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

I honestly haven't been all that impressed with Arrow's third season (and I thought big chunks of Season 2 were a misfire). I'll probably wait until midseason before I go back to that. Same with 'The Flash'. 'The Flash' has been good so far, but I feel like the shows are connected in a way that if I'm not watching one then I don't want to watch either right now.

102 0-8-4
A little bit slower pacing at the beginning, I felt like I got my bearings a bit better and was able to watch more of the dynamic of the group. I'm not sure how I feel about have two science nerds on the team, but I guess it might be better watching them bounce off each other rather than alienating everybody else. I don't like the musical score so far, it's bombastic and not subtle at all. That's unfortunate because I have a great deal of respect for Bear McCreary after his work on 'Battlestar Galactica'. Hopefully that improves. The action in Peru was... corny and cheesy, but I suppose it worked. The dialogue is clunky and wordy, and doesn't feel natural. It worked in some of Joss's other shows because it was spoken by teenagers, when used by full-grown adults in their 30's and 40's it sounds incredibly unnatural. What I'll say is that I'm pausing the episode here and there to add more to these little 'reviews', and I was just about to pause it to write that this is just a terrible episode and talk about how some shows deliver satisfying pilots but they run out of ideas and can't deliver a good second episode... and then the Comandante's squad turned on the agents. Much better from there, and a nice ending with the team. And I loved Sam Jackson's cameo, that was perfect. Good episode. I agree with Skye's reply (unsurprising twist), "I'm in."

Season One Ranking:
1. Pilot
2. 0-8-4

You'll probably grow to like Fitz and Simmons, and honestly, right now on the show, Fitz (Iain De Caestecker) is giving the best performance.

It's time for you to invest on Hulu Plus or just buy another DVR. It's 2014. That excuse doesn't fly anymore.

Clearly not.

I didn't say we could only record one show at a time. We can record two, but then we're forced to either watch one of them or something else we've already recorded.

104 Eye Spy
Cool opening, I was hoping it was leading to something more interesting like a terrorist attack but it was still neat. Say what you want about Clark Gregg, but that man carries this show on his back. This writing is really sloppy and, well awful at times, but when Gregg is on screen I tend to forget about it. I keep waiting for an episode where the agents have to deal with somebody they don't have a personal connection to; not this episode apparently. I'm glad in the fight between May and Amador that May kicked her ass. I'm tired of shows that paint characters to be these skilled fighters and the best in their field, but then they fight somebody who goes blow for blow with them. They've made a big deal out of May's fighting skills, so it makes sense she would make short work of somebody like this. Good job 'Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.' I also really liked Ward infiltrating the building, this is the kind of show I was hoping to get.

It's kind of unfortunate I'm watching the show now since I know a big Hydra reveal is coming in about 12 episodes. Because of that, I'm assuming somebody on the team probably is Hydra. Right now my guess is Ward, just based on the conversation he had with Coulson about Amador "shifting alliances" and how that must have made Coulson feel. Felt like a big red herring.

They also brought up the idea that Coulson might be more (or less) than human, and I admit that's something I've kinda forgotten about. He's mentioned Tahiti being a special place a few times now, and Amador clearly saw something. Interesting.

Season One Ranking:

1. Eye Spy (104)
2. Pilot (101)
3. 0-8-4 (102)
4. The Asset (103)

106 FZZT
That was definitely a better episode than I really thought the series was capable of this early in its run. Very emotional, some terrific acting from the entire cast especially Elizabeth Henstridge. It didn't really add anything to the series as a whole, but it did help to further develop and strengthen the relationships between these people. I also liked the conversation between May and Coulson at the end. Obviously there's something the show isn't telling us about Coulson's revival, but I suspect it might be a while before we have the whole truth. It's going to be hard to beat this episode in the rankings.

Season One Ranking:
1. FZZT (106)
2. Eye Spy (104)
3. Pilot (101)
4. 0-8-4 (102)
5. The Asset (103)
6. Girl in the Flower Dress (105)

I know it would be tough and is maybe asking too much of the show, but I think it would really benefit from including more Nick Fury and making Hawkeye a recurring character. People have complained that we haven't really seen much of the true Hawkeye yet, including Jeremy Renner himself. That makes sense since he was in Thor for all of two minutes and brainwashed for the majority of The Avengers. The problem though is that with both May and Ward already on the team, adding a third person like them would definitely feel like overkill. But if my theory that Ward is Hydra ends up being true...

I'd also like to see Mark Ruffalo show up as a consulting scientist that Fitz-Simmons can turn to. I'm not saying let's show the Hulk, but Ruffalo as Banner would be awesome. Just more connectivity would be nice. The show feels pretty separated up to this point minus the obvious inclusion of Coulson and little things like the Chitauri helmet.

So... Is nobody else watching this? Or just don't want to chime in because it's just me and I'm not caught up?

I'm watching and loving it. Good season 2 keeps getting better.

Season 2 has been great so far