After Watching The Winter Soldier and Agents of SHIELD…

I keep seeing interviews with the showrunners of Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD where they explain that, of course, they knew about what was going to happen in the new Captain America movie and that the entire season was planned around that reveal. It’s not that I don’t believe them – the “Caterpillar” thing alone (a reference to Secret Warriors that I didn’t catch) convinces me of that – but it does make me think: If they knew what was going to happen, and they essentially had a ticking clock on the status quo, then how did they make such a boring show for all this time?

Also, given the overarching theme of The Winter Soldier, if SHIELD knew that was coming, why was the show so amazingly, disturbingly pro-Big Brother in its early episodes (and, for that matter, unthinkingly obedient all the way throughout)?

(While I’m at it, doesn’t last night’s episode of Agents of SHIELD… not exactly fit in with the timeline/events of The Winter Soldier? When, exactly, did Hydra send out a “reveal ourselves” signal? In the movie, Hydra is revealed by Cap, not by choice. Wasn’t Fury “killed” at least three days before the Hydra reveal, which puts it at odds with the Agents of SHIELD timeline?)

Ah, missed opportunities all ‘round…