We’re back with Doom’s coverage of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D and I must address something right at the top. I’m reviewing this based on the American broadcast because Channel 4, the UK channel that shows AoS three days after the States, have made the BIGGEST bone-head mistake they could have. As reported by Den of Geek, unlike the Americans (and myself) who only had to endure a couple weeks, Channel 4 has decided not to air the rest of the season til March. You fucked up, Channel 4. You’re fucking clown shoes.

Okay, okay, okay, calming down. As I’m still going to be covering the show week-to-week, some UK viewers who haven’t seen the show (or are going to wait til March, like chumps) may want to avoid these articles because I am going into deep SPOILERS. The SPOILERiest SPOILERS that ever SPOILERed your SPOILS. Right, on with the episode!

SPOILERS, HO!

The team, still reeling from the events of The Bridge, find themselves with a contingent of SHIELD personnel lead by Victoria Hand, as they hunt down Centipede. Hand is a harsh taskmistress and she’s not really in on the whole “Coulson is awesome, let’s go save him” plan but she’s still a welcome addition to the episode.
Skye is thrown off the Bus by Hand and the team give what little support they can to her as she goes rogue and finds Coulson herself, utilising her own skills (despite the nanny bracelet handicap) and the skills she’s learnt from Ward (and even May). All of the scenes with the team working their asses off trying to find Coulson are great. There’s little hints of character development (Fitz’s bloodlust when it comes to getting Coulson back, May’s compassion and trust in Skye) that really carry the episode, even if they’re not the focus.

The villains return in a big bad way as Poe is trying to break Coulson using what appears to be a tiny MRI machine in an old Nuclear Testing site. Poe isn’t, and hasn’t, been a very intimidating villain. He’s far too confident and believes himself the better that of course he ends up dead by the hands (or phone) of his employer, the Clairvoyant. The device used kind of reminds me of the sonic emitter that Obadiah Stane used in the first Iron Man movie. If it’s the same tech, that a nice little callback. Raina (The Girl in the Flower Dress) meanwhile, is promoted to Clairvoyant’s favourite with the death of Poe and she really is the better villain. She’s cunning, manipulative but plays up her humility and even arousal at the idea of this Clairvoyant character. It makes her more a interesting villain, especially the revelation that she was once subject to the machine Coulson has been suffering in. What’s her long game? Why is she so enamoured with someone she’s never met? When’s she coming back? We’ll just have to see as the show goes on.

Now we come to the crux of the episode and what most of the season thus far has been building to. COULSON WATCH 2014!

Oh man, oh geez, oh man! What the actual hell!? I don’t even know where to start.
Coulson is being physically tortured by Poe to reveal what happened to him after he died. The mind reading device brings up subconcious memories using SCIENCE but Coulson’s resistance is killing him, much to Poe’s annoyance. Raina has better luck as she manipulates Coulson’s emotions and regrets, bringing up the death of his parents, his cellist girlfriend and eventually he relents when he repeats “It’s a magical place” at the mention of Tahiti. His confusion, grief and horror are all conveyed brilliantly by Clark Gregg, allowing him to show all his acting chops other than smiling adorably and being funny. Hell, he escapes while on Poe’s watch and slaps an impressive sleeper hold on a soldier. I’m pushing Coulson for Summer Slam!

And when we finally see what his Tahiti experience has been hiding, as his memory fractures and we see him under the knives of some robotic surgeon as his brain is dissected/reassembled and screaming for death. It’s actually a surprisingly graphic sequence for something that’s shown on prime time tv and shocked me. It brings to mind the Project Lazarus sequence from Mass Effect 2, as Dr. Streiten (Ron Glass, reprising his role from the Pilot) explains things to Coulson. We only saw the 7th surgery Coulson underwent to be resurrected, god only knows what else they did to him. Dr. Streiten uses words like “ungodly” and suggests that whatever Coulson is now, is far from human.

And the shit keeps coming as after the SHIELD logo fades in and out, the stinger reveals Mike.

Oh balls, that’s not good…

The Magical Place gets a stamp of MUST-SEE, this is what the show has been building to and its what we’ve been asking for since Day One! It’s got action, tension and some of the answers we’ve been waiting for. I cannot wait to see how the rest of the season goes and what you guys think so be sure to leave a comment below!

Between the announcement from Netflix that they’ll be making four Marvel live action tv shows based around the characters Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Iron Fist and Luke MO-FUGGIN‘ Cage and Agents of of S.H.I.E.L.D. returning to our screen from a one week gap, it’s been emotional. I know a fair few of us here at DOOM Towers are excited by the prospect of seeing the Heroes for Hire on tv (and its something we wanted from S.H.I.E.L.D.) and I can’t wait to see what comes from that. Would you guys like us to cover those shows as well? Let us know in the comments!

