It Gets Better Later: Why You Should Give Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D Another Look

Before we begin, I want to start by saying that there will be HEAVY spoilers for Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Arrow and Agents of Shield(naturally). So don’t come crying to me when I tell you that Snape Killed Nick Fury, or Agent Coulson is really Jon Snow’s mother. Ok? Ok.

 

Now I for one have never really liked the argument “It Gets Better” when referring to a video game or TV show. If something doesn’t catch me at the start, why should I have to slog through seven more hours of it to get to the crunchy goodness.. I got things to do. Comics to read. I can’t devote myself to half a season of drudge work before the main villain shows up and kicks the hero in the face. Slow starts are one thing but sometimes shows can be painful when it comes to this.

I’m looking at you, season one of Next Generation.

And that brings me to Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Now, to clarify, I was really excited for this show. It’s a show that centers around the agents working for the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division(Yes I had to look that up, I’m only human.), the spy organization that works in the background of the main Marvel Universe. While Hulk is of smashing things, or Tony Stark is off being a tool(as is the Stark’s way),the agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, Led by Nick Fury(Played by Sam “Tired of these Monkey Fighting snakes” Jackson in the movies), they keep a constant watch, making sure the world is safe from the shadows.

 

How I loathe your smug face.

The shows premise was too good to fail. It’s a spy show set in the MCU, what more do you want? That, along with the fact that this could open up avenues for more characters to be used and expanded on, characters  that may not be captivating enough to hold down a big screen role, but would work better in television. Similar to what DC did with its show Arrow because, let’s face it, no way could Deadshot hold his own movie.

Don’t worry folks, he’ll be up in time for his Suicide Squad show!

The hype was real for this show, is what I’m saying. And with Clark Gregg reprising his role as fan favorite agent Phil Coulson, this was sure to be a hit.

And then it started. And boy was this start rough. Like, running through a fan favorite character with a spear rough.

YOU ALL KNEW THIS WAS COMING

The show’s start was painfully slow. The first episode was fine, a sort of quick “Here’s your cast” breakdown to introduce you to the team. You had Agent Grant Ward(the brooding one) Melinda May(The Pilot, and other brooding one), Agents Fitz and Simmons(Resident Tech Geeks) and Skye(Hack master. So other tech geek). Once they were established, the show moved to a sort of monster of the week formula, where the team would go to various locations, do spyish things and then leave.

 

And that was it.

 

And therein lay the problem.

 

I found the show…boring honestly. I mean the actors were fine, but there was no gripping plot. Even the supposed overarching plot, that being what resurrected Coulson after Loki gutted him like a trout fell by the wayside. The show just kind of stagnated after episode three. There was a cute tie in to Thor: The Dark World, but other than that, not a whole lot of stuff to keep me excited. The show just felt too safe, especially for a Joss Whedon project. Things sort of picked up at the mid-season finale but nothing really jaw dropping.

That was until End of the Beginning and the Captain America tie-in. Then ish hit the fan, and hit that fan hard.

Poor guy. Never stood a chance.

For the last four weeks Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D has done a complete 180, hitting us with reveal after reveal after reveal, mostly tied into the fallout from Captain America: The Winter Soldier. S.H.I.E.L.D is in shambles after Cap 2, and the show reflects that. HYDRA is in, no one can find Nick Fury, the team is on the run, May has been hiding secrets about the details of Coulson’s resurrection from the team and biggest of all, Agent Grant Ward is a backstabbing HYRDA agent.

How could you do this to me? I was rooting for you! We were all rooting for you!

The stakes have been sufficiently raised, and there’s a tense atmosphere in the show now. I’m invested in these characters now, because I feel that there’s a sense of danger, and the possibility that they might not all make it out of this season alive. They sure as hell won’t be the same as they were at the start. This is what I wanted when I heard “tie in to the MCU”. This show feels like it’s a part of a bigger universe now, and that the larger universe actually has an impact. And I have to believe this was the intent from the start, seeing as the show writers knew what the plot to The Winter Solider was going to be. They had to play the long game, knowing that the tail end of the season would really sucker everyone in. And sucker them in they have.

You magnificent bastard, I read your book!

So what I’m saying is, for what it’s worth, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D does get better later. I think it needed to iron out some flaws, and really have a hard hitting story to finally shake the characters out of their rut, and make us, the audience, care about the world the show has created. I get that if you don’t want to wait amount for that kind of payoff. You’ve got things to do. Like read this blog. But, I really do think this is a show worth watching, especially for what it’s trying to do. It’d at least be worth it to watch everything from episode ten on, if only to avoid some of the corny lines in the earlier season. All in all Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D is really coming together, and worth a second look.

