# Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D (ABC)



## Deleted_171835 (May 13, 2013)

> Clark Gregg reprises his role of Agent Phil Coulson from Marvel’s feature films as he assembles a small, highly select group of Agents from the worldwide law-enforcement organization known as S.H.I.E.L.D. Together they investigate the new, the strange, and the unknown across the globe, protecting the ordinary from the extraordinary. Coulson’s team consists of Agent Grant Ward (Brett Dalton), highly trained in combat and espionage, Agent Melinda May (Ming-Na Wen) expert pilot and martial artist, Agent Leo Fitz (Iain De Caestecker); brilliant engineer and Agent Jemma Simmons (Elizabeth Henstridge) genius bio-chemist. Joining them on their journey into mystery is new recruit and computer hacker Skye (Chloe Bennet). From Executive Producers Joss Whedon (“Marvel’s The Avengers,” ”Buffy the Vampire Slayer”); Jed Whedon & Maurissa Tancharoen, “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” pilot co-writers (“Dollhouse,” “Dr.Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog”); Jeffrey Bell (“Angel,” “Alias”); and Jeph Loeb (“Smallville”) comes Marvel’s first TV series. “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” is produced by ABC Studios and Marvel Television


http://www.agentsofshield.com/
#coulsonlives


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## Gahars (May 13, 2013)

Huh. I guess I have a reason to watch ABC now.

Whodathunk?


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## Hyro-Sama (May 14, 2013)

I pray this isn't another "Firefly". It seems major U.S. networks are more bloodthirsty than ever these days. 

Anyways, this will definitely have my support. 100% Ever since the Avengers, I'm all in for anything Marvel related. _(Disney-wise)_


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## Chary (May 14, 2013)

Well, ABC, you've got my attention. You'd better not mess this up.


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## BORTZ (May 16, 2013)

> Clark Gregg reprises his role of Agent Phil Coulson


Coulson lives, thats all you had to say.


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## FAST6191 (May 16, 2013)

I saw it as part of my "click on a random youtube video to see if flash works" part of an OS reinstall today. Probably not going to be enough to break my "watch it only when two series or it has been cancelled" rule but has more promise than most.

That said I did like the last two Marvel TV shows (Mutant X and Blade) and if this is getting a bit of a bigger budget then things might happen.


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## gokujr1000 (May 16, 2013)

I'm watching because Avengers and Joss Whedon.


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## Clydefrosch (Jun 3, 2013)

i only like marvel when theres brightly colored folks doing superhuman things. i'd rather see keeping up with the genoshans or something.


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## Veho (Jun 3, 2013)

I on the other hand prefer the "behind the scenes" stuff of the Marvel universe. Have you read Damage Control?


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## Deleted_171835 (Sep 27, 2013)

Watched the first episode and it's actually pretty good. While it's not perfect, it's a nice way to flesh out the Marvel universe and cover some characters that aren't featured in the movies. 

Plus Coulson is pretty chill.


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## Cyan (Sep 28, 2013)

I hope there will be known heroes appearance (I mean from already released movies).
How many people do you think went/will go to Tahiti ?


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## Clydefrosch (Sep 28, 2013)

well, saw ep 1. its not yet bad. but i'm also only mildly thrilled so far. entertaining enough for the moment, but I still felt the need to play some Project Rub on the DS.

they better wear some shield tactical diving suits with white belts at some point. I'm really sick of all those shows with mostly exchangeable agents in black suits
and I'm still hoping for a strong support cast. I mean, I dont expect hulk or iron man to come by (for animation budged reasons alone), but some secondary heroes or villains like the wrecking crew or powerman? can't believe that for a second there, I thought that black guy was supposed to be powerman :/

the plastic gun towards the end also seemed kinda childish.


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## Guild McCommunist (Sep 28, 2013)

...Eh?

Suffers Joss Whedon syndrome where every character has to be FUNNY and QUIRKY which can become really old and worn out when you've seen enough of Joss Whedon's stuff.

None of the characters are particularly interesting and mostly their traits fall down to what type of humorous trope they represent.

Also there's a fair share of plot holes. Like how Agent Coulson, despite his not-being-dead thing being TOTALLY secret, just walks around in plain daylight and apparently Level 7 is huge because he walks around such a massive building all the time.

It seems very possible for this to turn into a Villain of the Week deal which would really suck since Villain of the Week sucks. This ain't fucking Gundam.

How can some random hacker chick in a van hack the security of the world's foremost spy network when it was really really hard for Tony Stark to do it with, y'know, his masterful mind and billions of dollars of tech? Don't give me this "well she's a prodigy hacker lol" bullshit because that is a really tired excuse.

