Agents Of SHIELD was originally intended to end at Season 5, and thus had a fantastic final episode that season that could have worked as the end to the whole show. Did Season 7, the show's actual final season, live up to that lofty standard? Thankfully, yes. Not only is this one of SHIELD's better seasons, but it had a fantastic ending.
Season 7 follows after the cliffhanger from last season, where the Chromicons hijack the Lighthouse and plan to take over the world, so SHIELD travels back in time to figure out how to stop them. I really like the Chromicons as final antagonists. Their body-swapping capabilities is legitimately scary, and the fact that they can essentially see everything before it happens leaves the viewer wondering how the Agents could possibly stop them. This storylines also allows for a lot of fun time travel hijacks that send the characters to a bunch of different time periods and meet a bunch of characters from the past, like John Garrett, Jiaying, and Daniel Sousa. This also sounds fantastic and it mostly is, at least whenever the real main antagonist Nathaniel Malick isn't on screen. I didn't think you could get much worse than Kasius, but Nathaniel is just the worst villain of the whole show. He's basically a spoiled rich kid who wants Inhuman powers, and all of his moralizing of how he's "providing for the people who need it" just gets on my nerves so much. The Chromicons were great enough villains, we really didn't need this guy. And if they had to have a villain, they could've just stuck with young John Garrett, who was way more well-acted, way more interesting, and would've done a great job at bringing the series full circle. Seriously, anything but Nathaniel!
Thankfully, Season 7 manages to make up for a weak villain by just being really damn fun. I praised the previous season for being fairly experimental, but this season blows that one out of the water. It really feels like the cast and crew were just going all out for the final season. We had a noir parody, a time loop episode, a B-movie parody, and several beautiful recreations of certain time periods with colorful costumes and really solid set design for a TV show. The dialogue was also just a lot lighter and funnier than I was used to seeing from the show, though the season can still be dark when it needs to. As the end of the series, Season 7 also does a great job of honoring the show's past, from exploring the history of SHIELD to even revisiting Afterlife. Most of the characters have fairly solid final arcs, with my personal favorite being Coulson dealing with dodging death a second time and becoming an LMD, though I wasn't the biggest fan of May being an empath, Fitz being sidelined for the whole season, or Jiaying dying without getting a proper redemption (I always thought she was the most sympathetic antagonist).
The season had a lot of fun episodes, but these were my favorites:
Alien Commies From The Future: This episode was just plain funny. With the main plot being about an alien invasion, the decision to take the characters to the 50s and frame them as ridiculous conspiracy theorists was a stroke of genius, as was the decision to have Simmons pretend to be Agent Carter only to run into Sousa from her own show. The episode is filled with interrogation scenes but all of them manage to be really entertaining, especially as Coulson and Simmons try to find who the Chromicons are by asking innately human questions.
A Trout In The Milk: This episode was just so clever and unpredictable. I loved the idea of forcing the Agents to try and stop Project Insight like 40 years in the past. A Trout In The Milk was a very jam-packed episode, from finally getting to meet Rick Stoner (the person that Lighthouse hologram is based on), to the reveal of Simmons' implant, to the final confrontation with Wilifred Malick before he gets killed off and replaced with the much worse Nathaniel.
As I Have Always Been: Time loop episodes are amazing, it's a fundamental rule of television. If-Then-Else, Remedial Chaos Theory, and I Won't Rely On Anyone Anymore are three of my favorite episodes of all time, and they are time loop episodes. And I didn't even bring up Cause And Effect, White Tulip, and Time Bomb, which are great episodes in their own right. And while I haven't seen them, the time loop episodes for Stargate, Legends Of Tomorrow, and Supernatural are some of the best received in their respective shows. So with all that said, As I Have Always Been is the greatest episode of Agents Of SHIELD.
It takes the time loop premise and adds some wrinkles like the limited amount of loops before everyone dies and Daisy losing her memory if she dies in a loop. The pacing is quick and snappy, footage is never reused (which is impressive given how many loops there are), the episode boasts some of the funniest moments in the show (along with a hilarious Buffy reference), Daisy and Coulson get some great development even through the time loops, and Enoch's death is an emotionally effective and heartbreaking way to not only end off the episode but kick off the show's final stretch of episodes.
The End Is At Hand/What We're Fighting For: Even with a weaker finale, Agents Of SHIELD really did save their best finale for last. The opening scene alone boasts a massive twist that completely recontextualizes the entire season, and that's just the tip of the iceberg. The final battle is thrilling and satisfying, that final epilogue is heartwarming, and I feel like everyone got a good ending. Deke staying in the alternate timeline to become his own director of SHIELD, May becoming a teacher, Coulson traveling the world, it all fits perfectly.
Overall, Season 7 was a pretty great ending to the season. While a bad villain threatens to drag the whole thing down with him, the season still manages to be a strong ending to the show for its sense of fun and creativity, fantastic batch of episodes, and mostly satisfying character resolutions.
4/5 Stars
My ranking of the Agents Of SHIELD seasons is:
4 > 5 > 7 > 3 > 2 > 1 > 6
My ranking of the Agents Of SHIELD arcs is:
- Framework (4C) - Absolutely classic, every episode is amazing. Great villain, gripping storyline, perfect pacing.
- Changing The Future (5B) - Fantastic love letter to the series, amazing villains, and emotional stakes
- Hydra Uprising (1) - Hands down the most iconic arc, with a great twist that really ratchets up the tension
- ATCU/Maveth (3A) - Rosalind is such a great character, has one of the show's best episodes, feels like the big final battle with Hydra
- Hydra And The Obelisk (2A) - Hydra is always a reliably great villain, Simmons undercover is fun, and the Inhuman twist is so good
- LMD (4B) - Drags in the middle but the start and end are fantastic, Aida's a great villain, and the themes are interesting
- Ghost Rider (4A) - Slow start and villains are weak but Ghost Rider absolutely lives up to the hype
- Inhuman/Real SHIELD (2B) - Inhuman stuff is amazing, Real SHIELD stuff is not, but at least the ending was great
- Hive (3B) - I don't love Hive as a villain and the arc drags a bit, lacking the heights of some of the other season enders
- Kree Station (5A) - Very rough, it's depressing, claustrophobic, and frankly kinda generic
My ranking of the Agents Of SHIELD finales is:
7 > 5 > 2 > 4 > 1 > 3 > 6
And just for fun, my favorite plot twists from each season:
- Hydra is not only still around but has fully integrated with SHIELD, May was reporting to Fury and made the team herself, Garrett is the clairvoyant, Hand is killed, and Ward is a mole for Hydra (Turn, Turn, Turn)
- Inhumans exist, Skye and Raina are Inhumans, Triplett dies, and Skye turns out to be Daisy Johnson, aka Quake. (What They Become)
- Hydra has been around for millennia, and everything that has been going on through the season, from Will, to Maveth, to "It", to the ram symbol, are all connected to Hydra. (Many Heads, One Tale)
- In the Framework, Daisy's dating Ward, Coulson's a teacher, Hope is alive, Simmons is dead, Fitz is with someone else, Shield is replaced by Hydra, and May works for them. (Self Control)
- Either the reveal that Deke is Fitz and Simmons' grandson, or Fitz realizing that he was The Doctor and still finishing the procedure on Daisy. (The Real Deal/The Devil Complex)
- The fact that the agents lose the Lighthouse in the finale, or pretty much the entirety of Enoch's plan. (New Life)
- Enoch is the saboteur, and he's gotta die (As I Have Always Been)
Favorite Episode: As I Have Always Been
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