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Kevin Palma, Author at GeeksHaveGame

MOON KNIGHT [Season One Review]: A Bizarre Ride II The Moon Light.

Kevin “Pastor” Palma
@eggrollko
It is truly astounding how quickly things can change. One year ago, the MCU was just starting to regain its bearings, having just gone almost a year and a half without a single release. Flash forward a year, and we’ve just reached the season finale of a series about one of the most obscure heroes in Marvel lore: Moon Knight

When it was announced that Moon Knight would get his own series, I was curious to see how the character would be portrayed and received, given that he was initially nothing more than a Batman rip-off with multiple identities he uses to gather information. This Knight was later revised to be a man with Dissociative Identity Disorder with those other identities as his alters. This show seemed to be leaning hard into that in the marketing, which led me to question whether Marvel could pull off a gripping superhero story involving a man with a mental disorder without being disrespectful in their portrayal of said disorder. Ultimately, they mostly did so with some mixed results.

The superhero story actually took a backseat in the first couple of episodes as the story leaned hard into the struggles of Steven Grant (Oscar Isaac), a British man who works in the gift shop of a London museum. Right away he deals with the effects of what he believes is a sleepwalking disorder, only for it to become apparent early on that he’s actually dissociating and waking up in strange places and losing time. This all leads to the moment when Steven first interacts with his alter, Marc Spector (also Oscar Isaac), an American mercenary who took on the powers of the Egyptian Moon god, Khonshu. Spector becomes the superhero Moon Knight and punishes those who would do evil under the night sky.

This is where the superhero story truly begins, as a former avatar of Khonshu, Arthur Harrow (not Oscar Issac, surprisingly, but Ethan Hawke), has now become devoted to another Egyptian god, Ammit. Harrow has begun using some sort of power granted to him to kill people who commit evil at any point in their lives, regardless of whether or not they’ve actually committed the acts yet, and is now on a mission to release Ammit from captivity. Got it? Lucky you. This part of the story, while somewhat interesting, actually feels rather rushed; while the title of the show is Moon Knight, this is truly a story about Marc Spector and Steven Grant, two identities within one body, coming to terms with their existence and dealing with the trauma that brought it about and attempting to heal and move forward from there.

Most of this happens in the fifth episode, an absolutely heartbreaking showing that delves into Marc and Steven’s past and is one of the most difficult episodes of a show that I’ve ever had to watch. Episode 5 requires its own piece to thoroughly break down the layers of character development, the characterization of flawed, broken people, and the truly tragic effects that can come from not dealing with trauma. As difficult as it was to watch, the Ep. 5 was masterfully done and up there with the best episodes of all the Disney+ Marvel series. It absolutely makes the show worth watching alone.

The place where the series fail in its portrayal of the mental disorder? When showrunner Mohamed Diab and lead writer Danielle Iman sing the Hollywood stereotype of the violent alter, something that leads to a misunderstanding and fear of people with DID. Even within the confines of this superhero story, it really did seem like Marvel had managed to avoid that trap despite constantly hinting at it. All that said, the story told here was fantastic. Moon Knight even included some stunning visuals that you’d come to expect from superhero movies and not shows. The visuals of MK’s cape in a crescent shape directly in front of the moon as he flies into the night sky, the giant forms of Khonshu and Ammit fighting behind Moon Knight and Harrow, Spector’s wife, Layla, becoming an Egyptian hero with an outfit reminiscent of Sam Wilson’s, and Khonshu turning back the night sky 2000 years were all amazing to behold.

Ultimately, this series wasn’t perfect or even well-balanced, but all of its disparate parts were enjoyable in their own way, allowing this series to feel bizarre but enjoyable rather than disjointed, which is how it may have felt in the form of a movie. 4/5 Moon Shines.