It can be entertaining, I'll give them that, but good? Really not from this pilot. I have hopes it'll try to elevate itself from the typical quirky bullshit and make characters worth caring about but as it is, it's only doing well based on the name behind it. You took the same concept, ditched any Marvel affiliation, and tried to make it an original series like Firefly and this would be DOA, I can tell you that.


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## gokujr1000 (Sep 30, 2013)

Can't say I enjoyed episode 1 that much. Hopefully by mid season the show feels normal.


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## calmwaters (Sep 30, 2013)

Oh my god, LAME. This screams lame on SO many levels. A show is only as good as the audience is: the more people watch it, the better off it'll be. I'm not really excited, considering what they did with Iron Man 3 and Captain America and Thor and the Avengers. Thor kicks Iron Man's ass since he's the god of thunder while Tony Stark invents all his weapons. There's just one of the reasons why I think this show'll bomb pretty soon. If the pilot was bad, chances are the rest of the episodes will be worse.


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## Pedeadstrian (Sep 30, 2013)

Guild McCommunist said:


> ...Eh?


 
I can't believe I'm saying this, but... I agree with you.

I thought the whole thing was lackluster. I wasn't expecting much though. Because, well, ABC/tv. The special effects sucked, the characters were trying too hard to be funny, and they started too many drama side-plots at one time. Space them bitches out. I'm going to watch the next episode or two to make sure it isn't only the pilot that sucks, but I won't hold my breath.


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## FAST6191 (Sep 30, 2013)

calmwaters said:


> A show is only as good as the audience is: the more people watch it, the better off it'll be.



Utterly unrelated to the show being discussed but that is an interesting position. Sure more viewers might mean a better budget but it is usually not long after that the grim spectre of "executive meddling" appears.



Pedeadstrian said:


> and they started too many drama side-plots at one time. Space them bitches out.


Depending upon the school of screenwriting you subscribe to that is an accepted "early show/new character" device, personally I dislike it when it wears off as villain/disease/case/criminal/intrigue of the week gets quite boring for me.


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## BORTZ (Sep 30, 2013)

I like it because it gives me a slight glimpse into the "normal" marvel world. But other than that, I feel like its just tasteless rice filler between major marvel movies.


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## Tom Bombadildo (Oct 2, 2013)

So I watched both episodes that have been release today, and this is pretty nice. And the ending on the second one made me laugh like a motherfucker lol. I like it, I kinda wanna see this actually go somewhere.


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## Guild McCommunist (Oct 2, 2013)

Ugh this show is getting even worse.

It's worst sin isn't that it's a Joss Whedon show, it's that it's not, it's trying to be a Joss Whedon show. So it's the same every character is quirky thing but without any of the writing being clever. Because Whedon can be a good writer, at times, but boil it down and it's quirky characters and quirky humor.

Ward is incredibly Mary Sue, the plots and themes of each episode are super basic and incredibly cheeseball (this last episode could've just been called "Teamwork!"), characters have no depth, and a lot of the tonal issues happen.

Also SHIELD are pretty fucking terrible and this show makes them too nice. The fact that Coulson let an entire guerrilla squad on his secret government command plane and let them roam free is just complete bullshit. He should've just left their asses there because SHIELD operates on the whole "greater good" thing (where sacrifices must be made) and also on non-interference with the world, they just intervene when, y'know, the world itself could be destroyed.

So yeah the show is a complete mess and lacks any real depth. It's only redeeming factor is some pretty great production values for TV but that's about as far as it goes.


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## gokujr1000 (Oct 3, 2013)

After the second episode it feels like the show is trying to copy Firefly. The only redeeming quality was Samuel L Jackson at the end, if only he was leading the show instead of Clark Gregg.


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## FireEmblemGuy (Oct 3, 2013)

I will say that this week's episode was more enjoyable than last's, but it's still nothing great. No show's at its prime right at the beginning, but I'm probably only give this another couple episodes to pick up before dropping it.


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## Deleted_171835 (Oct 4, 2013)

Seen the second episode and honestly, I preferred the pilot.

My number 1 gripe with the show is the portrayal of the Shield team. I don't know much about the Marvel Universe aside from the films but from the Iron Man films and The Avengers, they've always come across a professional elite team. Here, they're depicted as a bunch of bumbling goofballs that fit every cliche in the book. I'm supposed to believe that _these_ are the people protecting us from aliens, gods and other supernatural shit? That's a bit of a stretch.

I'm not saying they all have to be super-badass character-less robotic elite supersoldiers like that one Chinese chick but goddamn, at least show some professionalism that fits within the established universe. To go from the completely badass group that's shown in the films to _this _is a stretch too far.

