[QuickTidal]

Gnaw, on 17 November 2013 - 02:57 AM, said:

HoosierDaddy, on 09 November 2013 - 11:12 AM, said:

Hey Mal? Don't fucking watch then. I'm sure we'll all be gratefully blessed by the non-presence of Mal hate of American fuckery of something.

Sorry to hurt your non-Americanized feelings. Or no, not really. Because you don't have feelings unless they involve being butthurt at America. But, if you want to blame American cultural hegemony for your problems, you've got some big targets. It's real easy, ain't it?

Of all the reasons to go on a rant over the US and he picks television scheduling? That little voice in the back of his head isn't saying "god you can see for miles in here" anymore; it died of asphyxiation.

We can't pretend to understand Mal and his rants, we just kind of try to tolerate them. But yeah, this was a wingnut of a topic to go off about.

[Gnaw]

I seem to have lost the episode where they rescue the agent with the bomb in her head so I can't quote. But I thought they set Coulson up for a wonderful backstory. The "what did they do to him" followed by the "never mind".

All of his talk of second chances and starting over isn't really about the Loki pin-prick. It's about what happened when 'they' had him. Nice guy Coulson from the movies was apparently quite different in the pre-movie history.

I'm thinking that he was a cowboy type who got some people captured and killed. Reacted to that by swinging to a by the book, rules first type. Post-Loki (and Stark rubbing off) he's coming to a more balanced view.

My two cents at least.

And level 8 being the top? Hell no. Level 9 is discovered this season. Next season is level 10, maybe 11. It keeps going up until they cancel the show. La Femme Nikita style. Operations, Oversight, the Collective, then Center in the series finale.

[amphibian]

The pre-death Coulson appears to have been one of the better "follow the rules"/politician types in Shield, from the little pieces we've been given. He probably did some combat-based field work, which is why he says he's rusty reloading the gun and so on, but from his work in Iron Man/the Avengers and the planning stuff he's doing now, he probably wasn't ever a shoot-em-up person. The bureaucracy game was his milieu.

The second episode had a hint to backstory from when he was young, stationed in Colombia and having enough free time to really have a bunch of fun with a young lady. Probably a station chief or investigative guy who got promoted into planning.

The new Coulson is the "more flexible approach" guy.

[Gnaw]

Hmm. Now I've got to find that ep.

I'm hanging a lot on a memory of a throw away (maybe) line from when I was still in the "god this has got to get better" stage.

Edit: I have recently discovered that my dvr backup drive was never doing any backing up. So I may be out of luck for a bit.

This post has been edited by Gnaw: 18 November 2013 - 02:52 AM

[Gnaw]

Briar King, on 19 November 2013 - 03:00 AM, said:

Just got done watching last weeks ep. That was good tv. Fuck I can't wait for tomorrow's ep.

It is indeed. I have become a fan of this one. I'm glad I didn't' bail after the first three.

[A Demon Llama!]

Is this show actually worth watching and does it offer anything new that hasn't been done before? I watched the first episode and was very uninterested. Apart from Coulson the characters were bland, actually found those two nerdy type kids to be annoying. Does this have an actual larger story arc or is it eposodical with one in every 6 episodes actually contributing a bit of extra info to move things along?

[QuickTidal]

A Demon Llama!, on 19 November 2013 - 08:10 PM, said:

Is this show actually worth watching and does it offer anything new that hasn't been done before? I watched the first episode and was very uninterested. Apart from Coulson the characters were bland, actually found those two nerdy type kids to be annoying. Does this have an actual larger story arc or is it eposodical with one in every 6 episodes actually contributing a bit of extra info to move things along?

It's basically like ALIAS is that show had been about finding Marvel universe artifacts/instances/peoples (instead of Rimbaldi artifacts). It's also about the team dynamic, and yeah I think it's episode 4 when I cared about Skye...ep 5 is DEFINITELY where you care about Fitz and Jemma...and ep 6 furthers all that, plus starts to give Coulson his own new spins.

