Posted in: Movies, TV | Tagged: agents of shield, entertainment, joss whedon, tv

The Superhero Dojo: 5 Things That Could Turn Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. Into The Best Show On Television

By Parker McCombe

Based on the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and the fact it's created by Joss Whedon, Agents Of SHIELD should probably be our favourite television show, but why isn't it? Despite it having become a pretty good piece of television, many of us only seem to like it because we feel we have too. Sure the slow plotting issues have been fixed and they're introducing more Marvel characters, but it still isn't turning us into hardcore SHIELD junkies the way we are with the rest of the MCU. So what exactly is the problem?

Here's 5 quick fixes that could make AOS as unmissable as the movies that spawned it.
1. Stop Trying To Make A Joss Whedon Show Without Joss Whedon

First off, it was clear from the outset that the mentality of the show was stuck in a Whedon-esque sink-hole that closed up ten years ago. Yes, Joss Whedon made amazing television, but that style is now dated compared to the drama-heavy shows we've all been binge watching on Netflix. The fact is only 'Joss' can do a 'Joss style show', and, despite having co-created AOS and having an Executive Producer credit, he's not really around to drag his format into the twenty-teens, what with all the Ultrons. In fact he's even gone so far as to completely disavow the show, saying it isn't even cannon. Thankfully this is one thing Whedon doesn't have 'Word of God' on, and the only real Word of God is a Marvel ident at the top of each episode.

Avengers is amazing. Age Of Ultron is mostly amazing. But neither tone is like an episode of Buffy The Vampire Slayer or Firefly, or in this case, Dollhouse. It's something entirely different. I get that Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tancharoen are Mutant Enemy alumni and helped Whedon on the Avengers script process, but as showrunners for AOS they need to find their own 'Marvel voice' just as Whedon did as a director in the MCU. But how?

Well, what about…

2. A One Shot Mentality

AOS has continually struggled between the villain of the week and the ongoing storyline formats, which is ironic as it's the one show on TV that really doesn't have to. The Marvel One Shots have shown how great, little stories can be sown up in ten or fifteen minutes, AOS doesn't need to create all this building tension every time Melinda May decides to speak. Like the One Shots, the Movie Universe has laid all the ground work for the stakes being pretty damn high, even if only small things happen. We went into AOS knowing the Chitauri just tore New York apart, please have it on faith that anything Agent Coulson is involved with is a big deal. An episode of AOS shouldn't be an extended one shot, it should be a series of one shots that flow into one another. Scenes people, give us short groups of scenes we can edit into a chronological super cut of the MCU.
And speaking of building tension every time Melinda May speaks…

3. Less Incidental Music

Have we ever heard May talking without the threat of maybe the camera pulling back to reveal a guy playing orchestra samples off a keyboard??

These days incidental music is an exposition alert letting you know you have this whole scene to check your twitter account.

You have great leading actors, Ming-na Wen and Clark Gregg especially, let them use their gravitas to build threat, then music, music by the great Bear McCreary no less, to highlight that threat when we cut to the bus or a new location. Dear God, people, have you even been WATCHING these films? We get you have a smaller budget, but at least treat us to the same story telling. Which reminds me…

4. Tech Fails

You know what makes Howard and Tony Stark so charming in their tech building? They have funny little failures here and there. It somehow makes the idea of a flying car or a super armoured suit plausible. I get that SHIELD would have to sign off on stuff and their tech be fully tested, but Fitzsimmons seem to be more capable in their tiny lab of getting tech right first time than a genius with the instant resources of a gazillion dollars in his wallet. This is ridiculous, we all know it. When those two Brits come up with amazing, all-saving maguffins, they should at least splutter a little bit more before they work. Not to mention the comedic value and meta-jabs at smaller TV budget tech fails would bring.

For instance…
Episode One:

"What's an 084?"
"You've got ten minutes to decide if you really want to know…"
Coulson and Skye fly off through screen like they're in the Delorean only with crapper effects.
Cut to after credits…
Coulson and Skye sitting beside broken down Lola. Coulson is holding part of the wheel.
"Okay… Fifteen minutes."
Grrr, arrrg, production bumpers.
Adverts.

And now that we're talking about them...

5. After Credit Scenes

AOS has missed a big trick in not continuing the MCU's after credit tags and I imagine, based on Coulson constantly telling us every week the AOS will return after the break, that this is because ABC Television think people will miss part of the show by tuning out thinking it's over. Dear ABC, we aren't idiots. And we also talk about stuff. Had you put in after credit tags in the first episodes and people missed them it would have been brilliant for you. Instant water cooler moment after 'Darnel' asks 'Jeff' if he saw the after credits scene. Jeff changed channels too soon and missed it. Jeff now feels like an idiot and that he's lost out. From then on Jeff live tweets the credits scene and brings it up with Darnel and everyone else he speaks to every Wednesday FOREVER. And he gets a SHIELD tattoo.

So there you have it…. Agents of SHIELD isn't a bad show, in fact it has moments of awesomeness, great ideas and some pretty solid story telling, but in order for it to be as great as it deserves to be, it needs the personality and charm that the MCU infuses into everything else it touches. It's the tiny things that make the difference between Ed Norton's Hulk movie and Robert Downey Jr.'s first jaunt as Iron Man which make the latter so much better than the former. The stories in each aren't bad, and both are relatively well executed, but with Iron Man you can tell that they actually thought about how to make every inch of film they made as special and entertaining as possible to the people who'll love it most, a trick Arrow and The Flash now pull off pretty much exponentially.

If Agents Of SHIELD can start thinking about every inch of film in the same way as the rest of the MCU then we're guaranteed some incredible, unmissable television every single week.

@ParkerMcCombe is Co-Creator and Writer of Samurai City and knows exactly how to throw a shield.

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