Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. What would you have done differently?

[reddog271]

Completely disagree with this.

I completely agree with this.

 

[BatsDC]

I'll say what I usually say:Add Cobie as Hill & Mark Valley as Agent Quartermain for series regulars/recurring members and I couldn't ask for more.t:

 

[gdw]

Nice idea.. I'll do the same with you, only I will go further to 1980 and invest my money on Apple.

I'd go back and buy a **** tonne of bitcoin when it was a fraction of a penny.

 

[metaphysician]

Completely disagree with this.

Likewise. Some of those were the best episodes of the show. Seriously, why the hate on The Well? It gave you actual supervillains acting supervillainish, effects on and reactions by the larger world, and a neat Asgardian character who *wasn't* killed off. What's not to love?

 

[Marvel]

Nice idea.. I'll do the same with you, only I will go further to 1980 and invest my money on Apple.

Just go back to 2002 and invest in Marvel. That was the sleeper stock of all-time. Keep it in the family and get filthy rich.

 

[Mr. Youtube]

We've got a few more episodes left so I understand if you want to wait it out, but if you're anything like me you'll admit the show ain't perfect.

(Now I know many will jump down my throat to defend the show, but just realize that this is for the sake of conversation only.)

So you have $10k, a time machine, and the Whedon brothers owe you a favor. What would you do differently??

I'll go first:
- First I would have made the season a few episodes shorter. Probably a total of around 18 episodes. Focus in on those fewer episodes. Little to no filler content, the cameos stick out more prominently and you can delve into the real story.

- I would have avoided all "super of the week" type characters. Completely forgettable and always non-threatening. These are what make the show no better than Arrow, Smallville and Supernatural. So far imo this includes at least:
1. Donnie Gill
2. Tobias Ford
3. Dr. Elliot Randolph (who in no way even seemed like an Asgardian)
4. Marcus Daniels

- And if they are going to use a cool character rivalry like Lorelei vs Sif build it up over a couple episode arc rather than just throwing her away after 45 minutes.

- Name the Clairvoyant as Zola. It would've made so much more sense and fit very well with the film. Also, wasn't he supposed to be British? I love Paxton as Garrett and as a villain, but why did he have to conveniently be the most intelligent primary villain on the show? Didn't fit well to me.

- And for that matter have Captain America's speech on the show. Why on Earth wouldn't they have listened to it? *sigh* missed opportunity.

- This one is a little far out there, but the anonymous red masked people were also a missed opportunity imo. Cool aesthetic, stupid concept. I think they shouldve been the Rising Tide. The MCU's version of Anonymous.

Ignore Smallville and handle the diss on Arrow, but did you just diss out Supernatural? Did you imply that Supernatural was bad? Supernatural is the best show on the air that isn't AMC or HBOPorn.

 

[Monster_Robot]

I'm not so sure I'd change much. The first half of the season clearly had filler episodes and I think most of the season was filler waiting for TWS to be released. But the fact that the writers planned most of what is happening makes up for it. I'm kind of a monster of the week sucker... I love that stuff... Easily amused I guess.

Personally I hope they stick with a espionage/tense spy series into next season with an occasional big bad villain episode. The last few weeks have been amazing and I hope that momentum carries over.

Well... Maybe more Paxton and Jaimie Alexander... Yea...

 

[Dregride]

I would have made a small character developy story arc for the whole team to take place during the first half that would have some connection to the hydra story, basically so there isn't as many standalone filler episodes ya know? Maybe something to do May.
I would have done a lot more the whole skye traitor and tagged thing than they did, probably would've been part of the story arc
I would featured the rising tide a little more

 

[pr0xyt0xin]

Ignore Smallville and handle the diss on Arrow, but did you just diss out Supernatural? Did you imply that Supernatural was bad? Supernatural is the best show on the air that isn't AMC or HBOPorn.

Actually I was just on a role listing off CW teen heart-throb paranormal dramas.

I kinda like Supernatural. I was just referring to it's monster of the week syndrome (which I will admit the Winchesters do better than any others).

 

[Mr. Youtube]

Actually I was just on a role listing off CW teen heart-throb paranormal dramas.

I kinda like Supernatural. I was just referring to it's monster of the week syndrome (which I will admit the Winchesters do better than any others).

Wooh, okay, I can brace myself. But Supernatural is not a hear-throb drama, in the very first episode they said "No chick flick stuff". You should've listed Vampire Diaries instead, a show which cannot even maintain a consistent season plot. Which Shield is doing quite well.

