Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 1 Episode 1 "Pilot" Discussion Thread

[Dr. Evil]

Who might they be?

Someone mentioned Jessica Jones and another mentioned Jessica Drew

 

[Mr. Dent]

Some rumors have Skye being well.....a familiar name (or two) in the Comics that is associated with the group.

You get these rumors from where?

And Skye doesn't strike me as Spider-Woman. Maybe she could pass for a younger Jessica Jones...especially the Ultimate Marvel version.

 

[Dr. Evil]

You get these rumors from where?

And Skye doesn't strike me as Spider-Woman. Maybe she could pass for a younger Jessica Jones...especially the Ultimate Marvel version.

Some of those who have reviewed the pilot have speculated this.

 

[Xeno]

Daisy Johnson is the Director of SHIELD in the comics right now, and she's also Fury's hand-picked successor. She's 19 years old, so Skye is not that hard to buy.

As I said in another thread, Daisy Johnson being Director of SHIELD is hard to buy. It's ridiculous. Fury answers to others even in the comics, so how would he get any group of rational adults to accept a teenager as director of a massive multinational spy organization? In the MCU his superiors would have his head for even suggesting it.

 

[Soapy]

The pilot was pretty unimpressive. It's exactly the kind of safe, middle of the road fare I expect from network television. If it had no ties to The Avengers (an association they're not above referencing as often as possible it seems), then it would have never been on my radar to begin with, and I imagine critics and commenters would have been much more harsh on it.

Having said that, I didn't think it was offensively bad or anything, it was even mildly entertaining in spots. For now I'm going to give it the benefit of the doubt and watch two or three more episodes to give it a fair chance.

I accidentally voted 4, but I meant 5.

 

[Loki882]

As I said in another thread, Daisy Johnson being Director of SHIELD is hard to buy. It's ridiculous. Fury answers to others even in the comics, so how would he get any group of rational adults to accept a teenager as director of a massive multinational spy organization? In the MCU his superiors would have his head for even suggesting it.

Um, a universe with aliens, gods of all faiths, super soldiers, Nazi's, Mutants, Inhumans, Cosmic Cubes, naked silver guys on surfboards, demons, alternate universes, etc, and Daisy is hard to buy, really? Also, these same bosses are the morons who put Norman Osborn in charge of National Security, nothing they do is a surprise to me. Also, its not unheard of for real life intelligence agencies recruit people fresh out of college, so again, Skye is not hard to buy.

 

[marcvader]

As a director? Not hard to buy? What's this going to turn in to A Disney Channel teenie show? Oh wait ABC and Marvel are Disney.

 

[Dark Raven]

As a director? Not hard to buy? What's this going to turn in to? A Disney Channel teenie show? Oh wait ABC and Marvel are Disney.

Ashley Tisdale as Sharpay for Director of SHIELD!

 

[metaphysician]

Um, a universe with aliens, gods of all faiths, super soldiers, Nazi's, Mutants, Inhumans, Cosmic Cubes, naked silver guys on surfboards, demons, alternate universes, etc, and Daisy is hard to buy, really? Also, these same bosses are the morons who put Norman Osborn in charge of National Security, nothing they do is a surprise to me. Also, its not unheard of for real life intelligence agencies recruit people fresh out of college, so again, Skye is not hard to buy.

None of which has any relevance to the issue of whether Daisy as *director* is credible or not. Recruiting straight out of college is fine for an *agent*. Not for the guy/gal in charge of the entire enterprise.

 

[Loki882]

Yes, it does have relevance since its been established that this is a universe where weird stuff happens. Also, Daisy already has more experience in dangerous situations than most agents decades older than her, and she was personally trained by Nick Fury. So, I have no trouble buying it, especially if Norman freaking Osborn can be appointed to head National Security.

 

[marcvader]

I'm sorry but being trained by Nick and having experience in dangerous situations doesn't make you qualified to be an administrator or give you leadership skills. It's just not reasonable. Just because its in the comics doesn't make it a good idea.

 

[Frico]

I thought it was pretty good. Glad it was well received around most parts and debuted strong in ratings. Defintely along for the ride and loved that ending with flying Lola!

 

[Hyde]

So I just saw this in the UK. Ehhh..

The pilot was pretty unimpressive. It's exactly the kind of safe, middle of the road fare I expect from network television. If it had no ties to The Avengers (an association they're not above referencing as often as possible it seems), then it would have never been on my radar to begin with, and I imagine critics and commenters would have been much more harsh on it.