-Kevin Palma

MARVEL’S LOKI [Season Finale]: Time Keeps On Slipping…

Kevin “Pastor” Palma
@eggrollko

When Marvel announced that there would be a Loki series on Disney+ back in 2018, I was wary of what that might mean. Loki had just had an emotional death a few months prior. And while reincarnation is canonical for the Asgardians within the comics, I felt like that would be something mass audiences wouldn’t latch onto. Then, Endgame arrived and, along with the eventual first trailer, seemed to indicate that this show would instead be an introduction to and exploration of the Marvel Multiverse; but that raised a couple of much larger questions…

If that was to be the purpose of the show, could they tell a story that completely changes how we understand the cinematic universe without diminishing the meaningful, character driven story that’s been the core of the best Marvel movies? And would they take the risk of making a show that requires a Disney+ subscription pivotal to understanding the movies going forward, particularly when Disney Plus hasn’t even released in every major market yet? When all was said and done, Loki gave a resounding answer to one while leaving the other a complete mystery.

Every episode not only changed the status quo, but decontextualized what the show actually was. Endgame left us with questions — about where Loki went after grabbing the Tesseract and what would happen in the timeline where he escaped — only for the show to immediately have him captured, his timeline reset, and recruit him in the hunt for a different variant Loki. While these episodes were fun and the relationship between Loki and Agent Mobius, played by Owen Wilson, was thoroughly entertaining, it quickly became a show centered on a philosophical debate between predeterminism and free will once we discovered the lengths the TVA were willing to go to in order to protect “The Sacred Timeline”. This is where the show truly came to life.

After learning the backstory of Sylvie, the female Loki variant that the TVA’s been hunting, the show shifted to these two lost people rebelling against a tyrannical organization, stripping people of their free will to ensure the desired timeline remains in tact. Together, they overcome their flaws and insecurities to tear the TVA apart piece by piece until.. they finally arrive to meet the one behind it all: He Who Remains. This is where the show becomes an absolute masterpiece as they completely turn everything on its head once again. Up to this point we’ve seen people being stripped of their free will and once learning of that, fighting to regain it. Then we meet He Who Remains, a variant of Kang the Conqueror, who reveals to Sylvie and Loki that their entire quest for free will was also predetermined, but they now have the opportunity to regain their free will…for a price.

While the first five episodes presented free will as something desirable that everyone yearns for, Kang (not the Conqueror but also not named as Immortus) reveals that by giving everyone free will they will open the door for infinite Kang the Conquerors and the unimaginable devastation that they’ll bring with them and instead offers them the opportunity to take his place and continue his life’s work.

The question then becomes: Is free will worth it if it costs countless lives in countless realities in countless universes in countless timelines? This is where the lived experiences and the true natures of Loki and Sylvie put them into conflict. Loki, the adopted son of a conqueror — and a would-be conqueror in his own right — backed by a much more terrifying tyrant, understands the truth in Kang’s words about deposing a dictator. He’s essentially being confronted by the same reality he posed to the people of Earth back in Germany when he said, “It’s the unspoken truth of humanity that you crave subjugation. The bright lure of freedom diminishes your life’s joy in a mad scramble for power. You were made to be ruled.”

No matter how much he’s changed and how selfless he’s becoming, Loki can’t escape the belief that someone must rule and that true freedom is a burden and not a gift, only now he’s willing to accept being ruled rather than being burdened by the glorious purpose of ruling. Sylvie, the child who was torn away from her world before it was destroyed and spent her entire life surrounded by death and destruction, unable to trust anybody, and determined to get revenge and take back control of her life, is unable to trust a word that comes out of the mouth of the man who brought all of this upon her and, even if she did, would never continue the subjugation of the timeline. They’re left on opposite sides of a lose-lose scenario, while Kang gleefully awaits the outcome.

If a lot of this sounds familiar, it’s because this scenario isn’t completely original. We’ve witnessed elements of this in The Matrix Reloaded, Snowpiercer, Willy Wonka, and even Star Wars. However, this episode truly stands apart because of the combination of masterful storytelling and acting.

