Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

[sickrubik]

I see what you did there.

[Nevermore]

It was crystal clear.

[Tannhauser]

She will at least get Lockjaw.

[eldaec]

For whatever reason this isn't showing in the UK till March. I'm marking people's cards for getting my hopes up, is all I'm saying.

[Tannhauser]

Here's what you need to know then in seven easy notes to catch up.

1.  Skye is annoying and the girl is a poor actress.
2.  The first eight or so episodes focus on Skye to its detriment.
3.  Tahiti is a magical place.
4.  Half of the actors were chosen for their prettiness, they can't act.  Some are getting better.
5.  Most early scripts are really dopey.
6.  Don't touch Lola. L O L A Lola.
7.  If you drink every time a MCU character appears you'll be stone sober all night.

[jgsugden]

Here's what you need to know then in seven easy notes to catch up.

...
7.  If you drink every time a MCU character appears you'll be stone sober all night.

There are more than you think, but they're really minor.  Mike Peterson, afterall, is 2.

The first half of the first season is all setup, to the detriment of the series.  We'll see if it pays off as much as I hope in the second half.

[Lakov_Sanite]

Wasn't the argument that it would take a couple episodes to warm up?  Will it be "wait until season 2!" next?

[jgsugden]

Wasn't the argument that it would take a couple episodes to warm up?  Will it be "wait until season 2!" next?

They said they'd lay groundwork in the first half of the season.  We're just starting the second half.  Some people said the last episode was the best yet (but they may have just been cheering for the double tap on Skye). 

[Surlyboi]

I'd double tap Skye.

That said, shut the fuck up about how bad the show is. Significantly worse shit has survived for multiple seasons. (I'm looking at you, Desperate Housewives, Modern Family, etc...)

[Margalis]

The first season of Desperate Housewives was better than this. Not joking.

[Raguel]

I think all the non-Skye centric episodes (and there have been a handful) were at least watchable.

[jgsugden]

I had very high expectations and saw a lot of potential for the show going into it.  It has not been up to my high expectations, but I do not think it has ever been bad.  I think they've laid a lot of groundwork and have set a lot of stages.

To be honest, I think the best is clearly ahead given what we know of Cap II.

New Clairvoyant idea - what if it is the Leader?  We 'saw' him getting the brain treatment at the end of Incredible Hulk - could the Clairvoyant just be impossibly smart?  It would be a way to pick up that thread with no Hulk movie in the immediate works...

[eldaec]

Look, I agree the cap 2 trailer is pretty neat. But you'll enjoy life more if you stop assuming films will live up to their trailers.

[jgsugden]

Look, I agree the cap 2 trailer is pretty neat. But you'll enjoy life more if you stop assuming films will live up to their trailers.

This has nothing to do with the quality of Cap II.  Whether it lives up the trailer or not has nothing to do with what I said.  We have a pretty good idea, based upon things we've seen in the trailers, based upon comments by people affiliated with the film, and based upon storylines from the comics that certain changes are on the way for the world of SHIELD.  I think those changes create a lot of opportunities for this series - and also dovetail nicely into some of the things that have been set up over this season.

I do not think Whedon and co. were oblivious to the timing issues related to the April Cap II and the season finale of SHIELD.  There will be 4 or 5 episodes of SHIELD after Cap II.  I have a feeling that all of them will be highly impacted by the events of the movie.  In fact, I expect we'll see the events of the movie unfold from a different perspective in the show...

[Margalis]

I think you are fundamentally just expecting too much from a network TV show cash-in.

[jgsugden]

I think you are fundamentally just expecting too much from a network TV show cash-in.

If I am expecting more than we'll get, I am not expecting more than we should get.  And, I do think this is a situation in which the series will need to respond to the events of the film in a substantial manner.  I just don't see a way around it - and as I said, the setup is clearly there already if you look for it.

[Numtini]

I'm expecting as good as Dollhouse. That's a low bar. This doesn't clear it.

[jgsugden]

I'm expecting as good as Dollhouse. That's a low bar. This doesn't clear it.

As good as Dollhouse when?  If you revisit Dollhouse, I think you'll find it took them a while to find the show.  It wasn't until episode 7 (Man on the Street) that Dollhouse really took a tick up ... and they had 2 substantially different pilot episodes in the can.  I'm disappointed relative to my expectations, but to say that the show we've seen in the last 2 episodes is substantially worse than those first 6 episodes of Dollhouse is going to make you nose grow.

[Numtini]

As good as Dollhouse when?

As good as the first episode. Yes, Dollhouse was better as it went on, but it engaged me enough from the start enough to keep watching it. SHIELD from the beginning was agony to watch and when we turned off the fire mage episode ten minutes it, we didn't feel it had gotten any better.

[Trippy]

Show is kind of good now.

[Ironwood]

How so?  I stopped, so fill me in.

[jgsugden]

The show is now paying off on the material they established in the first half of the season.

Honestly, if you hated the first half, I do not recommend coming back until you can Netflix the season. You'd be missing too much.

[Ironwood]

I didn't stop taping it.  I just stopped watching it.   

[Fordel]

The only credit I'll give the latest episode is they remembered they have actual real guns.

[Father mike]

I think it's getting better, also.  They're letting Gregg do more and more.  I realize that they had to give the other characters the spotlight to get the show ramped up, but it's fun to see Coulson getting fleshed out now that we know the other characters.

Question:   

Next week might be the best time to get back into the show if you stopped watching.  They're starting a new arc, with Jamie Alexander reprising her role as Sif.  It's been advertised to hell and breakfast, so I didn't feel it necessary to spoil-tag that.

[Tannhauser]

Yeah, good episode.  Coulson was great and Bill Paxton was fun, glad he's re-occurring.  Not too much action, but nice and suspenseful with a nice shock at the end.
Looking forward to Sif's appearance. 

[eldaec]

I didn't stop taping it.  I just stopped watching it.   

If you're recording from channel 4, they aren't starting the second half of the season till the 14th march . So whatever you've recorded so far is still the crap bit.

[Ironwood]

Ah.  Fair enough.

[jgsugden]

I feel like they're written into a hole. I'll be curious to see how they write out of it.

[HaemishM]

Well clearly...

Skye is a goddamn half-Kree half-human hybrid or some shit. I half expect her to be the Mantis but I think that role has already been cast for the new Avengers movie.

[satael]

It bothered me once again that

[Trippy]

It bothered me once again that

Don't see the issue. They were shot at first and Coulson tried one last time to resolve things peacefully.

[jgsugden]

Well, I guess spoiler tags are pointless at this point...

I definitely saw that as breaking and entering, guards defending a high security area against intruders, and homicides by the 'good guys'.  I can't imagine that will go undiscussed in the near future.  I imagine the next episode ends with somebody being arrested/detained.  However, they may drag that out a few weeks to coincide with the release of Cap II for reasons that will become obvious.

Just to point it out - we do not know which soil that base was upon, do we?  Regardless of the moral issues, the legal issues could be simplified by that determination.

[HaemishM]

We don't even know that it was a SHIELD base or someone else's. They speculate it was one of Fury's burner bases, but there's no confirmation of that.

[jgsugden]

We don't even know that it was a SHIELD base or someone else's. They speculate it was one of Fury's burner bases, but there's no confirmation of that.

I thought it was established that it was not SHIELD that performed the operation, meaning it was probably not a SHIELD base. 

I'm guessing it was a SWORD base.