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Edited by Mrph1 on Jul 29th 2024 at 3:09:00 PM
I understand why the show started when it did—winter's a shit time to start a network drama, spring even moreso, and you need time to build up both SHIELD's importance and the characters' emotional integrity so we care when SHIELD falls. I personally felt like the show spent too much time on the former and not enough on the latter—so when everything collapses it's very difficult to give a shit.
It's bizarre to me that it's in the mist of all the chaos of the end-of-SHIELD arc we get some of the best definition of who our protagonists are, and it makes me wish that it was viable to start a show in January if the show was capable of snapping to attention that quickly.
Basically I just think season one could've benefited from a shorter first half because the show ultimately proved that it didn't need the extensive groundwork it was so shit at providing. Maybe it could've come in midseason and succeeded, who knows.
edited 6th Feb '15 11:10:10 AM by Wackd
Maybe you'd be less disappointed if you stopped expecting things to be Carmen Sandiego movies.I disagree. The problem with Ao S was that they didn't use the time they had to built up the characters properly. First episode: Let's assemble the team. Second episode: Instant team bonding through dangerous situation! And after that we were supposed to believe that the characters cared so deeply for each other that Skye helping her old friend usw. is a big betrayel, when we barely know those guys and they barely know each other.
They should have started with Coulson and how he handpicks his team, shouldn't have introduced skye before the third episode and just in general should have allowed the characters to get to knew each other.
Problematic were also the tie-ins. I think the only tie-in episode from the first season I liked was the one with the alien virus, because that's a realistic danger. But five minutes of cleaning up and then the team is gone to look for the berserker staff? Pointless! And I can't express enough how much I hated the Sif episode, as rapey as it was. The way it portrayed males was downright insulting (and I say that as a female).
edited 6th Feb '15 11:05:22 AM by Swanpride
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Concerning the shorter first half...I think if they had used the time as they should have, it would have made the finale much more impactful.
I found it uncomfortable to watch. One guy lost his fresh married wife he was very much in love with and another one kills his, and all this is treated like an afterthought.
At the same time, though, there's really only so many missions-of-the-week you can do before the show starts feeling like it's spinning its wheels, and that number is definitely smaller than eleven.
I don't think the show should've started with SHIELD collapsing, just closer to SHIELD collapsing.
The Lorelei bits of the Sif episode are self-evidently terrible and I really don't have any more to say about it than that.
edited 6th Feb '15 11:24:33 AM by Wackd
Maybe you'd be less disappointed if you stopped expecting things to be Carmen Sandiego movies.I want to agree, but no amount of Sif makes through having to sit through unremarked-upon rape (and several instances of barely-commented-on Mind Rape) any better.
Maybe you'd be less disappointed if you stopped expecting things to be Carmen Sandiego movies.Wait, did Lorelei actually sleep with any of the people she brainwashed (I stopped watching Ao S before that episode)? I mean, I'm sure she brainwashed-raped people offscreen (hence her being an Asgardian criminal and all), but in the actual episode, did she ever take advantage of the brainwashed people sexually, or did she just use them as soldiers?
Also, out of curiosity, would Lorelei's powers work on lesbians? What about gay men? Or transgender people?
I've got fanfics for Frozen, Spectacular Spider-Man, Crash Bandicoot, and Spyro the Dragon.I think Sif mentions her powers work on lesbians.
I should certainly hope they work on trans men who like women because if not there are some damn unfortunate implications.
Lorelei has sex with Ward while he's under her influence.
Maybe you'd be less disappointed if you stopped expecting things to be Carmen Sandiego movies.![]()
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Sif was sent because she had a personal history with Lorelei, and because they couldn't send men. I'm sure that there were lots of Asgardian men who would have loved to help, but that would have been a bad idea.
edited 6th Feb '15 12:14:42 PM by Discar
Writing a post-post apocalypse LitRPG on RR. Also fanfic stuff.I should clarify earlier: I like funny characters. Static, Spidey, Flash, Kyle Rayner. The best. I like fun characters on a team where not everyone is fun, because it lightens the mood and brings variety to the ensemble and the setting. What I don't like, is when everyone is clever, and everyone is witty, and everyone is firing off quips like it's tumblr and they have six hours to organize their thoughts into something smooth before saying anything.
My various fanfics.I kind of wonder if the the Lorelei Ao S episode was actually supposed to be the crossover for The Dark World, and the actually Dark World crossover was intended to be a completely unrelated episode, albeit with some Asgardian themes, but due to some behind-the-scenes issues they got flipped around. Regardless of what you may feel about the episode itself (I enjoyed it overall, though I do admit it has problems in retrospect) the Lorelei episode makes a lot more sense as a crossover since it actually deals directly with the fallout from the events of the movie and had a guest star from the cast of the movie.
On the general subject of crossovers, what I'm interested is how they are going to do the Age of Ultron crossover. Since Ultron's drones are probably a little much for the show's VFX budget, it's unlikely we'll see any of them. If they do go ahead and make Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver Inhumans, then it'll probably deal with that angle.
It'll almost definitely deal with that angle, given the mid-season finale.
Maybe you'd be less disappointed if you stopped expecting things to be Carmen Sandiego movies.I feel like it's basically trying for realistic word choice but without realistic diction.
Maybe you'd be less disappointed if you stopped expecting things to be Carmen Sandiego movies.
x4
The show is definitely primed to deal with Inhumans, so at this point it's a question of whether or not the movies takes the time to give even the vaguest explanation as to what the Inhumans are and that Quicksilver and Scarlett Witch are two of them.
Come to think of it, explaining who the Inhumans are to the Avengers could be a job for Coulson. But if he is involved in Age of Ultron at all, Marvel has been keeping that fact very secret.
edited 6th Feb '15 1:38:18 PM by Falrinn
Apparently Whedon is vehemently against that happening, because he wants to have to have as little exposition as possible about what's happened between Avengers 1 and 2, so.
edited 6th Feb '15 1:44:09 PM by Wackd
Maybe you'd be less disappointed if you stopped expecting things to be Carmen Sandiego movies.If the twins do turn out being Inhumans I think it'll be something subtle like near the end of the movie someone mentions an anomaly within their genetics or something like, serving as a Sequel Hook for the upcoming Inhumans flick.
I don't think it'll be something drastic like Coulson showing up to play Mr. Exposition but they are eventually going to do something with the Inhumanity plot line. Maybe Infinity War will deal with some of that.
As for Whedon Snark the closest trope I can think of for it is World of Snark. Every single character regardless of intelligence or personality suddenly becomes a world class snark-slinger who always has an awesome comeback or one-liner or sick pop culture burn.

The only problem's the first season of AOS has, IMO, was relying too much on the Monster of the Week format for the first 10-12 episodes. It started to pick up after that for me.