_Even if_ you consider the fact that they're a newly put-together team, you'd expect them to act like actual "agents", not a bunch of amateurs fresh out of the police academy. I dunno, it's the second episode so I guess I'll wait to see if this improves as the show progresses.

The whole situation with Skye bugs me too. Why would you let a chick who was part of some rogue vigilante hacker group trying to take you guys down join your super-secret government team after one meeting with her. You're telling me no one thought that might be a bad idea? And the show isn't exactly doing a good job of selling her as a former computer hacker who lived out of her van. Unless I'm just not aware of the fact that most homeless computer hackers manage to take the time to do their makeup and look great.

The only redeeming factor of this episode was Samuel L Jackson but I'm not going to write off the show just yet. The pilot was good so I'll give it a few more episodes.


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## Guild McCommunist (Oct 8, 2013)

soulx said:


> Seen the second episode and honestly, I preferred the pilot.
> 
> My number 1 gripe with the show is the portrayal of the Shield team. I don't know much about the Marvel Universe aside from the films but from the Iron Man films and The Avengers, they've always come across a professional elite team. Here, they're depicted as a bunch of bumbling goofballs that fit every cliche in the book. I'm supposed to believe that _these_ are the people protecting us from aliens, gods and other supernatural shit? That's a bit of a stretch.


 
To be fair they also do a horrible interpretation of how SHIELD is from the comics or the movies. They make them too good when really SHIELD is very much a "for the greater good" and "acceptable losses" type of organization, not exactly the kind that says "Random South American rebels! Come aboard our top secret jet base!"

The SHIELD in this show is a mixture of baffling incompetence, lawful good, and more quirkiness than a LGTBQ club bake off.

So yeah the show is kinda shit.


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## Cyan (Oct 8, 2013)

I don't know the comics and watched only the movies. I just watched both episodes and I agree with Guild, the SHIELD is not professional, the events are not realistic (hacking the shield from a van, closing a hole with a sheet of plastic? really ?).

I would have preferred a strong story with "to be continued" on each (Avenger-like) episodes, instead of multiple independent 40min episodes.

I'll keep watching as I'm curious of Marvel's universe and want to see where it's going. it will spend time until next big movie.


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## FAST6191 (Oct 8, 2013)

Cyan said:


> I don't know the comics and watched only the movies. I just watched both episodes and I agree with Guild, the SHIELD is not professional, the events are not realistic (hacking the shield from a van, closing a hole with a sheet of plastic? really ?).
> 
> I would have preferred a strong story with "to be continued" on each (Avenger-like) episodes, instead of multiple independent 40min episodes.
> 
> I'll keep watching as I'm curious of Marvel's universe and want to see where it's going. it will spend time until next big movie.



If we complained every time someone in a TV show handled a weapon in a completely stupid way then we would need to find better screenwriters, on computers though they make for some of the more amusing presentations in hacker conferences.

"a strong story with "to be continued" [after each episode]"
Alas the ABC in the title means that is not going to happen. TV shows where such things happen seem to be reserved for expensive cable channels* in America.

*


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## calmwaters (Oct 8, 2013)

gokujr1000 said:


> After the second episode it feels like the show is trying to copy Firefly. The only redeeming quality was Samuel L Jackson at the end, if only he was leading the show instead of Clark Gregg.


 
Agent Coulson is leading the show? What kind of fucked up bullshit harebrained idea is that? Nick Fury is the head of S.H.I.E.L.D. End of discussion. I've heard weird things about the show, but that's ridiculous. Or maybe Samuel L Jackson doesn't want to be associated with this shit doomed television show.


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## Guild McCommunist (Oct 9, 2013)

calmwaters said:


> Agent Coulson is leading the show? What kind of fucked up bullshit harebrained idea is that? Nick Fury is the head of S.H.I.E.L.D. End of discussion. I've heard weird things about the show, but that's ridiculous. Or maybe Samuel L Jackson doesn't want to be associated with this shit doomed television show.


 

Well Fury leads the organization but the show is more focused on the agents. Coulson is just a higher ranking agent, he directs those in field work.

Like The Office is about the people at Dunder Mifflin Scranton and their boss, it's not about the people at Dundler Mifflin Scranton and the CEO of Dundler Mifflin across the country.


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## Deleted_171835 (Oct 9, 2013)

Actually enjoyed this episode, even if it was a little heavy-handed at parts

"Oh we're in Malta, SHIELD can't get us here"
"Yeah we're in Malta, SHIELD can't get us"
"You're such a genius, SHIELD can't get us in MALTA"

I'm paraphrasing a bit but literally 5 minutes after, Coulson is like "oh snap they're in Malta, SHIELD agents can get shot on sight there." Yeah, I think we got it the first time.

