Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. - Season 5, Episodes 20-22 Review
I initially planned to review each of these episodes separately, but given that they're so tied-in to one another, I figured that it'd be better to evaluate them as a whole, chronicling General Talbot's transformation into Graviton. It's always great to see Adrian Pasdar in just about anything, but particularly in Agents of SHIELD. Talbot has always been a larger-than-life character, so seeing that character broken down earlier this season and trying to build himself back up again is actually a very tragic story, and his villainous turn stems from a desire to be a hero, to be the man to save the world and prove his strength. It's a really interesting angle to take, and seeing the SHIELD team going up against someone ridiculously overpowered who just wants to do good really highlights what the show can do with its format. It's about real people becoming heroes, and meeting heroes, and how a world of super-powers makes these characters feel.
Sadly though, we also have Qovas, who's just terrible. Heck, I'd even argue that Daddy Kasius was a more interesting villain than Qovas in his small role. Qovas just looks like some guy in a cloak, while his minions look like a generic Mortal Kombat character who just keeps re-appearing. Say what you will about the Kree, but Qovas and his men are terribly-realised aliens. Saying that, their spaceship set was pretty good - especially when compared to the sets in Marvel's Inhumans last year; they would've been better off with that set for the miniseries. Anyway, Qovas and the Confederacy definitely felt like a weak link in the season as a whole, and I wish the writers have just made the Kree the big bad.
I also really liked the way the team dynamic shifted over the course of the events unfolding. Daisy realised that she wasn't a born leader despite being pushed into the role, and placing Mack as the new team leader and spiritual successor to Coulson really works for his character, especially given that he's been a key moral voice throughout this season and even beforehand. I also felt a lot of sympathy for Yo-yo, who did everything she could for the betterment of the world - as well as actually listening to Coulson's wishes. Getting to see her and Mack reconcile with one another at the end was a really sweet end to their complicated story-line this season.
Moreover, I found the Fitz death "fake-out" slightly baffling in the grand scheme of things. His death scene was really well-played, but then we've suddenly got to wrap our heads around the fact that past Fitz is still out there in space waiting to rescue the team in the future that will no longer happen. I'm really not sure how the show plans to reintroduce Fitz in the next season, but it should be interesting nonetheless - even if the show has cheated us out of a main character death. I mean, they didn't even kill off Robin's mum.
I was, however, very impressed with the final showdown between Quake and Graviton. It was almost as though the producers just threw them a bone and let them put together this very well-staged final battle. The visual effects shots looked very impressive, and having so many extras running as Talbot buried into the Earth really gave the sequence a sense of scale. His fight with Daisy was perhaps a bit too short, but given that this is a fairly low-budget TV show, it was very impressive and well-staged. Daisy's ultimate defeat by sending him into space was neat - particularly because of how Talbot had mentioned in a previous episode how his powers were limited to requiring oxygen, hence his stealing of the spaceship. Getting to see Daisy act like a proper superhero was also really awesome to see, and I hope we get to see much more of that in Season 6 as I feel that Season 5 had been consciously avoiding it up to this point, despite paying lip service to Quake's heroism.
Until next year though, we're left on the image of Coulson and May staring off into the sea in Tahiti. After all, it's a magical place...
Right, conclusion time! Season 5 has been a slightly turbulent season of Agents of SHIELD. The story and writing was good, but it was clearly very limited with budget - much more so than previous seasons. The series works with its small scale quite well, but it does need more than a few sets to run around in for 22 episodes. The production team made the most with what they had to hand, but it definitely didn't live up to its own potential. That being said, it's still one of SHIELD's stronger seasons, and very enjoyable. Maybe next season can we have Ghost Rider come back? Oh, and they better have a good story-line for Coulson's inevitable return.
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