“Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD” is probably the worst thing that has been churned out by the company as part of their Marvel Cinematic Universe. While Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) was a fan favorite character due to his appearances in Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Thor, and The Avengers, even he wasn’t enough to save the mostly awful first season of the series. At its worst, it was a bottom of the barrel procedural that just happened to take place in the MCU and constantly butchered characters (Deathlok, Graviton, etc.) and concepts from the comics. At its best? Well, at least it let Bill Paxton chew some scenery in the back third of the season as a baddie.
The second season managed to course correct quite a bit, but even then it was only decent at best. The core cast had a better handle on their characters, the writing had more focus, and the new additions to the character roster (Mockingbird, Lance Hunter, Calvin Zabo) were mostly good ones. Introducing the Inhumans (ahead of their full-fledged arrival on film in Phase Three) was a good idea that was executed in a mostly-competent fashion and they appear to be a permanent fixture of the show now. Here’s hoping they are better utilized in the coming season, especially since they look to be the main focus.
Am I looking forward to Season Three? Yes and no. I have a feeling that the show will continue to improve and a greater focus on more “comic booky” elements is a smart move. Also, at this point ABC has to be aiming for 100 episodes (aka 5 seasons) so that they can get it into syndication, so they should have no reason to hinder the series’ narrative growth. That said, with ABC planning to spin-off Mockingbird (Adrianne Palicki) and Lance Hunter (Nick Blood) into their own series (to be titled “Marvel’s Most Wanted“), I fear that a loss of two of the show’s best characters might knee-cap it if they can’t manage to beef up the writing for the other main characters. Here’s hoping they have a plan in place, should the spin-off go to series.
In the meantime, let’s check out the (very brief) sneak peek at the coming season, which includes a look at villain Lash (pictured above), in the video below. The series returns to ABC at the end of this month on Tuesday, September 29th at 9pm (EST).
