Pilot (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.)

"Pilot (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.)"

"Pilot" is the pilot episode of the American television series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. It originally aired on ABC on September 24, 2013. The episode was written by series co-creators Joss Whedon, Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tancharoen, and directed by Joss Whedon. It is the first television episode to be set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, sharing continuity with the films of the franchise.

The episode features the protagonist Phil Coulson, played by Clark Gregg, an agent of the fictional Marvel Comics intelligence agency S.H.I.E.L.D. that assembles a team of agents played by regular cast members Ming-Na Wen, Brett Dalton, Chloe Bennet, Iain De Caestecker and Elizabeth Henstridge. In "Pilot", the team investigates a superhuman implanted with a biotechnological device and the hacktivist group Rising Tide. The episode guest stars J. August Richards and Cobie Smulders as S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Maria Hill.

According to Nielsen Media Research, "Pilot" was watched by 12.12 million viewers in its original airing.

Plot

Mike Peterson (J. August Richards) is out with his son Ace (Ajani Wrighster), when an explosion erupts from the top floor of a nearby building. He climbs up the outside of the building by punching holes in the brickwork and enters through a flaming window. As the crowd looks on, Peterson jumps from the top floor whilst holding a woman (Shannon Lucio) in his arms. Watching him is Skye (Chloe Bennet), who films him on her smart phone. Meanwhile, Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders) is interviewing Grant Ward (Brett Dalton) for a new S.H.I.E.L.D. team alongside Agent Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg), who is officially dead. Coulson steps from the shadows and welcomes Ward to "level 7", explaining that the Avengers only have level 6 clearance and that the team's mission is to investigate a hacker group called the Rising Tide. Coulson visits Melinda May (Ming-Na Wen), who had retired from field duty, and convinces her to join the team.

Skye meets with Peterson and warns him about S.H.I.E.L.D, saying that they cover up superhero based events. Later as she broadcasts alone from her van as Rising Tide, Coulson opens the door and arrests her. He takes her back to a mobile S.H.I.E.L.D. base on board a plane. He and Ward question her, but she is uncooperative and mentions Project Centipede which neither of the agents had heard of. In order to gain her trust, Coulson injects Ward with a truth serum and allows Skye to question him. With her trust gained, she reveals where she filmed Peterson and Coulson sends Agents Leo Fitz (Iain De Caestecker) and Jemma Simmons (Elizabeth Henstridge) to investigate the scene of the explosion. They discover a strange device in the debris and take it back to the base to investigate. Peterson returns to the factory he used to work at, and angrily injures his former boss Gary (Bob Stephenson), saying that he was the "bad guy" and Peterson was the "hero".

Peterson visits the woman he saved in the hospital, and it is revealed that she was the doctor who implanted the Centipede device into his left forearm. He wants to go public, but she says that her backers wouldn't like that. He claims this is all his origin story and jumps from the hospital window. Fitz and Simmons investigate the device and find that it is a combination of all known causes of super powers including: alien metal (as seen in The Avengers, gamma radiation (as seen in The Incredible Hulk), the Captain America formula, and Extremis (as seen in Iron Man 3). Meanwhile they reproduce footage from the crime scene using the flash memory of a video camera and the audio recorded by Skye who had bugged the lab. They discover that the explosion was caused by an angry man (Aaron Behr) exploding due to Extremis. The man had the device implanted in his forearm, which they recognize on Peterson due to video footage of his attack at the factory.

Skye had returned to her van to send the audio as the encryption was tied to the geolocation. Peterson abducts her and makes her delete his information from the government's systems. At the same time she hacks into S.H.I.E.L.D. systems to inform them. Peterson and Skye are tracked down to a train station by Coulson's team and a gunman sent by Peterson's doctor. May takes out the gunman and Coulson talks Peterson down long enough for Ward to shoot him with an advanced stun gun developed by Fitz and Simmons. Afterwards, Coulson offers Skye a place on his team when a call for a "0-8-4" comes in.

