"We are not agents of nothing, we are agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and that still carries weight!" Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. rundown

I came in late to the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. television series. At the time the program began in 2013 I had quit Marvel and was boycotting all Marvel-related products. I relaxed the boycott a few years later, but during that time I heard a few things about the program. Much of what I heard was negative. The early part of season 1 was roundly criticized as an inept 'sci-fi cop show'. I heard good buzz about the ways in which the show tied in to the film Captain America: The Winter Soldier, but after that I seldom heard anything about the program.

After I lifted my boycott I started watching the Marvel Netflix shows. Although they started off rather well, at some point (opinions differ as to whether it was Daredevil season 2 or Iron Fist season 1) the line of shows went off the rails. Each season of those programs played like a 13-hour movie, running just one long continuous storyline. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but all too often the shows simply spun their wheels -- hero confronts villain, villain somehow skates off, resolution deferred; supporting character has a very slow subplot that doesn't go anywhere but pays the actors' bills. It also did not feel like the showrunners particularly cared about the super hero genre (unbelieveably, confirmed by Iron Fist's showrunner).

I considered watching Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. from time to time simply as a means of crossing it off a list. I don't enjoy Ryan Reynolds' Deadpool movies, but I've watched them just for the sake of keeping up on Marvel. 7 seasons of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. sounded like a lot of tedium. Last month I started watching the series.

I went through those 7 seasons awfully fast; truly, I was hooked. It took a while to really get me -- the Captain America: The Winter Soldier tie-in definitely helped -- but the 1st season came to a very satisfying conclusion. My opinion of the show wavered from time to time -- mostly around mid-season when the plots seemed to be spinning their wheels -- but the performances were always solid and the series rewarded the time I invested in it; every plot came out pretty well. Well, okay, maybe not the Izel plot in season 6, that was pretty much a turkey, but that season's B-plot was pretty good.

I can actually point to a single moment which made me invested in the show -- it's from the season 1 finale, "Beginning of the End." The scientist characters Fitz and Simmons are trapped in a capsule on the bottom of the ocean with little hope of rescue. They fashion a means to escape the capsule but only have enough oxygen in a tank for one of them to reach the surface. As Fitz has broken his arm, he insists Simmons should take the oxygen and save herself. When Simmons protests, Fitz admits that's he in love with her and forces her to use the tank. It leads to an intense scene of Simmons in the ocean, trying to keep an unconscious Fitz's head above water, crying out for help -- when suddenly a helicopter lowers down and Nick Fury reaches out to take her hand. Nothing else in those 7 years landed as hard as that!

As a comics fan, there were some bits I really enjoyed seeing adapted -- their Ghost Rider was astonishingly faithful to the comics; they kept Mr. Hyde as Daisy's father; their Absorbing Man looked great; Glenn Talbot was recurring character; and they had a great 'rogue LMD' plot. Many of the elements from the comics were in-name-only. Like, their Al MacKenzie shares just his name and occupation with the character Bob Harras & Paul Neary created. But it matters very little, since the character they developed was immensely likeable.

Tomorrow I'm going to share a list of my favourite moments from the series. I'm glad I finally checked out this show -- I would now rank it as the best television adaptation of a Marvel Comics property.