The S.H.I.E.L.D. Debrief: Season 1, Episode 01 – ‘Pilot’
“The world is full of wonders.”
On the surface, Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD treads where Heroes, Alphas, and even the 70s’ Tomorrow People have dared. In practice, it’s a gleaming hour of pure fun tumbling through the fully realized Marvel universe to bring to life the potential of a new and exciting corner of superheroes. Only these heroes are less super, and more suited, as the premise (and all the ads) points out. It’s about the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division, which has been seen in glimpses in previous movies and at the forefront of The Avengers. The concept itself — a ragtag team of ‘who would’ve thought it’ agents and non-agents working together to fight the odds — does not blow away on its own. It will be the cases and the characters that make it.
However, peppered with quick one-liners and quiet visual gags, Agents of SHIELD redeems its flagging concept with its unending sense of humor and the subtle delivery of twists. Rather than throw them in your face with act breaks and music of impending doom, SHIELD chooses to roll just as naturally into its secrets as it does into everything else, helping you roll with the flow instead of be distracted by gags.
“This is the new world.”
In the realm of tie-ins, SHIELD does a complete job fitting itself into the niche of Marvel movie-verse. From direct references to billionaires in flying suits (said in the show as if it’s not crazy at all) to super-soldier serum to the ultimate question of is this team going to be able to act like a team: SHIELD delivers a Marvel super rollercoaster. Add in references to “with great power” and a Clean Slate concept, and the show’s not only self-referential but gleefully self-aware (as well as rival-aware). It’s grounded in both our world and theirs, when Ward mentions cosplay girls surrounding Stark Tower, allowing us to experience what would be an extraordinary thing (superheroes!) in a way we can understand (geekery and fanning!).
It’s interesting to note that the superheroes — the crowning Heroes of New York! — are considered to be at a security level unequal to knowing that their beloved Coulson is alive. This is highly indicative of the kind of operation Nick Fury runs. People only know what he believes they should know, and it casts an intriguing, darker light when you remember that this is an operation run by humans deciding what’s best, and they use the superheroes like tools; assets to be respected, but ultimately steered. Behavior like this has gotten villains in the past in trouble, and it would be glorious to see its effect on SHIELD in the future.
“We’re not exactly a team.”
It’s not uncommon for the Whedons to turn typical concepts on their heads, but SHIELD is only halfway there due to a slightly underdeveloped cast of team members and a lukewarm plot that’s a mix of Luke Cage’s origin story and Iron Man’s Extemis storyline. The strong members of the cast naturally include Clark Gregg as Agent Coulson, whose consummately overworked everyman is tempered perfectly by his quick and quiet delivery of wit. He can stand his own against superheroes and unruly teammates alike, with the occasional splash of badassery — like his ability to duck like a mofo; though, really, who didn’t expect those car doors to come flying off? Ming-Na Wen follows, as Melinda May, and Coulson’s second-in-command (they don’t say as much, but come on). Her quiet no-nonsense attitude is different than Coulson’s half-smile pleasantness, but she harbors the same ‘this is why I’m in SHIELD’ skills beneath. She was also introduced with the best possible hook: a seemingly uninjured, and capable, agent choosing a desk — something Coulson or Maria Hill would kill to get away from. We look forward to knowing more about her simply from that.
The rest of the crew suffers from less introduction — or too much introduction. Brett Dalton as Agent Ward is brought in as our point-of-view, letting us see him in action before he’s introduced to the story. At first, he’s the typical vigilante-type agent: the lone-wolf who’s too cool for the world. However, in getting to see Coulson systematically break him down with his differing tactics is pleasant enough to hopefully keep him from becoming just impossibly annoying with his snobbery and disagreeing. He might be an effective foil for Coulson, should he learn to operate on his level, but, for now, we can hope he just won’t get in his own way and that any reveals for him in the future, though not hinted at yet, are intriguing.
Chloe Bennet plays Skye. Let’s pause on that for a moment because… Skye. Also, because I originally mistyped it as ‘Skype’. Skype suffers the most from unflagging tropes: the sassy, overly skilled hacker, who has a quip for everything and nobody can possibly be better than her. It takes a certain kind of person to let you feel okay watching your favorites get taken down a notch, and Skye doesn’t quite fulfill that before besting Coulson, and SHIELD, at encryption. Luckily, Coulson has a few other things up his sleeve, but Skye, though she possesses a few quality lines (including that cough-and-miss-it comment about cosplay), trends dangerously towards the cliche. The hope for her is that now that her ‘recruitment’ is out of the way, she can begin to blossom. And hopefully not into some kind of double-crosser, thanks to whatever techno-gadget she shoved into her bra.
Ian de Caestecker and Elizabeth Henstridge play Fitzsimmons. Yes, Fitzsimmons the unit. This joke is made early on, but it’s unfortunately prophetic, as the two don’t manage to separate from each other much in terms of character development or usefulness. The power of bickering accents aside, they are also cloaked in a sense of typical characterization they must shed — and likely will, if Whedon’s past is any indication. So we’ll give them another episode or two before any full analysis.
We’ll end with a shout-out to Ron Glass, and the opening of the floor to you, to agree, disagree, or just do what internet commentators do.
Let’s all just agree on one thing: Lola’s not making it through the season.
