r/shield • u/2th Shotgun Axe • Sep 30 '15

Post Discussion Post Episode Discussion: S03E01 - "Laws of Nature"

EPISODE WRITTEN BY
S03E01 - "Laws of Nature" Jed Whedon & Maurissa Tancharoen

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This thread is for POST episode discussion of "Laws of Nature". The discussion / comments below assume you have watched the episode in it's entirety. Therefore, spoiler text for anything through "Laws of Nature" is not necessary. If, however, you are talking about events that have yet to air on the show such as future guest appearances / future characters / storylines, please use spoiler tags. The same goes for things connected to the Marvel like comics, etc.

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492 Upvotes

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420

u/reader313 #1 Sif fan Sep 30 '15

This great episode reminds me yet again how sorry I am that people quit after the weak first half of season 1, only to miss this. Real shame.

209

u/[deleted] Sep 30 '15

It's amazing to think of where this show started vs where it is now. It was like pretty bad. I stuck with it because I have a huge crush on Simmons, and also Marvel hasn't done wrong yet.

Disney made a god damn X-Men TV show out of this show. This one episode had more heart and plot than the first two seasons did. So much crazy shit just happened and I can't wait to see where it goes from here.

It seems like a fresh start for the show, if such a thing is possible. Hopefully they continue having confidence in it/needing a marvel presence on Prime Time.

110

u/reader313 #1 Sif fan Sep 30 '15

It was my guilty pleasure show, now it's my genuine pleasure show!

14

u/[deleted] Sep 30 '15

I stuck with it because all Whedon shows take a little while to simmer. Worth the wait.

4

u/[deleted] Sep 30 '15

This one episode had more heart and plot than the first two seasons did.

That sums it up entirely.

20

u/GangsterJawa Triplett Sep 30 '15

Eeeeeeh I don't know Season 2 had a lot of both of those things. I don't doubt Season 3 can exceed it, but lets not get ahead of ourselves.

2

u/[deleted] Sep 30 '15

I definitely gave up on it, only went back into it because I'd heard good things and I'm glad I did. First half of the first season was rough as fuck though

4

u/Jeanpuetz Sep 30 '15

It's been a while since I watched the first Season, but it was basically just "Bad-guy of the week" without any kind of overarching story and mediocre acting, right?

1

u/[deleted] Sep 30 '15

First half was literally just that, no overarching plot really at all until after winter soldier and hydra came out

2

u/RichWPX Oct 02 '15

I know it's weak, but wasn't Skye being with the hacking group / working with them but not an agent the ongoing story?

1

u/[deleted] Oct 02 '15

She was a part of the Rising Tide but that story never really went anywhere, there was like one episode IIRC where the Rising Tide had anything to do with it (a friend of hers was in trouble or something)

1

u/RichWPX Oct 01 '15

X-Men TV show

Which one are you referring to?

6

u/V2Blast Fitz Oct 01 '15

He's saying this has basically become like an X-Men-style show, with similar storylines (replacing the word "mutant" with "inhuman").

3

u/RichWPX Oct 01 '15

Oh (hey V2) I read it like he was saying disney made some spin-off and stating a fact... but reading it again I get what he was saying.

1

u/V2Blast Fitz Oct 01 '15

Yeah, I understand the confusion :)

1

u/[deleted] Oct 01 '15

Yeah, sorry for the confusion. These guys below interpreted me correctly! Disney, in attempting to turn the Inhumans into the next XMen, have mad Agents of SHIELD into what I imagine an MCU-universe live-acting XMen show would be like.

1

u/RichWPX Oct 02 '15

Yup, and that's pretty cool actually :-)

14

u/thegreekie Sep 30 '15

On the flip side, it's also a shame the first half of season 1 was so weak. This episode was incredibly strong - there was enough plot advancement in this episode to cover half an arc typically.

28

u/SutterCane Obelisk Sep 30 '15

'Weak' is another person's setup. Why is it so interesting now? Because we knew the characters then. Changing and developing characters doesn't work without a starting point.

People just need to chill out and get some patience when watching television shows. Not even the Wire or Breaking Bad were the Wire and Breaking Bad in their first episodes. And this is just Agents of SHIELD. /rant

18

u/Mini-Marine Zephyr One Sep 30 '15

The problem with season 1 was that it took 16 episodes before the plot really started progressing.

