Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

I'm curious about Agents of SHIELD. I've been watching it. I like it all right. I want to like it more, but something just isn't clicking for me.

It's not that I don't like the MCU, and Joss Whedon's sense for dialogue is always great. The plots are solid. Whedon hasn't gone for the annoying and obvious choices (OMG, SHIELD is really bad guys! Even when he let his characters leave with that idea on their minds, he makes clear to the audience that it's not the case) Some nice, complicated questions. Good performances all around. Not so tied up in its arc that it's inaccessible to the non-fanatic.

So why am I not obsessed with this show? It's got almost everything that I like.

Some of it may fix itself as the writers become more accustomed to the characters. It happens.

I think for me, the problem is that they seem to be interested in the two characters -- Ward and Skye -- who hold ZERO interest for me. Everyone else, I sort of like. I adore Fitz-Simmons. Coulson's awesome. May is awesome (hey, she's freaking MULAN). But you have all of these pretty interesting folk, and attention ends up going to... Riley Finn and Kennedy, from Buffy. Except that I actually sort of liked Riley, in a secondary role and before they started messing with him so there was an excuse to take him off the show. Not that they're the same characters, though Ward obviously has some spiritual ancestry with the Initiative. Just... two characters that the producers are trying really hard to sell, and the sale is not going through. No matter how much fake implied drama there is, they're just huge energy-sucks every time they're on screen, and they tend to make the episodes lose momentum. It's not the actors, it's the characters.

Guys, you can do better. Ward's salvageable, if given someone else to interact with. Ditch Skye. You don't have to go full-on Riley with her and make her do things that are obnoxious and repugnant for an excuse. Just have her flunk out of training. Change her mind. Give a heroic sacrifice moment. Whatever. Introduce someone new. You're supposed to be on the lookout for people with superpowers. How about someone with such a lame superpower that it never makes a difference, except in minor creature comforts, but puts her on S.H.I.E.L.D.'s radar anyway? You could get some comedic traction with it. Or maybe bring back Akela. Or find someone interesting on an away mission. Or send in the daughter of one of those people Nick Fury answers to. (Or maybe one of them themselves is young enough to appeal to the planned demographic.)

Anyway, that's where I am with Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.. It's workable. I like it whenever it's not paying attention to the energy-sucks. Please let them suck less.