REVIEW -- Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (Series Premiere)

ABC and Marvel Studios' highly anticipated Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has finally premiered on it's Tuesday 8PM time slot for those of us in the United States, while fans in the UK will have to wait until Fridays for their weekly fix.

This write-up would have been posted immediately following the premiere, but I didn't want to post spoilers for my viewers who read this blog internationally and haven't seen it yet.

Cast and Crew:

Clark Gregg as Agent Phil Coulson: An agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. who oversees many of the division's field operations. The character will headline the series. At the 2013 South by Southwest festival, Joss Whedon confirmed that Coulson is alive in the series, despite his apparent death at the hands of Loki in Marvel's The Avengers. When describing his character's return from the dead, Gregg said, "When Joss described to me the mystery...and the complexity and the unanswered questions about Phil Coulson standing there trying to deal with this, I found it so fascinating and so true to the world of the comics and mythology in general as I understand them that I was immediately in."

Ming-Na Wen as Agent Melinda May: An agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. who is an ace pilot and weapons expert. The character was originally listed with the name Agent Althea Rice (a.k.a. The Cavalry) on casting sheets.

Brett Dalton as Agent Grant Ward: An agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. who is a black ops specialist. He is a gruff, asocial manly man in his early 30s who is great at his job but not so great at getting along with his coworkers. Ward has a strong moral foundation and is not without his charm.

Chloe Bennet as Skye: A civilian new recruit and computer hacker, described as "bubbly and goofy" but "also warm, edgy and witty." She can more than hold her own in any situation. Skye is obsessed with superheroes.

Iain De Caestecker as Agent Leo Fitz: An agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. who specializes in weapons technology.

Elizabeth Henstridge as Agent Jemma Simmons: An agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. who specializes in life sciences (both human and alien) and is the close partner of Agent Leo Fitz.

Former Whedon collaborator J. August Richards (Gunn on Whedon's Buffy: The Vampire Slayer spin-off,  Angel) plays Mike Peterson in the pilot, an ordinary man who gains extraordinary powers. Cobie Smulders reprises her role as Maria Hill in the pilot after her appearance in The Avengers. Joss Whedon stated: "I wanted very much to have Cobie in the pilot because as much as anyone else, she is S.H.I.E.L.D. She's cool and commanding, and has the dry humor that plays so well with Clark's."

Firefly and Serenity actor Ron Glass also appears in the pilot as Dr. Streiten. David Conrad and Ruth Negga have been cast in unnamed, recurring roles. Ian Hart has been cast as Dr. Franklin Hall.

Episode Synopsis: 

After the events of The Avengers, S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Phil Coulson assembles a small team of agents to investigate a mysterious group called the Rising Tide. At the same time an explosion in a building happens, this is a build used by the Rising Tide for research. As they investigate the explosion they encounter Mike Peterson (J. August Richards), a man who has acquired superhuman powers. A member of the Rising Tide named Skye tries to convince Mike to let the world know who he is. Coulson and Agent Ward find Skye and question her on their plane. Skye agrees to help and gets S.H.I.E.L.D. the last few seconds of video footage before the blast at the building. Using this footage S.H.I.E.L.D. finds out that mike has something in his system that can destroy anything in a 2 lock radius and kill him. Skye is forced by Mike to clear his data available to S.H.I.E.L.D., at the same time she inputs their location. Coulson and Ward are able to take down Mike without killing him or anybody else. At the Coulson invites Skye to join S.H.I.E.L.D.

The Verdict: 

Going into this, I didn't know what to expect at all. The only thing I knew was that Josh Whedon was getting the chance to hem another regular TV series, with Ming-Na Wen and Clark Gregg rounding out the cast. That alone was enough to draw me into the watching.

Much like the child in the image on the sidebar, the world has changed after the attack on New York City. Humankind has realized that they are living in a world where gods and living legends walk among them.

