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Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Agents of SHIELD: Repairs Review

Thoughts: "Repairs," another episode that featured another superpowered adversary, however it falters in several key areas.
*Spoilers*
First thing's first, we now know what was happening between Ward and May. Well, I am not particularly in favor of their coupling. Last week, the two showed some chemistry and bonded over how to deal with the rage. However, from what has happened in the previous episodes, Skye and Ward seemed like as though they would be the most likely pairing. While I wish the series would avoid romance, especially when there is an extremely small amount of development is just lazy! Compared to Joss Whedon's other series, Firefly, where *minor spoiler* none of the romances went very far without due development, *end spoiler* Agents of SHIELD jumped right into them. I think friend and fellow blogger, Shena Tokala, said it best: "if you can't write the romance well and make it actually interesting, just don't write it at all."
Now about the actual episode, which was kind of disappointing. Finally, we got to hear (not see) some backstory on Agent May's character like how she obtained the name, "The Cavalry," which is still incredibly vague and mysterious. But Coulson's reference to a "Gifted Individual" makes me very interesting. Agents of SHIELD would greatly benefit from an episode like Firefly's "Out of Gas" where we got some flashbacks on what happens to the characters with actual flashback clips, particularly Agent May.
As for the positives, the villain this week had interesting abilities and the episode had a much more sci-fi slant. The series' more general superpowered and sci-fi slant is what I wanted to see from the beginning and I am glad the series is heading in that direction. Being caught between our dimension and a hellish dimension that is presumably an alien world brings some interesting things to the Marvel Universe. It reminds me a lot of Mephisto's Realm, which relates to Doctor Strange, who might have a film coming up in a few years. The reference to the portals between dimensions to The Dark World was smart and almost more relevant to the story than the Thor references in last week's episode. Tobias' teleporting powers provided some creepy scenes and genuine suspense and thrills. Also, the series' adversity to telekinesis is kind of strange considering the powers of other characters in the Marvel Universe. Although, telekinesis is generally associated with the X-Men and mutants, which Disney/Marvel does not own.  
By far, my favorite part of the episode was Fitz ad Simmons' pranks. After Coulson, they are my favorite characters of the series for sure. Fitz and Simmons working as a team to prank Skye was perfect, and Fitz screaming like a girl was hysterical! Even better was the after credits scene with Fitz being pranked by May, which shows that she might not be as cold as she once was. Also Coulson being upset after Skye rigged his old watch transceiver was great as well.

One of my biggest problems with the episode is that it had a poor representation of a Christian character, and the negative comments about Christianity. While some good things were said, I did not appreciate the few negative comments. Not huge, but I wish they were not in the episode.

The Harry Potter reference to "SHIELD Hogwarts" by Skye was great!

Action: The fight between Tobias and May was great. Tobias using his powers in the fight reminded me a lot of Nightcrawler from the X-Men films, which was cool.

Acting: The guest stars in the episode were fine, but not particularly memorable, and the main cast were all consistent as usual.

Production Value/Special Effects: In terms of special effects and production value, this might be the best episode yet. Tobias' teleporting effect never looked low budget or cheap and the way it was used was clever.

Overall: 7.3/10- After several top notch episodes, "Repairs" is a bit of a letdown comparatively. Hopefully Agents of SHIELD will get back on track and continue its former quality in the next episodes.



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13 comments:

  1. Great review! :) :D I agree, I don't care for the whole romance subplot either- while I love Joss Whedon, writing that sort of story-line is something he isn't as good at(Firefly I think did the best job, though Buffy and Angel had it's good and bad parts of writing with it). But, then, I know very few people who can actually write it well and Joss Whedon is definitely one of the best writers in the business at the moment.
    Besides that, I did really enjoy the episode and the plot line with the teleporter was really cool, as was the pranking XD. And the ending with the whip cream on the face was hilarious! XD
    As for the Christian comments, I agree- while I did like what Skye said(since I agree with that take on it), some of the representation was a tad uncomfortable, since the representation seemed to be stereotypical, which is something I've never liked(which I found surprising, since Joss Whedon has always been good about representing religious people normally, but then, it wasn't as bad as other stories I've watched/read).
    Looking forward to the next episode! :D And thanks for using my quote XD

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    1. Excellent point, and while I have not seen Buffy, I can take your word for it. I was also glad that Whedon did not even add a pointless romantic subplot in the Avengers. :)
      I couldn't stop laughing after the whip cream prank! XD
      You know, I Joss Whedon didn't actually write this episode, or any of the others beyond the first. Nor did he direct them. It was his brother along with other people. :/ Maybe that why there have been some inconsistencies.

