S.H.I.E.L.D., Promises - Jan 10

And so, AoS is back in 2017, with a new episode…no, a new story arc: ‘LMD’, where another one of the villains is after the Darkhold, again. (Warning, spoilers ahead).

So, what do we have so far? The ratings have gone up – right now, this is the third highest-ranking episode of AoS S4. This was helped, hopefully, by the intense acting of the actors, as well as the exciting new plot. But-

This is S4, not S1, and it shows. The viewers no longer buy AoS produce – twists and turns of plot, (and in this particular case? Mack’s jokes about robots just fall flat to some of the audience viewers at least), the villain who pretends to be a friend, (i.e. Radcliffe and the new Aida – how many of them does he has, anyhow?), the senator’s eventual betrayal of her brother, etc. It usually was there, it is likely to have already happened in S.H.I.E.L.D.’s previous seasons, etc. (In different depictions, but still).

The previous story arc, the ‘Ghost Rider’ one, (and yes, there are now two official story arcs in S4), was so important because it was something clearly new and external in the AoS universe; it has introduced the ghost rider (Robbie Reyes), who went around with his own baggage; it allowed AoS to reboot itself…which it did, only not so much; now that the ghost rider is gone, it has gone back to itself; the KKK…pardon me, the Watchdogs, have taken over the role of Hydra, Radcliffe and Aida are S1 Grant and Garrett, the Nadeer family is the Ward family done another way…period. The ‘LMD’ story arc is more of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s hijinks, done on a smaller scale, with a smaller budget, with a more intense and complex plot development…only not, as last night’s the viewers have learned that Radcliffe is behind Aida (and LMD May), the senator is working with the Watchdogs, period, and…that’s that for this episode, actually. These days, AoS is trying to compensate for the smaller scale of the plot via running it more tightly and with better acting, (rather than actors, BTW), but does it work?

…Yes, about as well as Mack’s jokes and comments (mostly to Radcliffe and Fitz) about Aida and the other robots: some people may like them, while to the others they just fall flat and pointless. Ditto with the entire ‘Broken Promises’ episode in general: some people have clearly enjoyed it, (as the ratings have went upwards), while the others just had not. Given how low the show’s ratings have fallen, I think that we can guess which group is in majority.

That’s it for this week’s episode of AoS; until next week, then!