There IS a tentative larger story arc, but it's being deliberately slowly teased out...people and things have been mentioned that we know absolutely nothing about.

And a few of the team have backstories that include some overarcing stuff as well...mainly Melinda and Skye.

It's basically been a slower roll out in quality than any other Joss show...but it's been well worth sticking with it.

And note I was SO upset about the first ep being so cruddy that I bitched to everyone who I could how bad it was...but I'm glad I didn't give up now.

This post has been edited by QuickTidal: 19 November 2013 - 09:12 PM

[Blend]

I'm really enjoying the show so far! Last week's episode where Fitz and hot agent guy went on a mission was great! It tied into all of the previous episodes, and I think / hope that now that they've done good intros to everyone except for May (and I expect that won't come for a while yet, will probably unravel with the What's Up with Coulson storyline) I hope that they start getting into the overarching plot in earnest!

[Stalker]

here is an article I just saw about how this show was losing more and more viewers in the 18-49 range every week, and how that is worrying for the network. I think if this week's episode doesn't pique my interest, I will become part of that stat too.

This post has been edited by Stalker: 19 November 2013 - 10:33 PM

[QuickTidal]

Stalker, on 19 November 2013 - 10:33 PM, said:

here is an article I just saw about how this show was losing more and more viewers in the 18-49 range every week, and how that is worrying for the network. I think if this week's episode doesn't pique my interest, I will become part of that stat too.

Having been given the full episode order, as long as the ratings don't go into the shitter...then lower ratings aren't going to affect it if it continues on the upward swing and gets better and better. Those viewers will pick it up again on word of mouth.

Case in point: Both PERSON Of INTEREST and REVOLUTION suffered ratings/viewership drops of about that level in their first seasons (and those seasons were MUCH more lackluster than SHIELD as far as I am concerned) and made the swing back into high numbers.

I expect you'll see the same with SHIELD.

It's not LOST's continuous numbers...but considering ABC has tried to get another show onto the rails that's as successful...my guess is that SHIELD is going to be given every opportunity.

And above and beyond ALL that....both THOR 2 and CAP 2 are being tied into it....not to mention weekly connections to the film phases. It's kind of unprecedented and I don't think people will balk at that. In that vein I expect tonight's ep to bring stronger numbers simply because of the connection to the aftermath of THOR 2.

[Jakovasaurus]

What a berserk episode tonight. Methinks some anger management therapy is in order or maybe some r&r in Tahiti. It's a magical place.



BTW. The hype and build up about the tie in of this episode with Thor: The Dark World was a big let down, IMO. Only a few minutes at the beginning, and most of that was picking up bit pieces of detritus. The so called tie in was seriously lacking.

[QuickTidal]

Jakovasaurus, on 20 November 2013 - 03:08 AM, said:

BTW. The hype and build up about the tie in of this episode with Thor: The Dark World was a big let down, IMO. Only a few minutes at the beginning, and most of that was picking up bit pieces of detritus. The so called tie in was seriously lacking.

Wasn't the point that due to the events in THOR 2...the convergence of the 9 realms and the aftermath in London... is what made it so the Nuvo-Pagan Norse group could find the Berserker staff? I liked that it tied in such a way. Finding Asgardian detritus from the actual battle in THOR 2 would have been a bit trite and easy...but having the fallout from the convergence activate the Berserker staff so it could be found in Norway from 1,000 years ago? Love it. Oh and it fits well with the theme of THOR 2 (that of having something ancient be activated by convergence and human presence [spoiler Jane activating the Aether and summoning the Malekith[/spoiler])

I thought they did it well without having to bow down to THOR 2 in any way. they took a link and used it to tell their own story. Good on the writers. It would have been WAY easier to write an ep with detritus from the battle...but they took a more unique route. At least that's how I saw it.

Loved the development of Wade's back-story in this one...but now I'm afraid he might sleep with Melinda..and I was shipping him with Skye of course...gods I'm such a fanboy.

[Blend]

QuickTidal, on 20 November 2013 - 03:20 AM, said:

Loved the development of Wade's back-story in this one...but now I'm afraid he might sleep with Melinda..and I was shipping him with Skye of course...gods I'm such a fanboy.

