Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: The Complete First Season Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.5
Overall		4.0

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: The Complete First Season Blu-ray Movie Review

"Nobody touches Lola."

Reviewed by Kenneth Brown September 11, 2014

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. narrowly survived a tricky first season. Setting aside fan expectations (which were somehow even higher than those that precede each Marvel Studios feature film), the highly anticipated series struggled to balance a much too modest budget and much too lofty ambitions; tried, failed and re-tried to find its groove through a rough second act; and ran into hurdle after hurdle, chief among them a string of questionable scripts, before finally hitting its stride and closing out the season with a windfall of strong episodes tied to the game-changing events of Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Greater Geekdom's constant moaning and groaning didn't help. Every decision criticized. Every agent in Coulson's charge run through the ringer. Every moment ruled divisive, split between hopeful apologists and pessimistic detractors. Every third-rung superhero or supervillain introduction dismissed as too small, too insignificant, or too not the guy I really wanted to see! Every long con viewed as too simple, without really giving showrunners Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tancharoen a proper chance to build their world gradually and populate it with interesting characters and addicting intrigue. Whedon and Tancharoen didn't help matters either, visibly scrambling -- in front of millions of viewers no less -- to make Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. resonate before the jaw-dropping reveal in The Winter Soldier arrived to bolster the show's sometimes disjointed baddie-of-the-week storylines. (That same scrambling reportedly required the intervention of Jed's big brother, co-creator Joss Whedon, tasked by Marvel on High to iron out the series' kinks.)

But Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. isn't a bad show. It never was. Just a rocky one. For all its flaws, it boasts enough heart, humor, action, drama, potential and all around MCU goodness, particularly by season's end, to warrant further chances to prove itself. The cast is fantastic fun. The underlying mystery of Coulson's return, as well as other slowburn whodunits and what-is-its, eventually build terrific momentum. The never-ending Marvel Universe easter egg hunt is a blast. And there's a clear sense by the end of its 22-episode opening volley that the series is on track. So sit back, dial those expectations down to "simmer," grin and bear your way through its weakest moments, enjoy the highlights for what they are, and see how you feel by the time the season finale wraps. Chances are Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. will at least leave you itching for Season Two, if only to see if the series continues its upward trajectory and at long last delivers something truly spectacular.

In the wake of The Battle of New York, the world has changed forever and an extraordinary landscape of wonders has been revealed. In response, mysteriously resurrected Agent Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) assembles an elite team of skilled agents and operatives: Melinda May (Ming-Na Wen), Grant Ward (Brett Dalton), Leo Fitz (Iain De Caestecker), Jemma Simmons (Elizabeth Henstridge) and new recruit/computer hacker Skye (Chloe Bennet). Together, they investigate the new, the strange and the unknown across the globe, protecting the ordinary from the extraordinary. But every answer unearths even more tantalizing questions that reverberate across the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe. Who is "The Clairvoyant"? What is Hydra's sinister master plan? What dark secret lies behind Skye’s puzzling origins? And most importantly of all, who can be trusted?

For the duration of the first season's... flabbier midsection woes, Gregg stays fit and faithful, just like a good agent should. A fan-favorite since his earliest days in the field (Iron Man and Iron Man 2), the unexpected everyman of the MCU continues to work wonders, leading a cast of virtual unknowns from sci-fi blandness to compelling dramatic material. No one believes in the series as much as Gregg, and it shows. His commitment is infectious and soon spreads to everyone on screen and behind the camera, elevating each episode inch by inch until it hits some notable heights. By the time heavy-hitters Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders), high-level agent John Garrett (Bill Paxton) stroll into town there's no doubt this is Gregg's series -- not to mention Bennet, May, Dalton, Henstridge, Caestecker and late-comer B.J. Britt (playing Agent Antoine Triplett) -- and anyone else is a guest. There are a handful of misguided moves (some involving J. August Richards' Deathlok, others involving the drawn-out lead-up to The Clairvoyant's emergence from hiding), but the actors hold their own and the writers eventually catch up. The entire season seems to scream out "FINALLY!" when the real villains peek out from the shadows, and the show suddenly hones in on everything Marvel, the Whedon brothers and Tancharoen originally envisioned.

Where it all goes from here is anyone's guess, but Season Two had better come out swinging. There's some stiff competition inbound from the likes of DC's Gotham and Marvel's own Daredevil, not to mention a small slew of other comicbook series. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. will have to continually ups its game if it hopes to see the light of a third season. There isn't much room for error anymore. The growing pains of Season One need to be just that: growing pains. Marvel and ABC can't afford anything less than excellence.

