#359

Post by CaptHayfever » Thu Apr 23, 2020 6:23 pm

Agents of SHIELD

always

After working out my viewing sequence, it turns out that I never have a stretch of more than 10 AoS episodes at a time (until season 6), & most are less...season 1, part 1:#1.01 "Pilot":--So this guy is like a Sony-free Spider-Man?--Hill's exposition dump is kinda cheesy.--Shepherd Book is in this show.--Mulan is in this show.--Pegasus? That was Mar-Vell's project; how does Skye know about that when the people who worked on it didn't know about it?--That's a clever way to gain somebody's trust.--"It's a magical place" is gonna be a thing, isn't it?--Another failed serum is gonna be a thing, isn't it?--Extremis again; we're leaping *right* off of IM3.--This long slow montage of smiling is annoying.--Howard Stark's flying car tech returns. Nice.--The Mutant Enemy logo always puts a smile on my face.--Overall: Network pilot episodes areawkward. This one's pretty good.#1.02 "084":--The dialogue in this episode is really bad.--The fights in this one are shot horribly. What happened? The fights in the pilot were good!--The actress playing Reyes is awful.--That dohickey Ward just used was from the movie Serenity. In fact, come to think of it, the Bus's internal layout is *very* similar to a Firefly.--Heh, their call number is 616.--The raft thing reminds me of Snakes on a Plane. Hmm...--If Ward mentions that he was trained to be the complete solution one more gorram time, I swear.--Why are they talking about "if Skye wants to be an agent"? She has expressed no such interest.--Ditching the laser via SCP-1543-J.--They've gotta quit these sappy music montages at the end of each episode.--...I HAVE HAD IT WITH THESE MOTHER****ING HOLES IN MY MOTHER****ING PLANE!#1.03 "The Asset":--See, it's funny 'cause his name is Mack & he drives a truck.--Ward's obviously lying about the truth serum; he passed out from the drug.--"Recognize the design"? Yeah, it's a gyroscope; the only special thing about it is what's inside.--Quinn is the perfect sleazy billionaire douchebag, & I just watched Iron Man 2 & saw Justin Hammer in that.--Gravitonium is now the 2nd new element introduced in this franchise. Gravitonium is given atomic number 123; the table currently stops at 118 & is unlikely to go further.--I had to rewind to get a closer look at Skye's...escape.--The "rust" hint is a little too obvious to be true; Coulson definitely isn't a robot.--Oooh, Hall's comin' back at some point.--This was a massive improvement over the previous episode, albeit still a tad clunky.#1.04 "Eye Spy":--These red-mask douchebags would never get away with walking around like that in reality; the cops would be all over them.--An international jewel thief? Ladies, ladies, ladies, Jay & Silent Bob are in the HIZ-OUSE!--SHIELD's skepticism towards psychic abilities seems silly given the setting.--Gosh, I forgot Flickr was a thing.--How does "backscatter" describe an x-ray?--"Remember you have man hands"...& also *white* hands.--We didn't need to see the injection.--I recognize most of that math notation. The last thing that catches Ward's attention isn't math...at least not Earth math.--The handler's fate is nightmarish.--They're starting to smooth over the exposition (mostly by giving as much of it to Coulson as possible; Clark Gregg can make a tech manual sound casual & naturalistic).#1.05 "The Girl in the Flower Dress":--Hey, it's Oscar nominee Ruth Negga!--How'd this guy manifest his powers?--"Do you recognize the name Steve Rogers?" What if he'd said yes?--Raina & Scorch are really engaging.--Miles & Skye's argument is incredibly annoying. Skye arguing in favor of police-state tactics makes no sense. The only way Miles comes across as the bad guy is that he's an intensely whiny jerk who is also a total hypocrite (& that he got a guy kidnapped).--Oooh, Centipede again. We finally have a recurring villain.--What's the point of killing your source of an important resource?--Skye's sincere contrition now helps make up for her annoyingness earlier.#1.06 "F.Z.Z.T.":--These "Ranger Scout" uniforms actually use real BSA components; I recognize some of the patches.--FitzSimmons had been struggling to establish personalities (beyond "nerdy" & "Fitz is crushing on Skye"), but just their first scene in this episode has made up for all of it.--Guys, stop repeating what happened last week; you already have a "previously on" montage.--Coulson comforting this doomed man is genuinely touching.--Oh, look, it's the guy in the chair from "Item 47".--There's genuine suspense here. It's an amazing FitzSimmons episode. Also HOLY CRAP SHE FREAKING JUMPED OUT OF A PLANE.#1.07 "The Hub":--The nasal extraction wasn't really needed after I just ate...or before I planned to eat...ever again.--"Location: Classified" is wearing a little thin.--That sandwich sounds amazing. And looks amazing (but I would use fresh baby spinach instead of arugala).--So what was the rock for?--Why is it so pleasing to watch bad things happen to Sitwell?--Good on Skye for not blowing her time window.--Compartmentalizing information makes sense. But not telling a commanding officer the mission specs for agents under his command, or telling the agents themselves what they're supposed to DO, really is inexcusable.--Gosh, Hand is a douchebag.--We're getting much better character dynamics now. There's still room for improvement, but things are beginning to fit together, & another recurring story arc is popping up in the mystery of Coulson's revival.Executive summary: Very clunky & inconsistent beginning, but all Mutant Enemy shows start off that way; the Whedons like to build their foundations very cautiously. Episode 2 was by far the worst, but it's been on an upward climb ever since. We're about to hit our first movie tie-in; let's see how that affects things.And remember, "I'm-a Luigi, number one!"