Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. was, well, lackluster until Captain America: The Winter Soldier came along and completely changed the show and its approach. Stunning betrayals, bad guys, rants, cyborgs, it all came to life at once. The question, though, is whether the show will now have to dance around Avengers: Age Of Ultron.
TVLine, paid to do such things, brought it up with the show’s producers, and they offered, well, highly evasive answers:
…exec producer Jed Wheon at first hedged, “We can’t say much…But right now, we’re just trying to make everybody as cool and interesting as we can.” Whedon’s fellow EP (and wife) Maurissa Tancharoen offered on the exact same topic, in measured words, “All of us are aware of the moving parts at all times. With that said, there are many opportunities for planting things that… end up in other things.” Whedon himself then revealed this much: “Let’s put it this way: In the second season, there’s definitely a milestone that everybody needs to hit.”
While the show undeniably improved with the collapse of S.H.I.E.L.D., it would be something of a mistake to insist that somehow it was just Captain America holding it back. That doesn’t explain all the show’s issues, like the plodding sideplots or dull main plots. But we doubt it helped, either, to be sitting on a major twist and be essentially unable to do anything with it.
Really, what we want to see out of the show is more b-listers used creatively. Part of the reason Arrow is so fun is that essentially anybody who can’t carry a solo movie is game, and the show is actually pretty good at reinventing pathetic backbenchers like Shrapnel and Firefly.
Really, it just needs to stop worrying about being a network procedural, and have some actual fun. Blow more stuff up, worry less about Skye’s parents. Unless they blow stuff up, in which case, bring ’em on!