Agents of S.H.E.I.L.D.: It Got Better

When Agents of S.H.E.I.L.D. first launched, it gave the impression of being a standard sci-fi show in which they would have a “villain of the week” with an underlying larger plot happening in the background that would occasionally make its way to the forefront before being wrapped up during the season finale. The first half of season 1 was not good. Every episode was filled to the brim with cheesy lines that were interwoven with its over-the-top-esque style. Whereas all the Netflix shows successfully deviated from the main movies as much as possible whilst also keeping continuity via a few passing references, those shows were strong from the beginning and was a disappointment when all of them ended abruptly. Agents of S.H.E.I.L.D. was the first ever TV spin-off from the movies and so tried just a little too hard to be its own thing.

When it comes to TV shows, first impressions count. If you do not have a good solid first episode, people won’t be coming back for more. If you don’t have a solid episode throughout your entire first half of the season, then you’ve lost a good majority of your audience. When the first season went on its mid-season break, for a few, that was their finale. They didn’t want to watch any more. For those who stuck around to see what would happen, like me, those people, and me included, were pleasantly surprised with how the second half was a vast improvement of the show. It didn’t try and stand clear of the movies, it moulded itself around them, specifically Captain America: The Winter Soldier, the movie where S.H.E.I.L.D. fell and Hydra was found out. The show used the first season’s second half to set up the rest of the show’s entire run from season 2 right the way through to the end of season 7. The secret organisation isn’t so secret anymore, nor is it an organisation – not as it used to be, anyway.

It would be difficult for me to talk about all seven seasons in this article, but when season 2 was wrapping up and coming to its climatic finale, a good chunk of those who switched it off at the beginning of season 1 returned to see what all the fuss was about. They, too, were pleasantly surprised with how the show had developed and stuck around.

Watching the show grow from strength to strength season by season, seeing every character develop – some in more ways than others, especially when they introduced Inhumans – thinking back at how the show started off being, it basically saved itself from cancellation.

It is a shame that it started out as it did, because if it had started off just as strong as the second half of the first season did, no one would have left, and no one would have to play catch up when being told just how good it had gotten since they stopped watching – which can also put people off if they discover how much of the show is there to be watched. I was there from the very first episode and I was there at the very last episode, and all I can say to round up this article is this: By the end of the show, in its own way, it stood up high with the Netflix shows – except Daredevil as that show was in a league of its own; it’s that good.

Thanks for reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)