WHast if instead of a LMD, coulson is a cyborg, upgraded with tech.

THat way later on, he can get shot of useful extremis and be fully cured.

 

About Coulson, my current prediction is clone made in a facility in the Carribean somewhere. Also considering how often the phrase "It's a magical place" was said about Tahiti Im wondering where they're going to take that. It was repeated far too often to not be a hint.

As for the pilot, was it the greatest thing Ive ever seen? Not at all but for a premiere of a show set directly in the Marvel Universe I certainly don't think it was bad by any stretch and Im willing to at least give it until mid season two before I stop. Calling it quits based on a single episode is idiotic, you have to give a show time to find its legs.

 

Probably not gonna happen, but wouldn't it be awesome if the whole "Tahiti is a magical place" thing was leading to the introduction of the Marvel Universe's premier magic-user, Dr. Strange?

I think Coulson actually died in The Avengers. Now he's back. The how is classified above even Coulson's clearance and he only thinks he his death was faked. That seems to be the most obvious way to take it.

As far as the episode goes, it was alright. I liked it, of course, but I expected to like it more. 'Secret team of half a dozen quirky but competent professionals investigate cases of super-powered people/alien tech/sci-fi crime' has been done, and Whedon didn't really bring anything new to the table other than a fan-favorite character and some of his enjoyable trademark dialogue. Oh, and something something class divide look we're topical blah.

Also, does anyone find it amusing that everybody's all "the whole team is white! (except for the asians, they don't count)".

 

Actually I'm glad they're not shoehorning in one of every race just to fill some stupid diversity quota.

 

There's always Shepherd Book.

 

So the second episode wasn't really a massive improvement on the first. It was still extremely cheesy at times and I lost count of how many times I cringed (a raft? seriously?) though there was some funny moments, from Coulson mostly.

I kind of see a worrying pattern forming though - in this article Whedon talks about how the US Government shutdown might impact the show, and about how he wants the show to address real world issues. In a world where superheroes are popping up everywhere and aliens just invaded New York, why are they focusing on the factory workers losing their jobs and Peruvian rebels? I don't expect it to be constant superhero battles or anything, but the repeated 'here is the political message of the day' moments are already getting old for me.

Spoiler

Other than that, Fury's cameo at the end was fucking awesome. His appearance and Hill's have both been pretty good so far, and I'm hoping we'll more people from the movies though it seems unlikely.

 

Really? I actually enjoyed this episode way more than the first. It's not the best hour of television still, but it improved greatly from the pilot.

Two episodes in and "political message of the day" is getting old? It's character development. No one is going to understand Skye or her beliefs unless something causes them to become more out in the open. The plot is always going to revolve around character development. That's how Whedon works.

Whedon has never created a show ranked among shows like Breaking Bad or Lost. This show is so far, very similar to Angel and Buffy. It's going to have it's rough edges, and it's going to be fun. Just have to enjoy the ride and not grumble at every bump along the way.

I'm not saying this show is ranked among Whedon's best quite yet, but it always takes more than a couple episodes for just about any show to grow on you.

I'm pretty sure I enjoy it more than I did Dollhouse though.

Like I said, people will be disappointed because they are expecting an Avenger's TV show, with movie style plot every week.

 

Yeah, I felt this episode did a better job of developing the characters, especially the scientists.

I was very surprised to see Samuel L. Jackson, makes we wonder if the show gets its budget from both the network and Marvel.

 

I liked this episode a good deal more than the premiere. I can already see the char dev wheels beginning to spin, though I don't expect we'll see anywhere near the amount of depth that we saw in Firefly.

It's part of the Disney machine. There is an endless supply of money.

 

Honestly this whole episode was very predictable. I could see Skye being a double agent and the Peruvians betraying the team a mile away. And all the character interactions felt boring too. The "finding out how to work as a team thing" wasn't exactly new, and while that alone doesn't mean it's bad, it wasn't an interesting variation on it either. It just felt standard. Not to mention the blatant romance they're already setting up between Skye and Agent What's-His-Name, which I'm just not feeling, at all. It still feels too cheesy at times too, particularly with them trying to make Coulson into James Bond or something.

I don't know. Maybe this is the typical style for Joss Whedon, but I've never seen Buffy or Angel or whatever beyond a couple minutes of reruns on TV. I think the only things he's made that I've seen substantially are Firefly, Serenity, The Avengers and Dr. Horrible. And, well, this isn't ranking up so far to any of those. I'm still going to give the show a few weeks though. Next week it looks like they're bringing in Graviton, and I'm hoping that when they start bringing in actual comic elements that it will start to shine.

 

The betrayal was painfully obvious and thus far, the show's delivered solid entertainment, but nothing more. It's not as awesome as Firefly... That said, it's a huge sandbox Joss Whedon's got to play in and I'm sure it'll get better as we go along.

Dat Fury cameo. <3

 

To be fair, I'm not really expecting an "in depth" show, as Avengers was more of a family film than something like Man of Steel.

Was it just me or did the male Agent and the older Asian female seem like they used to work together/know each other? Atleast thats the vibe I was getting.

 

I really hope Mary Skue is going to be the villian and not be redeemed by the power of teamwork and friendship.

 

I really want to like this, it just seems so... campy and formulaic. The arguments, the single-facet personalities, nobody seems to have depth yet.

 

I haven't watched yet, but the comparison to Buffy and Angel... could someone back that up or elaborate or discredit?

 

It's still a better show than most I've seen for the past few years. It's just... I was hoping for something a bit stronger. I'd put it at better than Dollhouse, but weaker than Buffy and Angel. Not even close to Firefly. Yet. So far, I kinda agree that moving it towards family friendly stupid fun really hurts it.

A world with a shitload of superheroes should be a scary place.

 

It's pretty boring.

Is it like a rule somewhere that 'Science nerds' need to be spastic and annoying? That guy in Dollhouse (Toopher?) was not bad at all in the start, and gained quite a bit of depth as the show went on. The duo here just grate on the nerves.

Waiting for the day Worm gets picked up for a TV treatment.

 

Kinda the same feeling from episode two as the pilot; it's fun, slick and well made, but ultimately it's a comic book style romp rather than a serious, involved drama. The closest it's got to really shining so far is the cameo at the end of episode two, which was hilarious and worth the previous hour or so, but yeah. Entertaining.

Edit: with regard to the similarities to Whedon's other stuff, it's more in the style than anything else - eclectic mix of people in a situation that most of them aren't really experienced with (Buffy and its high-schoolers fighting demons, Firefly with smugglers harbouring political fugitives), the same sort of humour, many of the same types of characters.

 

Topher and Dewitt were probably the most interesting characters in Dollhouse. Olivia Williams was fucking amazing in that show.

 

Didn't make it past the pilot for Dollhouse.

To be perfectly honest, haven't yet had a chance (or driving need) to finish Firefly, either. But, I recognize what people see in them.

Really liked Buffy and Angel, for the same reason I'm loving this, which is the same reason others seem to be shitting on it: the campy fun.

Aside from the one where Joyce died, can you name a completely serious episode of Buffy? The camp is part of the style in the Whedon wheelhouse; the wit and the silliness keep the show from taking itself too seriously; the instant it does, the fun is over.

I actually want the show to be silly; humour wise, it matches up well with the films (except maybe Incredible Hulk) and story-wise, it makes as much sense as the comics.

Also, any TV show that get Sam Jackson to show up, even for just three minutes, deserves a chance.