 

[pr0xyt0xin]

Never seen Vampire Diaries, but by name alone you can consider it listed. Heart-throb was merely referring to the protagonists' ridiculous good looks lol. Anyway, yeah I liked Supernatural a bit. Once Castiel and Crowley were added to the show it was quite enjoyable. I wish Jeffrey Dean Morgan had stuck around too though. His absence is felt indefinitely.

 

[Autolychus2]

The show has been fine. Maybe it's taken time for the actors to grow into their roles. Maybe having to play coy slowed them down. But I'm willing to bet those "filler" episodes have planted more seeds than what we've seen come to fruition so far.

If I could change anything? I would implant more patience and attention to detail in the fans and reviewers of the show.

Seriously.

I can't express how upset it makes me to read a negative review seeing the reviewer get the facts of the episode wrong, make mistakes in understanding the plot, and then putting the blame on the show when it was really their attention span and understanding at fault.

People have watched this show and piled on it for not being what they wanted it to be as fans. It had a game plan all along and it's starting to pay off now. Even so, people refuse to admit it and keep insisting that it's all a ret-con because they're upset now that the show runners had a longer view than they had.

Even minor quibbles like the shield logo being on their vehicles and all... Those types of things have an easy explanation.

In the MCU Shield had two functions. There was the spy side which was necessitated by having to counter potential super threats developed by other countries (don't forget, we don't get to see it, but Shield grew up during the Cold War).

But there's also the law-enforcement side which probably started being emphasized more after the events of Avengers. Shield "came out" as THE agency to defend the world against super powered and alien threats. In which case yes, they wanted to advertise their presence when operating in that capacity.

If anything the events of the movie and recent episodes may force them to go back underground and operating in the shadows as they've lost their credibility (at least in the short term) as a police force.

I don't think I've read a post on this site that I agree with more. Thanks,

 

[pr0xyt0xin]

Come on you guys. Do you honestly think the show could not be even a tiny bit better so far?

It's not like I titled the thread, "Why does this show suck so much ass?" Critiquing something isn't about insulting the creators. It's about improving the medium so that in the year 2014 we don't still have to sit through shows like this:

Or for that matter it's why reality television, sitcoms and procedural dramas aren't the only shows that are left on the air anymore (although we came pretty close to that for a while didn't we?)

Criticism and in-depth analysis of the quality of television is the reason we've had cinema-quality television in the last decade in shows like Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones, Mad Men, House of Cards and True Detective. And that actors (like Cranston, Paul, Bean, Dinklage, Hamm, Spacey, Mcconaughey and Harrelson) don't have to feel like their career has been destroyed for going to television.

I completely agree that if a critic gets his/her facts wrong about a show or uses negative reviews as a form of sensationalism, they don't deserve their job. But the following is all perfectly reasonable and constructive criticism:

Villains-of-the week and frequent name MCU drops are two things I was expecting and looking forward to last summer. But I found that both were more annoying than entertaining.

My big change would have to be with Skye. Chloe Bennett is terrific looking, multi-ethnic and a fine actress. She is an asset to the ensemble, but setting her up as the star in the early going created a backlash against the character that Skye is only now recovering from.

Don't keep talking about what an awesome "hacker" she is. Show us she belongs on the team. Don't have her sleep with her ex while on an assignment. And don't have Coulson continually telling us how "special" she is. Show us, and let the audience decide.

Created a show of 13 episodes managing better the budget, self episodes all uprising.
Better directors (as Masiano that, for now, is the better one), better photography (like the house of card's ones) more external sequences (did you noticed that? the most of the episodes are in closed spaces) less "fist half skye" more "second half skye"
More agents in the team, better choreographers for the action sequences

I would have made a small character developy story arc for the whole team to take place during the first half that would have some connection to the hydra story, basically so there isn't as many standalone filler episodes ya know? Maybe something to do May.
I would have done a lot more the whole skye traitor and tagged thing than they did, probably would've been part of the story arc
I would featured the rising tide a little more

To say there is nothing wrong with any show out there is just absurd. There are things I'd change about even the best shows. And it's worth pointing out about any decent, good or even great show lest it turn out like Dexter or Heroes.

