# Marvel Agents of SHIELD **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 25, 2013, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marvel-agents-of-shield/669608 "2013-09-25T00:55:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Cubsfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Cubsfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cubsfan)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marvel-agents-of-shield/669608/1 "2013-09-25T00:55:46Z")
Surprised there’s no thread on this yet. I can’t figure out why there are good reviews of this show. It’s another network action drama populated wall to wall with super models and a crummy story. I’m over every single show now a days being nothing but 28 year old super model look alikes regardless of whether or not it’s character appropriate. I feel like that old trope of everyone needing to be a babe needs to be left behind. I think it’s part of why network television can’t create successful new shows anymore. None of the actors seem relatable. Show is a dud IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![Cyros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a698b9/32.png) [@Cyros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyros)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marvel-agents-of-shield/669608/2 "2013-09-25T01:02:17Z")
I enjoyed it. I thought it was fun and had a nice balance of character and action and you gotta love Coulson. Of course, I also enjoy Arrow so take my opinion with a grain of salt. ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marvel-agents-of-shield/669608/3 "2013-09-25T01:08:13Z")
I thought it was really good, but that’s because I’m a big fan of the current Avengers universe and this is an interesting offshoot of it. Agent Coulson, who somehow survived (though the show didn’t say how in the first episode, probably to make it a long-term plot point), was a very understated character in the movies and really deserved more. This is it. It’ll be interesting to see if they integrate this into the movies. The only thing that sort of bothered me was the Scottish tech weenie. It felt kinda like a ripoff of Scotty from _Star Trek_. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marvel-agents-of-shield/669608/4 "2013-09-25T01:13:13Z")
Can an OP threadshit? You don’t like TV? Fine. But why go online and post about how you don’t like TV? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marvel-agents-of-shield/669608/5 "2013-09-25T01:16:54Z")
> [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](#): > > Agent Coulson, who somehow survived (though the show didn’t say how in the first episode, probably to make it a long-term plot point) Agreed. There was Dr Book’s line, “Tahiti? He really doesn’t know…” > [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](#): > > The only thing that sort of bothered me was the Scottish tech weenie. It felt kinda like a ripoff of Scotty from _Star Trek_. That was Scottish? I thought he was doing a fake Irish accent. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marvel-agents-of-shield/669608/6 "2013-09-25T01:25:51Z")
I think the fundamentals are there. Coulson’s a great character, Ming-Na Wen is always watchable, and there was some reasonably snappy dialogue. The plot of tonight’s episode was initially a bit hard to follow (it didn’t help that the young Scots scientist was a bit hard to understand) but in the end it made sense. Whedon’s series have tended to take a while to build up to their full potential, so I’ll give it some time. ---
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marvel-agents-of-shield/669608/7 "2013-09-25T01:32:41Z")
Yeah, Whedon always takes about half a season to hit his stride. The show’s got serious potential. Fitz and Simmons need to work on their timing and enunciation- we had a lot of trouble catching everything they said. The hacker chick is improbably hot. And the Generically Handsome spy seems kind of out of place (which, I agree, might be the point of his character). I’ll keep watching. Don’t touch Lola. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marvel-agents-of-shield/669608/8 "2013-09-25T01:47:59Z")
My edumacated guess is that the one that died was an LMD. ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marvel-agents-of-shield/669608/9 "2013-09-25T01:50:46Z")
> [@Cubsfan](#): > > … I’m over every single show now a days being nothing but 28 year old super model look alikes regardless of whether or not it’s character appropriate. I feel like that old trope of everyone needing to be a babe needs to be left behind… Ming-Na Wen was born in 1963, she’s not 28. Anyway, I thought it was a good start and the super character’s power’s origin was pretty interesting and served to tie everything together a bit. I do agree that it’s a team of young good looking people – I wish they could have diversified that part a bit, but other than that, it was a good start. ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marvel-agents-of-shield/669608/10 "2013-09-25T01:52:27Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > My edumacated guess is that the one that died was an LMD. I think it’s more than that. Coulson said that he was technically dead and that he had a long recovery, then it was hinted that even he doesn’t know the full story of it. Then again, he could be a LMD with Coulson’s memories or something. ---
