Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Recap: Pilot

Along with the Blu-ray and DVD release of Iron Man 3 today, Marvel’s already-high profile was raised again with the premiere of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., the studio’s attempt to bring their cinematic universe (and its massive commercial success) to TV.So what happened? How did they fare?Read on…The episode begins with the monologue that we’ve seen variations on in the ads; Skye talking trash to S.H.I.E.L.D. From her “Rising Tide” van.Cut to Mike Peterson, played by J. August Richards and trying to engage his son at the toy store. The boy keeps rejecting his attention and finally it’s revealed that Peterson is having money problems. As he’s trying to tell his son it’s going to be okay, a massive explosion rocks the top floors of a building across the street. Once he’s sure his son is okay, he hands the boy off to an older man named Bernie (apparently a hot dog vendor with whom the pair are familiar?) and runs to see if anyone needs help.He can hear a woman screaming “help me” from inside and smashes into the building’s brick facade with his bare hands, using that method to scale its side and gain entry into the fire-engulfed upper floors. There, he finds the woman and jumps out the window holding her, placing her on the ground—choking but conscious—and being caught on Skye’s camera phone before running away. His son looks on from across the street, incredulous, while Peterson removes his hoodie and shows up to take him away—apparently in a different outfit.