TV Review: Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D
Season: One
Episode: Pilot
Written by: Joss Whedon, Maurissa Tanchoren, Jed Whedon
Directed by: Joss Whedon
Starring: Clark Gregg, Cobie Smulders, Brett Dalton, Chloe Bennet
"The battle of New York was the end of the world. This...is the new world."
Not content with completely dominating the silver screen, Marvel have extended their reach to to a more accessible audience of television viewers with their Avengers Assemble spin-off "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D". Written and produced by the Godfather of all things geek (and busiest man in the world) Joss Whedon, the show has finally aired its pilot episode - so with so much expectation, and having been spawned from the third highest grossing movie of all time, how does it fare?
Unsurprisingly, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D is a 45 minute thrill ride from start to finish, and fans of both the Marvel cinematic universe and Joss Whedon's work as a whole won't be disappointed. Within just a few moments, the wit, humour and action packed spectacle of Marvel's work is realised once again, with a colourful cast of characters to introduce us into...well, the "new world."
The battle of New York changed the world as we know it, you see. As Maria Hill (reprised from the movie by a fantastic Cobie Smulders, presumably for the pilot only) cleverly states to top notch S.H.I.E.L.D agent Grant Ward, humanity used to think the most extraordinary thing in their world was a billionaire flying around in an armoured suit. Suddenly in The Avengers, aliens and demi-Gods are falling from the sky, and New York is being defended by the God of Thunder, some comic-book superhero who seemingly died in the 40's and an enormous green rage monster.
Agent Ward is about to be upgraded to "Level 7" by Agent Coulson (Clark Gregg, bringing a great humanity to a role which could have been alienating) who has miraculously survived his apparent death at the hands of Loki in The Avengers (more on that later). Ward is recruited to a particular team of agents who specialise in finding supposed "superheroes" and helping them become aware of their powers - and how to use them.
Such an event is on the go at that very moment, as a factory worker develops superhuman strength with the intention of using it for good. However on investigation, the S.H.I.E.L.D team realise he's actually just been stuffed with various "ingredients" for creating a superhero such as the extremis virus from Iron Man 3 and the super soldier serum from Captain America. An explosion waiting to happen...
Don't be expecting a million cameos from The Avengers, however. There are some nice references here and there ("She's worse than those cosplayers that hang around outside Stark Tower") but Whedon seems adamant that Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D should be its own individual rather than feeding from its associated movies.
The script works all the better for it, too - in true Joss Whedon style, we have a host of characters that are all equally entertaining. Comparisons with beloved sci-fi Firefly are well deserved (fans of that show will be happy to see a few familiar faces in the cast too), as the wit and humorous style of Whedon's writing shines through, particularly in the way he writes Agent Coulson and his intrepid grouping of these individuals.
Each member has a voice, each actor is sublime at portraying their character and for a show branching off from a movie filled with an ensemble of superstars, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D manages to make each and every one of its characters an individual worth paying attention to. Plenty of them even have mysteries of their own it seems...
Of course, as is the way with most pilots, those mysteries are left to be resolved outside the first episode. "He can never know," says Maria Hill regarding the circumstances of Coulson's survival. How exactly does Coulson live? And who is spending their time and money fusing together superhero formulas? Other questions for other days perhaps, but satisfyingly it looks as though Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D's life span is going to reach much, much further than episode one.
Summary
As if last year's triumphant Avengers Assemble didn't make it blatantly obvious, Joss Whedon and Marvel are a damn good match. Whedon knows exactly how to mix a multitude of different genres and characters together and make them blend seamlessly, while some brilliant acting from the cast (Clark Gregg in particular) keeps us grounded into a believable world (even if some of them are unbelievably good looking). It may be a little "too soon" for Firefly fans to call it a replacement, but Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D is about as close as we're going to get to the fantastic quality of accessible sci-fi that television has been missing. They were right: the geek really shall inherit the Earth after all. Welcome to the new world.
9/10 - Brilliant
See it if you liked: Torchwood (2006 - 2011), Avengers Assemble (2012), Iron Man 3 (2013)
