{"id":41401,"date":"2014-03-12T13:40:01","date_gmt":"2014-03-12T19:40:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2014\/03\/12\/the-steadily-improving-agents-of-shield.html"},"modified":"2014-03-12T13:40:01","modified_gmt":"2014-03-12T19:40:01","slug":"the-steadily-improving-agents-of-shield","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2014\/03\/12\/the-steadily-improving-agents-of-shield.html","title":{"rendered":"The steadily improving &quot;Agents of SHIELD&quot;"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"gpb-content\">I think. \u00a0Really, it&#39;s been mostly over the past 2-3 episodes (with a poorly timed break in there), as some of the stakes have been raised. But &#8230;<\/p>\n<p>SPOILERS (and not just the pic) &#8230;<\/p>\n<p>&#8230;. the inclusion of Sif as a guest star, as well as the ratcheting up of some of the conspiracies going on have made this, net-net, a better show.<\/p>\n<p>But far from perfect. They&#39;re still struggling, I think, with the banter vs grimitude factor.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>And SHIELD&#39;s whole handling of Lorelei in the most recent ep was (as <span class=\"proflinkWrapper\"><span class=\"proflinkPrefix\">+<\/span><a class=\"proflink\" href=\"https:\/\/plus.google.com\/103328827291075446110\" oid=\"103328827291075446110\">Margie Kleerup<\/a><\/span>\u00a0acidly observed) blitheringly stupid. I mean, you&#39;re pursuing an <i>Asgardian<\/i> you are <i>told<\/i> can dominate men&#39;s wills at a word (if not, then a touch), and you <i>still<\/i> (a) don&#39;t send an all-female SHIELD team, at least as your point team, or (b) don&#39;t issue ear plugs to any men you do send; (c) don&#39;t worry about those two male cops waiting outside the place you know she&#39;s in, and (d) don&#39;t worry about sending guys on your team out of sight around the back of said place.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>I can believe in Asgardian enchantresses-of-men, but I SHIELD being willfully that stupid is offputting.<\/p>\n<p>Margie is also (and I can&#39;t fully disagree with her here) not convinced by the Coulson storyline. Part of it may be the side effect of Clark Gregg playing him (so enjoyably) as such a calm, controlled, internal kind of guy, until he occasionally erupts\u00a0in an emotional frenzy. I&#39;m willing to go along with it more than Margie is, but the dots in his character arc are not as clear to connect as they ought to be.<\/p>\n<p>Still, all that aside, I&#39;ve enjoyed the last few eps a good grade more than the ones preceding them. I hope it continues to improve.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Reshared post from +<a href='https:\/\/plus.google.com\/112539429469437111274'>Curt Thompson<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Remember when I gave up on Agents of SHIELD?**<\/p>\n<p>I have to admit that I&#39;ve watched the last three episodes and they didn&#39;t suck. Actually, there was a marked improvement in each one. Tighter scripts, much better pacing and the Colson reveal was <del>retconned<\/del> &#8230;.clarified to mean something much more interesting and fun.<\/p>\n<p>And then there was this week. I&#39;m not going to lie, I am a sucker for superheroes. I love all that junk. And seeing Sif casually <i>kick<\/i> a 30 foot airstream trailer (circa 1960 or so) into the path of bad guys was just what I needed to engage with this series.<\/p>\n<p>All of the sudden, this show went from being written by the Whedon version of Billy Carter to actually being written by a Whedon who is (for all his faults) really good at the genre.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>And even the trademark &#39;This is going to cause so much drama soon&#39; reveal was perfect, rather than annoying.<\/p>\n<p>But it kills me that people are looking in the wrong direction for the secret of T.A.H.I.T.I. (I won&#39;t say more so I don&#39;t spoil it, but damn, Sif even <b>tells<\/b> us what the answer is by process of elimination in the latest episode, if one reads the comics and knows the Marvel universe.)<\/p>\n<p>TL;DR version: This show is suddenly worth my time.<\/p>\n<p>**(Look, I&#39;m still not punctuating that, we&#39;re not there in our relationship yet.)\u00a0\ufeff<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<div class='gpb-photo-primary'><img src='https:\/\/lh3.googleusercontent.com\/-dO82reFzLKk\/UyBh5bM1YYI\/AAAAAAAAL8o\/QD31snji7XU\/jaimie-alexander-agents-of-shield-marvel-abc-lady-sif.jpg?imgmax=1024' border='0' style='max-width:100%;' \/><\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n<p class='gpb-links' style='clear:both;'> <a class='gpb-linkback' href='https:\/\/plus.google.com\/101083456815352083930\/posts\/KqJ1kWYNZH1' target='_new'>View this post on Google+<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I think. \u00a0Really, it&#39;s been mostly over the past 2-3 episodes (with a poorly timed break in there), as some of the stakes have been raised. But &#8230; SPOILERS (and not just the pic) &#8230; &#8230;. the inclusion of Sif as a guest star, as well as the ratcheting up of some of the conspiracies &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2014\/03\/12\/the-steadily-improving-agents-of-shield.html\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;The steadily improving &quot;Agents of SHIELD&quot;&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":41402,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[106],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41401","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-plusposts"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/jaimie-alexander-agents-of-shield-marvel-abc-lady-sif.jpg.