TV REVIEWS: FTN Reviews Agents of Shield Season 02 Episode 20: Scars

You knew with this being the final episode before the two-hour season finale that things were going to go wrong. But even I’ll admit I didn’t expect it to go THIS wrong.

“Scars” did a lot of building up for the now official war between Shield and the Inhumans (who are officially named that! YAY!!!). But it did it in a way that made you unsure of who would pull the trigger on it.

At first, you probably thought it would be Gonzales, and I’ll be fair, I thought that too. I thought he would go incredibly hardball on Jiaying, forcing her to refuse SHIELD’s offer for a “peaceful resolution”, and thus putting them at war. It was all there, his (and other Shield agents) hypocrisy about how the Inhumans were “dangerous” and should be indexed was a clear indication of how this was all going to play out…until he pulled a 180 and decided to be nice.

Then, you had Raina, who true to form started to manipulate people to her will with her “visions”. Now, to be fair, we honestly don’t know how much was truth and how much was a lie. We didn’t see her visions, so it wasn’t clear one way or another. Yet you couldn’t help but think that she would manipulate things so that she would be the one to start the war…until Gordon told Jiaying about her “coup” and got put aside.

On a side note, I would like to know what Gordon noticed to make him not trust Raina. Of all the Inhumans, he was the one most kind to her, and saw the true benefit of her powers. Was he just that loyal to Jiaying? Or did he sense not everything she said was true? I wish we had more explanation on that.

Oh, and then there’s Cal, who you thought might try and force the situation…but instead, he showed his good side once again and was wiling to sacrifice it all to save his wife and daughter.

No, it was Jiaying who made this all happen. Which made it not only incredibly jaw-dropping, but interesting as well, as she set it up to make it look like self-defense. Which will no doubt bring the Inhumans to her side, including Skye quite possibly. With the war now on, this proves that once again, things will not be the same.

Sadly, the other parts of this episode weren’t as strong. I’m going to ignore the opening for a second cause it’s a huge Age of Ultron spoiler, and I want to save it for last.

First off, I still don’t like how May is acting. It doesn’t make sense on some levels, and her relationship with Phil has always been more than what she stated. Yes, May is meant to be cold…but like this.

Then there’s Mack, who apparently has quit Shield because Coulson was injected with Kree blood…yeah, that was his reason. I don’t like it personally, mainly because Mack is one of my favorite characters. But oh well.

Oh, and Bobbi? Well, her “Hunter still won’t talk to me” line was a bit cliche, but the ending with Cara and Ward? Epic! Just when you think Ward is gone…he shoots his way back in! Yay Ward!

Ok, Theta Protocol…last chance to leave if you haven’t seen Age of Ultron (or this episode) yet. So, as we found out here, Coulson is the reason Theta Protocol happened. And by “happened”, I mean having a helicarrier at the ready to save the day if needed. Which it was in Age of Ultron’s climax. Many, MANY, reviews noted that having that helicarrier was a huge Deus Ex Machina kind of thing, cause it just “happened”. And while I can appreciate it a little more now…it still doesn’t add up in some way.  Cause even if it got past Hydra…how did the entire US government not realize a whole helicarrier was missing? Exactly.

All that aside, “Scars” did a great job putting a twist on the war between Shield and the Inhumans. Next week’s season finale is going to be fun!