5/20/2018
The team is forced to make a hard choice in order to stop Graviton from destroying the world. SPOILERS AHEAD for the episode and Avengers: Infinity War!!!
Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. has been thoroughly entertaining this season, and it’s in main part due to the prophecies of Coulson’s death and the End Of The World that have been built up since the beginning of the season. While that build up has been the strong part of the season, it also means that the payoff for the finale needs to be huge, and worth 21 episodes of waiting for. Some episodes have felt less uneventful then others, mainly due to the season wanting to save the major answers and payoffs for this very episode. This season wasn’t as consistently as good as Season 4, but I do feel the payoff in this episode was a fitting conclusion to this arc. I’ll talk more about where this ranks amongst S.H.I.E.L.D’s seasons in my full season review.
Out of all things that I guessed could’ve happened in this episode, Fitz dying was certainly not one of them. I was certain that either May or Mack was heading to the grave, especially after Fitz reminded us that neither of them survived in the future. His death was genuinely surprising, almost to the point that I couldn’t accept it. It was done extremely well, packing the emotional punch it needed for it to matter (especially since Simmons wasn’t able to see him one last time). Yes, there’s a possibility (maybe even probability) that the team will be able to find a time-displaced version of him out in space, but that didn’t detract from his death here any way.
In fact, possibility my biggest complaint about this episode is that we didn’t get more time to mourn his death. The Arrowverse does death really well, and always makes time for a proper funeral scene when someone dies. Just seeing an “In Remembrance” on a coffin didn’t feel like enough to me. I was really hoping that we’d get chance to see the whole team big a proper farewell to him, but that never truly happened. And seeing how this season ended, it doesn’t look like we’ll see that next season.
As far as action goes, this episode had a handful of really great fights. Mack and Fitz got a chance to take down some Confederate soldiers, but the main event was the final showdown between Quake and Graviton. The CGI was great and both participants got a chance to show off their incredible powers. Graviton hasn’t been the best villain the show has seen, but there’s no doubt he’s been good as the mustache-twirling bad guy that’s presented a bigger threat than anyone else the team has ever faced. Watching Daisy quake him into the stratosphere was both cool and very satisfying.
(Side Note: Loved Mack as the new team leader!)
As far as Coulson’s status is concerned, I’m surprised it wasn’t shown. I wonder if they will truly follow through with his death next season, but I’m satisfied with how his story ended in this episode. Having him live out his last weeks with May in Tahiti is good way to give him a happy ending, all while leaving us guessing if he will be dead come next season. Even though his death here would’ve made that Ghost Rider deal matter more, I don’t know how much more darkness this episode could’ve taken on top of Fitz dying. Daisy’s goodbye to Coulson was already sad enough.
I’m disappointed that we didn’t get any major tie-in for Infinity War. I thought for sure that Thanos snapping half of life out of existence was gonna have a major effect on the show, but none of that happened. I feel like this was a huge missed opportunity for the show, so I’m hoping we’ll get an explanation for this lack of connection next season.
IN SUMMARY:
Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. caps off Season 5 with a dark and emotionally resonant episode, filled with incredible acting and an awesome final fight scene. If not for the lack of Infinity War tie-in and proper funeral scene for Fitz, this would’ve been a perfect episode.
Rating: 9/10
Walk The Multiverse 