TV REVIEWS: FTN Reviews Agents Of Shield Season 04 Episode 18: No Regrets

There’s always a limit to how far fan service can go until it’s gratuitous. “No Regrets” definitely walked that line, and while it is fun, I can’t help but wonder where the heck this is all going.

Now, yes, I’ll admit, I didn’t expect Mace to die, and him dying like he did actually felt kind of poetic, because he really wanted to be a hero like Captain America, and that’s something the good Captain would’ve done, and I know that this means that this won’t be a “write-off” in terms of story, but even with the sacrifice, things still seem to be moving slowly.

Case and point, Gemma trying to convince Ward and Mace that this wasn’t real, only to fail. I had someone explain why Coulson can remember things and the others can’t (Tahiti), and I’ll believe that, but Gemma still trying to convince people of something that they would clearly not believe is kind of sad. The only good thing that came of this was that Ward got to learn about his true self, and true to “this” Ward, he apologized. I’m going to miss him so much.

Also, for the “cliffhanger” of Mac being brought into Shield…all he did was fix a bus. Now yes, that’s true to who Mac is, but what was the point? And the rest of the time he just spent with his “daughter” to show Gemma how “real” this thing really is?

And then there was the mission to find Mace’s “snitch” in Hydra (not Ward). Turns out, it was Tripp! And while it was fun to see him back (and maintaining a lot of his backstory), it definitely feels gratuitous. And again, what could getting him lead to? Info on Project Looking Glass? That better be one heck of a reveal.

Speaking of gratuitous, May became Ms. Hyde! lol. Now on one hand, seeing her and Mace go at it in a full-on superpower beatdown was awesome. But…Hyde serum? Really? Thankfully, the combination of being spared by Mace, seeing Hydra imprisoning kids, and Mace saving them all seemed to jar her from Hydra’s grasp. Enough to not only turn on Hydra, but give Daisy her powers. That was cool. And I REALLY hope we get a lot of advancement soon on the plot.

Finally….we met Fitz’s dad!!!! I’ll admit, that was REALLY cool, and I REALLY hope that we meet him in the real world after this because this fake world will lead to some real world drama for sure between the two.

So where does “No Regrets” leave us? Daisy knows the backdoor out, that’s good, May is on the right side again, that’s good, Mace is dead…truly dead, that’s bad, and Quake lives again. That’s good. But…the moments inbetween these endpoints doesn’t live up to these singular moments in my opinion.