The Marvel TV show returns to Channel 4 tonight after a winter break – and as well as resolving the cliffhanger in spectacular fashion, it's looser, funnier and has an antihero to call its own
This blog contains mild spoilers for Agents of SHIELD.
Captain America was trapped in Arctic ice for 60 years before they thawed him out for Avengers Assemble. For UK fans of Agents of SHIELD, it must feel almost as long since they saw a new episode of the much-ballyhooed Marvel TV show. Channel 4 screened episode 10 – a cliffhanger, naturally – back in mid-December. Since then, five new episodes have already been shown in the US, albeit in rather piecemeal fashion due to the Winter Olympics and production breaks.
In the age of online spoilers and nefarious online access, the delay seems a little counterintuitive – but there's method in Channel 4's tardiness. It can now screen the remaining dozen episodes of season one in an uninterrupted block for continuity-obsessed comic fans, but it's also a long enough furlough that those who didn't stick with it might be tempted to get back on the Bus.
Looking back at those first 10 episodes with a little critical distance, it's clear that some elements were pretty weak sauce – and that's coming from someone who wrote 10,000 words about them. You could point to the inevitable disconnect between sky-high expectations – the Marvel movie universe is coming to telly! – and the rather more prosaic reality of hammering out a weekly TV show. Agents of SHIELD had to try and carve out a distinct identity in the shadow of billion-dollar characters like Iron Man and Thor. While viewers knew the mysteriously resurrected Agent Coulson (Clark Gregg) was a stand-up guy from his appearances in various Marvel movies, SHIELD as an organisation is a problematic concept: a surveillance-heavy, secrecy-obsessed, militarised Big Brother with global reach, near-limitless resources and a laissez-faire attitude to due process. And even though Coulson's team of attractive, pop-savvy agents were semi-autonomous troubleshooters, whenever they got into a serious scrape, the nagging question remained: why don't they just phone Captain America to sort all this nonsense out?
The good news is that after 10 slightly shonky episodes that ironed out character dynamics and endlessly teased the mystery of Coulson's return from the dead, Agents of SHIELD has gone from beta to better. In the next few episodes, the stakes are higher and the jokes are a little looser. Previous tangled plot points are revealed to actually be the origin story of a cult Marvel Comics antihero, a topline character the show can genuinely own. The team visit the SHIELD equivalent of Hogwarts, shading in some character hinterland. There are also guest stars who make an actual impression, from the great Bill Paxton (in a recurring role) to Thor's imposing Asgardian BFF Lady Sif (Jaimie Alexander). Even the contractually obliged Stan Lee cameo is borderline bearable. Agents of SHIELD is a show that used to get knocked for being bland – a sci-fi NCIS – but tonight's cliffhanger-resolving episode features a Coulson scene so unexpectedly graphic and unsettling it could be on American Horror Story.
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Recent reviews have been kinder, and after weeks of decline, there's even been an uptick in the ratings. Not that SHIELD was ever in much danger of being put to the sword: it makes sense for ABC (owned by Disney) to keep the show on-air because it's an ambient dripfeed of awareness for the many movies coming up from Marvel Studios (also owned by Disney). Sometimes the advertising becomes overt: instead of a new episode next week, US viewers are getting an hour-long "Assembling The Universe" special outlining how the Marvel sprawl of past, present and future movies intersect with the TV show, ahead of a major tie-in with the SHIELD-centric blockbuster Captain America: The Winter Soldier.
Simply by being the first to make it to air, Agents of SHIELD also unofficially functions as the anchor and entry point for Marvel's ambitious plans to expand further into TV. As well as developing Agent Carter – a 1940s-set spin-off for Captain America's plucky Brit love interest played by Hayley Atwell – the studio has teamed up with emerging power player Netflix to make multiple series spotlighting "street-level" Marvel characters like Luke Cage and Iron Fist. In this context, "street-level" means characters with powers and abilities that are TV-friendly – less CGI armour and Hulk-outs, more brawlers and ninjas. Marvel characters live in real-life cities rather than Metropolis or Gotham, so the fact that the four Netflix series are actually being filmed in New York also bodes well.
All this world-building and franchise-expanding is exciting – particularly for investors – but corporate synergy is not actually a superpower. Now that it's found its feet, Agents of SHIELD will have to work even harder to keep things inventive and exciting, to make the show feel more than just a cog in Marvel's expanding corporate machine. But as long as they keep making in-jokes for outcasts, I'm in. Reported by guardian.co.uk 2 days ago.
