Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. season 5 episodes 21-22 review - The Force of Gravity/The End

The Force of Gravity

The overall quality of season 5 is lower than season 4, season 2, the first half of season 3, the last few episodes of season 1, it is better than the back half of season 3 and most of season 1, but only slightly. There are a few problems this season, the pacing feels like it’s slowed right down, and whilst there were a few good character moments and arcs, they don’t feel expanded on in the larger narrative. Did Fitz embracing his other self in a way really affect anything aside the plot of the story it was in? Mack made a hypocritical comment about it and Fitz feels bad about it, my god.

So, Cassius Sr was a major disappointment, wasn’t he? He showed up for a bit, talked to Daisy and we got another reference to her being the destroyer of worlds, which might be how she earned the nickname in the future, despite there still being a few logical gaps that prevent her being able to do it like she’s not currently that powerful on her own.

Who is powerful enough is Glenn Talbot, and again credit where its due to Adrian Pasdar. Another problem with the season is the clearly reduced budget, and I feel like the costume they have Graviton….

It’s no gimp robocop from Luke Cage but it does look kinda silly, even for this show. Talbot’s agenda is a little hazy, after paying Kreel a visit and absorbing him, he goes to his family and whilst he starts showing some signs of himself, it’s quickly broken, it doesn’t help of course that his wife/ex-wife was forced to reactivate his HYDRA programming a few weeks ago, and he’s bearing a grudge.

So, to the other part of this story, with Coulson, May and (*sigh*) Deke. I don’t dislike Deke but in terms of storytelling he’s not really done anything. He’s mostly been there for a bit of comic relief and only becomes relevant to the plot when they need something exposited or they need him to do something that he can do because he’s from the future. He doesn’t have much of a character arc outside of his one-sided lust for Daisy which falls short of creepy only because he doesn’t go far with it.

So, let’s talk about the romance I like, Coulson and May. They’ve been by each other’s side since before the show even started, even if they’ve spent time apart they’ve always deeply cared about one another and through thick and thin, May’s been by his side, aside from in the Framework but that doesn’t f*cking count and you all know it. It’s been going on as long as Fitz-Simmons but today they finally have a proper kiss, and it’s not May, the naturally badass protecting the dying Coulson, it’s Coulson, being the shield to May whilst Quake well… Quakes. I don’t know if I’m gonna procure this in time so imagine a clip from the end of Justice League: Wild Cards

“Well, it’s about time”

But we have an alien spaceship orbiting Earth and that’s kind of a problem, thankfully May has a plan that requires Deke to execute. They have missiles aimed at Earth, they reset the co-ordinates to zero and blow up the ship, using the teleporter to escape to Earth. But first, there’s a fight and it’s great to see May back at full strength because she is great in this fight.

Oh, and Mack doesn’t spend most of the episode being a hypocritical douchebag, that’s… something I guess.

Rating 7.5/10

The End

The show-runners handled this finale as if it was going to be the end, a worthy and fitting finale to the series as a whole. Turns out the show’s got a 13-episode season 6 to come out summer next year. But it’s practically a kiss of death for the show, so it’s hard to expect the show to go further than that.

Unfortunately, this is where my time reviewing the series comes to an end. This show has reached highs and lows since I started reviewing it, but I’ve decided to end reviewing ongoing series, you may find me doing a retrospective on s6 at some point, but for now, this is where it ends… And I’m sadly underwhelmed.

With Talbot searching for Gravitonium and destroying cities in some of the most laughable CG I’ve seen in the show, and with May having destroyed the Odium, jeopardising their last hope at defeating him, a battle looms ahead and not all will make it out alive, but most of them will.

So, about their tie-ins to Infinity War, it was also for NOTHING! The end of Infinity War did not impact them at all, and I suspect the moving of s6 to summer was a direct response to this move so they don’t have to deal with the fallout of Infinity War. The problem is if that’s the route you were going to take, why bother bringing it in at all. I mean, Thanos’ ship could still be a thing, but it could be a few months away rather than happening right now. I guess it’s about having the Avengers' attention elsewhere, but I’d say that isn’t that necessary given events in previous seasons haven’t garnered their attention.

The show does deliver some great emotional beats, especially for Yo-Yo but once again Mack is the focus of my irritation. I’ve made my displeasure with him clear throughout my reviews of season 5 and I think I feel a little sick about him being the new leader of the team. Why? Because he’s proven throughout this season that his morals only break when he’s being a hypocritical c*nt. He is not capable of making hard choices, and of course it’s great to try and find another way, but sometimes inaction dooms both parties.

Of course, the battle comes between Daisy and Talbot. Coulson wishing her good luck after revealing he didn’t take the centipede serum that was supposed to restore him. I’ll admit, Coulson’s gambit to save the world is somewhat of a clever one, he hides the serum inside Daisy’s glove to use against Talbot, but without the Odium, she just has to take it herself and increase her strength to defeat him. I guess it is just a combination of centipede serum and her mother’s DNA, which she already has so it just gives a dues-ex power boost, so she can just blast him into space. I was underwhelmed by the fight, gotta be honest, the effects are laughable.

Let’s talk about Robin then, since her rescue is one of the emotional cores of the episode. Not sure how this played out in the alternate timeline but in the one we get, everyone goes into rescue here, May gets her time to be a bad-ass, even Fitz gets a bit of action but unfortunately Fitz is killed because of the fight. This is actually quite touching as Mack gets to say goodbye and we see Simmons’ reaction as her face slowly turns from happy to sad and it’s… they find a loophole

You might remember Fitz went to the future the long way, by being cryogenically frozen, and now the future’s been radically altered he’s gonna turn up in a different future or something… That’s it, I’m done, I don’t care anymore. The character I like the least is leading the team, my 2 favourite characters are gone and my other favourite died a great death only to be retconned back into sorta living moments later. Also, Deke leaves at the beginning of the episode, he contributed almost nothing to this entire story.

The End wraps most of the show's major loose ends, but certain developments don't stack with me, along with some of the worst visual effects this show has ever come up with and the retconning of an emotional ending for Fitz bring this into the bad category

Rating 4/10