Where Agents of S.H.E.I.L.D went wrong

[bilbotook]

I think in my humble opinion that Agents of S.H.E.I.L.D is the most embarrassing thing to happen the MARVEL since Howard the Duck. I know a lot of people are huge fans of the show, so it did take a lot of guts to say that. But it's honestly what I and many intelligent others believe. There are many problems I have with the show and I'm still trying to figure out where to begin as I'm typing.
Ok. First of all, let's just start with the basics: Directing, writing, etc. It's got some of the worst, most childish acting I've ever seen. And the script is just as cheesy and stupid. It's either a little kid show, or a little kid trying to write a grown-up show. Either way, wtf. It's trying too hard to go beyond its budget and sand that across 22 episodes. People have been saying "don't bag on Agents of S.H.E.I.L.D for not being as good as the movies. It doesn't have to be", but that's not the problem many of us have with the show. Our problem is that it's trying to be as good as the movies.That's what make Agent Carter so great. The creators of the show knew that they couldn't be as big and awesome as the Avengers or anything like that. So they used what they had wisely. They stuck to somewhere around 13 episodes instead of 22. Which both keeps our attention span, AND makes it easier to make every episode great. Agent Carter took place in the 1940's in one of the corniest settings. So they went all out corny 1940's and it was awesome. It took its low budget to its own advantage and mad the visual effects and sound effects sound all retro. Agents of S.H.E.I.L.D, however, tried to be super cool like the movies (which it wasn't) and it ended up being not the the cool all out cheesy, but the cringe worthy type of cheesy in which you feel like all the "cool" lines or "cool" scenes are being shoved down your throat.
Another thing, is that people will tell you "the first season started out rough, but it gets better half way through the season when it ties in with the Winter Soldier".. no, actually it gets even worse. Here's why: the creators of the show THOUGHT they knew what was going on in the Winter Soldier. But, they didn't, and they just started pulling stuff out of their asses. Basically, what Captain America the Winter Soldier was all about was that Captain America realized that he couldn't trust anyone to be on his side. Hydra had completely taken over SHIELD and everyone working for SHIELD was really working for Hydra wether they knew it or not. Cap saw that people's perception of morality was getting twisted. And he was scared of that happening to himself. AoS (I'm going to call it that from here on) took it COMPLETELY out of context and made the show into this really breathtakingly cheesy SHIELD vs Hydra thing where SHIELD is the good guys saving the world while Hydra is this super obviously evil organization trying to the evil and shit. And it's just SO cringing to watch them male up all this crap about the MARVEL universe that doesn't make any sense. That's one of the many reasons I don't consider it cannon to the MCU. It's inaccuracies are to much to connect it to the MCU. Also, I forgot to mention, but at the end of Captain America the Winter Soldier, Cap said "SHIELD, Hydra, it all goes". SHIELD is supposed to be gone. But these idiots are holding on to tight to their stupid show.
AND probably the biggest problem with Agents of S.H.E.I.L.D is that it has absolutely no independent storyline. I really like the other MARVEL shows; Agent Carter, Daredevil, and Jessica Jones. You know why? One of the reasons is because, instead of trying to live up to the movies and waist screen time making as many forced tie-ins to the movies, they are smaller, less significant storylines that are completely separate from the events going on in the MCU. Those shows understand that absolutely NONE of the Avengers (or anyone important) gives two shits about the shows. They know that it's a waist of time to try to connect with every bit of the movies when they can make their own stories. Agent Carter is about Captain America's old girlfriend trying to readjust to civilian life after World War II where some crazy shit happened. Daredevil and Jessica Jones (and future Defenders) are about the mess left behind in Hell's Kitchen after the battle of New York. Notice a trend with these shows; they connect with ONE aspect of the MARVEL movies. Other than that, they are good stand-alone shows with their own premise. Agents of S.H.E.I.L.D is about a bunch of non-important agents trying desperately and quite pathetically to effect the MARVEL movies. There's really no story going on. No theme. No point. Not to mention that people are treating the main agent characters in Agents of S.H.E.I.L.D like "living legends" even though they're not even comic book characters. Agent Carter, Daredevil, and Jessica Jones ARE comic book characters and they're not even trying to be as big as the agents of non-movie characters.
So hopefully future superhero shows will learn from all this.

 

[bilbotook]

Thoughts?

 

[EJCC]

I like "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." as a sort of "behind the scenes" look at S.H.I.E.L.D.'s goings-on. The characters' unimportance is exactly the point. I've never seen that as a problem. So long as you care what happens to them, why do they have to be Earth's Mightiest Heroes?

That being said, it's not TV literature. But it isn't trying to be. It has the same appeal as fun-but-average comic books. Kind of soap-opera-ish and requiring 100% suspension of disbelief. But it's fun. The action scenes are well done. The characters are interesting. Every episode is guaranteed to be both exciting and funny. And that's basically all I need from it.

 

[bilbotook]

I like "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." as a sort of "behind the scenes" look at S.H.I.E.L.D.'s goings-on. The characters' unimportance is exactly the point. I've never seen that as a problem. So long as you care what happens to them, why do they have to be Earth's Mightiest Heroes?

That being said, it's not TV literature. But it isn't trying to be. It has the same appeal as fun-but-average comic books. Kind of soap-opera-ish and requiring 100% suspension of disbelief. But it's fun. The action scenes are well done. The characters are interesting. Every episode is guaranteed to be both exciting and funny. And that's basically all I need from it.

Well, I didn't have a problem with the characters' unimportance. I had a problem with the show trying to make them bigger than they actually are. The characters in the other Marvel shows are unimportant to the Avengers (with the exception of Peggy Carter) but they're still good shows because their all good with being in the lesser known parts of the universe. Agents of S.H.E.I.L.D keeps awkwardly trying to tie in with every Marvel movie that comes out causing it to lack a firm story. Agent Carter is all about Carter adjusting to normal life but still always chasing down adventure. Daredevil is about Matthew Murdock trusting to clean up Hell's Kitchen after Loki trashed New York. And Jessica Jones is about overcoming the most horrifying parts of her past. None of those storylines rely too much on the Marvel movies. That's what people call a stand-alone show because it can stand on its own two feet and be just a good show even without its connections. AoS is horrible at the whole stand-alone thing and is trying to be more than it is. So I'm not mad at the mediocrity. I'm mad at the attempt to step over the line