Ever since we've got our first look at Agents of SHIELD a couple years back, it feels like there's a strong sense of disappointment in the air. And this is not just because of the fact that show doesn't have any Superheroes in it. But because of the fact that, it is almost a very poorly thought out show with a quality that has only Visual Effects in it invested with.
ABC Studios and
Marvel Television's decision to put out a show that runs over the course of almost nine months was already a mess of an idea to begin with. While it is nice to be treated to a 24-episode adventure, a show tends to lose its track of time and effort after merely a couple episodes in. And of course, there’s a number of shows which have found success in this format
(Flash for example, but even then it’s mostly with the genre fans) But having a shorter run doesn’t necessarily mean a bad run: let’s look at
Game of Thrones,
The Walking Dead, Breaking Bad, Daredevil and
Mad Men. These are great shows which have the elements of condensed, overarching and more focused story with less filler stuff, while carefully developing the characters and utilizing their budget to their best. So why is it that
Marvel Television can not approach this show with a similar mindset and develop a more critically more positive show just by condensing their content to maybe an 8-13 episode run?
One of the greatest things I personally love watching a story unfold is…watching that story unfold and I’m not alone in this matter. We are living in the golden age of television where the mode of
Monster of the Week has gotten old and flew out of the window. We want more serialized content, we want more of a content that draws us to the screen to see what’s going to happen next? What will you be doing till the next episode? It is something that
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has failed at from the get go. There was no real focus of the story nor the characters, which didn’t let the audience focus on the show as well. It’s alright, and it happens. But when you cut down most of your episodes to about its half, then your Showrunner will have the idea to develop something that’s more consistent with the initial vision rather than just giving you a half-assed, 24 episode run. And two of the other
Marvel TV series have already benefitted from this idea:
Agent Carter, which was critically more acclaimed and
Daredevil, of which so many people believe to be one of best criminal thriller shows out there.
The examples of this can be seen in
Breaking Bad which allowed the shows writers to fully flesh a whole ensemble of characters and have them develop over the course of only 62 episodes in its life-time. I’d like to remind you that
AoS is already 42 episodes in. While it is true that the show’s recent season has been more condensed, but you can’t help but to see all the filler content that drags the audience away from the screen. But how do we fix this?
One of the ways can be by adopting an original outline from before the production of this new season starts and focusing on developing that aspect. We are aware that the show can’t do too many crazy things without consulting the
Marvel Studios first, but there are a TON of things that can be done without interfering with the rest of the Marvel Universe. So first of all, see what your options are and try to focus on them without going too broad. Take a storyline from the comic books, there’s a whole world of stories within the comics and see what you can adapt for this show instead of freeballing your way in, trying to create something where there is not. While it may prove useful if you were thinking that you were “Christopher Nolan”ing the whole thing, you have to remember that even he took the original source material and built something on it or around it.
One thing is for certain, besides Fitz and Simmons, I am not invested in –any- of these characters both Hero and Villain. I don’t know if it’s producer meddling, poor acting, writing or direction… But there’s a lot of people who just don’t care about these characters, including Agent Coulson who’s meant to be the big leader of the organization, but I just can’t help but to not give a frick if he dies or not at this stage. He’s not as interesting as he was any longer, while he could have been.
A shorter season will allow you to develop and focus on these characters without any filler content which will detract this train from the tracks. I want to be more emotionally invested in them without worrying that “
Ah, this week we get another character…great” or “
Ah, another random villain we have to fight” and “
So…where were we again?
Oh shit we have 3 episodes left” These are things to be considered without jumping into this long adventure of a series.
And of course, with a shit ton of a budget a show like AoS has, this way you’ll be utilizing your budget in ways you can’t even phathom for the better. We’re talking about stuff ranging from transportation down to the VFX. A more clean focus will bring more than just an attractive plot and a cast and who knows, you might get to keep some in your pocket. But in the end, your budget will be better utilized to help the quality of the show and not on anything useless
(like the filler episodes/content we talked about)
In the end, the show really feels like it could use more of this condensation / cut down method that some of the other shows have adopted. Feels like it is the right direction that a show like
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s magnitude could use to provide a better quality show for all of us around the world. Is it the only way it can get better? Definitely not, but to me it feels like a good start.
So these were my thoughts about the show. While I’m aware that it has gotten better, it feels like we need more focus rather than hoping that the shit we throw at the wall sticks. Let me know of your thoughts in the comment section below, whether you agree with me or not!