FZZT starts out pretty spooky, with a bunch of boy scouts out in the woods telling ghost stories until one wanders off in search of a mysterious buzzing. Minutes later, an brief electrical storm hits and the man is left dead and floating 5ft off the ground.

The team is called in and start tracking similar phenomenon and soon find the culprit, a Chitauri helmet infected with some kind of virus that overcharges a human’s electromagnetic field and eventually kills them. Unfortunately, Simmons is infected so it’s a race against the clock to find a cure. The true meat of this episode is the team reacting to the news that Simmons is dying and none of them are handling it well. Coulson’s expression when he sees the first symptoms is heartbreaking. He silently moves to the door, apologises and seals her in the lab, much to Simmons’ confusion. Skye is distraught, Ward feels helpless and Fitz is so willing to help, he’ll risk his own infection to save his friend. I can’t remember if Melinda is upset but I’d sure she’s crying on the inside.

Naturally, since this episode wasn’t written Joss Whedon or James Roberts, Simmons survives after Wards dives out of the plan with the antiserum, completely cockblocking Fitz’s Big Damn Hero moment. Though there’s some sweet acknowledgement of this later as Simmons remarks that while Ward saved her, Fitz never left her side and that makes him her hero, then kisses his cheek. D’awww this ship is so adorbs, you guys! *squee*

Coulson Watch! Coulson KNOWS! He knows he’s some sort of awesome machine man! I’m kidding, all the little remarks he’s had up to this point has got him thinking so he ordered a battery of tests on himself. As he comforts Tony Diaz, shortly before he succumbs to the Chitauri electrovirus, he confides that he knows he died but he also knows it was longer than everyone is telling him and he hasn’t been the same since. And he gets the tests back at the end of the episode and he’s perfectly fine. Only he’s not. He feels different and in the most awkward, softcore porn set up way possible, Melinda reassures him that he’s human and that dying would change anyway.

Stinger for the week is Agent Blake (who previously appeared in the Avengers special feature, Item 47) gets on the Bus and starts swinging his dick around, threatening Coulson with his team being taken away if he continues to disobey orders and Coulson just smiles that smile of his. “I’d like to see them try.”

Damn good episode! Really fun, full of emotion and excellent performances all around. Next week promises more shady goings on as we see the return of another Item 47 character and the first appearance of Victoria Hand.

Yes, I said mutant earlier and Chan Ho Yin, aka Scorch, is that mutant. He’s never outright said to be (because Fox owns the rights) but given that his powers are never explicitly explained and that he shares the codename with an Asian pyrokinetic mutant in the comics, it’s safe to assume that he is too. Also, we’re getting two mutants joining the Avengers in the next movie so that’s another thing of note.

Scorch is taken in by Raina, the titular Girl in the Flower Dress, to a testing facility for the mysterious Project Centipede. They plan on using his ability to stabilize their Extremis cocktail to stop folks going boom. Insidious. I’ve gotta say that this is what I want from this show. More powers, more evil plots!

Skye is found out to be the one who leaked information to her scumbag ex-boyfriend who then sold the information that allowed Chan to be targeted. The team is naturally pissed to find that their friend has betrayed them but she’s soon helping them out again. In a move that I liked, she isn’t instantly kicked off the team only to return a few episodes later redeemed. She’ll be punished for her actions but throughout the episodes, you see how she’s changed her stance on SHIELD and considers the team to be good people, even her friends. Her reasons for joining the team in the first place are the true revelation as Coulson gives her one shot to tell the truth and she does. Her origins are a mystery and the only information she can find about her parents lead to a redacted file with the SHIELD logo. Coulson is ready to help but she’s betrayed their trust and she’ll have to earn it back, donning the high-tech bracelet Coulson also slapped on Skye’s scumbag ex before abandoning his arse in Hong Kong. I’ll be interested to see how the relationships continue to play out next week.

Coulson Watch is a twofer as early in the episode he admits to having an excess of “energy he needs to burn off” when confronted about getting up early by May and quickly follows that up with the hint of previous relationship between the two. Granted, it’s mostly Melinda May hinting that they “sparred” before. There’s also a little bit where Coulson actively admits that he’s changed since his “near” death experience.

The stinger reveals Raina talking to a man in prison who supposedly knows a clairvoyant. Who this guy is, who the clairvoyant is and how they figure into the Centipede organisation’s plans is all very mysterious.
Overall, an immensely enjoyable episode and more in line with what I expect of this show.

I’ll be straight with you guys, this was a very lacklustre episode for me. It was a very “Oh, we’re a ragtag bunch of misfits but we need to work as a team” kind of episode and it’s very surprising to see something this… basic from a Whedon. Not Joss, but his brother Jed. Then again, with three writers per the episode we may see a distillation like this sometimes, though I really hope not too often.