In terms of narrative, this series started on a fantastic note, covering how public are dealing and coping with the post-crisis situation of the attack on New York City that was thwarted by the Avengers in their film that premiered last year. I will go on record and say it established a better feel than Ironman 3 did in terms of showing where we, as human beings, stand in this post-apocalyptic crisis in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Superheroes, metahumans, gods, and living legends are not things of pure fantasy anymore in this world. I think it's nice breath of fresh air that we follow around the mere-mortals and see what gets done on S.H.I.E.L.D.'s watch while The Avengers are separated, dealing with their own personal demons.

Maria Hill threw me off at first glance as Cobie Smulders was sporting a different look than she did in last summer's Marvel's The Avengers. I hope she has a bigger role in this series rather some short-lived cameos like Nick Fury in the previous Avengers movie tie-ins. I'm intrigued to know what is the big secret that she is keeping from Agent Coulsen. If I were to guess, I would say S.H.I.E.L.D. either cloned him or revived him as a synthezoid, much like what was done to Wonder Man when his mind was dumped into The Vision by Ultron. With the next Avengers film set to deal with The Age of Ultron angle, I can only hope that they are going to start sprinkling clues concerning that with this spin-off TV series.

While I loved Ming-Na Wen's performance as Melinda May, I felt that Coulsen got her to join his team a bit too easy. I want to know why she was in her boring little exile (Yoda-style) in the first place. Maybe that will be explored in-depth over the course of the season, but I felt that she went with Coulsen's offer a bit too easy for my taste. To say she was so perfectly fine with doing nothing and staying out of the action, she really jumped at the chance to mix it up again when push came to shove.

Other than May, I was surprised to find myself enjoying the science team of Leo and Jemma the most out of Coulsen's recruits. Sure, they aren't the Jeffersonian team found in Bones, but their charm makes it work.

I'm going to call it right now but Skye seems like the fan-favorite for the mass appeal for this show from start. She starts off as the spearhead behind the Rising Tide propaganda movement and instantly she shifts into the role of computer analyst/hacker this makeshift team led by Coulson. Out of everyone on the team, I see her being the most 'normal' of the group, as she seems to serve as Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s one character who will be the eyes and ears of the "normal" people in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, who are not accustomed to being around superheroes, metahumans, gods, and everything else strange since the attack on New York City.

Agent Grant Ward didn't leave any lasting impressions on me on this premiere, but he just seems like your generic "macho man" you have to cast in this type of narrative. I guessing that Coulsen assigned him to this team to expand on his social skills, which was seen with his interactions with Skye during her interrogation.

At first glance, I was with everyone else on the assumption that J. August Richards was portraying Luke Cage AKA Power Man in this premiere episode. I'm glad he wasn't as no offense to good ol' Gunn but I just can't see him in that role. Maybe as the Rocket Racer but not Cage. Regardless, I was pleased with his performance in this episode as Mike Peterson.

I'm glad to see that Josh Whedon learned how to do better fight choreography since the days of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. Don't look at me like that. Go back to any episode of Buffy, and you can EASILY spot Sarah Michelle Gellar's stunt double in every fight scene. With both Disney and Marvel Studios backing this series, it's to be expected though that it wouldn't look as cheesy here. I'm anxious to see what else we could expect in this series in terms of action in the future.

My biggest complaint with this premiere is that they didn't give viewers enough to chew on in terms of making them want to tune in for the next episode. I was expecting that they would end on a cheap cliffhanger note, much like Heroes, that would sucker viewers into tuning in for the next episode. While I'm intrigued on what was the call that Coulsen got at the end of the episode, it's still not enough ammunition to make me pumped for the next episode. I just hope that this show doesn't lose steam much like Heroes did after it had such a strong fan base from start.

For the first episode, they established a strong foundation that could explore some potential points that can be further fleshed out and explored in other stand-alone Marvel films. I'm anxious to see where does this lead for the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe from here. With Josh Whedon at the helm and with both Marvel and Disney eagerly backing this show financially, the sky is the limit. I'm giving this premiere a 2.75 out of 5.