The Blu-ray release of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. features 22 episodes spread across 5 BD-50 discs:

• Pilot: Agent Phil Coulson, mysteriously returned from the dead, puts together an elite squad of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents to deal with the unusual, the strange, and the superpowered. On their first case, they befriend a hacker named Skye who knows the location of a super-strong factory worker whose emotions are running out of control.
• 0-8-4: The team heads to Peru to collect a 0-8-4. An unidentified object of great power. Agent Coulson and his team acquire the device, but run into a local commandante, Camilla Reyes, who has a history with Coulson.
• The Asset: When brilliant scientist Dr. Franklin Hall is kidnapped, Agent Coulson and his S.H.I.E.L.D. agents must race against the clock to locate and save him. Skye is their only way in--pushing the team to their limits when the entire plan turns upside-down.
• Eye-Spy: Agent Coulson and the S.H.I.E.L.D. team try to track down a mysterious woman who has single-handedly committed numerous high-stakes heists. But when the woman’s identity is revealed, a troubling secret stands to ruin Coulson.
• Girl in the Flower Dress: An elusive girl in a flower dress may hold the key to a mystery that brings Coulson and the team to Asia to rescue a young man with an unusual and dangerous power; and Skye has a secret that jeopardizes her relationship with the team right when they need her most.
• FZZT: When floating bodies turn up around the site of a strange accident, Coulson and his Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. must hunt down an elusive, potentially super-powered killer. No one is safe. Not even the team.
• The Hub: Dangerous secrets are being kept from Agent Coulson’s team and they work the system to save Ward and Fitz, whose Level 8 classified mission may end in tragedy.
• The Well: In the aftermath of the events chronicled in Thor: The Dark World, Agent Coulson and the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. pick up the pieces, one of which threatens to destroy a member of the team.
• Repairs: Agent Coulson and his team are haunted by a mysterious force that threatens to destroy them all, and only a secret from May's past can save them.
• The Bridge: Agent Coulson takes the war back to Centipede, and this time he brings in Mike Peterson for some super-soldier support. As they get closer to the truth, startling secrets are revealed and an unexpected twist threatens the team.
• The Magical Place: Skye, Grant, Fitz, Simmons and May, along with Victoria Hand, search for Coulson and Raina, who inquires about what really happened to Coulson in Tahiti, while Skye finds herself in a compromising situation.
• Seeds: Ward, Fitz, Simmons and Skye visit the S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy to investigate suspicious behaviors, while Agents May and Coulson uncover truths about Skye's past.
• T.R.A.C.K.S.: The team chases down Ian Quinn through an undercover mission on a train. But when the team gets separated, real trouble hits them causing a story changing event.
• T.A.H.I.T.I.: Agent Coulson goes on the attack to save Skye, enlisting the aid of Ward's former S.O. John Garrett, and uncovers shocking truths about his own life and S.H.I.E.L.D.
• Yes Men: When Coulson and his team are attacked by Lorelei, a deadly seductress who escaped from Asgard, Thor’s Lady Sif, her longtime nemesis, steps in to try and save them.
• End of the Beginning: Agents Garrett and Triplett are back to help Coulson's team track down S.H.I.E.L.D.'s nefarious enemy: the Clairvoyant. But will Deathlok destroy them all to protect his master's identity?
• Turn, Turn, Turn: Coulson and his team find themselves without anyone they can trust, only to discover that they are trapped with a traitor in their midst.
• Providence: With Colonel Glenn Talbot now on their trail, Coulson and his team seek refuge in the last place anyone would look, where they begin to uncover S.H.I.E.L.D.'s most dangerous secrets; secrets that could destroy them all.
• The Only Light in the Darkness: With their world turned upside down, Coulson races to save the life of his one true love as the mystery of "The Cellist," which began in Marvel's The Avengers, starts to unfold.
• Nothing Personal: Just when there's no one left to trust, Agent Maria Hill returns to team up with Coulson as S.H.I.E.L.D. is being destroyed around them.
• Ragtag: HYDRA's shocking secrets are revealed as Coulson's team goes undercover on a mission that leaves no one unscathed.
• Beginning of the End: Dark secrets are revealed as Coulson and his team put everything on the line to stop HYDRA and its surviving leadership.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: The Complete First Season Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Blu-ray release of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. features a striking 1080p/AVC-encoded video presentation sure to leave Marvel junkies even more smitten with Coulson and the Mystery Inc. gang. The series palette is often cast in blues and other shadowy, conspiratorial hues, particularly in the last 7-8 episodes, yet colors still make a strong impression throughout, skintones are lovely and nicely saturated, primaries have quite a bit of pop (and not just when a villain fires up an alien weapon), and black levels are deep and satisfying. Darker scenes are a tad muted, but otherwise pleasant and precise. Detail, meanwhile, is excellent, with well-defined edges free of ringing and aliasing, crisp textures, exacting close-ups and revealing delineation. Yes, the overall clarity of FX-heavy sequences and green-screen shots suffer -- somewhat predictably -- due to budgetary constraints, but there's no reason to blame the technical encode itself. Better still, significant artifacting, banding, errant noise and other anomalies are nowhere to be found. Spreading the first season's 22 episodes across 5 discs gives each one plenty of room to breathe, without giving way to any serious compression issues. So while the series struggles with growing pains, the Blu-ray release of The Complete First Season does not. Enjoy.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: The Complete First Season Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