Jonathan Majors, who plays Kang, really does ham this performance up in a way that could come off as way too silly if not for the fact that there’s an underlying menace to his performance and the callous way he presents the existential horrors facing Loki and Sylvie. This is clearly a Kang who may have gone a little crazy from the eons of isolation, but there’s a clear menace underneath it all that makes it all the more chilling when he delivers the line, “If you think I’m evil, just wait until you meet my variants.” He’s equally entertaining and threatening in a way that’s almost as unsettling as the information he’s delivering and the options he’s presenting.

However, in order for the episode to truly work, Tom Hiddleston and Sophia Di Martino had to shine as bright, given that the final episode was almost entirely a philosophical conversation (a bold move), and they absolutely did. Once their conflict came to a head and they began to fight, there was emotion behind every swing of the blade on both sides: Sylvie showing her desperation to finally make someone pay for everything she’s gone through and toppling the tyrannical organization that’s put her through this while being genuinely being confused as to why Loki isn’t showing the same resolve; and, Loki being absolutely terrified of the consequences that could arise from killing Kang and trying to prevent Sylvie from making a cataclysmic mistake while also wanting to show her that he cares.

There’s a tragic note every time Hiddleston speaks Sylvie’s name and resolute defiance in every word Di Martino utters when Loki tries to stop her. When they finally kiss, moments before the end, it’s both satisfying and tragic because there’s genuine emotion behind it; their paths have diverged so far in the past few moments that there’s no hope for something beyond that kiss for them at the moment. Sylvie then sends Loki back to the TVA and kills Kang as he laughs and tells her, “See you soon,” leaving her looking confused and lost. Then we get the massive reveal to end the season of Loki not being recognized by anybody in the TVA, including Mobius, and turning around to see, in a Planet of the Apes style twist, a statue of Kang above the the agency, signifying that Kang isn’t coming, he’s arrived.

While those three were absolutely terrific, they weren’t the only ones. Owen Wilson was probably the best part of the first two episodes and there were outstanding moments from Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Ravonna Renslayer (the head judge of the TVA), Wunmi Mosaku as Hunter B-15 (a hunter who’s converted to Loki’s side), Sasha Lane as Hunter C-20 (a hunter who was enchanted by Sylvie), and Richard E. Grant as Classic Loki. There’s just so much to love about this series (there’s also a variant Loki who’s an alligator!), I didn’t even get to my favorite single moment of it: when Classic Loki shows his immense sorcery to conjure an illusion that allows Loki and Sylvie to reach He Who Remains.

That same episode also included possibly the greatest easter eggs in the MCU to date: the Thanos-copter and Throgg the Frog of Thunder in a glass jar. For all of those reasons, without a doubt, this is my favorite of the Disney+ Marvel shows so far. However, regarding the two questions I posed earlier, this show definitely redefines the universe as a whole while never relegating its titular character to the background, but it doesn’t really answer the question of whether this show will be required viewing to understand the movies. If Kang is simply presented as a time traveling conqueror, will there be any confusion as to how any of this happened from people who may not have watched this show or will there be enough to understand what’s happening without necessarily knowing the whole story? Only time will tell in that regard.

The only question that interests me at the moment is: Does the implosion of the predetermined status quo actually give the MCU’s greatest heroes a chance to prevent the damage that Kang can cause, or is he truly the inevitability that Thanos only claimed to be? 5/5 Loki Bibles.

-Kevin Palma

WANDAVISION [Series Premiere Review]: Reality Can Be Whatever…

Kevin “Pastor” Palma
@eggrollko

After going a full year without any MCU content for the first time since 2009, I, like virtually everybody else, was beyond excited to dive back in with WandaVision. As excited as I was, however, I didn’t realize how badly I needed this after how 2020 went until that Marvel intro came on. Then came the intro to WandaVision and within the first few minutes I was floored…

All of the build-up to this show focused on the 50’s and 60’s sitcom setup for the show, but I fully expected it to be some parody or homage, but what we got were basically actual 50’s sitcom episodes starring Wanda and Vision and it was an absolute blast– or “a gas” as Kathryn Hahn‘s character Agnes would put it.

