Pete Messum Reviews...

100 episodes later and Marvel's Agents of SHIELD is still going strong...just as a more niche ABC comic book show. In fact, the comic book show landscape seems to have really changed since SHIELD's debut, with even long-running series such as Arrow and The Flash losing their audiences. Shows like Legion and Agents of SHIELD, however, which have garnered a lot of support from a relatively small but encouraging audience seem to be garnering much more positive feedback. In fact, I think its the fans that have kept Agents of SHIELD going for 100 episodes, and that's thanks to the quality of the series itself. It hasn't "lost its mojo" - it's actually kind of gained it over the course of four and a half seasons. In this 100th episode special though - complete with a title-card compilation from each season - the show seems intent on rewarding fans as much as they can, resulting in an episode filled with lovely little bits of fan service, but nothing that re

So here we are, back again with another set-up episode of Marvel's Agents of SHIELD as the team at long last return to present day at...the Lighthouse. Again. Yup, it seems that Agents of SHIELD spent too much money on that rather standard Lighthouse interior set to let it go to waste. Maybe it replaced the old SHIELD HQ set? Either way, it's not a bad location to set the rest of the season in, acting as a constant reminder of the imminent threat to the planet - a threat that the show is very keen to emphasise in this mid-season opener. There's a real sense throughout this eleventh episode that while the team appear to be temporarily safe, they have very little time left. So little, in fact, that they discover a Kree beacon mid-town that may be the cause of the Kree's arrival...or it may not, as the team discover that the US Government are hunting them down as "most wanted" criminals and have used the signal to lure them into capture - which, admittedl

Flying through the skies of Corellia we're introduced to Alden Erenreich's younger Han Solo, with his rogue-ish charm enticing Qui'ra (Emilia Clarke) into a daring escape, shot with energy and raw enthusiasm from...well, either Phil Lord and Chris Miller or Ron Howard. Laurence Kasdan has also been reported to have acted as a "shadow director". What's distinctly more Lord and Miller is, however, a scene in which Han confronts a giant millipede, which exudes all the charm of Lucas' original Star Wars trilogy with a touch of humour that never quite manifests elsewhere in the film. Lord and Miller departed mere weeks before principal photography concluded, with Ron Howard taking over to re-shoot around 70% of the film to keep to an incredibly tight deadline. Howard's clearly done a terrific job, as the film doesn't feel nearly as patchy as one would expect, and the visual effects work is really top-notch - and I'd argue will age much better th

What's interesting about Legends of Tomorrow's third season is that, despite having a decent arc, when all was said and done, the arc itself didn't really matter. When Mallus goes to confront the Legends in Salvation, there's a sense of "of course they're going to defeat him and save the day", but also that the writers are fully aware of this. The season isn't really about Mallus at all - probably why Mallus himself is such a mediocre villain when all is said and done. I mean, he looks pretty cool in his giant dragon form, but I do wonder if keeping his true form secret for the entire show would have been better in the long run (and probably more cost-effective). What is important in this season of Legends of Tomorrow has been the ensemble cast's own problems. Amaya is trying to deal with a catastrophic future for her family, and Nate trying to come to terms with their doomed love. Rory, in confronting his father, is able to overcome one of his