I watched "Agents of Shield" at the time it aired, all apart from the seventh and final season, which was on my list, but I hadn't gotten around too. In fact, it had been so long I decided to restart the series from scratch and watch it all again, starting with this first run, which originally aired on Channel Four in the UK, back in 2013.
Resurrected following his death at the hands of Loki ahead of the Battle for New York, Agent Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) is tasked with putting together a small team to react to unusual behaviour, starting with Mike Peterson (J August Richards) who has superhuman strength from the extremis in his system. Coulson recruits specialists Melinda May (Ming-Na Wen) and Grant Ward (Brett Dalton) and scientists Leo Fitz (Iain de Caestecker) and Jemma Simmons (Elizabeth Henstridge) but it's a hacker and activists Skye (Chloe Bennet) who is able to get them close to Peterson.
Generally, I enjoyed this season of "Agents of Shield" more than I thought I would. I forgot how integral it felt to the MCU at this time, with the plots of "Iron Man 3" and "Thor: The Dark World" having a factor on the plot of the series. The whole season shifts though on the events of "Captain America: The Winters Soldier" when the activation of Hydra agents, embedded at all levels of SHIELD comes to the fore. Shorn of both power and legitimacy, the seasons ends with the agents increasingly having to act on their own initiatives to achieve their aims. The are guest appearances from Samuel L Jackson, Cobie Smulders and Maximiliano Hernandez, as well as Jamie Alexander as Lady Sif.
There's definitely the "Buffy/Whedon" vibe running through the series, as he was one of the main creative forces at Marvel during this time, before "the unpleasantness". It has the same funny lines and smart ass, almost fourth wall breaking, style that his series have. The seasons have the monster of the week and mythology style that other shows have utilised so well and, again like Buffy, leads up to the reveal of a "big bad" at the end of it. The visual effects are good as is Bear McCreary's score.
My recollection is that I've got some lean years to come, as the show drifts further away from what was happening in the movies, but I was pleasantly surprised with just how much I enjoyed this season.
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