Oh, he's gonna boink May, but he's totally gonna end up with Skye. You have to keep in mind that she did very much betray him, and he places a LOT of importance on trust. They're not gonna get together until Skye has done something to really rebuild the trust (i.e. have the bracelet thing taken off, finally).

[amphibian]

Nah, Ward is the beefed up version of Xander. No Buffy/Skye loving time for him.

[QuickTidal]

amphibian, on 22 November 2013 - 05:08 AM, said:

Nah, Ward is the beefed up version of Xander. No Buffy/Skye loving time for him.

Whaaaat?

They've totally pinned Ward to Skye. It just may not happen for a while...like Jack & Freckles on LOST.

Xander to Buffy? Where on earth do you get that vibe? Buffy never looked at Xander through an x-ray tech laptop and murmured a pleased sound. No, Skye is way into him...and he finds her foxy (or at least he should....she'd damned foxy!)

[polishgenius]

I really hope he doesn't get with Skye, that would be so boring (and also there's no chemistry between them whatsoever, not that it's easy to get chemistry between two blocks of wood). If anyone it should be Simmons- the scene where he was talking her up the treetrunk was probably his most effective in the whole show so far.


This episode was probably the best one yet, but it's still got a ways to go.

[QuickTidal]

polishgenius, on 22 November 2013 - 12:54 PM, said:

I really hope he doesn't get with Skye, that would be so boring (and also there's no chemistry between them whatsoever, not that it's easy to get chemistry between two blocks of wood). If anyone it should be Simmons- the scene where he was talking her up the treetrunk was probably his most effective in the whole show so far.


This episode was probably the best one yet, but it's still got a ways to go.

Bollocks to that PG. Jemma is gonna be with Fitz, that's how it is.

Skye is broken still and Ward likes to fix / protect. It works. They just aren't there yet.

And I can't fathom calling them blocks of wood. They are both doing an admirable job...hell the whole THOR 2 ep was Ward character development about his past and I felt his upset palpably. With Skye every time she has a heart to heart with Coulson I feel her. I think she's doing great!

[polishgenius]

QuickTidal, on 22 November 2013 - 03:47 PM, said:

Bollocks to that PG. Jemma is gonna be with Fitz, that's how it is.

There's been a couple of hints that might be the way they intend but by and large they've been rather like a brother/sister relationship and getting them together would creep that up.


And I agree, Ward and Skye are certainly going to end up a pair, I just wish they wouldn't.


Block of wood is harsh on Chloe Bennett, if I'm fair - she does quite well in the quieter moments with Coulsen, you're right. However she isn't nearly the actress she needs to be to carry the show the way she was being asked to in the early running, which is part of the reason it improved when the focus started to shift. In particular, when she's arguing, she mostly comes off as whiny rather than persuasive or inspirational.
Though a lot of the problem is with the character, which the writers haven't figured out how to fit into the show at all.


Ward, however, I'm just not feeling at all. Melinda May's actress can do the 'act bundles with just a bare twitch of the lip or eyebrow' thing. Ward's guy, not so much.
It doesn't help that I don't like his character in any way either. But in the hands of a better actor he'd be fine. There's an almost identical sort in The Blacklist and I like him just fine.

[QuickTidal]

Fair point about Chloe...so far. I have faith she'll bring it. Otherwise, she actually reminds me of Eliza Dushku without the smarmyness.

And Ward...yeah I can see that POV...

Though I will note that the ladies on Tumblr LOVE them some Brent Dalton.

[polishgenius]

He's a good looking chap, I can't deny it.


I think a lot of the problems with this show come from the fact that it's cast and structured like a Joss Whedon show, but it isn't one really. Joss is a dab hand at taking things that really shouldn't work and making them do so via a combination of great writing and solid directorial/creative choices - here, it's been set up in the same vein but just hasn't quite got together.
It's improving and its not far off really clicking by now, but it's still all a bit muddled.