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"&amp;quot;The secret is out.&amp;quot; Marvel&amp;#039;s first major TV show in decades, the new series from geek god Joss Whedon *and* a follow-up of sorts to cinematic super-smash The Avengers - it&amp;#039;s fair to say that Agents of SHIELD is a pretty big deal.  Expectations were obviously high, and thankfully this pilot episode - co-written by Whedon, his brother Jed and Maurissa Tancharoen - mostly delivers. The Avengers proved that fusing the Whedonverse with the Marvel universe results in something wonderful and this new small-screen effort is a thrilling blend of comic book adventure and Bond-esque spy thriller. There&amp;#039;s been plenty of talk about what level of crossover we&amp;#039;d see between SHIELD and its big-screen cousins, but this first episode, with its ties to Iron Man 3 and Black Widow reference, strikes just the right chord, with knowing nods to fanboys that don&amp;#039;t alienate the casual viewer. The issue of Coulson&amp;#039;s miraculous resurrection is also well-handled - the mystery of what did or didn&amp;#039;t happen to Clark Gregg&amp;#039;s fan favourite doesn&amp;#039;t dominate, but we get enough intriguing hints to keep us hooked.  Everyone remembers the scope and action of The Avengers - chiefly the utter demolition of New York City - but it&amp;#039;s easy to forget just how much humour Whedon packs in. Joss continues to bring the funny here - the brilliant undercutting of Agent Coulson&amp;#039;s melodramatic entrance (&amp;quot;I think there&amp;#039;s a bulb out&amp;quot;) is a stand-out moment - and that sense of fun is a thread that runs from this pilot&amp;#039;s first scene to its last. Who doesn&amp;#039;t love a flying car?  The likes of Buffy and Firefly have taught us that Whedon has a knack for finding actors who look good and can dish out his distinctive dialogue - he&amp;#039;s scored again here, with a talented international cast bringing a cast of colourful characters to vivid life. Particularly impressive is Nashville&amp;#039;s Chloe Bennett as Skye, with a strong debut that puts one in mind of another Whedon vet, Eliza Dushku. Angel&amp;#039;s J August Richards does great work as good-guy-with-bad-breaks Mike Petersen too - it&amp;#039;s not nepotism if you deliver, and Richards delivers in spades. In this opener&amp;#039;s early scenes, Cobie Smulders is also great value as Avengers veteran Maria Hill - it&amp;#039;s a pity that her commitments to How I Met Your Mother will likely rule out any further &amp;#039;special appearances&amp;#039;. Once said sitcom&amp;#039;s wrapped, please make her a series regular for season two.  Of course, great as it is, Marvel&amp;#039;s Agents of SHIELD was never going to be perfect. The pilot nails the set-up, but falters a little in the execution and, after a breathless first 20 minutes, the episode settles down and becomes a little more routine. It&amp;#039;s difficult to ignore the fact that our heroes essentially solve the episode&amp;#039;s central crisis by waving a magic wand - well, firing a magic gun, but it amounts to the same thing - and that final scene, with its seemingly never-ending stream of thumbs-up reaction shots, is more than a little heavy-handed. The episode falters at other points too - Ming-Na Wen&amp;#039;s Melinda May doesn&amp;#039;t get nearly enough to do, while Brett Dalton&amp;#039;s Agent Grant Ward gets some great lines but is thinly sketched - let&amp;#039;s hope he evolves beyond the &amp;#039;loner-who-has-a-dark-past-and-doesn&amp;#039;t-work-well-with-others&amp;#039; clich\u00E9.  These issues aside, Channel 4 absolutely made the right choice to fight off the competition and secure Marvel&amp;#039;s Agents of SHIELD for UK broadcast - this one&amp;#039;ll be a winner for them. The battle of New York was the end of the world - this, now, is the new world. And the new world, while not perfect, looks pretty damn good.  "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/agents-of-shield/news/a518934/marvels-agents-of-shield-is-avengers-spinoff-a-comic-book-smash/>