Agent Coulson Is Back And He Can Never Know...

In case you didn't know, the pilot of Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. aired this week. You can catch it on Hulu whenever you want.

As anyone who reads this blog at all regularly knows, I am a huge fan of Joss Whedon. Every time he puts something out, I gobble it up... well with the one exception of his Much Ado About Nothing (but as a vacation movie after his greatest financial success, that gets a pass).

So imagine how excited I was when he and Marvel decided to move forward with an Avengers/Iron Man 3 television sequel. The answer is very very excited... and a little bit afraid... but mostly excited.

Well the first hour certainly didn't disappoint. Joss threw a myriad of potential serial plot points at us which only gets me more amped up for the rest of the series.

I love that Clark Gregg came back for this and has been such a great sport with Marvel since... well since the first Iron Man back in 2008.

Can you believe it's only been five years?

And I know you're wondering (without me giving too much away for the three people in the world who didn't see the Avengers), "didn't something happen to him in that big blockbuster movie last year?" Well I'm glad you asked. Yes. Something did happen to Agent Coulson. Something dubious. And man is it a shocker that he's back and well, straight off a boat from Tahiti... Well that's one of those mysteries that gets me so excited for what's next.

If you've ever watched Buffy or Angel (Joss' earlier shows) you'd know just how important his characters are to him... well he kills them off every chance that he gets. But there's usually some reason, some really good reason that we just won't understand until a season or two or three later. But this time he managed to do his dirtiest deed before the tv show even came out. And now we're getting the aftermath. And I'm just tickled anticipating the day when that episode airs that actually tells us what S.H.I.E.L.D. is up to with this guy (Agent Coulson if that wasn't clear).

MAJOR SPOILERS
That being said, Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (I hate writing out that title) isn't perfect, but it's a good start. My greatest regret of the entire episode comes at the end, when the team faces off with the would-be villain. Something bad could happen here, but the budget won't allow it... actually the budget really falls off in this scene that's supposed to take place in (I think they said it was supposed to be) Union Station. And then the team takes action and the way they deal with things leaves a lot to be desired. Not because the idea is bad... it's more, they don't really take any time to explain what's happened. They leap forward and pass over the fact that there is a bullet firmly lodged in someone's head... then go on to say that he's fine and back with his kid in some hospital and everything's all happy-go-lucky? What? Maybe I missed something. But it felt off to me. Like they didn't have enough time to wrap up, but wanted to close that monster of the week story before the actual series started...
END SPOILERS

So to sum up, A lot of good and just a little bad. But definitely worth a watch. Especially if you want some more live action Marvel television fun with Joss Whedon and friends.