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

[Der Helm]

I think I am up to date on this show now. Good grief the writing is terrible.

My favourites from the last episode so far...

"Using the account information Mr.(whatshisname) gave us, SHIELD believes he is being held here"

What ? How ?

and

"...he plays a lot of minecraft where he runs a rather nasty mod (might be mob) ... Zombie ?... Zombie Pig Men

That last one almost made me throw something at the screen. The Hacker-Technobabble is bad enough (don't even get me started on that and I now almost nothing about programming), but that was just ... I.. I don't even ...

I'll keep watching it, but only to see how bad things canwill become.

[Ironwood]

You mean the 'TRACK THE DHCP SERVER' type stuff ?

Yeah.  Giggly.

Especially when the DHCP Server then showed video.  Whut ?

[Der Helm]

Wait until someone runs a GRIDLOCK.mp4 on his smartphone that turns all traffic lights to green.

[Tannhauser]

I hope they tie in to Thor 2 better than they did IM3.  *mumble mumble extremis handwave*

[Phildo]

Wait until someone runs a GRIDLOCK.mp4 on his smartphone that turns all traffic lights to green.

Oh, that?  That's just a cleverly disguised virus.  Obviously he couldn't name it GRIDLOCK.virus.

Wait.

I should be writing for this show.

[jgsugden]

You guys are friggin hilarious. 

That guy pushes a button and the traffic lights change?  WTF?  This is totally ruining my suspension of disbelief!  They're starting to make the man flying in a suit f armor, the radiation rage monster, and the God like alien with a magic hammer seem unrealistic.

[Lakov_Sanite]

Yeah, no.  Source material being comics does not give an excuse for lazy writing.

[Evildrider]

Yeah, no.  Source material being comics does not give an excuse for lazy writing.

You guys are acting like this has never been done in any other movie or tv show.

[jgsugden]

While I agree the technobabble could be a bit better, it is never going to pass close inspection because it is fake technology.  It is comic technology. 

[Der Helm]

I just don`t get how could know about Minecraft, even enough to have heard about Zombie Pig Men and still manage to fuck it up. "Apparently in his free time he plays a lot of minecraft..." would have been enough. I am pretty sure they only added the rest because they want to spite me and make me argue rage about it on the internet.

[pxib]

This is always true of suspension of disbelief: Do not force your audience to look at the wires that hold up your flying saucers.

It's fine if you just want the audience to be comfortable with your magical world, but if you also want to include hip real-life references, then those references have to be spot on... because you're specifically trying to activate those parts of the brain your material otherwise insists they shut off. If the hacker was using some sort of 3D interface where they swim around in a sea full of schools of data and there's a picture of the guy floating there with a picture of his house... yeah, a few people roll their eyes but nobody really complains. If the wrong options on fgrep or xargs are visible on screen for less than a second, heads will be on pikes.

Alternately... it's okay when Superman dodges a thrown gun because none of us knows what it feels like to have bullets bounce off of us, but most of us have had heavy metal objects bounce off of us and ouch!

[MahrinSkel]

I just don`t get how could know about Minecraft, even enough to have heard about Zombie Pig Men and still manage to fuck it up. "Apparently in his free time he plays a lot of minecraft..." would have been enough. I am pretty sure they only added the rest because they want to spite me and make me argue rage about it on the internet.

Process there was that a writer who knew the reference wrote the line, then somebody else decided to try and make it funny for people who don't know what zombie pig-men are.

--Dave

[jgsugden]

Do people think tonight's episode was better? 

[Pennilenko]

no

[Tannhauser]

About as good as the Scorch one.  Skye falls back into the group.  Good.  Nice to see some actual character drama, especially around the bubbly scientists as shit gets real. 

[Bunk]

Yea, I liked this one better. The second half was pure action tv cliche, but it served to give some depth to the characters.

I've come to realize that I will watch (and even enjoy) shows just because they are about a setting and subject matter that interests me, even when the acting and writing is questionable.

See: Season 1 ST:TNG as an example

[Numtini]

We're a week (or possibly 2?) behind. The pyromancer episode. We got through 15 minutes and just turned it off and dropped the season pass. It's a mix of bad cliche writing and a cast with zero chemistry together.

[Nevermore]

On the other hand, I'm still enjoying it for what it is:  Just a silly show that's entertaining enough to spend 40 minutes watching.  There's nothing that's especially hair-pullingly stupid, like in say Revolution or Falling Skies or Under the Dome or Terra Nova, the list could go on.  Actually, I'd put AoS at slightly better than Defiance.  I still like Coulson.  The rest of the cast is just window-dressing, really.  Skye is the only big misstep, she's just irritating.

[Khaldun]

The cast is what is really killing it for me. Just not interested in anybody, even Coulson. There's also something about the basic set-up with the plane that's dull--it's a bottle show in a boring bottle.

[jgsugden]

Agree on the plane base of operations... not working as well as hoped.  I think they need the 'Serenity' shot where you follow two of them walking onto the plane and see them go from area to area (using photography tricks) to give us a feel for the layout of the plane.  Serenity was a big part of Firefly, but this plane feels like a set piece.  They should be able to do better.

