Review: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. ‘Pilot’

For many people, the most important day of the month has just come and gone.  Yes, I am talking about the day that Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. finally premiered.  This new TV show was put together by the almighty Joss Whedon and follows a group of agents that are sent out to deal with super-powered threats.  It’s basically a comic book show without any of the big-name comic book characters in it.  And it also happens to mark Whedon’s return to the small screen and the long-story medium that, in my opinion, he works better in.  But did he bring the magic like he’s done so many times before?  The reviews are mixed, but I say that this show is going to be a major hit.

The first episode introduces the world and lets us know that we’re walking through a place that has seen The Avengers and super heroes and alien invasions.  In fact, Whedon gives us a super powered guy within the first two minutes.  Then we get to meet Agent Coulson (who was presumed dead) as he puts together a special team of operatives to go out and deal with the rogue super people.  Eventually, with the help of a citizen hacker lady, they track down the super guy before he has a chance to explode due to the really bad stuff he’s got in his system.  And that’s about the gist of it.  Of course, it is a pilot, so you don’t really expect too much the first time around.

While others have said that the show wasn’t exciting enough for them or made other complaints about it, I am in completely the opposite camp.  The biggest issue I had with it was that there was, perhaps, an overabundance of Whedon’s goofy humor.  The witty banter is one of his trademarks, but there needs to be a limit there somewhere.

As the story unfolded, I could see Whedon’s classic smart and long-term writing style.  He’s not just making a serialized show.  Likely, he’s got a plan on how it will pan out for the next five seasons if he were to get them.  Story hooks get revealed without looking too deeply into them, leaving them for future surprises while teasing the audience.  This is something that Whedon is very good at and perhaps why he’s become such a cult icon and I’m really looking forward to see how he brings all these side-plots out into the open.

And, of course, Whedon has a talent for picking cast members that work well together while at the same time giving them characters that are distinctive.  While we didn’t get to really explore the characters in the first episode, I can already tell that it will end up the same as any other Whedon project - every single character will be someone’s favorite.  By the time the season ends, we will know their names and know what kind of people they are in some detail.  And they will all be realistic.  I only hope that he continues to bring the same levels of ambiguity to the characters, so they don’t all seem like heroes.

So people can say what they will, but I saw nothing but pure Whedon goodness here.  Sure, we may not see Thor or the Hulk or any of those others, but we will get to take an amazing ride through this part of the Marvel universe.

For a sneak peak at next week’s episode, check out this link here.

Photo Credits -           

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. courtesy of comicbookmovie.com