Now admittedly I am a little late to the party with this one, with life being so chaotic lately I missed that such a thing was coming up, but having seen all the wonderful edits that some of my favourite fan accounts have been posting this week, it felt only right that I contribute a little myself. For this show holds such a place in my little fandom heart.
According to IMDb, the pilot episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, aired on the 24th September 2013, and not only did it air, but it graced our screens with its beauty. I am forever grateful that this show was made, as I have fallen deeply in love with its cast, stories, and world. Happy 10 Years, AOS!
This is by no means an extensive post on this show, and AOS is likely to come up again. In fact, I would attribute this show to being one of the reasons that this blog exists at all, so don’t get bored of it. The love for this show is so that in just seeing edits it has given me a small spark to incline me towards rewatching it again, and if not that there will at minimum be a deep dive into some heartfelt edits that may bring me to tears.
I love them. I miss them. I want them back.
However, I figure that we should go for all out honesty here, and so in the interest of that here’s the small tale on how I came to love this show so. It starts with being hesitant at best. Now I do believe my reason for watching the show was having seen clips of Dove Cameron’s spot on the series, and being a fan of hers from her Descendants days, (one of those guilty pleasures, ya know?), I had picked up the show with all the intention of seeing Dove, and Dove alone.
I suppose we should be grateful I had not googled the show beyond the fact that Dove was in it, as she, as fans will know, does not appear until Season 5, a fact that had I known may have deterred me. Thank god, I didn’t. A few episodes into this show, and I was already hooked… deep, and way too invested in the happenings of Skye, Coulson, FitzSimmons and May that the original reason for watching this show had become somewhat of a past memory.
A memory that I forgot so much, I did not continue with the show on my first watch… or second…
This is where the honesty comes in. Skye, or Daisy Johnson, is my favourite character, and I will weep any moment she does. I happened to have googled somewhat ahead because I never stop myself, and so, when I got no context spoilers of Daisy’s upcoming arc in the end of Season 3… well let’s just say I was none-too-excited to witness it. In fact, so unexcited to see my Daisy go evil, which is all I knew at the time, I stopped watching all together. Never even getting to Dove’s arc.
When I would finally pick it back up again, I would stop a few episodes into Season 4 because I don’t like change, and wow is that premiere a drastic change. Thankfully, they sort of settle back into their usual rhythms within the first few episodes, a fact I would not know until my third attempt when I finally powered through.
Why did I power through you may ask? I saw no context spoilers for Season 7 and was determined to watch it. At the time, I do believe Season 7 had not aired in my country yet, but when it was finally announced to be coming to Disney+ in the UK, I do recall planning to rewatch the entire show in time for the air dates. I cannot, however, remember if I was successful.
I had gotten my dad into AOS in the interval, though, and so, though we may not have watched the whole series together, when Season 7 came out we sat down on the sofa and watched it as fast as we were allowed. It may have been one of the last things we truly watched together. Though, I can’t remember if that was before or after we watched the entire MCU up to Loki together…
I should clarify, that my dad is not dead, which that last bit almost sounds as though he is. We just don’t really watch TV together anymore on account of separate housing mostly.
Nevertheless, through all the trials and tribulations it took to get me to the series finale of AOS, it has remained a worthwhile endeavour since, as this show has grown to hold a golden spot in my nerdy little brain and heart. It’s one of those shows, I have discovered, that gets better the more you watch it. One that you can find something to love in every episode… and it may just be a few minutes, but it is enough for you to rewatch the entire thing for all those pieces of minutes put together.
Love is an understatement for what I have for this show. I am forever in awe of its narratives, and characters, the 3-dimensional villains that never fall flat, the dynamic heroes at its centre. For the kind of genre that it’s in, it has very few plot holes, very few arc’s left open. It’s the kind of series that revisits itself over and over again, and each time feels justified and worthwhile. Gravitonium, on first watch feels like a throw away element but come Season 5 and it’s still playing a part in our story. Nothing is lost on them; nothing is for nothing. Season 7 is the kind of final season that all series deserve. It is a homage, and a love letter, and the kind of farewell these characters, and this audience needed.
I will never watch Enoch’s moment, without thinking that some of what he’s saying is more directed at us, than it is at Daisy and Coulson:
“Carry on this mission and cherish it, for it will be your last mission together. […] Yet this is the nature of family, isn’t it? I have seen it countless times, on countless worlds. People arrive, so we celebrate, and people leave us, so we grieve. We do what we can with the time in between, but the cycle is always there. No one escapes it. Not even me.”
Enoch – Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D – Episode 709: “As I Have Always Been”
Enoch, by the way, love him, nothing better than Bestie. Absolute icon.
As he says, cherish it. This is the nature of family, we do what we can with the time in between, but the cycle remains. As the show says farewell, you should cherish it. As it says farewell, you should remember all it did with the time in between. As it says farewell, you may grieve, but as Coulson says:
“You are not alone.”
Phillip J Coulson – Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D – Episode 709: “As I Have Always Been”
This show should dare to be remembered, and it is criminally underrated. Drag your friends and family into watching this, because they are unlikely to regret it. This show will have a chokehold on you faster than you can say: ‘Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division’. So, be prepared. Fall in love, and then grieve with us as we clown over every daisy Chloe Bennet posts, and every mention of this show, and every new range of ads with their face on it. We dream for the day Quake graces our screens again, and Melinda May kicks someone in the face once more. We clown so hard we don’t see how delusional we may actually be… and we love every damn second of it.
10 Years since the Pilot aired. 10 Years since something phenomenal started. 10 Years since this fandom love dared to bless us. That Pilot, in my opinion is one of the better ones I’ve seen… and I’ve seen a lot… so give it a chance, give it a season, an arc, give it your time… and fall in love with it.
As I have done, and as have thousands of others, because each time you view again, you find something new to love. I love the Pilot, both for what it gave us, and for what it is. Perhaps, I shall go watch it now.
Thanks
Welcome to the first edition of Random Rambles. There is no schedule to these, they will come, and they will not, and you will just have to cope with either. There’s barely any structure, let’s be honest. It’s a ramble, is the point.
So, thank you for sticking with it! With the decade anniversary, and this being my only form of appreciation to show to the world, I thought what better way to get a start on a section I have been trying to post on for weeks, than with a brief and somewhat disjointed ramble on one of the shows that brought us here.
I will never be over Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, these are just the facts.
I hope you enjoyed this ramble, and by god I hope you’ll stick around for the next one… whenever that may be.
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D is available for streaming on Disney+ in the UK. I highly recommend you go watch it, for the second, first, or tenth time.
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the images, narratives or characters present or referenced in this post. All rights belong to Disney, Marvel, ABC and all other relevant parties.