      -James

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    2. Oh, yeah, that would make sense. Typically, when he's the main one in charge, the shows are better(like he was with Firefly and Buffy), unlike here where he kind of shares the running of the show with a couple of others.

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  2. I quite enjoyed this one, but I have lowered my expectations. Agents isn't going to be Buffy or Firefly (not based on the 9 so far) but is a decent genre show, no more. It's an adequate 4o odd minute diversion.

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    1. I agree, that based on the first 9 episodes, the show is no Firefly, at least not yet. It does have moments of brilliance, and I hope the second half of the season improves upon the best aspects of the series thus far.

      -James

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  3. I agree about the comments on Christianity. They were all mixed up, gave you something to think about but still very mixed. That last scene was funny - the prank on Fitz. :)

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    1. I know, those comments just bothered me in the episode, but that prank was hilarious! :)

      -James

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  4. Hmm, I think you may be reading too much into the Ward and May situation. I'm not sure what happened means they're a couple, or anything really romantic at all. Sadly. That whole bit bothered me too.

    And so did the negative representation of Christianity, I agree. Besides the thrilling/suspense/action stuff, this episode was little step down from usual, but hopefully that's just a glitch and the next episode will be back up to par again.

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    1. True, I think it kind of a "friends with benefits" type relationship, which isn't good either.

      I hope so as well, next week will hopefully be better.

      -James

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  5. I really liked the thrill and suspense part of this episode; the team working out what they were up against through the episode was great and the I was on the edge of my seat during a lot of the suspenseful parts.

    While some of the negativity towards Christianity was saddening, I did love Skye's take on how God is love, which I fully believe to be true. So, I did appreciate that part of it.

    However, I still don't see why the whole Ward and May thing is there. It's rather disappointing; I can find couples and love triangles and drama in other shows! I'm here for SHIELD and the Marvel Universe and suspense, not necessarily for drama! I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the show doesn't start sliding down hill from here. :(

    ~Jamie

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    1. The thrills and suspense was the best part of the episode for me as well.

      Yeah, the Ward/May think is not particularly explained well and I wish the series would just drop any kind of romance, especially since The Avengers had none and it was the best movie ever basically.

      -James

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  6. I'm THIS close to doing a whole blog post of my own on this episode, but for the moment I'll content me with commenting on yours.

    Joss Whedon is a vocal atheist, so I suspect his brother and sister-in-law are as well. Which is why they tend to get stuff about Christianity not-quite-right, and have some things that bother Christians. Usually, Joss stayed away from overt references to Christianity on Buffy and Angel, sticking to a much more horror/sci-fi monsters-and-magic thing. I wish that they avoided it here too because... God won't forgive you for what you've done because it can't be undone? What? Totally missing what forgiveness is about!!!

    As for the Ward/May possible relationship... I actually like the pairing because it's not what I expected, and it's much less cliche than a mentor-and-mentored thing like Ward/Skye would be. Ward and May are both strong, yet damaged, so I would like to see what could happen between them (other than just friends-with-benefits) because I think they could grow together.

    I think that Joss Whedon has written some of the most interesting and genuine, real-feeling relationships I have ever seen on TV, particularly on Buffy, though there were some good ones on Firefly too. He has a great understanding of what makes people tick and how friendship, family, and romantic love can all change people. I can only hope some of his expertise continues to trickle down into this show thanks to his job overseeing it.

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    1. I did know that Whedon and his brother are atheist, but, from what I have seen, he is usually a little more respectful towards Christianity, and I really liked Cap's line in the Avengers. But I agree, it best for them to stay away from referencing Christianity, especially since they will not get it right.

      After watching the most recent episode, I agree with you about the Ward/May coupling. I am starting to really like them together now.

      I have not seen Buffy, but I agree with you about Firefly. Most of the romance there was handled really well.

      Thanks for the long and thoughtful comment!

      -James

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