**Author:** ![toast\_pakora](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3ec8ea/32.png) [@toast\_pakora](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toast_pakora)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marvel-agents-of-shield/669608/11 "2013-09-25T01:54:30Z")
Agree, I thought it was a polished effort but suffered from a couple generic characters (Stiff Agent, Sassy Hacker) and over-reliance on techno babble. Nice to see Ming Na again, maybe she can offset the blandness of the rest of the team. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marvel-agents-of-shield/669608/12 "2013-09-25T01:55:39Z")
> [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](#): > > I think it’s more than that. Coulson said that he was technically dead and that he had a long recovery, then it was hinted that even he doesn’t know the full story of it. > > Then again, he could be a LMD with Coulson’s memories or something. Or this might actually be Vision… ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marvel-agents-of-shield/669608/13 "2013-09-25T02:06:41Z")
It was good. Better than the Dollhouse pilot and that turned out to be great. So, did Gunn(J. August Richards)…the black super strong guy live? We assumed he was dead, but then they added that tag where they said he was stable in the hospital? Why did the show add that? Did someone decide they wanted to bring J. August Richards back? When I watch it, I still think Tamoh Peniket should be agent Ward. It was nice to see Ron Glass in it. I hope he recurs. ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marvel-agents-of-shield/669608/14 "2013-09-25T02:10:25Z")
They didn’t kill him. When he was “shot” they all had looks of relief on their face except for Coulson and the new agent who “shot” him. They had knowing smiles on their faces. It seemed to me that they needed him “dead” so they could put him to work instead of having him endlessly pursued by the police (he was wanted for the earlier assault at the factory). ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marvel-agents-of-shield/669608/15 "2013-09-25T02:11:48Z")
Gunn lived, that was no ordinary bullet. We found out he was alive and would survive at the scene where he was shot. Didn’t you see everyone smile? I liked it, trying a little hard for the Scooby humor but better than 99% of everything on TV. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marvel-agents-of-shield/669608/16 "2013-09-25T02:19:19Z")
Yeah, they had a scene describing the gun at the beginning of the show. It wasn’t a regular gun that shot bullets. It shot something under the target’s skin. And we had seen Fitz and Simmons were working an an antidote. So when we saw Ward shoot Peterson and then pulled back to see Fitz standing there, it was supposed to show that he had just arrived with the antidote and Ward had shot it into Peterson with the gun. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marvel-agents-of-shield/669608/17 "2013-09-25T02:24:56Z")
Whedon was following the old stagecraft adage: If you show a gun in the first act, you’d better use it before the play is over. The guy was shot with that gun that has the bullet fracture subcutaneously and not penetrate deep into the body. It knocked him out, which caused the chemical to go dormant. Then I assume they removed the device and the guy is recuperating. As for the show itself… I never thought I’d say it, but the Whedon witticisms are starting to bug me a little. I like self-referential geek humor as much as the next guy, but there’s a fine line where it starts to become a little too forced and obvious, and when that happens it _really_ doesn’t work. That said, it was well shot, had some good dialog, and the story is interesting. I’m glad Ron Glass is getting work. And Joss Whedon has earned enough cred with me that I’ll give it a long set of chances before I abandon it. But I have to admit I didn’t enjoy it as much as I thought I would. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marvel-agents-of-shield/669608/18 "2013-09-25T02:40:00Z")
Ron Glass! I didn’t see the credits and that was driving me crazy! Thanks. As for the OP, the episode was exactly, to the letter, the show that they promised. That may turn out to be good or bad. This pilot introduced characters but did nothing much else of interest. (Not to mention the cheesy Man In Black homages. I half expected Coulson to put on sunglasses and erase memories.) What else did you expect, Cubsfan? You do wonder why anybody would live in New York in a superhero universe, though. Why not just paint a target on your forehead and hand out guns? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marvel-agents-of-shield/669608/19 "2013-09-25T02:50:12Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > You do wonder why anybody would live in New York in a superhero universe, though. Where the heck else am I going to get bitten by a radioactive spider? Okay, granted, I could do that pretty much anywhere. But where the heck else does that result in superpowers? ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marvel-agents-of-shield/669608/20 "2013-09-25T02:54:35Z")
My wife is convinced that Coulson is a robot. It was pretty good. Didn’t know there was a Jed Whedon in the family. Anybody else think that Super Handsome Agent Man looked a bit like David Boreanez at times? _Hated_ the flying car. Cheesy, cheesy, cheesy. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marvel-agents-of-shield/669608.md?page=2)