No one will mistake Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s sound design for one of its big screen MCU cousins, but Disney's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track is more than up to the task at hand. Dialogue is clear and intelligible at all times, no matter how action-oriented an episode becomes. Prioritization is spot on, and dynamics are terrific; a trait that stands out when the faint ambient effects of a S.H.I.E.L.D. installation or aircraft share a scene with explosions, gunfire and other seeds of mass destruction. LFE output is bold and booming, with aggressive low-end oomph and weighty presence. Not to be outdone, the rear speakers join the fray at every turn, creating immersive environment after immersive environment. Directionality is accurate, pans are as slick as our resident super spies, and the soundfield is effective and engaging, with very little flatness or front-heaviness to report. All told, it may be a TV mix through and through, but it remains strong and steady nonetheless.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: The Complete First Season Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentaries: Up first, two solid cast and crew audio commentaries: "FZZT" with co-executive producer/writer Paul Zbyszewsky and actors Iain de Caestecker and Elizabeth Henstridge, and "The Magical Place" with co-producers/writers Rafe Judkins and Lauren LeFranc and actors Clark Gregg and Chloe Bennet.
• Marvel Studios: Assembling a Universe (HD, 43 minutes): The Marvel Cinematic Universe round-up that aired on ABC ahead of Captain America: The Winter Soldier's theatrical release earlier this year.
• Journey Into S.D.C.C. (HD, 13 minutes): Clark Gregg, Chloe Bennet, Ming-Na Wen, Brett Dalton, Elizabeth Henstridge and Iain de Caestecker head to Comic-Con, where they join the showrunners and producers for a panel in a crowded, enthusiastic hall. Unfortunately, the Q&A itself isn't included.
• Field Reports (HD, 18 minutes): Five short behind-the-scenes featurettes touch on key moments from the first season, including "The Malibu Jump," "The Bridge," "Asgardian Bar Fight," "Classified" and "Cello Duet."
• VFX Progressions (HD, 3 minutes): Two brief VFX progression montages are available: "Lola Takes Flight" and "Free Falling." As with most of the extras, though, there just isn't a lot of material here. Certainly none that offer any in-depth insight.
• Deleted Scenes (HD, 7 minutes): A string of deleted scenes are included, among them "Debbie's Alternate Demise" (Pilot), "A Hacker Kind of Life" (The Girl in the Flower Dress), "I Shot Someone" (The Hub), "Worried About Ward" (The Well), "Chopper Found" (The Magical Place), "Simmons Had Boyfriends" (Seeds), "The Smartest Person" (Seeds) and "Only One Person" (Providence).
• Bloopers of S.H.I.E.L.D. (HD, 7 minutes): A genuinely amusing outtake reel.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: The Complete First Season Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Stick with Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. through its rough second act and you'll be treated to a series that soon finds its footing. It's not the perfect MCU television actioner, but it comes awfully close once it dovetails with Captain America: The Winter Soldier. By the end of the season, the series has new blood, new marching orders and new direction. It's a whole new world, and will continue to be if Whedon and Tancharoen maintain the upward momentum. Disney's Blu-ray release doesn't suffer from nearly as many flaws, other than a slim supplemental package that could have offered so much more (even if only in the audio commentary department). And with such an excellent AV presentation in two, there really isn't a good reason to deprive Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. the chance to win you over.