5 Things. What I Would do for the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D is set to return this Tuesday for the second half of its freshman season. When last we saw them, the agents were scrambling to save Agent Coulson from Centipede and possibly pick up the remains of Mike Peterson who I originally thought in the pilot was going to be Power Man and then was sadly mistaken.

We’re 10 episodes in and for the first half of season 1 my thoughts on the show have changed, dramatically. Like Bruce Banner, you wouldn’t like me when I’m angry, dramatically.

Before the premiere, I was in full geek mode as many of my fellow comic enthused brethren were, and rightfully so. I thought we would see tie-ins to the Avengers, we would get some information about Coulson’s return (to the Marvel cinematic universe and life), and basically be bombarded with Marvel goodness and Easter eggs each and every show.

By episode 2, I was telling myself the show had to find its Wilbur Day telescopic legs. By episode 4 I was DVR’ing the show to watch at some point during the week if nothing else was on. Episodes 5, 6, and 7 were forgettable. Episode 8 I was piqued because of the Asgardian storyline. By episode 10 I was ignoring my job, kids, and maintaining some of my non-essential personal hygiene to figure out what this show was missing. Thanks to my dedication and ability to ignore my odor, I came up with 5 Things I Would Do with the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Keep us Hanging. As comic book fans, we are used to hanging storylines. Multi-issue arcs unable to be resolved in 23 pages. It would have been nice to see AoS not conveniently be able to wrap up an episode in 42 minutes and some ingenious Fitz and Simmons’ invention or discovery. Granted, I understand the show is still new and the writers are trying to establish the tone of the show and the characters but they can still achieve those things by making us wonder what is going to happen next week. Not every week needs to carried over to the following week but I’ve seen more Bosom Buddies episodes that were ‘To Be Continued’ than AoS. Once in a while couldn’t hurt.
Characters Welcome. I understand (I suppose) why Skye was asked to join the team. Her computer and hacking skills make Dade Murphy (bonus points if you know who Dade Murphy is before clicking the link) look like an 8-bit programmer but now, through the magic of a wristband, can’t do precisely what she was asked to do in the first place. The writing team attempted to make us care about this character by jamming plots and storylines for her down our throat like Ronan the Accuser smashing a Skrull with his Cosmic Rod. We first had the ‘will she or won’t she’ betray the team plot. She was part of the ‘will they or won’t they’ hook up plot with Ward until Ward got busy with Ming-Na’s Agent May. We still have the underlying mystery of her mother being dangled in front of us from time to time that will surely be a huge reveal at some point. The problem is, I could care less about it or her character. Basically, Skye is the ‘pretty’ cast member. What the writers should do is write less lines for Fitz and Simmons, beef up Skye with better writing and less gimmicky tired old TV plots (and let her use the damn computer already), and stop writing stand up material and one-liners for all of the characters. I get Joss Whedon is funny and witty with his characters’ lines but every character sounds like they moonlight at the Improv in between missions. I don’t need moody drama but I do need less open mic night.
Location, location, locations! You have a huge plane, a Disney budget, and a comic book universe filled with geographic locations to pull from and yet the team lands in Peru? One of its more appealing and relatable characteristics has been the Marvel Universe being an amalgam of real world locations and made up ones. So why not use the made up ones? Want to ramp up the geek and get people talking again, trying landing the team in Latveria. Have them pit stop at Empire State University. Swing by Symkaria.
They’re right next to each other. Think of the fuel they’ll save.
And for godssakes land in Wakanda. Why these places? Just the mention of Doom’s name helps expand the universe beyond the Avengers and gears up the geeks for a possible Dr. Doom cameo (of which he would not have to appear or appear solely in shadow but really, just his name would be enough). Empire State University? Help tie-in Spiderman to S.H.I.E.L.D (who you would think would make their inevitable appearance in one or both of the next Spiderman movies). Symkaria? How great of a character would Silver Sable be to have in the universe (I’ll answer that…pretty great. Light on the bottom line to produce for a show and can be amongst the supporting cast in any or all of the movies). And Wakanda. While that should be ’nuff said, it does take me to my next point.
Explain to me again what isn’t cool about this dude?
T’Challa. Not only is T’Challa (aka the Black Panther) Tony Stark smart, a Captain America level fighter, royalty, he’s been a member of the Avengers, Fantastic Four, and the Illuminati, and he is also the Marvel Universe character most deserving to be on some sort of screen if not be in his own movie trilogies. Introducing T’Challa via AoS does a few things. First, he is a fantastic character and the geeks would go nuts. Two, this can be our introduction to him complete with the obligatory origin flashback so when he shows up as a supporting character in an Avengers movie, we can save time telling his origin. Third, there is no worrying about who plays him on television because as we have learned, actors playing these characters can change (hasn’t there been like 17 different actors to play the Hulk now?). Lastly, Black Panther could be the first in a long line of Marvel heroes to grace the small screen. Which brings me to my final point…
Immortal and not one split end.
Heroes to Grace the Small Screen. Marvel has a catalog of characters longer than Reed Richards can stretch. You know what fanboys and fangirls watching AoS want to see from time to time? Superheroes! Yes, the show is about S.H.I.E.L.D, not superhumans. We have heard the producers and we stopped listening to them (as we will soon stop watching their show). Time to inject some superhumans in to the show. Marvel is working on bringing Daredevil and Iron Fist to Netflix, why not have them show up on AoS? How about Mockingbird (who might make the most sense to appear)? Bloodstone (Ulysses or Elsa…preferably Elsa)? White Tiger? Agatha Harkness, Prowler, Fixer, Machine Man, Baron Zemo, the Serpent Society, Morbius? The list of 2^nd and 3^rd tier characters goes on and on. You build viewer excitement and possibly inject new life to characters sorely lacking it.