So what happened in this episode? The team is off to retrieve the titular 0-8-4, an object of unknown origin, from Peru and run into one of Coulson’s old flames and what appears to be some old Hydra-built Tesseract Tech. Air Force One shenanigans ensue and the team bond as a result.

The plot is weaksauce but we get some team development out of the way so maybe we can focus on more awesome stuff next week.

The good points of this episode though are Melinda May, who’s obvious PTSD is a recurring theme as she’s forced into combat situations that she’d rather not deal with. She’s one of the more interesting characters at the minute but she runs the risk of becoming Black Widow-lite. Regardless, Ming-Na Wen is a good actress and I hope her character gives her something juicy to chew on.

Skye being revealed as a double agent to the audience seems a little trope-y but it’s obviously the way to for the revelation of the antagonist group this season. It’s got to be Rising Tide, right?

On a trivia note, can we please take a closer look at Coulson’s trophy case? I bet there’s all sorts of fun nods to a larger Marvel Universe in there. Also, did anyone else notice that the pulse weapon that Ward used outside the temple is pretty much the same exact weapon from Serenity when Simon goes to free River? I can’t be the only one to notice that.

And now we come to the highlight of this episode: the stinger. You hear him before he’s even on screen but we get about 3 minutes straight of Samuel L. Jackson!

*squee* This did so much to redeem the episode in my mind. It was a joy to see and I really hope he shows up again. Hell, we just need more cameos in this damn show. Doesn’t have to be full episodes, just little bits like this and I’ll be a happy chappy.

Overall, a lacklustre episode but with some interesting subplot details and a visit from Nick Fury bitching about fish tanks.

Right out of the gate, we’re introduced to the downtrodden, out of work father of one, Mike Peterson (played by Angel Alumni, J. August Richards) as he’s witness to an apartment explosion and wastes no time in jumping in to rescue a woman. His heroic efforts catch the eye of a young hacker and, eventually, the attention of SHIELD as Coulson and Maria Hill gather a new team together in an effort to recruit new heroes as they appear and put a stop to foreseeable threats.

Being the pilot for a new show, we’re hit with a lot of information very fast but none of it feels especially rushed. We spend a little more time with Maria Hill and learn that she actually has a sense of humour, as well being conspiratorial with SHIELD physician, Dr. Streiten, played by Firefly Alumni Ron Glass. If more and more actors from Whedon’s past projects show up, I’ll be a happy camper. Who wouldn’t want to see the likes of Nathan Fillion, Jewel Staite and Adam Baldwin in this show?

Now, to the subject of speculation: Phil “Agent” Coulson. We all saw the Son of Coul die in New York but why is he here now? According the man himself, Fury faked his death and sent him on vacation to Tahiti but Hill and Dr. Streiten seem to know more. Is he a clone? A Life Model Decoy? Hell, is he even human? This will no doubt be an underlying subplot throughtout the season but my personal take is this: He is Coulson. Doesn’t matter what he is, he’s still Coulson and that’s good enough for me. For now.

The rest of the team is assembled and is a surprisingly diverse bunch. Ward is a specialist, conflict resolution, that kind of deal, but he admits to being scared of women and that he loves his Grandma. Admittedly, he said that after being nailed with truth serum by Coulson but still. Melinda May is Mulan the pilot and obviously has a mysterious reputation as a field agent. Fitz and Simmons are the adorable techies who have a really fun brother/sister bond and Skye is the hacker I mentioned earlier. They don’t get much development but you get a good sense of each character and we’ll be seeing more of them throughout the season so it’s a good introduction.

One thing I love in my entertainment is continuity and references so this show will be perfect for me. All the little nods to the cinematic universe and to a larger Marvel Universe made me smile. Mentions of Puente Antiguo, Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S., and freakin’ Longshot all had me sitting there saying:

The pilot episode was quick, to the point and highly entertaining. I can see so much potential for this show being the springboard for concepts later seen in the movies and vice-versa. We could have all-new heroes and villains to deal with and, budget be willing, maybe even some A-list guest stars (The A stand for Avenger). I’m looking forward to what wonders and woes this series will bring us and I hope you’ll be following along with his here on The Website of Doom! See you next weeeeeeeeeek!

Hello and welcome back to DOOM!’s exploration of the Comic Book film genre hosted by Aaron Poole and JJ Hawkins. This month we look at Jon Favreau and Robert Downey Jr’s Iron Man. Shocking the world, it seemed, the duo made a film out of a “fan favorite” character and produced something that was a lot of fun! So, is this the wank fest that was predicted, or is there a something there that might cause some dissension in the halls of DOOM!

Join as we watch Tony’s Tale Of Suspense…

Remember, kids…Cool people never look at explosions…

If you want to drink, take one every time Aaron and JJ throw an insult at the “Distinguished Competition”

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