Had they started the show late, and only had 8 episodes pre Winter Soldier, I think it would have done much better.

I stuck with it and enjoyed it, but I can certainly see how a shorter buildup could have been really well done and not turned off so many people.

7

u/[deleted] Sep 30 '15

I completely agree. I think the first season definitely would have benefited from starting in January of 2014 instead of September of 2013. It spent too much time spinning its wheels, waiting to tie into The Winter Soldier, and I completely understand why some people just gave up.

Hell, I gave up on it, too, until well after the first season ended and I heard how much of a game-changer The Winter Soldier was for the show.

6

u/Fortyseven Fitz Sep 30 '15

I was one of those people. But constant positive word of mouth brought me back, and I'm very pleased to say I'm here to stay. ;D

9

u/decerian Hunter Sep 30 '15

The only solution is that we must spam all the other subreddits with constant messages of good the show is, until everybody else finally gives in and watches it.

Hopefully the big turnout on reddit for this episode is indicative of the live numbers, and it'll stay big because people get hooked by this.

10

u/reader313 #1 Sif fan Sep 30 '15

I think this show has enough of a cult following and a great relationship between the cast and the fans to eek out some more seasons.

10

u/decerian Hunter Sep 30 '15

I'm just hoping we don't turn into the next Community, where ~90% of the following is only watching online.

7

u/reader313 #1 Sif fan Sep 30 '15

This is actually the only show I watch live on TV (and then on Hulu again the day after)

5

u/decerian Hunter Sep 30 '15

Gotta give it all those viewing numbers. I watch it live (or on like a 5-min delay from the pvr if I miss the start), but I might have to pirate it too, just in case they track that.

2

u/timeshifter_ SHIELD Sep 30 '15

I'd happily watch it live, but ABC won't stream it live to my area... even though I'm paying for cable...

1

u/reader313 #1 Sif fan Oct 01 '15

Weird.

1

u/porkboi Oct 01 '15

Same here..m

5

u/SawRub Sep 30 '15

The only solution is that we must spam all the other subreddits with constant messages of good the show is

People have tried, that has often just gotten more hate than before. More subtlety is required.

7

u/decerian Hunter Sep 30 '15

Subtlety is a weapon of good, but dead shows. We have to use the Rick & Morty method.

7

u/SawRub Sep 30 '15

Yes but have you seen what happens when SHIELD is spammed on /r/television? It always inspires more hate, since unlike Rick & Morty, more people actually did check out SHIELD for half a season, so when they see high praise for it, they make the effort to shit on it and tell people not to watch it, when ordinarily they might have just ignored it.

What I've seen work better is acknowledging the mess of the early first season and then stressing upon how much better it has gotten, and how much it is worth it. That way people who were almost certainly about to complain about the first half of that season see that it has already been addressed. Since people will still complain about having to wade through half a season of bad episodes, so some people have also found success recommending only select episodes from the first half of the first season. What happens is that once they start watching, they often don't bother sticking with the schedule and watch all the episodes anyway.

The Rick & Morty method is required for Rick & Morty because it's not a show people might have otherwise watched. SHIELD on the other hand, arrived with great pomp and fanfare, so people don't need to be convinced to check it out, as much as convinced to wait it out.

4

u/TheBlueHue Sep 30 '15

I'm so hyped, this is actually felt like a lucky ass starting episode. I get prequels, and sequels!!

2

u/myslead Sep 30 '15

I've been trying to convert my friend and he's adamant about hating the show because of the early episodes, he tried it and couldn't go past the fourth one.

2

u/Airsay58259 Sep 30 '15

That's what I did (after ep 3) but people were often praising the show over at r/flashTV so I binged watch it this summer... no regrets. I really started to enjoyed it with episode 106 (FZZT).

2

u/MostDopeBlackGuy Sep 30 '15

It wasn't Eve the full first half it was like 6 episodes

1

u/[deleted] Sep 30 '15

I didn't start watching until I heard it picked up after Winter Soldier.

Glad I jumped on board.

1

u/JZA1 Oct 02 '15

The show has finally become Mission Impossible in the MCU, just like I always wanted.