 

[Loki882]

I have one big one. If the show really needed to kill time until TWS came out, ok that's fine. However, they could have at least made the filler episodes a bit more interesting and meaningful. Also, I would have developed the individual characters better and in more detail. Make them less generic/stereotypical. Finally, I'd have either focused less on Coulson and Skye's mystery plot-lines, or given us more substantial reveals earlier one. The pacing for those storylines has been agonizingly slow. As for why Coulson and co didn't listen to Cap's speech, there's a simple explanation that comes to mind. Cap's speech may only have been broadcasting to the SHIELD agents at the Triskelion itself over an internal channel. It might not have reached the other SHIELD facilities.

 

[The Sarge]

I think they should check in with the movie side characters more often, like they did with Sif.
During the search for the clairvoyant, they went down a list of suspects, but none seemed to overlap with the fan theories at all- would've been great if they actually checked up on Samuel Sterns.
I also wish more characters than May wore a shield uniform.

 

[henzINNIT]

Tonally I would have made the show either more grounded, or wackier. Both could have worked but I find this show always hits a middle ground where it fails to be a slick, intelligent spy show, but also fails to deliver on any creative sci-fi premises.

Either:

Coulson and his team navigate the murky depths of Shield. Play up the mystery and political intrigue. Make it tense and low-key, with double-crosses and a lot of suits.

or:

Coulson and his team explore the quirky MCU world, discovering all sorts of new technology and artifacts. Make it kind of a small-scale Indiana Jones, with vividly drawn characters and bizarre creatures.

- The Item 47 characters (the bank robbers) Benjamin "Benny" Pollack and his girl friend Claire Wise should have been series regulars. They are solid actors and entertaining enough to join the ranks of Coulson's team.

Yes to this. They could have easily assumed Skye's role as the outsider(s) and they were more fun in that tiny glimpse than many of the regulars have been over several episodes.

 

[Alex_Kidd]

Tonally I would have made the show either more grounded, or wackier. Both could have worked but I find this show always hits a middle ground where it fails to be a slick, intelligent spy show, but also fails to deliver on any creative sci-fi premises.

Either:

Coulson and his team navigate the murky depths of Shield. Play up the mystery and political intrigue. Make it tense and low-key, with double-crosses and a lot of suits.

or:

Coulson and his team explore the quirky MCU world, discovering all sorts of new technology and artifacts. Make it kind of a small-scale Indiana Jones, with vividly drawn characters and bizarre creatures.



Yes to this. They could have easily assumed Skye's role as the outsider(s) and they were more fun in that tiny glimpse than many of the regulars have been over several episodes.

I like that!
well...we can keep it for the second season, the "war season"

 

[Dregride]

I have a question
People have always said that Skye gets a lot more focus than some of the other characters
But from what I can remember skye, except for a couple of episodes, shared the focus pretty evenly with the others.
Could someone here explain how she got more focus because I recently switched companies and all my recordings are gone and I can't look back, and online recaps can unreliable for this kind of stuff

 

[Mysteryman]

I think they should check in with the movie side characters more often, like they did with Sif.
During the search for the clairvoyant, they went down a list of suspects, but none seemed to overlap with the fan theories at all- would've been great if they actually checked up on Samuel Sterns.
I also wish more characters than May wore a shield uniform.

Thats not always easy, it depends on availability .

 

[Mysteryman]

Created a show of 13 episodes managing better the budget, self episodes all uprising.
Better directors (as Masiano that, for now, is the better one), better photography (like the house of card's ones) more external sequences (did you noticed that? the most of the episodes are in closed spaces) less "fist half skye" more "second half skye"
More agents in the team, better choreographers for the action sequences

if the episodes were all about Uprising ,
Wards betrayal would have been less of a surprise .
Edit:"first half Skye makes the emergence of "second half Skye" all the more sweeter and a lot more fun.
We see her growth as a character .

 

[Alex_Kidd]

I'm so worried thate the second season will become a "catch me if you can" with the weekly mutant...

 

[Mysteryman]

it won't strictly be that .
There is still a lot of SHIELD rebuilding to do.

 

[metaphysician]

Also, how many people here have been calling for exactly that, and complaining when every episode *doesn't* have a Supervillain of the Week?

 

[Mysteryman]

And they could always choose lame villains .
Like The Trapster and his paste gun.

 

[Ant-manic]

Also, how many people here have been calling for exactly that, and complaining when every episode *doesn't* have a Supervillain of the Week?

it shouldn't be surprising that the audience is split. I love cameo by actual comic book characters. I don't need them to be "freak of the week." they could just work recognizable super-villains into their regular plots. it doesn't always have to be a special effects bonanza.