Welcome to the Legion!

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At the start of the back half of this season, we were given a vision of death. This week, the show comes full circle and shows us who really bites the space dust in the end. No lie, you really do get to see who perishes in the end, unlike a certain other show that is now dead to me. Heh-heh…get it?

This week’s season finale was made up of two, hour-long episodes. They are probably the best two episodes of the entire season. Directors Billy Gierhart and Kevin Tancharoen both kept up a consistent tempo as well as delivered some of the best action sequences we’ve seen. The high point, though, is definitely when Daisy puts up her dukes against Hive — plus, they’re getting even more creative with Daisy’s powers. The story flew by, almost not pausing to catch our breaths. That was all saved for those final, blissful moments as we said goodbye to Hive, plus one.

Yes, I’m purposely being coy about who dies at the end. You’re gonna have to read until the end!

In the first half of “Absolution,” Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. delivered the best combination of action and humor I’ve ever seen from this show. Almost all of the humor comes from Fitz, especially when he dons a motion capture suit to pose as a high-ranking military officer. Other funny moments include Yo-Yo complaining to Mack and how long he’s taking to set up an elaborate trap for Hive, and James unsuccessfully trying to convince Hive to save at least a portion of humanity unscathed so he can “get with” the remaining pretty ladies on the planet. Scummy, but chuckle-worthy nonetheless. Dr. Radcliffe even throws in a bit of comedy as well.

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There was a moment in the this particular episode where I thought we would delves too much into another pity party for Skye/Daisy, the scene was redeemed by immediately following up with Fitz realizing the importance of “absolution” — a word Hive kept referring to while Daisy was still under his control.

I want to rewind a bit. When Team S.H.I.E.L.D. infiltrates the island, they have two objectives: override the warhead’s launch sequence, and capture Hive. Both plans succeeded masterfully. With Hive, Mack and Yo-Yo set a trap for Hive using the memory machine once used on Coulson and Strucker Jr. When Hive stepped through it, all of Ward’s and Will’s memories jumped to the forefront of Hive’s mind and made him go temporarily insane. This gave the S.H.I.E.L.D. just enough time to capture him and seal him inside a stasis gel. There was a little bit of celebrating and downtime afterwards. That is until Fitz realized that “absolution” was just a word Hive used because the thought himself a god. Hive was actually referring to a city in Montana, where the new parts for the broken hangar door came from… It’s a trap!

The delivered cargo actually contained Hive’s cocktail gas, turning every S.H.I.E.L.D. agent caught within the cloud into one of his swayed minions. Hive gets free and, oh look at that, is alone with a Quinjet that is capable of launching reaching a high enough altitude to launch drop the bomb. Oh, did I forget to mention that Giyera detached the bomb and escaped with it when S.H.I.E.L.D. captured Hive? ‘Cuz he did.

So now we have Swayed tearing up HQ from the inside, and Hive getting ready to leave with a nuke. Luckily, Daisy jumps in to stall him. Only…the pain of her past actions toward her team are too much to bear, that she actually volunteers herself to be whisked away under Hive’s powers again. Unfortunately for her, Lash’s powers made her impervious to his influence. There is literally no turning back for her. So she takes her anger and frustration out on Hive, and tries to beat the ever-living crap out of him. Too bad he’s technically immortal and can’t be harmed.

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The fight itself is pretty satisfying to watch, even though Hive gains the upper hand in the end. Here you have two characters, one of which has had about two seasons’ worth of pent-up anger and rage against the other. You could almost feel her emotions behind every kick, punch, and stab.

Literally everyone has a hero in “Ascension,” not just Daisy. Jemma uses her brains and figures out that the Primitives/Swayed only see with heat vision. She cranks up the heat all over the base, essentially making everyone invisible to them. Fitz cleverly employs invisibility on a gun to finally end Mr. Giyera and his metal-controlling tricks. Yo-Yo takes a bullet for Mack (she wasn’t able to stop all of them and took one in the gut). Mack saves Yo-Yo in return by blow-torching her wound shut. He also finally gets his shotgun-axe, something I thought to be a really nice touch. Coulson gets to live out fantasy of being a hologram (and an effective distraction against Hive) and saying “Help me, Obi-wan Kenobi, you’re my only hope.” And May, of course, kicks ass as a fighter and a pilot.

