As much as we like Diggle, the guy really doesn't bring anything special to the table. He's not the greatest fighter (he's gotten more lumps than he gives), he has no special skills (felicity = tech, deadshot = sniper, Lance = cop) and the more you hear of his backstory the more ordinary he becomes.

Laurel, the recovering alcoholic who's sister ran off with her boyfriend, hangs out in a bar and gives relationship advice.

A few comments:

While I dont disagree entirely with your post, it does seem like you're trying to find reasons to put the show down.

Now that Ward is likely going to die from Lorelei's "gift" (An assortment of Asgardian STDs), then whats next for the team?

Agent Itchy Netherregions

I tend to be more forgiving of Ward than others because he's written more as a prop than a character so I'm still unconvinced that this is the actors fault. Even in this episode when he finally gets a chance to play someone else under Lorelei's spell then this "Stoic man of Action" is written to be… a "Stoic man of…

A few stray thoughts after rewatching with the wife:

Michael B Jordan and Kata Mara as Fantastic Four siblings Johnny and Sue Storm
= "We can sacrifice accuracy to the source material if we get the best actors for the job!"

Ive been hoping The Enchantress would make it into Thor 3, but if they do a movie version of her I hope her motivations are better than Lorelei's. (I also wonder if AoS will ever introduce a movie character or if the MCU will distance itself from the idea of making AoS cannon.)

The problem with Coulson is that he was a fan favorite but never a fleshed out character. So all this "Change" he went through was more exposition than action because we really never knew Coulson so claiming "He's different now" doesnt actually get an audience curious because we really didn't see much of him before to…

True. BUT the show is called "Agents of SHIELD" and this laser focus on Coulson/Skye has made AoS feel more like a show about a family rather than a show about spies.

In retrospect, does anyone else feel that they should've done "Agent Coulson: T.A.H.I.T.I" as a Marvel One-Shot or a mini series to explain his resurrection rather than make it the arc of the entire pilot season?

Dont you understand?!?! They saved Skye!! Who cares about all the the two dudes, their kids, irreplaceable research, the difficulty of rebuilding a hidden lab in the middle of nowhere, the Tahiti project or the Kree body. Priority one in the entire universe has always been to make sure they save Skye.

Movie Coulson and TV Coulson just seem like completely different characters. In the films he was cool and witty but on TV he's whiny and overly-emotional. The guy had a team of agents get killed by Iron Monger and was aboard the Helicarrier during Loki's attack yet he didn't feel nearly as much sympathy for the agents…

Why bother. Skye wouldn't believe she exists anyway.

One thing we tend to forget is that this show isn't meant for the "geek" viewer. Its aim seems to be the mainstream audience that loved Avengers despite them not understanding the story or having a clue what the cosmic cube is. So, as interesting as a Kree storyline would be, they probably wouldnt go in that direction…

Despite a much smaller budget, its interesting how Arrow can feel like it exists in a more fleshed out universe than SHIELD. Viewers care about the characters and their actions. But with SHIELD then, even with a movie guest, it still feels like the show exists in a bubble (or a plane).

Cap got an experimental Super Serum, Hawkeye got zombified, Banner got Gamma Radiated, Stark got Palladium Poisoning. It's all good. But Skye comes back from the dead and Coulson's all "OMG, this is so unnatural and i won't stop crying about it until we figure it out".

The alien drug saved her life. Considering that's Coulsons entire mission nowadays then you'd think he'd be happy about it.