Marvel's Agents of SHIELD, pilot reactions

[amanuensis1]

Boy, expectations couldn't have been higher for this one, could they have? I tried to keep mine down; from the time I saw what they were doing with the cast and said, "...okay, so, it's the American Torchwood," I knew not to expect anything too original, but hoped for the kind of quality wit and execution Whedon usually brings. And that didn't disappoint, yay!

I love the two male leads. Coulson, of course, but I also love Ward and I didn't expect I would like him so much, but he's definitely my entry viewpoint for the show. Authority-abiding, straight-up deadpan snarker, I-want-to-work-alone guy, oh, yeah, Ward for me. I guess there are factions who are supposed to identify with Skye? Nah, that's not me, I'm nothing like the sass and anarchy. I'm not sure I even like her--whenever she was on I wanted to see someone else instead. Well, I remember playing the "who do you identify with?" game with Firefly and being startled by others' responses, so, apparently the writers know how to diversify for the viewers. I look forward to seeing more of May, Fitz, and Simmons, and getting to know them better.

Random stuff:
-"Coulson can never know": My hope for that--not my theory--is that it doesn't go the LMD route, because that's both predictable and disappointing (we want Coulson the guy we knew--I trust the writers know how that matters on a gut level), and that Tahiti was actually Asgard, and Coulson can't know what a high price Fury paid for their involvement.

-All the small references to the Avengers and Marvel canon, beyond even the spoken lines, like the street bus that you can see has just enough of the Stark Industries logo showing to be recognizable. *fan squees*

-All the fan buzz over the hooded hero, "who will he turn out to be from Marvel canon?", and then, whoa, check it out, struggling heart-of-gold out-of-work black father turns out to be the reluctant villain of the episode, omigod, that was gutsy and beautiful. His redemption was predicted by those very qualities, but that was still nicely done.

-Twisty interrogation scene! Yeah, those are becoming a Whedon hallmark, aren't they. I'm going to be saying, "Gramsy?" all week.

Comments

[kabal42]

Your joy makes me like it more in retrospect :) Not that I disliked it either, I'm just sort of fence-sitting right now. I often do early in a show. Also don't have a POV character myself yet, but suspect it may end up being Fitz and/or Simmons. Science FTW! Interrogation twist was good, the plot twist with Mike was well played.

I hope you're right re. Coulson, because yes, that is what "we" want.

I LOVE the little hints at this being Marvel-verse <3 *fan squees with you*

[amanuensis1]

Pilots are tricky--I try to give every show with a good reputation at least an episode beyond the pilot. (Though I have no patience with "It doesn't really get good until season 3..." --c'mon, guys, I only have so much time!) But I did like this pretty well, so, yay!

[jenna_thorn]

I wasn't sure if our point of entry / audience stand in was supposed to be Ward or Skye, but then, I liked Skye more than you did, so good either way. Actaully I'm perfectly content to sit back, hands clasped in breathless joy under my chin and goofy smile on my lips, and wait for next week to watch them do it all over again.

I loved the interrogation twist, I loved Coulson's speech to Mike and okay, the slomo bit at the end maybe went a little long, but having the wide eyed rescued woman be the big bad makes up for it.

(I'm with you. I'd rather "Tahiti" be an actual magical place, and Coulson knows more than Hill thinks he does, but I'm willing to wait and see.)

Okay, basically I'm just happy and I want next week's episode now right now, can it be now, please?

[amanuensis1]

Oh, yes, I did love that the rescued woman was the big bad! And bringing in Extremis! I squeed over that more than I did when it showed up in IM3, to be honest.

NEXT EPISODE PLEASE.

[meredyth]

Oh, I'm glad you enjoyed it too. I don't have any particular character hook yet, other than Coulson. I'm not sure I will, but that's ok because I can love a team, rather than an individual, if they've got something between them that works for me.

I'm SO glad you also leapt Asgard way - that was one of my thoughts. And I see that people are leaning towards thinking that Coulson's use of 'magical' is indicative of him knowing more. To me that reads almost more like a programmed 'catch-phrase' that's been inserted somehow, a deflection or something for when he starts to think about it too hard or has to talk about it.

The LMD thing is a possibility, but being Joss, I have lots of conspiracy theory possibilities. I like the idea that he needed major organ transplants and his recovery was WAY longer, but they modified his memories or something because the donor source was one that would either horrify or ... well, horrify him.

OR (and this is based on comic canon rather than MCU, but they could go there) that there really ARE magic users (after all, even in MCU we have Loki with magic, so Strange etc is not out of the realm of possibility) and Coulson really did die - but Fury did a deal to have him brought back.

No matter the method, I am hoping the reason he 'can't know' is that whatever happened to him is something that Fury knows would devastate him if he knew, and that knowing would diminish him as a person and a SHIELD asset - both prices Fury would not be willing to pay.

Opinions and ideas? I has them. :)

[amanuensis1]

Ooh, what if it was Asgard or something that saved him and Coulson's "It was magical" is his way of saying, "I know what happened, you guys. You're pretending I don't, but I do, and I'm going to tease you about it at every turn"?? Now I want fic of that but it would only be shortfic so, eh.