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

[eldaec]

I just got up to the Thor episode. Actually thought it was fine. It helps that Skye is getting less airtime, Fitz, Simmons, abd May all getting more.

The continuous incongruent references to Coulson's death are still annoying me.

[Hoax]

Try being a Bioware fan. People spent 3 years shitting up the SWTOR thread who never had any intention of playing the game.

Late but I can't think of a worse example. There may have never  been more well earned shitposting than the SWTOR thread where any suggestion that the game looked like shitty refried WoW was met with a whole mess of bullshit fanboi denial.

The game is and was utter shit. If anything there should have been a thread where all of you were forced to apologize.

[Reg]

Oh shut the fuck up.

[Surlyboi]

The douchebaggery in this thread is approaching legendary status.

[Lakov_Sanite]

Oh shut the fuck up.

Are you vexed fellow?

[Simond]

Oh shut the fuck up.

Nice to see such a well-reasoned and comprehensive argument.

(Also I was right about SWTOR all along  )

[Ghambit]

If Hoax can't bathe in some twitch-newb-pvp tears then the game will always be shitty refried shit.  Haven't you guys figured this out by now?   

[Abagadro]

Jesus, is that shit going to infect this thread too?  It's reached herpes level of viral transfer.

[Velorath]

I'd like to thank Hoax and Simond for proving my point.

[Venkman]

Well, that's enough of this shit.

They pulled the Chandler/Monica surprise hookup bullshit like four seasons sooner than they should have. But that wasn't the problem. It was, again, the dialog. God, it was like all those stupid preview voiceovers that literally come out and say "see the episode everyone will be talking about the next day". Such desperate writing to try and form opinion.

"You know we better employ [some stock counterespionage tactics] so that the others don't find out".

Terrible.

I've been on the fence with the show anyway. Kinda like when you reach a wall in an MMO when you begin to wonder if you're having any fun and then get disconned halfway through some special event, or ganked, or some other thing event. That becomes the catalyst to look back over the prior weeks to ask yourself if you've really been having fun or just going through the motions.

Turns out I've been going through the motions.

Hoax can have all my stuff.

Edit: stepped off ledge.

[Margalis]

The writing is terrible. As I said before, I don't think the show actually has writers - it has producers.

[Khaldun]

I haven't been watching for the last four episodes, but I think the general reaction verifies that take. The Marvel franchise has been marked by a certain level of methodical caution (though going with a Guardians of the Galaxy movie next isn't exactly the straight play) but this show has really been brought down by overcalculation and timidity. I don't understand why it isn't a bit more crazy, a bit less controlled, a bit more fun--or maybe far more than a bit on all of those.

[jgsugden]

Wait - you're commenting on the current problems of a show you have not seen in a month?   You guys are hilarious. 

[Khaldun]

Oh, so you think in the last four episodes everything that concerned me about all the previous ones just went away? It now IS more crazy, more fun, less controlled?

[jgsugden]

Oh, so you think in the last four episodes everything that concerned me about all the previous ones just went away? It now IS more crazy, more fun, less controlled?

You were commenting on the problems of episodes you have not seen. Consider the implications for yourself.

[Khaldun]

People *all the time* (not just here) say, "So this is when I stopped watching this particular show, I didn't like the following things about it, I gather that nothing has changed". Which is an opportunity for someone who likes the show in question, "Yeah, you're right, it hasn't changed--if you didn't like it then, you're not going to like it now" or to say, "I hear you, but in fact, the specific things you didn't like have in fact changed recently, give it another shot."

This is a perfectly normal kind of conversation about popular culture. A lot of the time folks actually have a pretty good sense of what's going on with programs they don't even watch. There's a researcher who works on TV and popular culture who actually studies what he calls paratextual awareness--the information that we pick up about things that we're kind of interested in but not actively watching--and a lot of his research shows that many people have very high paratextual knowledge, and have even indirectly watched or consumed many small bits or fragments of a given program or movie over the years. Time is the most precious commodity when it comes to culture, much more so than money, so people are constantly trying to figure out: what's worth my time? Is this the program I want it to be? Can it become that program? How much of it do I need to watch to follow what's going on later? Does it pay off if I watch each and every episode in sequence?

