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Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (2013)
A great start
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Episode 1 ABC in the US, Channel 4 in the UK
** SPOILERS **
A smile is playing on my lips. Joss Whedon is back on the small screen and his latest creation is Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., set in the Marvel Universe after the events depicted in the Avengers movie.
It's no secret that Agent Coulson is back, despite having died in that film, which will no doubt be explained eventually.
There is a conversation at one point about him where they say "Does he know?" and the answer is "he can never know". Clearly this isn't the case. My bet: he's a clone.
Several familiar faces surround him, including Ming-Na Wen, who I last saw in Stargate: Universe and before that in ER. The first episode sets up Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. nicely, introduces the premise for their being and definitely hits the ground running.
The Pilot features J. August Richards as a man who has been "modified" to be super strong, his struggle to deal with the consequences of this following a period of unemployment, having to look after a young son whilst his wife has left him. The opening sequence features an explosion in a building, where Richards' character leaps into the burning building to rescue a woman who later turns out to be the Doctor who modified him in the first place.
Later, it is revealed that the previous guy who was modified caused the explosion in the building due to the modifications going awry. He got angry and literally blew up. S.H.I.E.L.D. in the meantime is being set up with agents, scientific equipment and the obligatory Really Big Plane.
All's well that ends well, as you might expect.
Two things made me laugh especially. 37:56 in, J. August Richards' character "Mike Peterson" is called "Gunn" (his name in the Whedon-penned Angel) by another character. I can't believe that wasn't left in deliberately. Also, at the end, Agent Coulson's car, "Lola", turns out to be a flying car, much like that in Back To The Future.
The CGI is not on the edge of anything, but is effective. Not quite cheap looking, but definitely not where all the money went. Which is refreshing, in a way.
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. premiered in the US on ABC on 25 September, 2013. It will premiere on Channel 4 on September 27. Set your PVR for the series, this will be quite a ride and one that I look forward to immensely.
8/10 stars.
The Blacklist (2013)
A poor start, must do better **Contains Spoilers**
The Blacklist Episode 1 - NBC in the US, Sky Living in the UK
First I must declare an interest, in that I have been a huge fan of James Spader for years, going back to Stargate (the film) and especially his playing opposite Bill Shatner in Boston Legal.
And so it was that James, now balding and close-shorn, with tinted specs, turned up as a baddie (or is he?) in this new series. Whatever he is, he's a Genius. Apparently.
Essentially a rather overblown crime procedural, The Blacklist is set up in this pilot to be almost without end.
So to the plot: Raymond Reddington (Spader - a real Baddie) gives himself up to the FBI on the day that a new profiler, Elizabeth Keen (Megan Boone) starts her new job. After giving them some info on the kidnapping of a general's young daughter Spader then shuts up until Keen can be brought to him as he demands that she be his only conduit. To cut a long story short, she gets rescued, he escapes and returns to the FBI, having assisted them to kill the first man on the eponymous Blacklist. He tells of many more on the list and says he wants to work with Keen and the FBI to get them all.
There's definitely quite a bit of Hannibal Lecter and Clarice Starling in all of this.
He even helps her to discover that her husband isn't who she thinks he is and has obviously been watching her for years in order to have the familiarity he displays with regard to her life.
As I said before, I'm a Spader fan and wanted to really like this, but found myself just laughing at the hopeless plot devices (EG he has an RFID injected into him which he gets out with no appreciable effort, tools or wound) and marvelling at all the TV memes touched upon, evil genius baddie, FBI morons, mysterious cohorts who turn up out of the blue and disappear when their work is done, etc).
3 stars, but must do better to survive into a second series.
The Blacklist premiered on NBC on September 23, 2013 and will premiere in the UK on Sky Living on October 4th.
