Suvudu Universe

Perhaps no genre show has been as eagerly anticipated in recent years as ABC’s new prime time trip into the Marvel universe, Marvel Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D (Shield). Not only does Shield capitalize on the immense popularity of the Marvel cinematic universe but it also marks the return of The Avengers director Joss Whedon to television after the 2010 cancellation of Dollhouse.

Episode 1.1 “Pilot” was directed by Joss Whedon, and written by Joss and his brother Jed and Jed’s wife Maurissa Tancharoen (Dr. Horrible, Dollhouse, Spartacus: Gods of the Arena). The husband and wife writing team worked on Joss’ Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, Dollhouse, as well as an episode of Drop Dead Diva and Spartacus: Gods of the Arena.

Episode 1.2 “0-8-4″ was directed by David Straiton who directed many episodes of Star Trek: Enterprise and House M.D. along with a number of other shows. This episode featured Jed and Maurissa writing along with veteran writer/producer Jeffrey Bell. Bell previously wrote on The X-Files, Angel, and Alias along with a number of other shows.

The series focuses on a small team of misfits assembled by the resurrected Agent Phil Coulson (Tahiti is a magical place) and run out of a S.H.I.E.L.D. modified jet liner.

The main cast is composed of Clark Gregg as Phil Coulson, Ming-Na Wen as Melinda May (aka The Cavalry), Brett Dalton as Grant Ward, Chloe Bennet as Skye, Iain De Caestecker as Leo Fitz, and Elizabeth Henstridge as Jemma Simmons.

Everyone loves Clark Gregg’s Agent Coulson, he works tremendously well in the Marvel films and plays a great straight man for comedic moments. Coulson does seem to work best as the every-man stand in when playing opposite the larger than life super hero characters.  As the lead of the series I think he has the potential to work, but the character still needs to grow into this role and that is something that doesn’t happen overnight.

I remember watching Ming-Na Wen on E.R. back in the day and she is a very good actress, genre fans may recognize her more recently from her turns on Stargate Universe and Eureka. As we meet Melinda May in these first two episodes she seems to be every bit the martial match for Scarlett Johansson’s Natasha Romanoff character in the cinematic universe. Unlike Agent Romanoff, Agent May seems to be a character who is psychologically damaged in an extreme way.  While May has been a lot of fun as the woman of few words who kicks lots of butt and Ming-Na’s performance has been quite but intense this is a character who’s real story we haven’t seen explored yet.

Relative newcomer Brett Dalton plays Agent Grant Ward and is the prototypical special agent type.  Dalton’s performance opens up a bit in the second episode, but I haven’t yet seen enough from this character to help carry the show.  I hope Ward’s character grows but as of right now he feels like Agent Bland.

Chloe Bennet is also a relative newcomer to the acting world, Skye is a computer hacker and would be internet revolutionary. The character seems to play a bit on the idea of a person pulled from the worlds of Occupy Wallstreet, Wikileaks, and Anonymous. Skye also seems to be much more naive about the world in general and an idealist, but the end of “0-8-4″ seems to foreshadow a darker and wiser side to the character then we have yet glimpsed.

Iain De Caestecker and Elizabeth Henstridge play the duo of S.H.I.E.L.D. scientists Fitz and Simmons. The pairing of these two has me excited for the possibilities going forward. It isn’t quite there yet but I think these two will playoff each other well in the series to provide some dynamic comedic relief.

On the whole both of these episodes feel very introductory.  ”Pilot” had a tough job introducing this large main cast and spent probably more time than it should have on guest star J. August Richards’ Mike Peterson character.  Peterson gets more characterization than most of the main cast.  While “0-8-4″ tells the story of how these strangers first learn to work together as a team. So we are two episodes in and we now have the team introduced and the team joined together, setting up the storytelling to jump into the team in action going forward.

Some will say that this show is similar to Firefly, both shows focused on a vessel as the home or central location.  The realities of the two settings however means that in Firefly, the Serenity really needs to be featured more as a space-faring vessel as opposed to an airplane.  While we will no doubt see the “bus” frequently on Shield, I think we will see much more time in other locations, a bit like Stargate, where while we spent time at Stargate command it was more of a story vehicle to set up each episode.

“0-8-4″ featured a final scene cameo by Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury and this scene was terrific.  The energy of Jackson reflects on some of the flaws of the series.  There seems to be a lack of dynamism from the main cast of characters after the first two episodes.

There also seems to be some issues with dialogue on the show, I wouldn’t say the show isn’t well written but I am not sure if it has really found the voice of the characters yet.

All in all after two episodes Shield feels like a show that is very much a work in progress and one that is introducing characters with some rather extended character arcs, I hope that the series gets a chance to play out those arcs and we can see where these characters go.

To watch the first two episodes of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. visit ABC.com