By Thom Yee

Images courtesy of Disney-ABC Domestic Television

1×02:  “0-8-4”

In 2011’s The Avengers, about half-way through, Loki remarks “How desperate are you that you would call upon such lost creatures to defend you?”  The original Avengers comic is built on the idea of heroes that don’t belong coming together against a common foe.  But that was the ‘60s, and by now, the Avengers — as characterized by the super-soldier, the god, the armoured knight, and various other hanger-ons —is one of the most visible archetypes on which superhero teams are built.  The answer to the question “How desperate are you…” is supposed to lie in the idea of making do with what you have, but the real truth is the certain knowledge that a team without conflict, without markedly different character types, would make for a boring story.

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by Thom Yee

Why I’m watching… Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Images courtesy of Disney-ABC Domestic Television

How could I not be watching Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.?  The Avengers was the third highest grossing film of all time.  We get to follow a specialized S.H.I.E.L.D. team through the Marvel Universe we’ve only begun to explore.  Agent Coulson is back!  But how?  If ever Marvel and ABC had a hit on their hands, it would be Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.  Frankly, what kind of confused, alcoholic, unemployable, angry loners won’t be watching Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.?

There’s a problem though.  I still don’t really like Joss Whedon.  While I think the show’s got enormous potential, and I think Whedon’s team has a better shot than most at successfully show-running the series through suitably intriguing and action-packed seasonal arcs while maintaining a measured approach to storytelling, I still think elements of Whedon’s scripts are awkward and unnecessarily silly (“Don’t touch Lola”).  It’s those little Whedonisms.

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