Having said that, I didn't think it was offensively bad or anything, it was even mildly entertaining in spots. For now I'm going to give it the benefit of the doubt and watch two or three more episodes to give it a fair chance.

I accidentally voted 4, but I meant 5.

Pretty much. Everything just felt so fake and cheap with unfunny jokes. You let me down Joss

 

[JTStarkiller]

I didn't see this thread and posted my little mini-review in the general thread. I agree with pretty much all of the above. "Fake" is a great word for it. Hardly any of it felt real and natural.

 

[jonathancrane]

It makes wonder how many chefs were stirring the proverbial stew.

 

[Lord]

I hope they deliver in the Season long story arcs, that's one of the things i liked more about Buffy, and i hope Agents of SHIELD follows the example, i prefer the Big Bad of the Season aproach to the season ending with a cliffhanger one.

 

[Hyde]

Is Graviton being set up as the big bad?

 

[Lord]

Doubt it, it will probably be the secret organizations that is also behind superpowered heroes.

 

[Teelie]

It was decent but nothing spectacular. I think everyone expected more because it was tied to The Avengers and I think it was a little too on the nose about Coulson's "return" as well.

 

[Dark Raven]

I think Whedon seemed to spend too much time crafting a story that was connected to the MCU. There were lots of references and easter eggs, which almost seems like a kind of "hey look, we are part of it!".

I think he needed to craft a story that was riveting enough in its own right before adding in all the MCU references. It seemed to rely too much on the Avengers' momentum to carry it forward. Many other shows which start from scratch also have to set up their ensemble cast. This seemed as if it spent a little too much time on that while the plot suffered.

And on reflection, Melinda May's character arc seems a bit of a cliché: former tough operative who makes a mistake and now only wants to take a desk job instead of going back in the field. That seems a bit overused. I hope they soften her character in the following episodes too.

 

[Raiden]

I think perhaps the extremly high expectation have ruined some of the perception on the pilot episode. Was it perfect? No, but I think as an introductionary episode it has done its job. The most important thing is to set up the new characters and leave enough bread crumbs to make us want to see the next episode, which I think it succeed. I do think that Whedon should have let Agent Coulson uncovers a secret and nameless organization that seems to have a conspiracy behind some of the mysteries, so we can have a big plotline that runs through the season and each episode adds some intrigue to the whole thing, which is resolved(?) in the grand finale. However, I think the series will get better as it goes on, and let's remember that most of the Whedon's shows get stronger as they progress; I don't remember either Buffy or Angel hit a grand slam in their pilot episodes, either.

 

[Teelie]

I agree some of the characters were cookie-cutter though none were too bad about it. We got the rookies/newbies, the veterans, the tech genius(es), the leader, etc. All important, real roles you'd need in a team but some of them are were tailored to a stereotype.

Still nothing that really bothered me but it felt underwhelming. It was an expectation they'd do more with them than they could do in a one hour opener with so many names to name and roles to fill.

Had it been a two hour premiere that would have given them more time to flesh everyone and the story out better.

 

[JB-the-Hunter]

Gave it a 10 initially, but after a second viewing I'm gonna have to unfortunately bring it down to a 9.998

 

[Dark Raven]

I think perhaps the extremly high expectation have ruined some of the perception on the pilot episode. Was it perfect? No, but I think as an introductionary episode it has done its job. The most important thing is to set up the new characters and leave enough bread crumbs to make us want to see the next episode, which I think it succeed. I do think that Whedon should have let Agent Coulson uncovers a secret and nameless organization that seems to have a conspiracy behind some of the mysteries, so we can have a big plotline that runs through the season and each episode adds some intrigue to the whole thing, which is resolved(?) in the grand finale. However, I think the series will get better as it goes on, and let's remember that most of the Whedon's shows get stronger as they progress; I don't remember either Buffy or Angel hit a grand slam in their pilot episodes, either.

I don't think I had high expectations for it to be like a Marvel movie. I think I would've just liked it to be on par with some of the other TV shows. I think even Hawaii Five-0's pilot was stronger and set up the characters better. I also recall more action too.

And Buffy's pilot was stronger than AoS I think. I won't mention Angel because that was running off the momentum of Buffy so Angel's pilot was more like just a continuation of its parent series.

SHIELD wasn't bad, but it was a bit lacklustre even if it weren't a Marvel-related show.

 

[Lord]

I'm surprised so many were disapointed, from the trailer they released it never seemed very incredible.