The Chronicles of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D

Agents of SHIELD, the extremely divisive television series from the divine Marvel has been called both a failure and work of genius by various fans and critics. I hope to recount my own journey through Agents of SHIELD in the hopes that more people will give it the chance that it truly does deserve. It's not a perfect show, but it is not the waste of space that some people believe it to be and, over time, has become one of the best comic book television shows of all time.

The build up to Agents of SHIELD's premiere was intense. I remember comic con reaction videos to the first episode hailing it as awesome and television advertisements on every major network. The first episode recieved a very strong 4.6 rating. I remember watching the first episode and feeling good about it. I wasn't blown away by it but it was classic Marvel fun and so I bought it. Agents of SHIELD looked like a potential success.

However I made the mistake of watching (approximately) episodes 5-13. The story was too far strung out and uninteresting for me. I was convinced that the series had spiraled out of control. I dropped the show. Even the seeing stellar Captain America: The Winter Soldier could not convince me to rewatch the show. Being an avid viewer of the site, I even saw people hailing the show's back half of the season and did not want to retry watching it.

I became an advocate against the show. My friends would ask me about it because they know that I follow the Marvel Universe and I would tell them that the show was garbage and not to waste a single second on it. I did not think ABC would even give it a second season. It was a dark time.

HOWEVER, I then saw all of the articles titled "Inhumans on Agents of SHIELD?!?!" and I became intrigued. Why would Marvel introduce a movie within the steaming pile of crap known as Agents of SHIELD? The Inhumans have always interested me and are one of the phase 3 films I am most looking forward to. And so, after a long stretch of being one of the shows worst critics, I decided to give it a chance, a good God am I glad I did.

I began at episode 16 and finished the first season within two days. Needless to say, I was hooked. The way they were able twist my own expectations of the series, expectations that I had thought made the show terrible, and made them into something cool (GRANT WARD nuff said) was extremely rewarding and made me feel almost bad about actively working against the show.

Season 2 thus far has been a ride as well. As any member of this site knows, the midseason finale was probably the biggest payoff to coming back to Agents of SHIELD. I have high hopes for the series going forward and high hopes for more crossover. I would even like to Skye in a movie as a supporting character. That is how attached I have become to her character (She is definitely within the MCU's top 5 female characters now).

If you abandoned Agents of SHIELD for its terrible first half of the first season, please give it another chance. The payoff is massive even if you restart at episode 16. I hope this show stays on the air and continues to supply the viewers with its incredible new narrative and interesting characters.