And then there's Ward's super cheesy sob-story, "my brother beat me up once for eating his cake and that's why I'm such a personality-less tool boo fucking hoo"

But _aside _from all of that, the episode wasn't bad. Looking forward to the next one.


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## gokujr1000 (Oct 9, 2013)

calmwaters said:


> Agent Coulson is leading the show? What kind of fucked up bullshit harebrained idea is that? Nick Fury is the head of S.H.I.E.L.D. End of discussion. I've heard weird things about the show, but that's ridiculous. Or maybe Samuel L Jackson doesn't want to be associated with this shit doomed television show.


 

Agent Coulson IS leading the show, I'm literally talking about the television show when I say that. Did you think I was saying Agent Coulson is the head of SHIELD?


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## calmwaters (Oct 9, 2013)

gokujr1000 said:


> Agent Coulson IS leading the show, I'm literally talking about the television show when I say that. Did you think I was saying Agent Coulson is the head of SHIELD?


 
No I didn't: I said Nick Fury is the head of SHIELD and therefore should be the leader of the show. The show might be focused on the agents, but those agents have a leader. And considering the kind of star Samuel Jackson is, you'd think (or at least I would) that they would make him the front man instead of Agent Coulson.


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## gokujr1000 (Oct 9, 2013)

calmwaters said:


> No I didn't: I said Nick Fury is the head of SHIELD and therefore should be the leader of the show. The show might be focused on the agents, but those agents have a leader. And considering the kind of star Samuel Jackson is, you'd think (or at least I would) that they would make him the front man instead of Agent Coulson.


 

Ahh I read your post in the wrong context. I thought you were trying to tell me Coulson wasn't the lead of the show xD

I agree with you 100%


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## McHaggis (Oct 9, 2013)

Except hiring Jackson would have pretty much blown the majority of their budget before they started.  Like Guild said, the show isn't really focusing on SHIELD, but rather surprisingly, the agents of said organisation.  Besides, I think Gregg has done a decent enough job of transitioning the character from the big screen, it's mostly the writing that's letting the show down for me.

Despite the disappointment, I'll probably watch it to the end of Season 1 in the hope that it will get better.


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## Guild McCommunist (Oct 28, 2013)

Why isn't everyone here taking a shit on it.

The show is going in... different directions. On one hand it's putting some pieces in place for a decent finale. On the other hand it still has some baffling stupid things.

I guess SHIELD isn't stupidly good any more but now they're just plain stupid. Spoilers relating to the latest episode ahead:



Spoiler



Like the whole thing with Scorch. Why did Coulson bring only one clip with him? Why didn't May have a gun as well? Why didn't they also carry standard pistols? I find it quite stupid that their "final resort" was overdosing him on Centipede Serum and letting him blow up. Why didn't Coulson just have a fucking gun? Put one in between his eyes? That would stop the explosion and get rid of him. Even when Scorch put up the wall of fire to stop the tranqs, how dumb is Coulson to just unload his clip into it? I thought they were trained well, you only need one shot if you're good. And they make it clear that Coulson is good.

Also the whole Skye bullshit made my eyes roll straight out of my head. Like May is literally outside the door while she basically says "WELL I'M ON THE INSIDE NOW." and they don't acknowledge this at all. Unless May snuck into the room between her saying that and her saying "I was trying to save you!" Also it's really damn clear that Skye was playing double agent all along and they're still too daft to realize it. Unless they leads up to some bullshit "It was a method of reverse interrogation to get Rising Tide info!" twist.

Skye's "b-but muh parents" shit was the merriest of Mary Sues.

Also dat fan-pandering Skye in her undies wow can you be a show designed for idiot grognards any more.

Agents of SHIT still a relevant title.


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## Jamstruth (Oct 28, 2013)

Guild McCommunist said:


> Spoiler
> 
> 
> 
> ...





Spoiler



I agree that they did pull some major-league stupid with this one. Getting rid of Scorch could have been done cleaner and with a single bullet (it probably would have had the same effect of blowing him up too.

As for Skye... They did call her on the bullshit. They know she's been playing Double Agent and feeding info to the outside hence she now has a similar bracelet to the one they gave the other hacker. Possibly they should have dropped her in Hong Kong too but Coulson's been acting well outside the regulations already and they actually care about her.

