Tag Archives: Joss Whedon

Recap: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. – “Face My enemy”

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Phil Coulson and Melinda May in "Face My Enemy"

This week’s Agents of SHIELD episode was both the funniest and had the best action of any episode thus far this season.  Last week finally told us what Simmons has been up to along with giving us some truly fantastic Fitz moments.  This week took the focus away from the “kids” of the show and put it squarely on mom and dad, as May and Coulson set off on an undercover assignment to retrieve a mysterious painting.  We got some seriously kickass moments from both May and Coulson, a lot of humor, and even some sweetness, in what proved to be a nice change of tone from the previous three episodes this season, all of which have been rather serious.  So let’s jump right into tonight’s episode (while keeping an eye out for laser grids), “Face My Enemy”, written by Drew Greenberg and directed by Kevin Tancharoen.

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Recap: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. – “Making Friends and Influencing People”

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Melinda May, Skye, "Making Friends and Influencing People"

Agents of SHIELD keeps putting out great episodes this season.  Last week’s wrap-up to the season premiere was a great one, giving us some solid character development while helping to feed some of the key mysteries that have been set up for this season.  This week, the mysteries and the Obelisk were set aside as we finally learned what Simmons has been up to.  We also got some stellar acting from Ian De Caestecker, who is the MVP of season 2 thus far, and a look at how all of our characters have changed and progressed since last season, and how the family dynamic of the team has shifted.  We also saw the return of one of last season’s dangling threads, perhaps setting the stage for more returning characters from last year.  So without further ado, let’s jump into “Making Friends and Influencing People” written by Monica Owusu-Breen and directed by Bobby Roth.

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Recap: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. – “Heavy is the Head”

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"Heavy is the Head" - Coulson, Skye and Tripp

After last week’s episode got season 2 of Agents of SHIELD off and running at a fast pace, the latest episode continued right where we left off with another exciting installment.  “Heavy is the Head” gave us some solid character development, it wrapped up some of the loose threads from last week, and it helped to set the stage for the coming season.  We got the addition of a new villain, allied with a returning character from last year, plus a deeper look at the new additions to our band of heroes.  And perhaps most importantly of all, we got the return of some humor to the show, for which the action last week left little time.  (Though I imagine that people are most interested in discussing the preview for next week’s episode, which we’ll get to at the end of the recap.)  In all, this episode felt like the second half of a two-hour premiere, and gave the team and the show a solid base to build on for the next 20 episodes.  So let’s dive right in to “Heavy is the Head,” written by Paul Zbyszewski and directed by Jesse Boncho.

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Recap: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. – “Shadows”

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Agents of SHIELD Cast, season 2

Ladies and gentlemen, Agents of SHIELD is back!  It’s got a new timeslot, a bunch of new faces, a new enemy, and a new group dynamic, but SHIELD’s mission hasn’t changed.  The events of Captain America: The Winter Soldier may have changed everything for Coulson and his team last season, but they’re still out to protect people, even if they may not have the seemingly endless resources of last year.  Coulson’s trying to rebuild SHIELD from the ground up as its new director, which means making deals with some shady characters and making harder decisions than he ever has before.  Tonight’s episode gave us our first look at how this new version of SHIELD will play out, setting the stage for some season-long arcs while delivering some solid action, new superpowers and connections to the Marvel universe, and hints to larger mysteries, a tease for Agent Carter, and a good helping of drama.  So let’s jump right into “Shadows,” written by Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tancharoen and directed by Vincent Misiano.

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Book Review: Joss Whedon: The Biography

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Joss Whedon: The Biography

*Update: I was informed by author Amy Pascale on Twitter that Joss Whedon: The Biography is not an “authorized biography” and have edited this review to remove any references to it as such.  I apologize for the mistake.

I had some mixed feelings about reading a biography of Joss Whedon.  For starters, I rarely read non-fiction (just as a matter of personal preference), but what made me more reluctant was my personal admiration and loyalty to Joss, the man who has created so many of my favorite stories over the past fifteen years or so.  The man who created “cult classics” like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, and Firefly in addition to writing and directing The Avengers, one of the most successful films of all time, is certainly a subject ripe for study, but what to expect from a biography?  Could it capture the essence of this Lord of the Geeks that his fans all know and love, while managing to explain to the uninitiated why he’s worthy of our praise, while managing to find something new that will surprise even his most devoted followers or that could give a deeper meaning to his work?  While I found the book to be an enjoyable read, the bigger answers to these questions turned out to be something of a mixed bag.

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Today’s Book: Joss Whedon: The Biography

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Quote of the Day

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Giles:  This is very bad.

Xander:  Are we overreacting? He’s in a computer! What can he do?

Buffy:  You mean besides convince a perfectly nice kid to try and kill me? I don’t know. How about mess up all the medical equipment in the world?

Giles:  Randomize traffic signals.

Buffy:  Access launch codes for our nuclear missiles.

Giles:  Destroy the world’s economy.

Buffy:  I think I pretty much capped it with that nuclear missile thing.

Giles:  Right, yours was best.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 1: Episode 8 – “I, Robot . . . You, Jane”

Tonight’s Movie: Much Ado About Nothing

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Recap: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. – “Beginning of the End”

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I’m just going to go ahead and say it: I’ve never seen a more exciting, emotional, badass, hilarious, sweet and special finale to a show’s first season.  Not only that, but tonight’s episode of Agents of SHIELD is already up there on my list of top season finales of any show ever.  I have to give full credit not only to the writers and showrunners Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tancharoen, but the cast, crew and everyone involved in the show for doing a truly spectacular job.  In an hour they managed to wrap up the dangling storylines left from last week and the entire season, not only as far as plot but also with the characters, set things in motion for next season by completely changing the direction of the show, work in the show’s best guest appearance thus far, while managing to surprise and send a fist straight into the chest of my emotions, pulling out one of my ribs in the process.  I could go on and on (and I will), but I might as well just jump right into tonight’s season finale, “Beginning of the End,” written by Jed and Maurissa and directed by David Straiton.

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Recap: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. – “Ragtag”

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It’s the penultimate episode of Agents of SHIELD, and things are shaping up for a thrilling finish to the season.  After last week’s exciting showdown between Ward and Skye, as well as the rest of the team discovering Ward’s treachery and a great appearance from Maria Hill, tonight’s episode saw our crew digging for more information on HYDRA’s plans while we also got to see a bit of how Ward became the traitor he is today.  We also got some new revelations on a variety of fronts, and a killer cliffhanger leading into next week’s finale.  So let’s jump into tonight’s episode, “Ragtag,” written by Jeffrey Bell and directed by Roxann Dawson.

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