…AoS continues to deliver. (No, really). The ratings
clearly continue fall. Why?
In part, this is because of Dr. Radcliffe and AIDA –
probably. Radcliffe is not bad, it is more that he is clearly has no idea what
he is doing in S.H.I.E.L.D., and neither does the show. Possibly, in the
original plot, before Luke began to work at ‘Blindspot’ instead, the two of
them would have been more important, but right now? They are more of a comic
relief, and do not feel very necessary to the greater plot – S.H.I.E.L.D. is
dealing with the Watchdogs and the ghosts of the Reyes’ family.
Now the ghosts, apparently, have some sort of a
scientific explanation going for them – they are victims of a scientific
experiment went wrong. The book – Darkhold – is something else, but still, it
is just a book…and it seems that AoS is leading back to aliens and sci-fi,
rather than the occult. That is strange, since the opening episodes have
focused firstly on the Ghost Rider and in Marvel, Ghost Rider is clearly more
at home with the occult. (Seriously, check out the Ghost Rider movies
(Earth-121347 for those who care).) Put otherwise, it feels as if AoS did its
best to sever its’ links with S2 and S3 and the mess that came with them in S4 –
and now it is returning back to those seasons, thinking that they can pick out
all of the good stuff and leave all the badness behind. They cannot. It is
unknown just what exactly happened in the second half of S2, causing an exodus
of actors forcing a mass killing-off of characters, but it did, and AoS didn’t
handle it very well – just as it hadn’t handled Luke’s departure from their
show post-S3. (Lincoln was mentioned once, and his photo was shown once – great
going at the being the bigger people, AoS!)
Hellfire/J.T. James (Axle Whitehead) is a typical
example of that, his turning on Daisy (and S.H.I.E.L.D.) is not, actually, yet
another good idea executed badly. It is yet another sign of an AoS problem –
with redemption. Seriously, first, there was Grant and Kara, and now there is
J.T. – yet another character who could have been redeemed, and instead began to
work with the Watchdogs, (the new Hydra). What is AoS’ problem with redemption?
No one knows, (outside of AoS), but this constantly rejected redemption is
costing the show some viewers at least. (And how does Coulson’s spiel on ‘second
chances’ back when Skye/Daisy messed-up with Miles in S1 fit into this?)
On the plus side, AoS has introduced Reyes’ uncle, (who
knows more about the experiment than you might think), Daisy is back with
S.H.I.E.L.D., and so is Robbie, (at least for now – apparently, AoS isn’t fully
sure yet how the Ghost Rider will fit into their corner of MCU, so he is a
recurring character, not a main one, yet).
To sum it up: AoS is devolving currently back to
whatever slog it used to be in S3 (and even S2). They are beginning to have
problems assimilating the Ghost Rider into their world, (and keeping him the
Ghost Rider). They seem to have pet peeves separate from their constant
recycling of ideas. And their S4 season seems to be transforming into S2 – revisited.
No wonder, then, that their ratings are going down, overall.
One can only hope that AoS will reverse the trend while there is still time.
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