Saying, "If you haven't watched every single second with the devotion that I have watched, you are unworthy to have any opinion" is a classic kind of fan-devotion maneuver. I am not saying that I have a specific opinion about how Skye was portrayed in the last episode. I am saying: this is why I gave up and it sounds like nothing's changed. If you think otherwise, persuade me.

[jgsugden]

Please don't put words in my mouth... and you're missing my point. 

If you think about what you just said, you're actually reinforcing my point.  Many people (including you, I assume) have high 'paratextual knowledge' (aka heresay or second hand information) relating to this show.  Time is a precious commodity...

[Ghambit]

The writing is terrible. As I said before, I don't think the show actually has writers - it has producers.

Do you guys finally believe me that Joss has no real creative control over this show?  Like I said, corporate nepo-stench... all over this IP.   Disney, Marvel, network TV + Whedon-family = fail.

[jgsugden]

The writing is terrible. As I said before, I don't think the show actually has writers - it has producers.

Do you guys finally believe me that Joss has no real creative control over this show?  Like I said, corporate nepo-stench... all over this IP.   Disney, Marvel, network TV + Whedon-family = fail.

At least one story acknowldges his involvement with the show has been reduced as Avengers related tasks have been on the rise.

[HaemishM]

I think some folks hate-watch TV.  They hate the show, watch it, then rush to post their disgust.  Then set their DVR's for next week.  Maybe they want the show to be something it's not.  So they are disappointed. 

I do that to movies. 

Very happy Rage guy from the first episode will be returning but this show still lacks a lot. Without Coulsen or May, this show would be utterly unwatchable most episodes.

[Phildo]

I feel like I've said this elsewhere, but I tend to think of this show as CSI: Marvel.  Once you put it in the right frame of reference, it's not so bad.

[Abagadro]

Now that you say that it dawned on me that the structure is very similar to Criminal Minds.

[Ghambit]

I feel like I've said this elsewhere, but I tend to think of this show as CSI: Marvel.  Once you put it in the right frame of reference, it's not so bad.

It might be "not so bad" but it's definitely not as good as those other shows that use the CSI methodology (like Almost Human, who actually has/had CSI people writing the scripts).

[Numtini]

I think I'd be happier if they took the same show and removed all the Marvel/comic book superhero aspects from it. It would still be bad, but I think it would be better.

[Samprimary]

Why the fuck keep watching and complaining about a show you hate?  I really don't get it.

When people are invested in a genre, theme, or license they particularly enjoy, it evokes a lot of reasonable frustration when shitty writers or incompetent executives in a system of perverse incentives are squandering or throwing away an opportunity (possibly one-time) for that genre, theme, ip.

Human beings in particular are noted for their odd propensity to express frustration when things they want to like are bad.

[Samprimary]

This is how you know a show is bad: when you get to the end, you see a preview for next week, you think "wow, finally, this next episode looks cool", then you realize you just watched a Verizon commercial.

This episode was almost purely a character development episode, but the development came mostly in the form of expository conversations. At some points it almost felt like parody - telling instead of showing taken to extremes. And in the end what they revealed was what anyone would have guessed - just generic "we were on a mission and things went South - she had to do horrible things - when we got out she had changed" tripe.

The fact that this was the backstory they were teasing and that this was the way they chose to reveal it is just...I don't know. It made me go look up the writing credits. This episode was written by Joss's brother and sister and law. Curiously almost every other episode writing credit belongs to someone also listed as a producer or executive producer. I'm starting to think that maybe the show doesn't actually have writers, and it's all producers / Whedon family members writing the episodes. That would explain a lot.

best post in the thread imo. Gonna switch over to watching Floor Staff of V.E.R.I.Z.O.N.

[Father mike]

There wasn't a new episode this week, was there?

[Margalis]

This is the commercial in question BTW:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MjgO3eKPe0

[Trippy]

There wasn't a new episode this week, was there?

No, it was a repeat.

[pxib]

I'd watch it.

[Hoax]

This is the commercial in question BTW:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MjgO3eKPe0

To be fair those ads are really good and Norton is a talent. I mean I know playing high stakes 4-square with Russians while talking about Ferrets shouldn't be the type of thing that gets me every time...

[jgsugden]

FWIW: Upcoming episodes reportedly more in the Marvel Direction according to the EP...

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=49593

[Tannhauser]

I liked the latest episode.  A good story, some good character moments and a twist or two freshened the show up.

[jgsugden]

[Nevermore]