Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 3 Episode 10 review - Maveth

We're at the mid-season finale, let's take a look at it

Maveth

This season thus far has been one of the most ambitious this show has ever had. Cramming in the ATCU, the secret Warriors, Lash, Ward’s HYDRA, Mallick’s HYDRA and Simmons’ experience on the alien world. It’s a lot to ask for a wrap up and here is where I see this show struggling to stay understanding under the weight of all it has set up.

Now, I prefer shows with a bit of ambition in storytelling, I have consistently rated SHIELD higher than the Flash, and Arrow’s dropped out of the competition of late. But that doesn’t mean I can’t see when there are issues with an episode like this.

It’s a hard task to a mid-season finale, especially since we won’t be seeing anymore till March, which is why they’ve given us a bit of closure whilst hinting at ideas to come. The problem is this episode really needed to be a 2-parter.

Seriously, the stuff with Coulson on the planet with Fitz and Ward could’ve made for an episode on its own. And it would’ve been more interesting for Mack, Hunter, Bobby, May and the secret warriors to have had more time and run into more difficulty taking control of the house and yes they did it way too easily and we barely had the time so that their powers could be shown off a bit.

Then we have Lash again, why HYDRA thought bringing him along was a good idea is beyond me frankly since he kills inhumans and has a grudge against HYDRA. His whole arc in this story felt kind of poor to me. There was no weight on Simmons having to release him, despite the fact he killed every other inhuman in the place... Simmons was more focused on their quest to find Will being folly.

Having an extra part to just slow things down a bit would’ve done a world of good for this episode... But I also have to point out my reputation for absolutely sucking at making predictions is still intact. I said last week that Malick was a dead man, turns out it was Ward who was destined to die and since the speech I made last week about Ward either needing to face up to responsibility or die, I suppose death was his only real option.

I’m glad to see this show’s sense of humour has remained in-tact, it feels right as part of the Marvel Universe in that respect.

Before I give my score, I need to address a complaint I’ve heard a few times. It’s out of character for Coulson to kill Ward. This is a downright stupid argument! Sure the motivations for him doing so at this specific period are dubious at best. (I never really bought into Coulson/Rosiland relationship since they trusted each other for all of 5 seconds on screen) but Ward has killed a lot of people close to Coulson, not just Rosiland, and has made many others (ie Fitz, Bobby) suffer, Coulson has killed HYDRA agents in droves before, including setting a scheme to kill dozens of HYDRA leaders in motion.

I thought this did deliver what a finale should, but it’s too rushed for me, and really should’ve been a 2-parter to fulfil its potential

Rating 7.5/10 

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