Not a good week for Cobie Smulders. Not. Good. At. All.
First the premier of her ticket to the big time, How I Met Your Mother, started off with a whimper [1]. On Tuesday, her new show Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. underwhelmed as well.
Let me be clear, I don't think S.H.E.I.L.D. was awful. There are some intriguing questions surrounding Agent Colson and the concept seems really solid. But overall, the acting was weak and many of the lines fell flat.
One of the intriguing points in this first episode was the conflict between S.H.I.E.L.D. and the hacker, Skye. S.H.I.E.L.D.'s goal is to protect the world from the powers unveiled in Marvel's The Avengers movie by hiding the truth from humanity and cleaning up any messes that may occur. They argue that humanity isn't ready for the truth.
Skye, on the other hand, wants everyone to know the truth. She believes that the truth must come out and all would be better for it.
I see a parallel to the debate going on in our country today surrounding government spying. How much of the government's activity should its citizenry know? At what point does disclosure harm us more than help us? Is there even a point when that is true?
These are important issues to wrestle with, and personally, I don't have an answer. If Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. grapple with this issue, it could provide an entertaining way to discuss the topic. After the first episode, however, I'm not sure the show is capable of handling the topic. And that is not good. Not. Good. At. All.