Hahn truly does shine in these two episodes and is every bit as captivating as the two titular characters. However, the surprise of these two episodes is Paul Bettany, who is absolutely hilarious and charismatic in ways Vision has never been in the movies. All that said, the standout so far has to be Elizabeth Olsen. While she does a fantastic job as a sitcom wife, Olsen also adds small, nuanced glimpses of something unsettling within Wanda. At times it seems like confusion and fear, while at others she appears far more menacing.

In the middle of the classic comedic moments reminiscent of those older sitcoms, her change of expression and delivery of lines as simple as “Help him, Vision” and “No” are truly chilling and provide an eerie undercurrent throughout. That all said, after the first two episodes, we still don’t really know what’s going on– other than the fact that something bizarre is happening and there are people monitoring and attempting to help.

WandaVision feels like a really slow burn right now, but it’s hard to even criticize that because of how unique this feels. Even the Marvel Netflix shows felt like 13 episode-long movies, whereas this feels much more episodic. There’s definitely some overarching story that’s progressing, but each episode has also been a standalone story and I’ve enjoyed every minute of it so far. 4.75/5 Marvel Bibles.

-Kevin Palma

MARVEL’S 616 [Series Review]: Excelsior!

Kevin “Pastor” Palma
@eggrollko

Over the summer, SDCC had a panel on Marvel’s 616, a Disney Plus exclusive Marvel docuseries covering different aspects of Marvel, both as a professional and as a fan. I absolutely loved the panel and that gave me high expectations for the series, yet beginning with the first episode they managed to not just surpass those expectations but any hope I had for how good it could be. There’s something in it for all Marvel fans, new and old, casual and obssesive…

If, like me, you’ve been engrossed in Marvel Comics lore, have knowledge and appreciation for the work put in by writers and artists, and have a deep love of campy action/adventure live action TV shows then, also like me, you’ll likely be completely engrossed by the first 4 episodes.

The first is honestly the best episode of the entire series, though not by much. It goes in depth into the story of the background and creation of the Japanese Spider-Man live-action TV show that ran from 1978-79 and influenced so many later shows, especially during the mid-late 80’s and 90’s. This episode is absolutely wild, and I literally could not stop smiling throught the duration of this episode (5/5).

The second was all about the trailblazing women in the early days of Marvel Comics and some of the women they’ve passed the torch to. It was fascinating to understand the mentality that some of them had as creators coming up in a male-dominated industry. For instance, I’d always wondered why Ann Nocenti, one of my favorite writers whose Daredevil run in the early 90’s is one of my top 3 Daredevil runs and possibly top 15 Marvel runs by any creator all time, never had an extended run with a high profile female character and she touches on that in this episode.

Episode 2 shines a spotlight on some of the most amazing creators who went almost entirely unappreciated due to their gender and then shifts that spotlight to other modern creators who face a similar struggle in addition to one based on religion when it focuses on Sana Amanat and G. Willow Wilson‘s work in creating Kamala Khan, Marvel’s first Muslim character with a solo title (4.5/5).

The third ep focuses on the stories of two Spanish artists, Javier Garron (Miles Morales: Spider-Man) and Natacha Bustos (Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur), and their journeys to becoming professional comic book artists (4/5).

The fourth is just as insane as the first if you have similar tastes to mine. It begins with comedian Paul Scheer discussing some wild, obscure characters with some Marvel writers in an attempt to pitch a Disney Plus series based on a fresh set of characters before he finally settles on the team of Brute Force. The team is buck wild, the description of the issues is the same, and his attempts to make Brute Force happen are absolutely hilarious. The best part about this episode is what Scheer actually ends up showing the Disney executives. This episode was just an absolute blast from start to finish (5/5).

While none of the four final episodes were really about aspects of the Marvel fandom that I identify with, they were still well put together, informative, and above all enjoyable. The fifth spotlights several cosplayers in preparation for New York Comic Con (4/5); the sixth delves into the toy community within Marvel (3.75/5); the seventh follows Dan Slott, a creator who’s work I thoroughly enjoy, as he gives insight into what the traditional Marvel writing style was while also trying to meet his deadline (3/5); the eighth and final episode delves into the journey to put on two Marvel stage productions at a high school (3.75/5).