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I want to take a moment and recognize Brett Dalton, whose character(s) has earned the “most improved” award out of everyone. Grant Ward started as bland toast; it seriously made us question Dalton’s acting abilities. Making Ward go to the dark side was honestly the best move the show could have made. In retrospect, Good Ward’s stiffness makes more sense as it could have just been a genius persona he cooked up for himself. When Ward finally got to show his true colors, Dalton’s acting rewarded us in spades, right until the very end. Rest in peace, buddy. We’ll miss your genuinely creepy presence and slap-worthy face.

The emotional arc of the season ends where the show began, with Daisy Johnson. She’s been put through the wringer (emotionally and physically) over and over again. Sure, other characters have met their fair share of hardships, but none like what Daisy has had to go through. The emotional toll Daisy has been experiencing finally runs its course and breaks something inside her. The final blow is when Lincoln sacrifices himself by jettisoning himself, Hive, and the bomb away from Earth and exploding into space. We viewers may not have cared for the idea of a Lincoln/Daisy relationship, but that doesn’t mean Daisy wasn’t all in. Watching him sacrifice himself for her (and Coulson’s) sins packs enough of an emotional gut punch that it made me genuinely care for Lincoln. It’s definitely not the kind of moment one can easily bounce back from. Also, I cried. Like, a lot.

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Immediately after, we’re thrown six months in the future. We learn that Daisy is making headlines left and right — she’s creating disasters and robbing banks. She even earns her comic book name, Quake. Her crimes, as we learn aren’t as malicious as the media makes her sound. Her actions were her way of keeping a promise to Charles Hinton, the future-telling Inhuman. Simultaneously, Coulson and Mack have teamed up to track her down and bring her in. None of these are hardly surprising compared to what else we learn. Someone else is now director of S.H.I.E.L.D. (probably May).

And it seems that Dr. Radcliffe (who seemed to have taken a liking to Fitz-Simmons, probably on a mentor level) has been busy as well. We see him him talking to his A.I., Aida. It seems that he’s just finished building a body for his computer assistant. Can’t wait to see where this is headed. I can easily see Aida becoming the MCU’s version of Data from Star Trek: The Next Generation, or EDI from Mass Effect 3. Yes….yes….!

FINAL THOUGHTS: 

  • Honestly, Lincoln dying the logical choice. Coulson and May are basically untouchable at this point. Fans would have rioted if either Fitz or Simmons (or both) bit the big one. The show has invested too much time to build Daisy up over the past three seasons, it wouldn’t make any sense to let her die now. There’s not enough emotional attachment to Joey or Yo-Yo yet; the moment would have just been a disappointment. And Mack dying would have caused the internet to cry “racism.” Lincoln had the “benefit” of spending enough time with each character that they all would have been negatively affected by his death.
  • Anyone else catch the LMD label in Dr. Radcliffe’s office? Seems we’ll be dealing with Life-Model Decoys real soon 🙂
  • “Like, betting on Wrestlemania stupid.”
  • I liked the reveal of Hive’s true face. It’s not as terrifying as I had hoped, but I thought they put a great amount of detail into him.
  • I’m definitely stealing Dr. Radcliffe’s “It’s a science hunch.”
  • I actually kind of dig Daisy’s new look, even though it’s borderline from becoming a bit much. And how about that tremor jump?
  • Thanks, everyone, for sticking with us every week for Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.!

 

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Christina E. Janke

Christina is the co-host of “Intro to Geek” on Shauncastic and Editor-in-Chief at Agents of Geek. Her love of all things Mass Effect knows no bounds. She also carries an obsession with comic books, video games, and quirky television shows. Her heroes are Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, and Gail Simone. She hopes to be just like them when she grows up.