By: Brandon Wolfe
‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s’ first season stands as one of the more curious failures in recent memory. Here was a series that seemed to have every advantage laid out before it and felt poised to become the next great television phenomenon. Given the track records of both Marvel Studios and producer Joss Whedon, this should have been an easy win, yet a stifling blandness and frustrating ineptitude took hold immediately and never let up. So going into the season finale, the question taking shape was no longer what could be done to save this inaugural year at the buzzer. That ship had sailed, the damage too thorough to come back from. Thus the question became of what shape will Season 2 take. Is there any reason to hope for a brighter future from this enterprise? Basically, what assurances do we get that none of this will happen again?
It’s a question that the show seemed to shift its focus to as well, as “The Beginning of the End” does not really even attempt to tie a bow around all of the developments it was pretending to be building toward. All the information locked away in that hard drive that we spent so many episodes being asked to be concerned about? All the gizmos and doodads stolen from The Fridge? All the prisoners released? All of it swept under the rug. That super-soldier program? Brushed aside after the most perfunctory resolution possible. For these weren’t components the show sought to develop a narrative around so much as they were buzzwords, things for the characters to discuss to present the illusion of plot. I suppose we owe the show a solid for ultimately not expecting us to care about all of these things that we were already not caring about on our own.
The only thing the finale truly cares about wrapping up is its villains, primarily Garrett. After ingesting the last of the GH-325 formula, Garrett’s strength has gone off the charts, as has his insanity. Ward has grown concerned that his master is starting to lose it, but Garrett insists that everything is under control. And not enough good can be said for what Bill Paxton has brought to this show. His over-the-top villainy and way with the goofy dialogue have been the only consistent source of joy the show has offered. He has been invaluable, and I would have liked to have seen him carry on in a villainous capacity in the future, something the show teases with his last-minute cybernetic resurrection before he is abruptly vaporized by a nonchalant Coulson (in, it should be said, a pretty good gag, and a rare moment where TV Coulson actually feels like Movie Coulson).
If only ‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’ could have pulled the trigger a few more times in this episode. The blandness of its core cast has been one of its most troublesome issues from the start, and the show had the chance here to prune a few branches, yet, maddeningly, opted not to. Ward has outlived his usefulness as a character, and while the finale mercifully does not attempt to walk back his turncoat nature, it does leave him annoyingly alive, taken into custody to undoubtedly Ambien us all again next year. Fitz, who has emerged as the show’s most obnoxious character, is left in critical condition after a heroic attempt to save himself and Simmons from a watery grave, but “critical condition” means “alive” and that doesn’t cut it. FitzSimmons as a unit has never worked because the two are essentially the same character multiplied, and now the show wants that one character to become its own love interest. From a storytelling standpoint, the show simply doesn’t need both of these cutesy-poos, and it’s hard not to think that an honest-to-God Joss Whedon production would have had the guts to actually let Fitz die a hero.
It’s the guest stars that really carry the day. Sam Jackson shows up as Nick Fury and is such a breezily entertaining presence that you could absolutely see how a version of this show that could afford him as the lead could work, even with the same lousy writing. It’s not that Jackson is given special top-shelf dialogue, he’s just such a pro that he can effortlessly make a silk purse out of what they do give him. And the revelation that Patton Oswalt’s Koenig was just one in a series of clones or robots means that Patton Oswalt can still be an ongoing presence on the show, which is a major plus.
“The Beginning of the End”, which ends on a note of triumph that feels absurdly unearned, sets us up for a recommitted Season 2, with Fury tasking Coulson to rebuild S.H.I.E.L.D. as its new director. Frankly, the show could stand to leave S.H.I.E.L.D. in the dust a bit longer. Letting Coulson and his team dangle in the wind might have more promise than reestablishing a status quo that never worked in the first place, but I suppose they do have a title that needs to make sense. The finale seems to finally give Coulson the closure to his resurrection angst that dragged down his character so much this year, which is definitely good news. Agent Triplett seems to be sticking around, and though he isn’t yet much of a character himself, he certainly occupies the “handsome lead agent” role more agreeably than Ward ever did. Deathlok is given a redemption of sorts, but none of this excuses the fact that the role reduced a fine actor like J. August Richards to standing around glowering while wearing a Halloween costume from Rite Aid. Finally, the show still cannot stop telling us how special Skye is, without offering us one shred of evidence to support this claim (that 084 status of hers? Still standing by on that), but we do get more hints from Raina that there is something monstrous about her, and we are introduced to the blood-soaked hand of her father. At least making Skye part-monster would make her something.
In spite of it all, I remain interested in what will happen with this show as it proceeds. I’m sure its backlash and soft ratings are not going unnoticed by the powers that be, and some measure of change ideally should be implemented over the summer hiatus. Bringing in new showrunners and at least a few new cast members is vital. Conceptually, ‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’ has every right to be an amazing show, but it does not have the proper working parts to function as it should, and there is no reason to expect things to turn around with the current regime in place. Marvel has become a bellwether of quality in its cinematic arm, showing up fellow blockbusters with a level of care and thought that’s become increasingly rare. It’s time for them to shore up the TV side of things.
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