The parents "twist" also had very little to do with anything thus far. Coulson does seem to care about it though. She's just an orphan trying to find out about her parents and she thought she needed to lie to get that information. Mary Sue? Not exactly. Cliché? Fuck yeah it is.


 
If anybody's seen the new Captain America: Winter Soldier trailers they seem to be taking the main body of SHIELD down a very authoritarian path. The SHIELD series' part in the Movie-verse may be to give it a point to rebuild from. Coulson is breaking regulations and trying to be as empathic as possible in taking care of these missions rather than just snatching people away or whatever.


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## Guild McCommunist (Oct 28, 2013)

By definition a Mary Sue is cliche. They're supposed to be edgy and tragic. She is VERY Mary Sue.

And even dropping her boyfriend off in Hong Kong was dumb. They should've dropped him in a dark hole somewhere and beat whatever information they could out of him. Same with Skye instead of still keeping her on the bus.


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## calmwaters (Oct 28, 2013)

Guild McCommunist said:


> Why isn't everyone here taking a shit on it.
> 
> The show is going in... different directions. On one hand it's putting some pieces in place for a decent finale. On the other hand it still has some baffling stupid things.
> 
> ...


 
That's spoilers for the next show? I'll plan to do something else so I don't have to watch it. Seriously, there are so many things wrong with it.


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## mysticwaterfall (Nov 21, 2013)

I'm officially done with this show after watching Avengers again today. In the movies, Shield might make some dumb moves but is at least a formidable force and fairly competent. In the show, Shield is bafflingly moronic and incredibly understaffed. It's amazing everybody on this team wasn't dead in 5 minutes. Like, the 2nd episode, where they send a whopping 3 people with combat experiance to sec ure  a deadly weapon. Really? How many people did they have guarding Thor's hammer? That's not even considering all the stuff mentioned by Guild.

I realize you can't have the same budget as a movie but come on. Take 24 for instance. Jack might have done everything, but at least you knew CTU had muscle and comptent employees when he needed it.


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## FAST6191 (Jan 31, 2014)

I am bored enough to consider watching this. Did it ever even get to be passable or would it be another example of why I should obey my "only watch shows when they have finished or made it to series 3" rule?


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## calmwaters (Jan 31, 2014)

FAST6191 said:


> I am bored enough to consider watching this. Did it ever even get to be passable or would it be another example of why I should obey my "only watch shows when they have finished or made it to series 3" rule?


 
After two months of silence in this thread, I'm guessing it's not improved. I would follow your example and wait for it to be finished to watch it then.


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## XDel (Jan 31, 2014)

Marvel... marketed towards the chick flick crowd. No sir, I didn't like it.


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## FAST6191 (Jan 31, 2014)

TV shows and GBAtemp are odd if you are going to try using frequency of conversation as any kind of metric.


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## Deleted_171835 (Jan 31, 2014)

Show's supposed to have gotten a little bit better, I don't know, I quit a few episodes ago.

But if you want the best show on TV right now, shout out to

http://gbatemp.net/threads/person-of-interest.335186/page-2


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## Ryupower (Jan 31, 2014)

is not bad
give some info, on what happen to some chars after the movies


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## FAST6191 (Jan 31, 2014)

I was set to say something about the assertion that person of interest was the best.... then I realised the "right now" part would probably actually make it work.

On the "after the films bit" it sounds like either something I can read up on in text at the end of the whole thing or dismiss with "the only characters that matter have new films coming out".

That said I broke my rule and watched a few episodes of "The Blacklist". Very silly but soothes that part of me that really misses Burn Notice.

TV writers seem to be upping their game a tiny bit, that or more people adding in plot threads that last more than 40 minutes, 80 in the case of a two parter, is doing well for me.


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## Hyro-Sama (Feb 1, 2014)

How many people have dropped this?

I dropped it right after the Thor sequel follow-up. Haven't watched an episode since.


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## mysticwaterfall (Feb 3, 2014)

I dropped it after the 3rd episode. Maybe if the people weren't so bafflingly incompetent it would help. As well as showing us Shields personel and strength. I get you have a limited budget and need regulars, but if the fate the world is in the hand of these 5 idiots, the world is doomed.


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## Guild McCommunist (Feb 3, 2014)

I dropped it a while ago. I thought it got canned and TV would finally rid itself of one more shit show.


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## FireEmblemGuy (Feb 6, 2014)

I'm at least going to give it until the end of the first (and at this rate, only) season. There's potential and some overall great moments despite being mostly mediocre, and I enjoy the occasional dark bits that contrast against the generally lighthearted nature of the show. Was really liking the direction last night's episode took until they basically flat-out said they'd be undoing the big shocker moment within an episode or two.


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