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":42043,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2014\/05\/16\/agents-of-shield-as-we-move-onward.html","url_meta":{"origin":41401,"position":0},"title":"Agents of SHIELD &#8212; as we move onward","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 16-May-14 11:02pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Okay, so, watched the season finale, so likely some spoilers down below. To those still catching up ... come back later.All right.So, viz the below video, Clark Gregg is such an incredible fanboy, it's just a joy to watch him geeking out over the stuff happening to him, let alone\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;~PlusPosts&quot;","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":133458,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/05\/11\/agents-of-shield-gets-renewed-for-season-5.html","url_meta":{"origin":41401,"position":1},"title":"&quot;Agents of SHIELD&quot; gets renewed for Season 5","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 11-May-17 8:30pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Good news. The show is not without flaws, but this season has been pretty enjoyable and, occasional goofiness aside, has a more solid and realistic feel than any of the Berlantiverse DC shows. Something interesting they did this year was really have two seasonal arcs (IDed through some fun title\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;~PlusPosts&quot;","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":48855,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2014\/12\/10\/wrapping-up-mid-season-agents-of-shield-no-spoilers.html","url_meta":{"origin":41401,"position":2},"title":"Wrapping up (mid-season) &quot;Agents of SHIELD&quot; [NO SPOILERS]","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 10-Dec-14 3:23pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Aaaand ...... now I'm ready for the \"Agent Carter\" mid-season mini-series. I've been enjoying \"Agents of SHIELD\" this year a lot more than the first 2\/3 or 3\/4 of the first season. Much less done-in-one, more interesting plotting, more things blowing up, more crazy drama.On the other hand, as they've\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;~PlusPosts&quot;","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":41639,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2014\/04\/09\/winter-soldier-agents-of-shield-and-everything-changing.html","url_meta":{"origin":41401,"position":3},"title":"&#8220;Winter Soldier,&#8221; &#8220;Agents of SHIELD,&#8221; and Everything Changing","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 9-Apr-14 9:31am","format":false,"excerpt":"Spoilers! Spoileriffic Spoilers! If you haven't seen\u00a0Captain America: The Winter Soldier or the 8 April episode of \"Marvel's Agents of SHIELD\" (\"Turn, Turn, Turn\"), major spoilers lurk below. A lot of TV shows (and movies, and books) make the same mistake. They start the crisis way too early. They upset\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Lord of the Rings \/ Hobbit&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Lord of the Rings \/ Hobbit","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media\/franchises\/lord-of-the-rings"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/Agents-of-SHIELD.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/Agents-of-SHIELD.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/Agents-of-SHIELD.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/Agents-of-SHIELD.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/Agents-of-SHIELD.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/Agents-of-SHIELD.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7885,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2005\/07\/29\/a_howler.html","url_meta":{"origin":41401,"position":4},"title":"A howler","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 29-Jul-05 7:55pm","format":false,"excerpt":"From this month's Marvel solicitations: NICK FURY'S HOWLING COMMANDOS #1 Written by KEITH GIFFEN Pencils and Cover by EDU FRANCISCO When the supernatural proves too difficult and dangerous for SHIELD,...","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Comics &amp; Comic Books&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Comics &amp; Comic Books","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media\/media-comics"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":41684,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2014\/04\/11\/hail-shyldra.html","url_meta":{"origin":41401,"position":5},"title":"Hail Shyldra!","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 11-Apr-14 10:28am","format":false,"excerpt":"Very nice logo mashup.Reshared post from +Doyce TestermanSHIELD\/HYDRA image mashup for my fellow nerds.#hailhydra?\ufeff Random Average \u00bb The Creepiest Option is Probably Best This is for all those well-meaning #hailhydra nerds out there who are trying to mash-up the HYDRA logo with SHIELD. This is a HYDRA logo: HYDRA. #hailhydra.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;~PlusPosts&quot;","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41401","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41401"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41401\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41402"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41401"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41401"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41401"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}