[Simond]

So I just watched the Graviton episode and I'm struggling to figure out what you people are complaining about.

This is cheeseball kiddie stuff, clearly aimed at an audience that's either ok with that or, more importantly, Not Most Of This Board.

And that's ok.

It's bad.  But not BAD.

Who are you and what have you done with the real Ironwood? 

[Raguel]

Yay less Skye. Still no Steranko but baby steps.

Fitz Simmons got more to do. They are silly but I like them.

Overall I liked this episode.

[jgsugden]

I think the big thing for me in this episode was something I'm going to attribute to the director: It looked less like 'comic book acting' and more like 'acting'.  I think that is a sign of good things to come... and a sign that they're finding the characters.

[Margalis]

The team itself just doesn't make a lot of sense.

If you didn't know that they are supposed to be part of SHIELD, a huge important organization, you'd assume this was some rag-tag group of misfits that got together through happenstance like the A-Team, or were outcasts like Fox Mulder, or something like that. The idea that this is the special team they've come up with is just crazy. It's using the same Scooby-Doo gang formula as other Whedon shows but it doesn't make sense here.

"Why is this the group of people that has their own plane and fly around solving mysteries?" is a question that I don't think has an answer. If someone told me the original concept was a SHIELD: The New Class thing about fresh recruits I might believe it. As it is this group of people working for SHIELD in this capacity is just weird.

[MediumHigh]

The two "nerd" chicks are auto-boners for the target audience. The asian chick is an instant boner for the anime crowd. Agent Couslon is a big fat dangling pointer to the AVENGERS, MARVEL MOVIE UNIVERSE, FUCKING AWESOME...and did I mention THE AVENGERS. The generic not grizzled white government agent guy is the safe "bad boy" contrast to the hot-topic geek guy, you know something for the fangirls.

[Lakov_Sanite]

The asian chick is an instant boner for the anime crowd.

Wrong on so many levels.

[MediumHigh]

The asian chick is an instant boner for the anime crowd.

Wrong on so many levels.

Her not looking like some member of a kpop girl band is a minus, but considering how long I've spent with that crowd, how many of the forums I go to, how many of them still watch crappy jap porn...I'd wager I'm right on this one.

[Lakov_Sanite]

I get that people enjoy the lady and that she looks good for her age, what I don't get is why she is supposedly big with the anime watching crowd.

[Trippy]

Yeah if anything the other (half) Asian chick is the bigger draw.

[MediumHigh]

I get that people enjoy the lady and that she looks good for her age, what I don't get is why she is supposedly big with the anime watching crowd.

Hang around some anime nerds still in their highschool years.

[Ironwood]

So I just watched the Graviton episode and I'm struggling to figure out what you people are complaining about.

This is cheeseball kiddie stuff, clearly aimed at an audience that's either ok with that or, more importantly, Not Most Of This Board.

And that's ok.

It's bad.  But not BAD.

Who are you and what have you done with the real Ironwood? 

I'll flay the bones off a show that's actually aimed at me and misses the mark.  This ?  Not so much.  It's like getting worked up about Arrow (also shite) or the early Smallville.  Not really worth my time.

[Lakov_Sanite]

I get that people enjoy the lady and that she looks good for her age, what I don't get is why she is supposedly big with the anime watching crowd.

Hang around some anime nerds still in their highschool years.

Since I don't, can you explain their fascination?

[Speedy Cerviche]

The team itself just doesn't make a lot of sense.

If you didn't know that they are supposed to be part of SHIELD, a huge important organization, you'd assume this was some rag-tag group of misfits that got together through happenstance like the A-Team, or were outcasts like Fox Mulder, or something like that. The idea that this is the special team they've come up with is just crazy. It's using the same Scooby-Doo gang formula as other Whedon shows but it doesn't make sense here.

"Why is this the group of people that has their own plane and fly around solving mysteries?" is a question that I don't think has an answer. If someone told me the original concept was a SHIELD: The New Class thing about fresh recruits I might believe it. As it is this group of people working for SHIELD in this capacity is just weird.

Especially when in the movies, Coulson  was Nick Fury's point man at command, and in dealing with important assets like Stark. He was a top officer at the headquarters and now he's running a random field team?

[Phildo]

That much, at least, is explainable as a rehab assignment.  Dude died being Fury's point man.

[jgsugden]

...Especially when in the movies, Coulson  was Nick Fury's point man at command, and in dealing with important assets like Stark. He was a top officer at the headquarters and now he's running a random field team?

This is addressed in several ways in the show, although future revelations will likely revise the explanation.  

The current story: After Coulson was stabbed and recovered, he asked for this assignment.  He requested the plane (per his conversation with Fury), he selected his team (per his conversation with Hill), and he outlined the types of tasks that they'd be assigned to handle (per his conversation with Melinda).  

And I do not think this is a random field team - it is designed to be a team of specialists set to handle top tier situations as they arise.  To equate iot to Stargate: They're SG-1, not SG-14.