As Agents of SHIELD season 3 comes to a close, there are many questions, both about the story and also the show itself. Word out of the ABC upfronts is that Agents of SHIELD will be moving to a 10 PM timeslot in the fall, Most Wanted, the spin-off that has been attempted twice was not picked up, and Agent Carter was canceled.
I am glad that we are getting a fourth season of SHIELD but it certainly makes me nervous.
A Recap of the Agents of SHIELD Season 3 Finale
But what happened in the 2 hour long Agents of SHIELD season 3 finale?
In the first hour, the writers played with the timeline, as we see Yo-Yo, Mack, and Lincoln on a vehicle with Lincoln giving Mack their kill switches.
Hive wants to weaponize the material that turns humans into Inhumans, using a nuclear warhead to scatter it over a third of the Earth. It turns out that he and the Primitives (they finally named the grotesque Watchdog creations) have attacked a nuclear location in the Pacific.
It was an excellent scene as you saw the team all doing what they do best: May, Mack and Lincoln are busting up people at the site, Fitz is hacking and using tech to pretend to be a general to get the information he needs, and Coulson is being the director and picking up the information in person. (It really was an excellent 5 minute sequence and showing the team working at its peak.)
They manage to stop the launch and remove the warhead. But Hive/Ward is out of sorts, having been hit by some kind of weapon that the team had made. He is clearly reliving some of his memories from the various people he has absorbed, including Ward.
Most notable, we see some of Ward’s horrible childhood and Ward dropping Fitz and Simmons to the bottom of the ocean. When he comes back to sorts, he promises to show his rage to Coulson and crew. But, they manage to capture him and take him and the warhead back to SHIELD HQ.
Back at the base, Coulson and Mack talk about how Lincoln has proven himself and offer him a spot as an agent. But he pledges that he is going to be leaving after the Hive threat is eliminated, as he doesn’t want to be an agent.
Mack goes and visits Daisy aka Tremors and they have a touching moment, which basically is the “It’s not your fault” scene from Good Will Hunting. It was a bit cliché but was effective.
Fitz and Simmons have a moment, as she has been planning a getaway for two, which made me terrified for Fitz.
Daisy reveals that there was a part of her that liked what Hive did to her. That he had a way to make her enjoy hurting those she loved. She seems genuinely scared of what is happening to her.
In the meantime, while he is working to fix the hanger, Fitz winds up stuck, as some of the virus is released and he is suddenly trying to fight a bunch of the Primitives. They manage to get him free but now the hanger and base are overrun. So the Primitives then release Hive.
Recognizing that Hive knows how to fly the ship from the knowledge that Daisy gave him, she hacks her cell and sends it to the airship. And in a stunning moment, she begs Hive to take her back. When he tries, she is stunned. Somehow Lash/Andrew has made her impervious to him. At this point, she begins blasting Hive repeatedly and even as his body is broken, it just puts itself back into place. Even when Daisy manages to stab him, it does nothing. Eventually she is knocked unconscious.
In the meantime, everyone else is fighting the Primitives, which leads to Yo-Yo being wounded and bleeding out faster because of her metabolism, Mack sealing her wound with a blowtorch. Simmons figures out that the Primitives aren’t using their eyes, just infrared, so she heats the base up so they can move around undetected.
Hive then loads up the warhead. Coulson gets on-board and they have a debate, in classic hero and villain format. Only, it turns out Coulson is a hologram. And the timeline catches up as Lincoln, Yo-Yo and Mack have made it on-board. In the midst of it, the Australian manages to put on bomb on Lincoln and it blows up, wounding him badly.
They determine that they need to send the bomb out into space, along with Hive. Daisy is ready to do it, as a way to pay for her sins but Lincoln talks her down, ultimately sneaking past everyone to get onboard with Hive after Daisy has set the course for deep space. And he is the perfect one for it, as he zaps the system and makes sure it is a one way trip.
As they all watch, Hive and Lincoln blow up in deep space and the virus is rendered inert. Agent Lincoln has saved the day.
We then get a 6 months later montage. Daisy has gone emo and underground; she has a conversation with the widow and daughter of the man who touched her and helped her have the vision of Lincoln’s death way back. Coulson and Mack are trying to capture her, but she manages to get away and Coulson says “We need to tell the director!”
The closing scene is of Dr. Radcliffe, the weird Scottish eugenics guy, who has served as comic relief for most of the show. He is shown unveiling some kind of android on its “birthday” as the episode closes.
A Review of the Agents of SHIELD Season 3 Finale
It is a solid 8 of 10. Honestly, it is hard to make 2 hour episodes homers. Some thoughts:
Lincoln has intrigued me from the get-go because of his recovery backstory. As someone in recovery, it is interesting to see how he talks about it and this episode was interesting as they basically set up Hive as a “drug, ” and Daisy was an addict who needed to recover.
I would think someone in recovery is helping write the show based on how Lincoln talked about it and some of what he said.
Hive’s redemption? It wasn’t a major point but throughout, they did some things to make him seem more sympathetic. At the close, as he and Lincoln are floating in space waiting for the detonation, he says “I was just trying to make the world a better place” and it was weirdly touching.
The 6 month jump! So many questions: Who is the Director? Is that part of Captain America: Civil War’s Accords? And who would Coulson submit to? Why are they hunting Daisy and why would she leave being an agent?
The android at the end: is that going to be next season’s Big Bad? Could it be Jocasta, who in the comics is related to Ultron?
Other questions: with the Most Wanted show not making it, is there a chance that we could see Hunter and Bobbi back? I’d hate for them to be gone forever. Are they porting part of the Most Wanted storyline to pick up in the main Shield story?
Lastly, Chloe Bennett, who plays Daisy, evidently was very honest about the role of the show and the Marvel Cinematic Universe at a convention last weekend. Basically, she asked for what fans have wanted: more interaction. Since the Nick Fury save in season 1’s end, there has been very little connection and there should be more. It obvious is very hard to do to make storylines, etc. sync up but it is worth attempting.
Tabletop Takeaways: Tips for Dungeon Masters with a Narrative Spin