Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

This past Saturday, my wife decided to do a 15-mile walk known as the Provo River Walk (or something like that.) She wanted me to join her on it, so I did. I of course, only did 9.5 miles. Not because I'm lazy, but because my injured back was so bad (starting around mile 4 and killing me by mile 8), that if I didn't stop the walk, I'd probably be in bed still. Needless to say, I spent a lot of yesterday trying to ease the pain in my back. During this time, I decided to find something to watch and noticed that this new show, Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (hereafter MAoS), was on Hulu. So I watched it.

Let me start with my background knowledge of this piece of the Marvel universe. I have seen Thor, Iron Man (not 2 or 3), Captain America, and The Avengers. My only knowledge of Agent Coulson and S.H.I.E.L.D. is what I recall from The Avengers and a sleight memory of Coulson being in Thor. Other than that, I'm blank. My fear for this show is a repeat of Lost and Heroes. Meaning: over-saturated cast with poorly-resolved storylines. However, the first episode impressed me. It stood fairly alone. Yeah, I'm sure that won't last long. But for an opening episode to end in a there-will-be-more cliffhanger. It wasn't one of those "Oh, I'm annoyed I have to watch to know what happened." For a series premier MAoS did it right. This show left me with very little question as to what was going on. Had I not seen The Avengers, I still wouldn't have been confused b/c I'm not living under a rock and know what movies Marvel has put out. There was only 1 reference that made me question having missed something, and that's Melinda May, played by Ming-Na Wen. (If you don't know, I'm a fan of Ming-Na Wen's. First, she was on ER, but I don't know her from that since I only watched a few episodes of it. Second, she was the voice of Mulan, so she's awesome for that. Third she was Chun-Li in Street Fighter. And finally, she was on the 4th/5th seasons of Eureka, which is one of my favorite shows ever.) The way May was referenced in conversation between Coulson and West made me wonder if she has a history we should know of. In the end, I enjoyed the way this pilot went. I didn't feel lost. I didn't feel like "I hate these cliffhangers." And most importantly, I didn't feel "there are too many characters." Alien abductions are involuntary, but probings are scheduled.