Welcome, fellow parishioners, to the Season 2 finale review of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. where I, your amazing and spectacular “Cardinal” Roberto de Bexar shall regale you with this modest (and hopefully wonderful) review of both the finale and the season.
And what a finale it was…
Last night, there were a lot of storylines wrapped up very nicely, but DAMN: In addition to several jaw-dropping scenes, there were even cooler easter eggs and straight-up shout-outs to the comic books and original source material. Seriously, how did Ward and the show know I would steal their line for the review title?!
The scene-stealer of this finale is also the same one who stole the season, Calvin Zabo, a.k.a. Mr. Hyde (Kyle MacLachlan). I don’t know about you, but I love a good villain who actually has a tragic backstory and MacLachlan brought a real sense of humanity to an otherwise very two dimensional character in the comics. He only had one goal and that was to unite his family again, but the true colors of Jiaying (Dichen Lachman) showed through and put everything that Mr. Hyde sacrificed for in jeopardy.
On the flip side, the S.H.I.E.L.D. team never disappoints. I loved, loved, loved the additions of Hunter, “Mack” and, of course, Bobbi “Mockingbird” Morse for Season 2. I thought those characters were perfectly cast, and even Adrianne Palicki redeemed herself for the Wonder Woman stinker.
Overall, “SOS” and the battle between S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Inhumans was a huge leap forward from last season. And, yet while Agents may not have had the “Deathlok-level” of momentum from the end of Season 1, the level of consistency the show now carries is heavily appreciated. It’s a shame that TV nerds these days are so ADD with their shows that they will quit on the show if it isn’t amazing from the very beginning.
Not every superhero-related series can be CW’s The Flash and throw every big name into the mix; if you were expecting the names Medusa, Black Bolt, Karnak, Gorgon, Triton, Crystal, Maximus — and, sadly, of course, Lockjaw — in this series before the movie, then you must be trippin’ hard.
Thankfully, the addition of more superpowers to the typically “on the ground”-level of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. this season was solid enough. Throw in some high-level politics from the upper ranks, and plenty of deaths (we’ll see exactly where one agent in particular winds up…or won’t we?), and there was plenty for Marvel fangirls and boys to enjoy. Also, kudos to AOS for ditching the weekly episodic approach that plagued the first half of their first season and opting for a bigger arch. If the trend continues, then there’s no doubt Season 3 is going to be fantastic. Thankfully ABC has renewed AOS for another go, so we’ll get to see some more questions answered:
- Coulson got an extreme hangnail removal with an axe, but will Coulson learn to play bass with a cybernetic hand? He likely never played… #bassinthefirstplace
- Regardless, is Coulson forming his own version of X-Factor, but without the “X”? Will Daisy/Skye/Quake be his “Cyclops”? #SecretWarriors
- How will long will Ward’s Hydra-lite last? #HailWardsHydra
- And Jemma! What the frack was that?! We finally get Fitz & Simmons getting close to one another, but noooo, God-forbid we get a happy ending with them. I’m going to go out on the limb and say that she gets some kind of superpowers that will have her and Skye getting some great fight scenes with powers. Why? #itsciencebeeyotch