Overall, the 616 docuseries is highly enjoyable and absolutely worth checking out for any Marvel fan as well as many casual viewers who may not necessarily consider themselves True Believers.

Overall = 4/5 Marvel Bibles

Kevin Palma

TMNT – THE LAST RONIN / THE DEPARTMENT OF TRUTH / X OF SWORDS STASIS [Reviews]: Calm Before The Storm..

Kevin “Pastor” Palma
@eggrollko
TMNT: THE LAST RONIN #1 – IDW Press

Dark future stories where a once-hopeful, determined hero has become disillusioned, angry, and vengeful like the one in The Last Ronin are fairly commonplace in comics, the most famous example being The Dark Knight Returns, which is why it’s actually somewhat shocking that it’s taken this long to get one from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, a property heavily influenced early on by Frank Miller comics that’s been around since the late 80’s with elements that seem so perfect for this type of story.

That said, maybe it was for the best that it’s taken this long because, based on this first issue, the story’s certainly worth the wait.

This issue — written by Kevin Eastman and Tom Waltz, based on a story Eastman and Turtles’ co-creator Peter Laird outlined all the way back in the 80’s — is all about the last living turtle on a suicide mission, a last quest of vengeance after the death of his brothers and father. It’s exciting and intense and the combination of Esau and Isaac Escorza‘s art and Luis Antonio Delgado‘s colors does a fantastic job of depicting the sense of anger and tragedy following the lone turtle every step of the way.

However, all of this could have been for naught had the story in this issue not been good, and one simple way to ruin would have been to pick the wrong turtle for this story. While, the wrong turtle would be different for every reader, the turtle this one turns out to be is the perfect one for me because he’s the one most out of his element in a story like this, which could make the most interesting story. Possibly the best part of this issue for me, however, is that it doesn’t just feel like the first chapter of a larger story, something I’ve criticized a pretty large portion of the comics I’ve reviewed before because it’s so prevalent in modern comics. All in all, this issue has just about everything I love in comics. 5/5 Ronin Bibles.

– Kevin Palma




Rob Deep Maldonado
@deep2hb
DEPARTMENT OF TRUTH #1 – Image Comics

Image Comics released the premiere issue of Department of Truth at the very end of last month. I wasn’t too drawn to the cover, or the art inside the book. I did manage to read it digitally and was glad I did. Sacha Baron Cohen spoke recently on the Age of Reasoning ending via fearmongering, and the growing disdain for truth ruining democracy.

Writer James Tynion IV takes a stab at Reason’s Antagonist with this series. The series hits with such relevance as Youtube, Wikipedia, and Google run the trade of information. I am already a fan of Tynion IV for his consistency and great work on Bat Books. I pray this series doesn’t fade away like Black Monday Murders, or The Dead and Dying. I anticipated reading issue 2 of this series after issue 1 cleverly took on Flat Earthers.

Issue 2 sort of deals with the relevant Qanon conspiracy running wild about adrenal glands being used by Satanic cults in popular mainstream media. The book touches on how mass paranoia affects reality insomuch that the fear becomes an almost tangible thing. There’s even some fun for David Icke enthusiasts. I think the main character, Cole, is great and his vulnerability reflects the suggestive audience of current times.

I deducted a bible point because I wish this book’s art had attracted me to the story instead of putting me off. That being said, the art fits the story being told. Artist Martin Simmonds brings that 30 Days of Night style that made me not pick up 30 Days of Night. In the long run I accepted it because it fit, but you have to really be in the mood for such a stylish technique. It’s a blend between Alex Maleev, Bill Sienkiewicz and Dave McKean. It works for the nature of this book. I would have picked up the book if it were Aaron Campbell, Hellblazer‘s current artist, because it’s grittier, cleaner, realistic, and morphs into abstraction well. Though, that would make Department too scary. We’re already trying to make out the truth, and Simmonds really has us squinting the eyes. It’s a good read so far and I recommend it. 4/5 Bibles.

