really buff, manly man). They will "get together" by end of season 1 or at least confess their love for each other.
There is one thing I hope they might be clever enough to use within their own cinematic universe as the direction of the story.
At the end of Iron Man 3, we know the leader of Advanced Ideas Mechanics, Killian, and his thinktank member Maya Hansen, who created the Extremis virus, died. However a think tank is not just two people, so there are others in their team that are unaccounted for in that film. It is safe to say that while the film ended triumphantly with Tony Stark thwarting their plans to kill the president thus planting their political puppet, those who have not yet been identified to be connected to Killian, AIM, may have formed or be associated with this Crimson Rising mentioned in the pilot.
So overall, I am happy with this pilot. It looks promising. The characters are fun, the premise leads way to many possible scenarios, so I look forward to next week's episode. Hope that now the 'assembling the team' is done, we get some more juicy material and interactions :)
8 out of 10
Nitpicks (spoilers):
- At the beginning of the pilot when we are introduced to Agent Grant while he was stealing some thing from some rich guy, he keeps switching between the waiter clothing and his own agent clothing, but the way it was cut (with him carrying that super-tech glass platter throughout), it implies he just continuously moved from one place to the next. Where and when did he get changed 3 times?
- We learn that the Crimson Rising group were looking for volunteers to be experimental subjects for a superhero serum they've been working on. However it is unstable and strong emotions like anger could make them explode like they did in Iron Man 3. Why don't they screen these guys better? And also why don't you also secure them with more financial stability so they don't have to work in a freaking minimum wage FACTORY that was about to make them redundant?
- They worked too hard to try and reference all their previous movies. I'm scared that this connection to the Marvel franchise means that Whedon will have creative restrictions in order to make sure the TV show doesn't deviate from the movie continuum.
- While I really like the cast, the combination of characters, really reeks of a Firefly reboot in Marvel clothing. Then again that's just something a die hard Firefly fan would be affected by.
