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

[dracula1]

I will now hold my tongue, .... enjoy the ride catching up on C4 :-)

[amines2058]

Holy Sh*t. Just saw episode 17, and all that I can say is that this has gone from entertaining to very good to must see TV. What an outstanding episode, although it does give massive spoilers on the new Captain America movie, which unfortunately I have not seen yet. You guys watching on C4 are in for a hell of a ride  over the next few weeks!!

[Proudhuff]

I'm hooked now, enjoying this, especially RT's token appearance in a giant test tube!

[Goaty]

Agree, enjoy this episode, lovely to see Sif.

[spoiler]So here the list of blue aliens; Mentadites, Levians, Fairgots, KREE, Saks, Centurions, and Frost Giants[/spoiler]

[Proudhuff]

you missed out RT!!

[Grant Goggans]

I watched the first seven episodes, gave up, watched Captain America (loved it!) and tried again with episode 17 since some friends on Facebook went into warp spasms over it.

Must-see-TV my eye.

Seriously, what happens sounds good on paper, but it still requires that you care about the characters.  Nothing happened that persuaded me that I was wrong to dump it in November.  Unlikable characters, poor acting, cheap cinderblock sets.  I think all the budget went into the fight choreography, and to their credit, Ward's fistfight with the wall o' agents really was impressive, but that was it.

[amines2058]

I watched the first seven episodes, gave up, watched Captain America (loved it!) and tried again with episode 17 since some friends on Facebook went into warp spasms over it.

Must-see-TV my eye.

Seriously, what happens sounds good on paper, but it still requires that you care about the characters.  Nothing happened that persuaded me that I was wrong to dump it in November.  Unlikable characters, poor acting, cheap cinderblock sets.  I think all the budget went into the fight choreography, and to their credit, Ward's fistfight with the wall o' agents really was impressive, but that was it.

I think the problem you may have is the fact that you have missed episodes 8-16 because they concentrate heavily on the character building and the laying of the foundations for the main story arc (e.g. Tahiti, Peterson's development and episode 17' s big reveals) This is especially true of episodes 14-16, which is why the events of episode 17 had a greater impact for me than they did for you.
Or maybe I am just a sucker for this kind of thing??

[Grant Goggans]

I think that "sucker" is an appropriate word, yes.   

I don't know if y'all ever got Spy Game in the UK.  That was a broadly similar action/espionage show made for the same network in 1997 or so.  It was one of Patrick Macnee's last recurring roles before he retired, and the reaction I had was very similar.  People would say "Wow!  Patrick Macnee and Peter Lupus are on Spy Game!" just like people say "Wow! Deathlok is on Agents of SHIELD!" today, and you're making allowances for dull, dull, unengaging TV just because it checks an old nerd box.  If this had nothing to do with Marvel Comics, and was "Agents of THUMB" or something, it would've been canceled after about four weeks.  Like Spy Game was.

The really funny thing is that you'd think that this show has all the goodwill in the world, because it's a SAINT JOSS WHEDON show set in the MARVEL UNIVERSE, and the tie-in episode aired right the heck after the number one movie on the planet opened got the lowest ratings the show has ever had, unless the DVR numbers prove to be miraculous.  But I'm sure we'll have the Whedon fanboys whining how ABC never gave it a chance once they ax it.

[Tiplodocus]

Indeed. Watching from a fairly uneducated point of view when it comes to Marvel characters, none of teh big reveals work in the Tips' household. We all just go "Death who?" "Lorelei? Who's she?" "Oh I vaguely remember that character who had no lines from Thor".

The dynamics between the characters of the Shield Agents are non-existent.

Firefly hit the ground running with engaging, liekable but flawed, characters with conflicting agendas. Shield seems like it's plot and tie-in driven and the plots aren't good enough for me and the tie-ins don't hit the mark with us. 

We are still watching - but only just - and when we have a choice of different stuff on catch-Up, it comes a far fourth after TOMORROW PEOPLE, MUSKETEERS (yes, even that!) and GARDENER'S WORLD.

[Professor Bear]

I'm probably just being overly-critical, but I'm fairly sure that 17 episodes in, I shouldn't be thinking "they'll find their feet any day now."  I care not a jot about any of these characters, the plots are really generic, the cast is really, really flat - seriously, I know he's been in the films, but away from the deadpan schtick of the humourless G-man of the Iron Mans, Caulson has zero charisma as a lead - and there might be someone somewhere who didn't see the heel turn of the least-developed cast member who had been replaced in that very episode with an identical character, but they weren't in this house at the time.
Based on how persistently unexceptional and dull the show is, I haven't a clue how Joss Whedon's brother keeps getting high-profile work like this.  It's a real puzzler.

[Dandontdare]

I'm gonna stick with it in the hope that it does truly get better as we approach the teens, but not hugely impressed so far.

And Tips - TOMORROW PEOPLE? Really? I've watched a couple of these and it's not only a crap retread of the'good looking teens pursued by shadowy black-ops organisation' cliche, it insults the memory of one of my favourite childhood shows.

[Recrewt]

There have been some episodes that have been very enjoyable and others that have fallen flat.  I don't think it has found its feet yet and hopefully it can before it gets cancelled.  Coulson is great in this and is more than just a po-faced character.  Melinda May is starting to develop and there have been some good moments with her dry wit style.  I even like the comedy duo - Fitz and Simmons.  However, Ward and Skye are still not working and as wooden as ever.  I don't know if this is down to the actors or the scripts they are given but something needs to improve with these two.

Beyond that, it does sometimes look like the special effects are cheap and it seems to assume that everyone is familiar with every minor detail of the Marvel universe.  Yeah, we have all got internet access nowadays so its only a google away but I think this reflects the dual-personality of the series - is this a family friendly action TV show for the kids or just fan service for middle-aged men?  I would like to think it was the former but it keeps portraying itself as the latter.   

[Grant Goggans]

It's not the special effects being cheap that aggravates me - every interior set is identical, a low-lit concrete room with no windows.  It's all dark hallways, dark labs, dark control rooms.  Compare the interiors of The Hub to the interiors of that 40-story building in the Captain America movie.  One looks like the real world, the other looks like the sets chosen for a college film project.  It's like they spent all their money on Bill Paxton or something.

[Radbacker]

really loving this and really loving Paxton in it, its finally linking to the Marvel movie universe proper finally and maybe it'll start to fulfil it's promise of being a weekly ink to the MArvel movie universe now.
Beaqr is right though, Coulson just is not that interesting away from the movies and would rather see more of The cavalry and Sky (I know lots of people hate hher but could be interesting where they go).  Oh and I believe it's possibly a Kree in the tube which may just have a link in with the Guardians of the Galaxy movie due out soon.

CU Radbacker

[Tiplodocus]

And Tips - TOMORROW PEOPLE? Really? I've watched a couple of these and it's not only a crap retread of the'good looking teens pursued by shadowy black-ops organisation' cliche, it insults the memory of one of my favourite childhood shows.

It's Tiny Tips' choice but neither he nor I have seen (m)any "good looking teens pursued by black-ops" shows and he was too young (and UI never watched) the original to have a memory insulted.

Plus I genuinely think it has more character drama than Shield does.