Watched last night, and I give it a guarded thumbs up. Possibly the best pilot Whedon has done, but still very much with that “pilot” feel. Some stuff was predictable, a few things weren’t, and a lot of the setup was rushed. But I’ve learned my lesson after almost abandoning Firefly after the pilot (sorry!) and almost abandoning Dollhouse right before the game-changing episode (dollhouse fans know which one I mean) and passing on Angel until well after watching Buffy (whoops!). Joss has earned my trust, and I can see he’s already plotting and scheming for this to be more than Hero/Monster of the week.
For example…
Precisely. I was bummed with the cop-out “not really dead” bit, but then got a big grin on my face at “He really doesn’t know?” so Joss. so great.
Of course there were some familiar faces from his other shows. That’s how he rolls. And it’s not just Nepotism, it’s because they’re damned good actors. I was really bummed to see J. August Richards listed as Special Guest star and not part of the main cast.
As for the new folks, Ming Na was really great. Lots of subtle reactions indicating there’s more to her character we haven’t seen yet. Also nice to have an action hero part played by an “older” woman. (older in quotes since if I hadn’t looked her up imdb, I would have thought she’d been in stasis since Joy Luck Club. That is one well aged 50-year-old). Agent Ward too, I thought was set up well to have hidden layers. Shades of Angel’s hidden goofiness there. He’s more than just a hunky tough guy, methinks.
Skye seems like what happens if Eliza Dushku and Alyssa Milano have a baby. Beautiful, expressive, but no way do I buy her as a computer expert better than SHIELD’s best. :rolleyes: “Fitz-Simmons” was too cutesy for my taste, too. I’m sure they’ll get their own development eventually. But for now, it seems like a one-note joke, and I often had trouble understanding them.
I’m curious to see how well it integrates with the movie franchise. It would be nice to at least have the occasional cameo from Sam Jackson, or one of the other stars (other than Agent Hill). But I don’t want the show to become just a platform to promote whatever Marvel movie is coming out that week. I expect lot of stuff like the Buffy/Angel “non-crossovers” that happened once the shows were on different networks. “Coulson, nice to have you back, how was your week on Sakaar with the Avengers?” or like Worf’s entrance into First Contact.
Overall, I’m just happed to have a Whedon show on the air again. Here’s hoping this stops reminding me of MIB, Heroes, the 4400, Torchwood, and X-files, and takes the best of those, avoids the worst, and becomes a classic.