Now then. Since the 4th season of AoS has
begun, the already low-level audience decreased by somewhere between 25 and 30
(maybe even 35) percent. Why?
One of the issues is the ‘recycling’ – and I am not
just talking about how this version of Robbie Reyes seems to becoming a
redeemed/redeemable version of Grant Ward, with Gabe playing the role of
Thomas… and where is Thomas Ward nowadays? He is gone, as yet another sign of
disrespect of the cast towards the characters. You do not see anything like
that on ‘Killjoys, or ‘Blindspot’, or any of ‘Arrowverse’s’ DC TV shows, even
though they are all different in regards to their format.
This disrespect is another problem of AoS – not just
of the cast towards its’ characters, but towards other shows – especially ‘Agent
Carter’, (AC): the Ghost Rider plotline has been heavily borrowed from AC S2,
down to Isodyne and Roxxon, and – zero matter, (or whatever it is called),
which infests people and turns them either into ghosts (Dr. Wilkes on AC, Lucy
Bower and her posse on AoS), or into something else (Madame Masque on AC, Ely
Morrow on AoS).
Of course,
there is also the issue of the occult – so far, everything in AoS S4 can still
be explained by science, unlike the upcoming ‘Dr. Strange’ movie, where the
point is clearly that everything CANNOT be explained by science, so – no
tie-in? AoS did it in S1, but not since then. Why? Who knows?
Well, a PARTIAL reason is that there is a lot of
tension behind the scenes that we do not know off – Luke’s departure has been
taken with clear ill grace, and as for Hayley Atwell, (she played agent Carter
in question)? So far, she is happy to star on a mystery drama show that has
nothing to do with Marvel, but as I had written in the past, AC was beginning
to be just as good a show as AoS was, so losing it probably hit MCU hard, so –
more hard feelings?.. At the very least, there is idea scavenging, (rather than
recycling) between AoS and the now-defunct AC, which just is not professional,
not really.
Add to that the recycled idea of redemption, (and why
they couldn’t do it with Grant, anyways?) and…a possible conflict between Chloe
Bennet (Skye/Daisy) and some of the writers? The point is that Chloe was very
firm that there wasn’t going to be any romance between her character and Robbie
the Ghost Rider, (Gabrielle Luna), yet it doesn’t stop the writers to have the
two characters continuously interact in a ‘slow-burn’ way, (and Gabe, Robbie’s
brother, is right there in the midst of it). I don’t know how AoS will resolve
this without either making Chloe into a liar, (which is bad), or just have any
relationship between Robbie and Daisy just fizzle out, and-
It is not as bad as making Chloe into a liar would be,
but it is still bad. Once Ely is dealt with, why should Robbie then stick
around? Yes, a romantic relationship with Daisy is not, or will not be, the
ONLY reason for him to do that, but it would certainly make things simpler –
for the show. Otherwise…Robbie and Gabe will stay for the rest of the season
(another 16 episodes, maybe?), say, and then they are gone?
…Well, the Reyes' brothers are recurring characters,
not part of the main cast. But again, in this case, what next? There are rumors
of a separate Ghost Rider TV series in the future, but where does the Ghost
Rider’s eventual departure leave AoS? In the previous seasons, S.H.I.E.L.D.
could always count on Hydra, (and especially Grant), to move things along; now
they cannot. They got the Watchdogs, but the Watchdogs themselves come along as
half-fleshed – perfect cannon fodder, but nothing else. (Yet). Hellfire/J.T.
James? Does anyone know where the actor who plays him, (Whitehead), stands with
AoS? Moreover, he is yet another variation of an ‘irredeemable’ character,
someone like Grant or Kara, so this probably does not sit well with some
audience members – after his re-appearance in S4, the show’s ratings have
continued to drop…
Where does this leave AoS? In a potential conflict
between cast and writers, in a dead end that heavily requires the Ghost Rider
to remain and join the main team to get out, with few original ideas left,
(apparently), oh, and a gape-worthy reference to SW – either Coulson IS like
Han Solo, or isn’t.
Considering that Han Solo DIED in SW7, how exactly
does this statement/comparison made by Jeffrey Mace, (the new director),
becomes a good idea? Yes, the second half of S3 was full of the ‘guessing game’
of who will die from Hive, just as Han had died from his son, but this is S4
now, so the guessing game is over? On the other hand, will Robbie die while
killing his uncle Ely? Does anyone have an idea?
That said, in a certain way SW is appropriate in
regards to the AoS – just like S4 of AoS, SW7 relied way too heavily on the
past movies to make itself work – the new, upcoming films are supposedly going
to be more original than SW7 was. As for SW7, this reliance on the past did not
undo it, as it did to the new Ghostbusters (the 2016 film as opposed to the
1984 one), but it still damaged the film somewhat, just as the same reliance is
damaging the AoS.
Therefore, this perhaps is the reason why AoS is
failing – because its’ originality is transforming into something else – or perhaps
it is just failing. The fact that now AoS is taking a hiatus until the end of November
does not help either – it certainly did not help LG. Until it returns…it will
be missed…by an increasingly decreasing audience
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