Well, I finally got around to watching the last episode.
After seeing the first few episodes, I asked myself the question "What is the purpose of this show's existence?" After half a season, I still find myself asking the same question. Seriously. When you have the entire Marvel universe to play with, why go ahead first with a bunch of no-name/non-comic SHIELD agents as opposed to Daredevil or someone else? The only logical reason for going this route is to use SHIELD as a means of expanding the rest of the universe. However, that is not what they did so far. There have been very few comic book stuff and the plot itself as a whole moves very slow. This is not a comic book. You can't have as many ongoing titles as you want and cancel them whenever you want (either after 2 or 1000 issues). Live-action doesn't work that way due to the obvious physical reasons. So what is the point of doing a show with these particular characters and that barely touches the rest of the Marvel universe?
"But the show needs to stand on its own two legs!" I keep hearing that argument and frankly, I don't buy it for multiple reasons.
1) When you're doing a Marvel TV show, it is foolish to go into it not expecting universe-building Marvel stuff, especially in a SHIELD show. Thus arguing "Why do you want/were you expecting more Marvel stuff anyways?" is a bit unfair IMO.
2) "Standing on its own legs" and doing more comic book stuff are not mutually exclusive. Arrow is littered with comic book stuff every week and is still a show that stands on its own legs. The key is to not make it obvious to the GA that you're just adding more comic book stuff in.
But most importantly....
3) This show isn't even doing a great job of making the best of what they have with the material they're working with right now. The plot is too episodic and too slow paced - the background stuff with Coulson and May drags on for way too long.
Certain characters aren't even used to their full potential and, in many cases, are pushed to the side in favor of less interesting + less complex characters.
I'm going to say something that I'll probably get tons of crap for: Mike Peterson should have been the guy who got on the plane instead of Skye at the start. He would have been a much better "window" into the show IMO. If you think about it, he is in the exact same situation Skye is in: a character with a messed up but interesting backstory who is trying to become a different person and has joined SHIELD in order to do so. The differences between Mike and Skye though? Mike has powers thus you can do more interesting things with him (since we are in a superhero universe), has already had his superhero "origin" in episode 1, is more likeable, less annoying, is played by a major actor from Angel, would have given the show a stronger tie to the MCU due to Extremis without ever touching Iron Man characters, etc. Furthermore, Mike had a character fits perfectly in tone with their direction. They want a show about how normal humans feel compared to superheroes? Mike had that theme written all over him. Let's see: was a normal guy with bad luck in life, felt inferior to superheroes, then gained powers and used them in the way a normal human would, then learned Coulson's message about what really separates the Avengers from normal humans (what they do with that power, not the power itself), and is now applying that message in his life + is on the path to hero.
Another example: Ward. They state in episode 1 he has "the best espionage skills since Romanov". Think about what that means, especially for a young character like Ward. Black Widow is at superhero status. Why not have more focus on Ward and his espionage skills to show how a young "normal" spy can evolve to someone on Natasha's level? Again, still in line with the whole "normal humans can be just as heroic" theme. Furthermore, Ward has a much more interesting past than Skye's "Where are my parents" past IMO. Yet the show's motto so far seems to have been "We'll develop Ward whenever we are not busy with Skye". Mike & Ward...both characters shoved to the side since episode 2 in favor of propping up Skye.
Why not further explore the Coulson/Ward dynamic? They have something original here - the young agent being the cynical "by the book" one and the older & experienced agent being the optimistic one. 99% of fiction usually does the same dynamic in reverse. They actually bent the formula for once. But nope. We need more Coulson/Skye dynamic development.
Then there is Fitz-Simmons. Originally two-dimensional symbiotic characters with barely any character, if at all. Now we will do an episode where we'll temporarily separate them to show Fitz's potential as a field agent. Then we'll just return him to his symbiotic status with Simmons. Of course we also had the chance in one particular episode to kill off Simmons and use that as an opportunity to further grow Fitz into his own character, but we decided not to go for it. Back to the "half a character" status with both of them.
If the mysterious leader of this Centipede organization doesn't end up being a comic book character, that would be another wasted opportunity at expanding the universe IMO.
The show is ok so far, but it isn't doing much to keep people excited. The whole "this is in the MCU" hype only lasted the first 2 or 3 weeks. It isn't surprising the show is losing ratings. They seriously need to step up their game IMO.
