TV REVIEWS: FTN Reviews The Agents Of Shield Season 03 Season Finale!

Well…that was eventful.

Agents Of Shield has never been shy about shaking things up with their finales. And “Absolution/Ascension” was no different. As the entire seasons storyline was wrapped up in an amazing and powerful way. While building to the future.

If anything, the season finale really played out like an action-packed spy horror movie…and I mean a good one. As there were plenty of tense, scary, and rather horrifying moments throughout. All the while throwing in action that was true to form, and surprising throughout. The opening assault on the missile base was really cool. Then for them to catch Hive?  Mid episode? Epic!

Yeah, you knew it wasn’t going to last, but hey, it worked. And the best part was that the twist in how it all went wrong was telegraphed until literal seconds before it happened.

Before I get into anymore twists, I want to talk about some great performances here. Daisy and Hive had some of the best stuff here. As the former was in full on withdrawal/remorse mode after what happened to her in the previous episodes. Seeing her so angry with herself, and desperate to suffer was very powerful. And I feel very true to the character. I also liked how she broke down when Mac tried to hug her, and how she couldn’t comprehend his forgiveness of her.

Then there’s Hive, who literally had his brain rattled and had to cycle through memories of many of his “past lives”. We even got to see some pure Ward! How fun was that? Then, as he had to deal with Daisy, Lincoln, and then Coulson, his layers continued to show. That ending scene was particularly beautiful. And we finally got to see Hive’s true form! A true testament to how he was in the comics.

Now, as we’ve known for a while now. Someone was going to die. And whoever had the cross was going to die. Mac started off with it, then Fitz got it, and the hot potato continued. With every unintentional handing off, you knew it was eventually going to stop moving. And yes, it was a little telegraphed that it was going to be Lincoln, but again, it worked. I’m not happy they pulled a Captain America again, as Steve and Peggy really deserved that, but in context it was cool. Lincoln and Hive’s “bonding” at the end was actually rather beautiful. As Hive didn’t fight his fate, but rather remorse that he didn’t get to “make the world better” like he believed he was destined too.

Before I get to the true ending, i do want to note a flaw I’ve seen here. Lincoln’s said multiple times that every Inhuman has a purpose, or role. Which is fine in context of Inhuman society. However, when they started saying that each one has a specific, singular, purpose, that’s where it got kind of funky. Why was Lash, a guy who literally was killing Inhumans because they were Inhumans, suddenly having the purpose of saving Daisy? As if that was all he was meant to do? Then when Lincoln said he was the only one to make sure Hive didn’t manually control the ship, that didn’t work either. As Daisy could’ve shaken the controls apart, or May or Fitz could shot enough to make it inoperable. It just felt forced.

Which of course brings me to the “six months later” thing. Time jumps are needed for shows like these, that’s true. But to do it five minutes before the end? And have some questionable jumps and teases? It took away from all that happened. For Daisy to now be a rogue of some kind, Fitz and Simmons apparently not with Shield, and our new doctor friend suddenly making Life Model Decoy’s (which was awesome on a fanboy level)? Felt weird.

Regardless of its fault, Season 03 of Shield ended on a very strong note. I’m not sure where it’ll go from here. Or if we’ll see the buildup to what happened in those six months. But Agents of Shield will certainly be hyped up going into season 04.