Long live Director Coulson.
Well, that was impressive. The Agents of SHIELD Season 1 finale did not disappoint and once again showed the full potential of this show. AND, if you didn't see my predictions from earlier today, I was all over it. I'm just saying. Can someone put me on Marvel's payroll? Please?
Let's dive into it... (WARNING: SPOILERS ABOUND!!)
There was a ton of stuff going on in this episode, so I'll try to skip all the obvious stuff and focus on the meat. Compared to the bulk of the season, the finale was masterful. The direction took a huge leap with dynamic shots and much better performances. The balance of payoffs for Season 1 and set-ups for Season 2 was perfect. Nothing was left hanging and when they closed a storyline, they slammed it shut.
Unquestionably, the most important element of Episode 22 had to be the setup of Season 2's primary storyline: Skye's origin and the secrets behind it which will lead to "evolution."
- The symbols that Garrett calls the "Words of Creation" will certainly come into play. I would guess these "words" detail the process/instructions for Terrigenesis.
- We also met Skye's father, or at least his blood soaked hand. He is likely a Kree alien and, chances are, he will be the Big Bad for next season.
- In the final scene, we discover that Coulson also has the "Words of Creation" hidden away in his brain as well, presumably because, like Garrett and Skye, he was treated with the GH 325.
I said we were talking about Inhumans and basically I think I nailed it. Raina spoke constantly about evolution and asks Garrett, "what will I become?" She says Skye's "true nature" will reveal itself. Ahem. Inhumans.
This is huge for Marvel TV. All season, AoS was shaped by the Marvel films and now the films will be shaped by AoS. Make no mistake, the Inhumans will be a major component of the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe). A ton of work has gone into the publishing side to prepare for it. Since Fox owns the movie rights to Marvel's mutants, Marvel Comics has taken a seldom used, quirky family of alien, mutant weirdos and suddenly elevated them to the biggest players of the MU (comics universe) last year.
Fitz and Simmons had a really, really nice scene. No surprise that De Caestecker and Henstridge turned in the best performances of the night. Fitz revealing his feelings before they escape the med pod may have been the best scene of the entire season. All the more impressive when you consider that it was basically a replay of their similar scene in "FZZT," yet still carried a lot of weight.
Fury's appearance was much cooler than his first. This time he was actually an integral part of the action, rescuing Fitz and Simmons and Coulson as well, rather than just being a cameo tacked on at the end. That's an important development to the show as big film characters increasingly get into the mix.
Ward was left in a weird place at the end of Season 1, being taken into custody after his motivations didn't seem clear all episode. He started getting cold feet right away in this one, starting to question Garrett and their motivations for the first time. He didn't have a stomach for Garrett's barbaric murder of the General. I'll stick with my prediction that Season 2 ends with Ward sacrificing himself to save the team. (Or maybe to somehow save Fitz from his current condition?)
Snarky Coulson was back and it was nice to see. We got the best jokes in weeks and this is the Phil we need. Not super weepy, emotional outburst Phil.
Fitz was kind of left in the lurch. Simmons tells the team about his condition, but it felt like we really needed to see Fitz before the episode ended.
So, the overall mission from here is for Director Phil Coulson to rebuild SHIELD from scratch. Probably the only direction you could go and also keep the show's title. It will be fun to watch and also alleviates a lot of logic problems I had with this season regarding why Coulson's tiny team was tackling these problems all on their own without more resources/assistance from their gigantic agency. Now, that continuity hiccup is eliminated.
Quick Hitters
- Did you catch the imagery of Garrett pulling the General's rib out?
- What is that tool box that Fury gave to Coulson?
- Fury considers Coulson an Avenger.
- I'm sure some geeks had a moment when Fury pulled out Coulson's Avengers gun.
- A great okey-doke gag when Garrett rebuilds himself and we think we'll have to deal with him for another season, then Coulson blasts him into oblivion.
- May jumping Ward and getting the chance to beat his arse was one of the few B.A. moments of the season that actually kind of worked the way it was intended.
- Patton Oswalt lives! Supposedly as a twin brother but, judging by all the exactly repeated lines, I would guess he might be a Life Model Decoy. I won't let that die will I? Well, WE'RE GOING TO GET ONE SOONER OR LATER!