A lovely game of pass the cross
(This review contains
spoilers!)
We’ve finally arrived at the grand
finale of Shield’s third season, and along with it comes the conclusion of the
Fallen Agent storyline. I’ll admit, going in I was almost certain that we were
going to get some sort of bait-and-switch, and the whole team was going to
survive. Well, I was wrong. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s take this
thing from the top.
The overarching plot this week is that
Hive is plotting to use a warhead to cover a significant part of the Earth in
terrigen mist, turning humans into those primitives. The opening of the first
episode is excellent, as every member of the team got their chance to shine as
they raid the launch base and capture Hive.
Speaking of that, how ridiculous was
it for them to leave the frozen Hive just lying out in the middle of the base?
Especially with Coulson having dealt with captured godlike beings escaping
before, with one of them ending significantly less than favourably for him, it
was kind of stupid for them to do that. It made it even more obvious than it
already was that he’d escape.
Unfortunately, in the time between the
opening raid and the ending with Hive breaking free, the first half of the
finale didn’t add much to the overall plot, except for a way to pass that
cursed cross around from character to character.
The second half, on the other hand,
completely blew the first out of the water. Between the base losing power and
being attacked by primitives, looking like something out of a horror movie, and
Fitz and May stowing away on the stolen quinjet to save a captured Daisy, there
was never a dull moment.
Each of the main cast got their moment
in the spotlight this episode, with the exception of Joey, who was
conspicuously absent. I guess that when he said he was ready to leave, he meant
it.
Between May fighting off a group of
primitives by herself, Fitz finally taking out Giyera, Daisy’s one-on-one
showdown against Hive, Yo-yo saving Mack, who then later brought back his
famous shotgun-axe, Radcliffe’s one-liners, Simmons figuring out the trick to
avoiding the primitives, and Lincoln’s big moment at the end, everyone got a
moment in the spotlight.
The real stars of the show here,
however, were Clark Gregg and Brett Dalton as Coulson and Hive respectively.
Their one on one conversation was easily one of the best scenes the show’s ever
done, with Coulson dropping some of his famous jokes and puns, counteracting
how deadly Hive seemed.
We also got to see Hive’s true form in
all its glory (which I am officially dubbing SquidWard), and it looked incredible, at least by Shield’s usual
standards. The best way I can compare it is with a lesser version of Davy Jones
from the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. It looked like it jumped right off
the comic page.
I’d also like to take a moment here to
appreciate my new favourite line from the show: “I’ve always wanted to do this.
Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi. You’re my only hope.” as said by Coulson just before
Hive fizzles his hologram. I actually had to pause the show I was laughing so
hard.
The storyline came to its conclusion with
Lincoln sacrificing himself to launch the quinjet carrying the warhead and Hive
into space, destroying them both. They both got a really nice moment together
as they waited for the inevitable, with Hive confessing that all he really wanted
was to help people become better. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again:
despite the fact that I wasn’t a huge fan of what they did to Grant Ward
post-Season 1 (especially that weird girlfriend plot he had), Brett Dalton has
always been one of the best things about Shield, and I’m sad to finally see him
go.
Then after that, we abruptly jumped 6
months into the future. Daisy is now a vigilante/criminal calling herself Quake
(as in her name from the comics). Coulson and Mack are hunting her down, and
apparently there’s a new director of S.H.I.E.L.D. Plus, Daisy’s wearing a truly
terrible outfit, Radcliffe’s building some sort of Vision-like robot, and Mack
bought sandwiches. Not a great ending, but it was a decent enough peek into
Season 4.
One final thought before I close this
off: With Daisy gone rogue, Lincoln dead, and Joey having apparently quit, I
guess that means we’re never going to truly see the Secret Warriors in all
their glory. I’m not gonna lie, I’m kind of disappointed by this. They spent
all season building them up, and we got about 15 minutes at most of them
working together. It feels like a huge waste of potential.
Anyways, Shield ended off an excellent
season with a great ending, and I look forward to see what Coulson and the team
get up to next.
FINAL SCORE
8/10
Great
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