TV Review – Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D – Episode 4

Which is a shame because ‘Eye-Spy’ starts off really well with an excellent bait-and-switch opening that introduces our Freak of the Week, a woman named Akela who takes out a group of masked criminals that had stolen some diamonds. It’s an opening that reminds you just how cool this show could be – like a 21st Century comic book version of The X-Files and it sets a tone that sadly isn’t followed up on. What we’re given instead is a really lame plot with little no excitement, emotion or care as our Agents go through the motions until the episode ends.

It’s hard not to sound like a broken record with these reviews, but what makes Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. so disappointing is that the show has everything to make it compelling but is let down by dreadful writing and lousy characters. The forced comedy is back once again with a near 5-minute scene of our main characters talking about going to the toilet and eating while on a stake-out – none of which is funny, smart or entertaining. This padding drags down the already woeful pacing of an episode that feels longer than all of the Marvel movies put together.

As a show, Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. treats its audience with a real massive level of disrespect and distain to the point where it feels like it has forgotten TV is a visual medium. On more than one occassion, they show something visually but then feel the need to explain to the audience what’s happening through dialogue as if they’re too stupid to follow along. There is a theory within the medium that you should always write for the lowest common denominator, but even the densest of country bumpkins can work out that the van the camera is looking at is the one with the Agents are in without Fitz explaining it.

This is also a sequence that apperantly leads to no reprecussions as the van is pushed over a ledge, only for them to be fine after the break with no damage or injuries whatsoever. Lazy writing at its finest.

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. of course has its supporters but they come across as fans who are convincing themselves that the show is worthwhile as opposed to actually enjoying it. Even the actors on board don’t appear to be trying, and never is this highlighted better than Ming-Na Wen’s Melinda May who is either incredibly stoic and mysterious or she’s just bored and uninterested in being there. It could be the former, but it is really hard to tell.

We’re now four episodes into Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the faint hope of the show getting better is starting to fade away. The characters are showing no signs of being less annoying, the stories aren’t improving and the show feels so incredibly lazy that it’s almost pointless. ‘Eye-Spy’ was not exciting, not funny, not interesting and above all, boring.

Luke Owen is one of Flickering Myth’s co-editors and the host of the Flickering Myth Podcast. You can follow him on Twitter @LukeWritesStuff.