Production

J. August Richards and Cobie Smulders were two of the guest stars in the pilot.

Joss Whedon said that his previous television shows were based on ensembles, with S.H.I.E.L.D. being based in part on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode "The Zeppo". That episode highlighted a lesser seen character, which was something he wanted to achieve with the character of Agent Phil Coulson. It was written by Whedon, along with his brother Jed Whedon and sister-in-law Maurissa Tancharoen. At the same time he was writing the script for Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), which meant that he could use the series to explain the death of Coulson rather than trying to include it in the film. Whedon explained that he was passed notes from ABC on things to change in the pilot, saying that "So you take the notes. You don’t take all of them. But you never walk in expecting not to get any."

There were several guest cast members in the pilot, including two that had previously worked with Whedon on his previous television shows. Ron Glass had played Shepherd Book in Firefly, and the subsequent film Serenity (2005). He appeared in the "Pilot" as a S.H.I.E.L.D. Doctor. J. August Richards had previously appeared in Whedon's Angel as Charles Gunn. He said that "This is a role I've been preparing for since I was nine years old. It’s literally a dream come true. Because as a boy my favorite show was Superman and my favorite movie was Star Wars – along with other science fiction shows and movies." Also appearing in the episode was Cobie Smulders who reprised the role of Maria Hill which she had previously appeared as in The Avengers (2012).

The episode introduced a group called "Rising Tide", which is the name of a volunteer group who work on climate change issues. The group issued a statement saying that they were concerned with the use of the name for the fictional group which appeared to be similar to Anonymous. They have since been mistakenly contacted on Twitter by fans of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D and have created a petition against The Walt Disney Company to stop using the name.

Reception

Ratings

"Pilot" was first aired in the United States on ABC on September 24, 2013. It received a 4.7/14 percent share among adults between the ages of 18 and 49, meaning that it was seen by 4.7 percent of all households, and 14 percent of all of those watching television at the time of the broadcast. It was watched by 12.12 million viewers. This was the highest ratings received by the first episode of a drama series in the United States for almost four years since the pilot episode of ABC's V, however NCIS was the most viewed show in the time slot with more than 20 million viewers.

"Pilot" was aired alongside the US broadcast in Canada on CTV. It was watched by 2.706 million viewers, earning the third highest viewership for the week on the network.

It was first aired in the United Kingdom on Channel 4 on September 27, 2013. It was watched by 14.2 percent of all viewers watching television at the time of the broadcast, an average of 3.1 million. The broadcast had a 27 percent share of those aged between 16 and 34. It was the most viewed new drama on the Channel in 2013. Prior to the airing of the episode, a viral marketing campaign was underway in the UK to promote the show. Posters asking for witness of "Suspected Extraordinary Activity" were placed around London.

Reviews

Jason Hughes, writing for The Huffington Post, said that "Everything about this premiere worked". He felt that it show was a cross between Fringe and Heroes with elements of The X-Files included. He thought that there was a potential for the series to be a success and thought that it would attract both Marvel fans and new viewers alike. Dave Bradley gave the episode four and a half out of five for SFX magazine, saying that the show was going to become a phenomenon alongside Doctor Who, The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones. He felt that using the Skye character to introduce the viewer to the series was cheesy, but effective. He praised J August Richards performance but didn't enjoy some of the characterisations of the main characters which made him think the team was similar to that seen in Torchwood.

Tim Goodman watched the episode for The Hollywood Reporter, but wasn't sure from the pilot whether the series would go on to be good or not. He thought that having Joss Whedon's name attached the project would lead to positive reviews for at least a month. Goodman said that "It's a fun hour and calling it 'good but not great' has more to do with expectations in the wake of the Marvel movies than anything else." James Hunt on the website Den of Geek, thought that the episode struggled to meet expectations. He thought that the CGI was worse than that seen on Smallville and that the sets seemed small. However, he praised the script and in particular the speech given by Richards' character at the end of the episode. He thought that the start was better than Whedon's Dollhouse, but was not perfect.

External links

• "Pilot" at ABC
• "Pilot" at IMDb
• Template:Tv.com episode