– Rob Maldonado




“Cardinal” Gary Brooks
X OF SWORDS: STASIS #1 – Marvel Comics

Ooohhh we’re halfway there, ooohhoooh livin on a……sorry got carried away! Stasis #1 is the eleventh book in the twenty-two part art crossover X-Men crossover “X of Swords”. Written by the powerhouse team of Jonathan Hickman and Tini Howard, and beautifully drawn by Pepe Larraz and Mahmud Asrar, it is out now and here’s what we know so far.

If you’ve been following along so far, in the first ten or so issues the Champions of Krakoa have been revealed and each has acquired their sword. Now they await the contest of champions that will decide the fate of mutantkind and the world. I’ve really enjoyed this story for the most part, though some of stories felt a bit rushed, but did each of our hero’s enough justice that I’ll give the writers a pass. After all there is a lot to cover…they are rewriting the history of mutantkind after all. I get it!

This brings us to our current issue that reveals the Champions of Arakko and their acquisition of the swords they will wield in the contest to come, or their recruitment into said contest. I personally would have liked to see a little more time spent fleshing out the backstories of these characters only because most of these folks we have only just been introduced to and we don’t know much about yet. Hopefully we will get more details in the next eleven books that follow.

So far I really dig the reimagining of Apocalypse’s origin and mutants as a whole, especially with far more of an elemtn of fantasy thrown in. Also, the little twist at the end was appreciated despite seeming kinda predictable. Now that we know all of the players, it’s game on. 4/5 Swords.

– Gary Brooks

MARVEL’S AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D. [Series Finale Review]: Last Mission.

“Part of the journey is the end.”

Kevin “Pastor” Palma
@eggrollko

That beautiful line uttered by Tony Stark after his death in Avengers: Endgame was the immediate thought I had just before the series finale of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.. I found it rather appropriate given how this show arose from the aftermath of Iron Man 3 and Phil Coulson’s (Clark Gregg) connection to Stark, beginning with his introduction in the very first Iron Man movie. It’s surreal to think back on it’s beginnings and see where that journey has taken this show. And although #itsallconnected never worked out the way many hoped it would, AoS absolutely found a way to carve itself a little corner of the Marvel Cinematic Universe; it’s both appropriate and amazing that the connection came back in a huge way in this finale…

While the Season 5 finale, which was originally meant to be a series finale, brought back more plot points than the actual.. finale, this one thematically brought everything back full circle. It gave everybody a great ending– even if it may not have been the one we all wanted or felt they deserved. This episode was a fantastic and emotional conclusion to a show that’s been my absolute favorite over the past 4 years, beginning with Season 4. That all said, it would be impossible for me to speak about this show any further without delving into spoilers, so here we go.

The episodes themselves were fantastic and had some truly amazing moments. The idea of duct-taping chronocoms to bombs to blow their way out of the enemy ship was one of those equally absurd and awesome things that have made me love comic books so much over the decades. I just had to begin with that. But, the most amazing part was how it almost directly mirrors Endgame, with Fitz (Ian De Caestecker) and Simmons (Elizabeth Henstridge) playing the role of Tony Stark together while Fitz also played the role of Dr. Strange.

The episodes were loaded with emotional and awesome moments, like May (Ming Na-Wen) attacking Sybil (Tamara Taylor), the leader of the Chronicoms, and referring to herself as the Cavalry for the first time in the series, Daisy (Chloe Bennet) finally getting the upper-hand on Nathaniel (Joe Courtney) and killing him, and John Garrett’s (James Paxton) temporary babyface turn only to get killed seconds later by Victoria Hand (Saffron Burrows), the woman he gave the order to kill in the original timeline. All in all, these were excellent episodes with the only real flaw for me being the silly way Daisy was rescued from space, although that’s still consistent with what we’ve seen in the MCU before, specifically Guardians of the Galaxy.