This blog contains mild spoilers for Agents of SHIELD.
Captain America was trapped in Arctic ice for 60 years before they thawed him out for Avengers Assemble. For UK fans of Agents of SHIELD, it must feel almost as long since they saw a new episode of the much-ballyhooed Marvel TV show. Channel 4 screened episode 10 – a cliffhanger, naturally – back in mid-December. Since then, five new episodes have already been shown in the US, albeit in rather piecemeal fashion due to the Winter Olympics and production breaks.
In the age of online spoilers and nefarious online access, the delay seems a little counterintuitive – but there's method in Channel 4's tardiness. It can now screen the remaining dozen episodes of season one in an uninterrupted block for continuity-obsessed comic fans, but it's also a long enough furlough that those who didn't stick with it might be tempted to get back on the Bus.
Looking back at those first 10 episodes with a little critical distance, it's clear that some elements were pretty weak sauce – and that's coming from someone who wrote 10,000 words about them. You could point to the inevitable disconnect between sky-high expectations – the Marvel movie universe is coming to telly! – and the rather more prosaic reality of hammering out a weekly TV show. Agents of SHIELD had to try and carve out a distinct identity in the shadow of billion-dollar characters like Iron Man and Thor. While viewers knew the mysteriously resurrected Agent Coulson (Clark Gregg) was a stand-up guy from his appearances in various Marvel movies, SHIELD as an organisation is a problematic concept: a surveillance-heavy, secrecy-obsessed, militarised Big Brother with global reach, near-limitless resources and a laissez-faire attitude to due process. And even though Coulson's team of attractive, pop-savvy agents were semi-autonomous troubleshooters, whenever they got into a serious scrape, the nagging question remained: why don't they just phone Captain America to sort all this nonsense out?
The good news is that after 10 slightly shonky episodes that ironed out character dynamics and endlessly teased the mystery of Coulson's return from the dead, Agents of SHIELD has gone from beta to better. In the next few episodes, the stakes are higher and the jokes are a little looser. Previous tangled plot points are revealed to actually be the origin story of a cult Marvel Comics antihero, a topline character the show can genuinely own. The team visit the SHIELD equivalent of Hogwarts, shading in some character hinterland. There are also guest stars who make an actual impression, from the great Bill Paxton (in a recurring role) to Thor's imposing Asgardian BFF Lady Sif (Jaimie Alexander). Even the contractually obliged Stan Lee cameo is borderline bearable. Agents of SHIELD is a show that used to get knocked for being bland – a sci-fi NCIS – but tonight's cliffhanger-resolving episode features a Coulson scene so unexpectedly graphic and unsettling it could be on American Horror Story.
Reading on mobile? Click here for video
Recent reviews have been kinder, and after weeks of decline, there's even been an uptick in the ratings. Not that SHIELD was ever in much danger of being put to the sword: it makes sense for ABC (owned by Disney) to keep the show on-air because it's an ambient dripfeed of awareness for the many movies coming up from Marvel Studios (also owned by Disney). Sometimes the advertising becomes overt: instead of a new episode next week, US viewers are getting an hour-long "Assembling The Universe" special outlining how the Marvel sprawl of past, present and future movies intersect with the TV show, ahead of a major tie-in with the SHIELD-centric blockbuster Captain America: The Winter Soldier.
Simply by being the first to make it to air, Agents of SHIELD also unofficially functions as the anchor and entry point for Marvel's ambitious plans to expand further into TV. As well as developing Agent Carter – a 1940s-set spin-off for Captain America's plucky Brit love interest played by Hayley Atwell – the studio has teamed up with emerging power player Netflix to make multiple series spotlighting "street-level" Marvel characters like Luke Cage and Iron Fist. In this context, "street-level" means characters with powers and abilities that are TV-friendly – less CGI armour and Hulk-outs, more brawlers and ninjas. Marvel characters live in real-life cities rather than Metropolis or Gotham, so the fact that the four Netflix series are actually being filmed in New York also bodes well.
All this world-building and franchise-expanding is exciting – particularly for investors – but corporate synergy is not actually a superpower. Now that it's found its feet, Agents of SHIELD will have to work even harder to keep things inventive and exciting, to make the show feel more than just a cog in Marvel's expanding corporate machine. But as long as they keep making in-jokes for outcasts, I'm in. Reported by guardian.co.uk 2 days ago.