By Any Means (2013)
Formulaeic comedy drama
By Any Means Episode 1 Review: BBC TV Sunday, 9pm commencing 22 Sept Although initially publicised as an "edgy drama", "By Any Means" is actually a comedy drama relying upon reveals in the last few minutes to show "how it was done". This closely follows in the mould of "Hustle" and is produced by the same company, Red Planet Pictures, who also give us "Death In Paradise" which similarly relies upon comedy and late reveals to give body to the stories.
The basic premise is that someone in the Police has set up a clandestine unit, existing in a grey area, dedicated to acting as vigilantes to "get" criminals otherwise untouchable by the Police and instructed in this by a mysterious female of middle years who seems to be a cross between M and an all-powerful Sandra Pullman (from New Tricks).
The first episode of six was shown yesterday. One of the first suggestions on how to deal with the criminal mastermind is to shoot him. Since a) this is illegal and b) would make for a short programme, this option is discarded. Instead a convoluted plot line commences. Then, a quick con of a psychiatrist later, is followed by the heroes annoying the villain, singing to him and threatening his bodyguards with a gun.
The denouement involves stealing evidence from another crime and then throwing it (it's £20 notes, lots of them) at the villain, who is then "caught" by a plethora of Coppers who turn up at the scene and ask no questions, accompanied by a number of reveals to show how it was done. In case you couldn't guess.
Since this criminal mastermind has already gotten off at criminal trials three times, we are told, I have no doubt his Barrister will have him out in less than the time it takes to ask exactly what the case is, against him. That'd be a laff.
Now, yes, it is funny. Although the lead Copper telling of his infidelity with his sister-in-law isn't as funny as the writers appear to believe. And I did laugh, a few times. But this formula is old and needs more to refresh it than this hodgepodge of poor writing, intermingled with actors hamming it up and having a wonderful time.
Since all 6 episodes are in the can, I expect this to run its course and hopefully disappear without a trace.
Sleepy Hollow (2013)
Poor pseudo-occult crime procedural
Sleepy Hollow Episode 1 It's September 2013 and here in the UK, Universal are to begin showing the 119th occult-derived programme of the year.
This is one of an interminable set of "new" series based on someone's nightmare inspired by a bad stomach ache after a Saturday night curry. Ichabod Crane (aged 280) is reborn in 2013 in a cave, leaping from a grave where he mysteriously was lain after he died (!) in the process of beheading the headless horseman of the apocalypse. He's the fifth horseman and his name is Clive. Probably. Or Death. One of the two. I'd lost all hope of a coherent plot by the end of 15 minutes.
Seemingly a mix of "Adam Adamant", "Grimm" and "The Ghost and Mrs Muir" with a bit of "Haven" thrown in for good measure, this is possibly the worst concept for a TV series (god help us they throw in that it's meant to last 7 years near the end of this pilot episode) that I have come across since the Deputy Dawg porn movies.
Apart from the name Ichabod Crane and the location of Sleepy Hollow, this has almost nothing at all to do with Washington Irving's short story, "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow", first published in 1820. In it Ichabod was a timid schoolteacher, here he is a Professor of English, spying for George Washington and fighting in the war of independence. The Headless Horseman in the story was the ghost of a Hessian soldier who was decapitated by a cannonball during the American Revolutionary War. In the story, he can't cross water, in this version he's not able to appear in sunlight. So I left out "Buffy" in the derivative list above.
Oh, and in this version, Ichabod did in fact marry Katrina, but she's a witch and he's dead anyhow. Oh, no he's not. And neither is she, confusingly, considering she has a gravestone in the local graveyard.
Never mind, he rapidly acquires a female Police Lieutenant as his sidekick. She's small and black and to his surprise, wears trousers. Her plans to leave this dumbass serial and go join the FBI are put on hold BECAUSE SHE'S AN IDIOT.
One part police procedural and one part supernatural thriller, this will last for one season. If it's lucky. Which it isn't.
Sleepy Hollow premiered on Fox in the USA on September 16, 2013 airing on Mondays at 9:00 pm ET. It will receive its UK premiere on the Universal Channel on Wednesday October 9th at 9pm.