Marvel Agents of Shield...uhm, when did this show suddenly get really really good?

[shadowkat]

Just finished watching the first two episodes of Season 2 of Marvel Agents of Shield - and, it was surprisingly good. Fast paced. Unpredictable. Interesting characters - both supporting and lead. And diverse casting choices. Someone came in with a monkey wrench and managed to fix all of its problems. The two weak links in the main cast last season - Simmons and Ward have been completely retooled and as a result, have become multi-faceated and interesting characters. I want to know more about both of them, and why they've done what they did. When last season, I didn't care if they keeled over. I only made it through three episodes last season - the show kept putting me to sleep. But the first two episodes of this season...were compelling and riveting. WTF happened?

I admittedly tuned in just to see Lucy Lawless and Kyle McLachlan (whom I've had a bit of a crush on since he played Paul Atreidis in Dune. I've seen most of Kyle McLachlan's movies and tv shows. Some are excellent, some not so much.)

Now I need to find a site that summarizes what happened last season, specifically in regards to Ward and Simmons.



* So, Shield is no longer a government police force cleaning up alien activity, but a sort of covert agency or shadow ops, that is working without government approval. In fact, the Brigadier General, portrayed by Adrian Psdar (another actor I have a tendency to follow around), is attempting to take Shield down. He's an old buddy of Coulson, but on a powerful Senator's payroll.

* Mai and Sky are top field agents, supported by various new characters (or new to me at any rate).

*Fitz has suffered brain damage in his temporal lobe - making it difficult for him to express his thoughts, also he talks to Simmons, who we learn is not present. Simmons left Sheild a year ago, apparently. With little explanation. Abandoning Fitz and the team. Telling Coulson - Fitz would be better with her gone. Except in Fitz's mind she's still there. Or his ideal of her currently is.

* Meanwhile Ward - who had betrayed the team to Hydra, and was a covert Hyrdra agent? (OR at least that's my guess.) Is locked up in a cell - and will provide intel to Shield but only through Sky. Sky wants nothing to do with him. Ward is a little nuts.
Not quite sure what happened to him. He's almost unrecognizable. No longer the stalwart and true GI Joe from the beginning of last season. Now, he's tortured, and a bit nuts. He tells Sky, when she agrees to see him to get intel for Coulson - that he has information for her, information she needs to hear - but she cuts him off. When she leaves, he mutters - "I can tell you about your father."

* Raina, who appeared to be in charge of Hydra last season or running it, isn't with Hydra at all now. Instead she's working with Kyle McLachlan, who I'm guessing is Sky's father. Which may explain Shield's initial interest in Sky - and what was hidden in those files?

* New character - who I rather like, an Australian, and a mercernary. He's introduced with Lucy Lawless, who unfortunately was killed in the first episode - surprised by that. I liked her character - Idaho Hartley. Nick, the new character, however, is rather interesting and a good addition to the team. Not pretty. Actually outside of Mai and Sky, no one is pretty any more - a nice change from last season. I can actually tell people apart.

* The plot no longer focuses on the bad guy of the week or the superhero gone wrong, but is more serialized. Reed Diamond has been introduced as the new villian - Mr. White, and he dates back to the 1940s, when he was in charge of Hydra. Somehow he's stayed alive. I rather like Reed Diamond as a villain, the actor gives his villains some teeth.

Not quite sure where the story is going, but I'm intrigued by it. And it appears to be in keeping with previous Mutant Enemy series in that it gets better as it goes.
The first season sucks, but the second season is actually fairly good. So kudos to ABC for sticking it out. Of course this was a joint venture between Mutant Enemy and Marvel Studios, with Disney behind both - so more money and clout than Mutant Enemy's previous ventures.

Agent Carter is also introduced in this episode as a WWII Shield Agent. Making me wonder if the spin off series, Agent Carter, is taking place during WWII?

At any rate, I was pleasantly surprised by these two episodes and have decided to give Marvel Agents of Shield a second chance.

Comments

[buffyannotater.livejournal.com]

I'd recommend reading summary/recaps up to episode 15, and then watching episode 16 of S1 ("The End of the Beginning") onwards. That's when the show improved by leaps and bounds, overnight, the real reason being that they had always been waiting for Captain America 2 to come out so they could unveil the HYDRA twist, which played a major role in hampering the show in the first half of the season. Because they had to basically kill time until they were allowed to unleash that twist, since they weren't allowed to spoil the HYDRA thing before the films revealed it. And what happened immediately afterwards was the show turned into a tight, taut, suspenseful, clever thrill ride. Episode 17 actually occurs concurrently with The Winter Soldier, from Coulson's team's P.O.V., and the way it played off the events of the film, and then launched the series into the arc that made up the last 5 episodes of the series was just phenomenal. Incidentally, once you know some of the later season twists, it makes rewatching earlier episodes of S1 much more interesting. There were actually a lot of interesting embedded clues hiding throughout the episodes, as well as dramatic irony and foreshadowing.

[liliaeth]

Yeah, they pretty much got screwed over for the first half of the first season because they had to wait for Captain America to come out. It was like they were stuck in stasis until then. Not saying they couldn't have done better in making us like the characters, but I guess that Marvel was keeping a pretty tight reign on what they could and couldn't do....

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Ah. Well, I do have Captain America - Winter Solider rented via Netflix at the moment. So maybe I'll watch it and see if I can't find episodes 16-22. I read the recaps for the final three - just to get an idea as to what the heck Ward did, and what happened to Fitz.

I can see why they did that - similar to the Marvel comics, where certain plot points are held back until they are revealed in other stories - in order to maintain consistency and prevent spoilers.

It is problematic for tv serials though - because you are asking a lot from an audience with lots and lots of options to choose from. So, it's surprising Marvel AoS was able to hold onto its audience, possibly due to the audience's trust and loyalty in show-runner Joss Whedon and the Marvel franchise.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Okay, saw Captain America - the Winter Solider - it all makes sense now. Apparently Shield was supposed come across a wee bit fascist in those first several episodes - because it was a fascist organization. We were supposed to be disturbed. And at the same time, the writers were cleverly satirizing that trope in films and television. In short they were more clever than I gave them credit for. What ticked various viewers off - was deliberate.

[local-max.livejournal.com]

I haven't watched episode 2 of season 2 so I haven't read this yet...but I enjoyed episode 1 and I'm glad you did too! I have high hopes for the Ward story in particular.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Now that I've seen Captain America - The Winter Solider, it all makes sense, including the first half of Season 1, and why Shield's actions often felt a wee bit on the fascist side of the fence. That was intentional.

The show's writers were far more clever than I gave them credit for.
But you sort of have to have seen Captain America - The Winter Solider to appreciate it.