 

-The Token Black Guy

The Falcon Soars: Why Cap’s Sidekick is More Important than You Think

So this weekend, the sequel to Marvel’s Captain America: The First Avenger comes out, dubbed Captain America: The Winter Solider, and it’s being praised as one of the greatest comic book movies of all time, and rightly so. The movie explores complex topics like domestic spying and the idea of whether sacrificing freedom for safety is indeed the right course to take in this modern day and age. I could go on about how important this story is, and what it means for these kinds of movies in the future. But that’s not what we’re here to talk about. No, today we’re here to talk about the Falcon.

Truly A Majestic Creature.

Now right about now hard core comic book veterans are groaning and non-comic book fans might be a bit confused. The Falcon, played in the movie by Anthony Mackie, was created in the1960’s by living comic book writer legend Stan Lee, and has the distinct honor of being the first African-American superhero in mainstream comics. He aided Cap in fighting former Nazi’s under the command of Cap’s arch nemesis Red Skull in New York City, before later becoming an Avenger himself. But we’re not here to talk about his comic book status, which lands somewhere between Aquaman and Dazzler on the “Useless Hero No One Cares About” scale. We’re here to talk about what this character represents, and why having him on the big screen is important.

The Power of Disco Shall Be Your Undoing!

We live in a world where between the major comic book companies of DC and Marvel there are maybe between twenty and thirty African-American heroes, and of whom only ten have any marketability or movie appeal. Most of these heroes are part of an enable, like X-Men’s Storm(Played by Halle Berry in the X-Men Franchise) or they inherited the role from a predecessor, like one of the Green Lanterns, and as such any movie made is more likely to to just use the white counterpart. We’ve already seen this with the above mentioned 2009 Green Lantern movie, which starred Ryan Reynolds as Hal Jordan, the first man to done the cowl. African-American heroes sort of get forgotten in the large scheme of things when movies are concerned, and it’s been over a decade since there was a movie where an African-American was the protagonist. And for those of you at home playing at home, that movie was Wesley Snipes‘ Magnum Opus Blade: Trinity.

An epic that truly stands the test of time.

Yeah we’re overdue for a new movie. And this brings me to my point, why the Falcon matters.

The Falcon matters, because representation in media is a precious commodity, and it can really impact someone in surprising ways. Take for example, recent academy award winning actress and newest American sweetheart Lupitia Nyong’o. She was inspired to become an actress by watching famed talk show host and professional gift giver Oprah Winfery in The Color Purple, who in turn was inspired to become an actress by watching Nichelle Nichols, who incidentally also inspired Whoopi Goldberg. These women were inspired by seeing a black women on television, and that sight had such a profound impact on their childhoods that they decided to peruse a dream that may have otherwise not occurred to them.

And a world without this smile is not a world I want to live in.

I too know how powerful this feeling can be. When I was about ten, Cartoon Network ran a show about a teenager named Virgil Ovid Hawkins, better known as Static Shock. Created by the late comic book writer Dwayne MacDuffie, Static Shock was simply about a teenager with electric superpowers, trying to hide them from his family while fighting crime. It was a simple enough premise but what stuck with me was the image. This was the first time I’d seen a hero that looked like me on TV, that acted like me, and who I wanted to be like. Other kids had Batman and Spider-man. I had Static, and at that time, there could be nothing better.

Best. Hero. Ever.

Virgil had everything. He was smart, he had unique powers, he was cool, and most importantly, he was black. This put the idea in my head that, yes, we can have black heroes, and yes, we don’t have to make it a big deal. It wasn’t often that Virgil was called out on being black, and when the show did draw attention to it, it was for a point, like the episode that discussed the issue ofracism.(Yeah. A talk about racism in a children’s show. Don’t see that a whole lot now do ya?) Virgil was just accepted, like I wanted to be. Seeing him on TV influenced my life in ways I’m only now figuring out, and this show ended almost eleven years ago. That show inspired me to become a writer and director, so I could create characters like him. I’m indebted to Mr. MacDuffie, because without him I may never have gotten that inspiration.

Thank you sir, and rest in peace.

And that’s why the Falcon is important. Because yes, from a story standpoint, he’s just Cap’s sidekick, there to help move the plot along and provide for well choreographed fight scenes. But to a seven year old black kid, he’s so much more than that. To that kid, represents the idea that he too can fight along side Captain America. And until there’s a movie centering on one of the more marketable characters(looking at you Black Panther), we’re going to have to rely on minor characters like Falcon to be the champions for those kids, just like how Virgil was for me.

-The Token Black Guy.