As good as the episodes were, however, people really fell in love with this show because of how great these characters are. It really would be impossible for me to overstate just how much these characters mean to me and seeing them all wind up with a happy ending of sorts made this finale feel perfect, even if the episode itself wasn’t. There was a character death fake-out that I thought felt goofy, but otherwise it was excellent, especially considering it was essentially a scaled down TV version of a combination of Star Trek: First Contact and Avengers: Endgame. It is actually pretty uncanny how much the 2-part finale specifically resembles Endgame in both plot and character. Both involve traveling back in time to stop a supervillain army only to bring them back to the present, where, against all odds, they’re able to defeat them all in one fell swoop; though, S.H.I.E.L.D. was able to do it by introducing the Chronicom army to the concept of empathy while the Avengers were forced to kill them all.

This idea of saving the world by passing the empathy to the Chronicoms is a beautiful culmination of the story Melinda May went through throughout the series and specifically this season, where she developed the same powers as the little girl from Bahrain: absorbing other people’s emotions through contact. However, while the little girl couldn’t control the power and began consuming people’s pain and was driven mad by it, May was able to learn to control it and to spread empathy. The absolute best part about it is that by the end, May has become much more like the warm, caring person she was before Bahrain and takes up the role of a teacher at the Coulson Academy for S.HI.E.L.D.

While I absolutely wished Mack (Henry Simmons) and Yoyo (Natalia Cordova-Buckley) had retired and settled down, I absolutely appreciate both remaining in the field and Yoyo becoming the most decorated S.H.I.E.L.D. agent while teaming up with Piper (Briana Venskus) and an LMD Davis (Maximilian Osinski). However, I legitimately laughed out loud at how awesome it was to see Mack going full Nick Fury on a Helicarrier.

It was also sweet that Daisy was able to find and hold on to one part of the blood family she was constantly in search for in Season 1, while not letting go of the family who stayed by her side on the journey there as she journeys through space (maybe as a part of S.W.O.R.D.?) with her sister and the new man out of time, Daniel Sousa (Enver Gjokaj), an amazing final season addition to the team. Then came Deke (Jeff Ward), the man who again made the sacrifice play for the team — staying behind in another alternate timeline to get them home — but, this time, being left behind in a world where he’s both a rock god and the best hope to rebuild and lead S.H.I.E.L.D. That actually presents the opportunity for the spin-off that I never knew I wanted, The D: Director by day, Rock God by night. That brings me to Fitz and Simmons.

I’ve never encountered another character who I just completely understand the way I do with Fitz, which may play a huge part in why I love this show so much. For that reason, I, along with almost everyone else in the small but passionate fanbase this show’s built over the years, absolutely needed a happy ending for these characters who’ve just been through so much, but Fitz and Simmons in particular. They’ve been the heart of this series since the beginning and, as such, the source of some of the greatest heartbreak this series ever delivered. This season began in a way not unfamiliar to those of us who’ve been watching all along, with the two of them separated and trying to return to each other while trying to save the world. However, this time it was different because this time they were able to do it on their own terms, choosing to live their lives before separating in order to save the world, and in doing so they gave themselves something else worth saving: a daughter.

Seeing those two have their happy ending was the best part of this spectacular finale and the sight of Fitz being the happiest he’s ever been on the show with his daughter, while Jemma looked on with doting eyes was absolutely heartwarming and emotional. It only seems appropriate to end with the character who started this all, Agent Phillip J. Coulson. Seeing him ride off on a new version of Lola, built for him by Mack and mirroring the way he flew off on Lola in the pilot episode, was the perfect final image for this series.

As great as those endings were, it was truly heartbreaking letting this show and its characters go, but I’m grateful for having had a chance to be on this ride as it happened. I’ll leave you with possibly my favorite line of the show, Jemma Simmons’ line at the end of the Season 5 finale that encapsulates how I feel leaving this show behind. “We don’t move on. We hold that place in our hearts. We close it off, lock the door, and visit from time to time, but we don’t move on.” 5/5 SHIELD Bibles.

-Kevin Palma