My thoughts on Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D: Why are the characters so bland?

[sinkwriter]

I haven't seen Joss Whedon's film The Avengers.

*gasp*

I know, right?!

Shame on me. I'm a huge Whedon fan. How can I not have gone and supported his work in the movie theatre realm? (Not that he needed my help. Just look at those gigantic box office numbers.)

I confess, it's one of those films I meant to see, but just didn't get around to seeing. Not because I didn't want to; more because I'm still out of work and have tightened my budget so that I rarely allow myself to go to the movies or spend unnecessarily (though I would contend that if I really, really wanted to, I would have found a way to make it happen like I did when the Harry Potter films were still premiering).

Anyway, I haven't seen it. The film's on my 'eventually get to it' list but I just haven't yet.

Nevertheless, I was excited to see a new TV series by Joss -- Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D -- as a sort of spin-off of this aforementioned film. I've loved his other works: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel the series, Firefly, even elements of Dollhouse (which missed the mark but still managed to be very thought-provoking to me). I like his style, I love his sense of humor, and I love superhero movies, so I was looking forward to seeing what he and his team would do with this particular new series.

Sadly, the pilot episode didn't quite work for me. Granted, many shows need more time to find their footing. But I feel like this pilot didn't hit the mark in a way previous Joss Whedon pilots have. It was missing a crucial element for its regular cast of characters: emotional connection.

Click the link for the rest of my thoughts. WARNING: SPOILER ALERT!



I think my issue with the SHIELD pilot is that I didn't have anyone to connect with. The only character I felt for was J. August Richards' character (Gunn from Angel! Yay!), but seeing as he was listed as a 'guest appearance' I felt like I shouldn't get invested in him because he wasn't going to stick around. With him gone, I don't feel like I connected with any of the other characters.

I love the quippiness of Joss's writing voice. However, what made me connect with and love his previous shows is the way the characters' vulnerabilities showed through beyond their initial hip quips and snarkiness.

In Firefly, we see Mal's anger and struggle with the way the world works now that they've lost the war; we see his amazing, funny, vulnerable crew and how they need him as a captain, even if he's flawed.

In Buffy, she was this superhero who was also still a kid, learning where she fits, and finding new friends in wonderful, sweet misfits like Willow and Xander.

In Angel, we got the intense connection in someone trying to stay under the radar and in the dark (Angel) and then opening up to another person (Cordelia) and allowing them in, even if it's uncomfortable, and then being okay with saying, yes, this is my calling, I'm not going to just skulk in the dark; I'm going to help the helpless.

There are so many emotional connections to the characters in the Buffy, Angel and Firefly series. With SHIELD, I just felt like I was watching something trying to be slick and funny (and some of it was funny, I did laugh out loud because I love Joss's humor), but ultimately it lacked the punch of emotional depth. If I knew J. August's character was staying, I would have felt like that was the character I connected with and wanted to see triumph, but without him as a regular, who do we have? Have we seen the rest of the characters be vulnerable in some way, so that we can feel like we're involved in their stories and want to see them triumph over the crap that gets thrown at them? I didn't sense that in any of the other characters on SHIELD. There wasn't enough shown. Everyone was too hip, too capable, too un-phased by what they were seeing and experiencing. How can I connect with characters who aren't thrown by anything they experience?

And on a superficial level, I objected to the casting because other than Ming-Na Wen all of the women were very similar in appearance -- Caucasian, brunette and beautiful. They weren't necessarily distinguishable from one another (the hacker, the science geek, or the lead person working with Coulson, all seemed and looked too similar).

What I've loved about previous series by Joss is the way they've chosen unique faces -- Alyson Hannigan, Nicholas Brendon, Jewel Staite, Adam Baldwin, Nathan Fillion, Alan Tudyk, Gina Torres, Alexis Denisof, Amy Acker -- all these actors were attractive but they also came with quirks and something unusual that stood out and made you pay attention. I feel like the casting for SHIELD is bland in comparison. Not because these people couldn't act, but because they just didn't offer up anything that dug in deeper and made me sit up and say, "Okay, I want to see more of this person and what they can do. I want to know more about their character. There's something there that I need to see."

Overall I thought the pilot was fine but just didn't resonate the way it could have.

Have you seen the show? What did you think?

Comments

[poniesandphotos.livejournal.com]

I felt kind of the same way. I do think that you should see the Avengers though, since some of the characters cary over and that could help with your attachment to some of them. Coleson in particular has been in several of the Marvel films and it was nice to see him again, and I've always liked Agent Hill (The brunette woman that was flirting with Coleson). I am hoping that having to balance new characters with old along with a pretty heavy backstory was the issue with the pilot. I was entertained enough but not in love with the pilot. I'll watch the next few episodes and see. I'm not all that interested in tv shows in general and only watched this one because of Joss's name attached to it. I'll not be heart broken if it ends up not being my thing.

[pintsizeninja.livejournal.com]

YES THIS ALL OF THIS. Seriously. It's exactly how I feel. And I'm a HUGE Avengers fan, so I was really disappointed. It was nice to Coulson again and Maria Hill, but I didn't give a shit about any of the new characters they introduced. I don't think the dialogue was Joss Whedon's brand of snappy, either. Everything fell completely flat for me. I think a lot of people are loving it because of their allegiance to/love for Coulson. The pilot absolutely lacked emotional depth. I feel like the hacker chic is just a rip-off of Faith, in personality and looks.

So yeah, basically, I was really disappointed and agree with everything you say. I'll still give it a shot and continue to watch it, but it definitely didn't live up to my expectations (which may have been too high, anyway.)

[ladymidath.livejournal.com]

I have not seen Marvel Agents Of Shield even though I have seen the posters advertising it. It's a pity that it sounds so blah because Joss did such a fantastic job with The Avengers.
I will watch it when it comes on but it sounds like I should not expect too much.