Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s series finale seventh season consisted of thirteen episodes. It started exactly where the last episode of the sixth season left our favorite crew. Similar to Avengers: Endgame, the final season had our favorite crew trying to stop the Chronicoms from conquering Earth in our present by preventing them from destroying S.H.I.E.L.D. in the past, but by even being in the past, have they helped the Chronicoms’ mission by changing their history?
As a swan song season, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. nailed it. It used time travel without being tripped up by it in a creative and challenging way. The writers had an opportunity to completely geek out and give their characters a chance to professionally cosplay within their universe. Our favorite characters got to explore and interact with notable events and characters from the past without losing focus on the present storyline or diluting cast regular’s’ story arcs. It gave the series a second chance to explore tertiary referenced Marvel storylines that were never fully explored, including another magnificent unofficial finale, sidequel season to Agent Carter. It took the best aspects of Star Trek narratives where Kirk and crew went to the past while making it completely feasible and sustainable for our regulars to stay there for as long as it took to get a denouement. As a technical marvel, the behind the scenes production crew got to play with an era’s aesthetic for at least two episodes before moving to another era. It was a way of having the future meet the past without feeling jarring or anachronistic on a television studios’ budget.
The first six episodes of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s final season had a clear rhythm. In two episodes, our favorite characters would go back to a specific time period and encounter a notable figure in S.H.I.E.L.D. history then have to let that person get a peek behind the curtain that they were from the future before moving to the next era. Then the seventh, tent pole episode is a counterintuitive, emotional breather episode which is simultaneously the light, musical episode given its shameless adoration and embracing of the eighties while also giving enough time to a character to mourn the existence shattering events that preceded the episode. It is a palette cleansing episode that acts as a reset button for the season to shake up the earlier established format and a realistic though light hearted way of continuing to show that the characters are real human beings who do not just unrealistically keep working on the mission, but have to address the devastating emotional consequences of their exploits. While I enjoyed it, it was probably one of my least favorite episodes of the season because the guest supporting characters ended up being integrated too seamlessly into the bureaucracy when they probably would not be even considered to be allowed into the threshold. The season was determined to resolve its characters’ emotional arcs without remaining too long in the shadowy corners of their psyche.
The momentum of characters finding their emotional equilibrium and satisfaction until they became their best, well-rounded selves drove the remaining six episodes which moved forward until Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. returned to our present. For me, the best episode was “As I Have Always Been,” which takes the usually comedic Groundhog Day narrative trope in a way that was still humorous, but also was the true farewell episode of the series as it tackled mortality in an emotionally resonant way. The episode devotes a considerable amount of time to a character’s death, which was a powerful way of tackling literal death, but also provided the series’ regulars a way to start saying goodbye to the show and each other without trivializing the sacrifice. As someone who recently spent some time alone in a hospital, there was comfort in the universal experience of being alone in pain and the gradual erasure of individual self while being aware that those who love us are desperately trying to be with us until the very end while unable to. It also visually and tonally felt in line with the final episode of the season as a glimpse into Daisy’s future, which was very satisfying indeed. Kudos to Elizabeth Henstridge for making her directorial debut with that episode-transitioning to a new career!
Instead of addressing a long-simmering, leadership conflict between Daisy versus Yo Yo and Mack, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s final season is devoted to each of them taking the time to take account of everything, making peace with it then moving forward. It was an utterly satisfying resolution. Was it a perfect season? Absolutely not though even its flaws were chock full of sci fi goodness. The final season emotionally cheated with the LMD solution. I adore and was quite attached to LMD Coulson and feared for his existence as much if not more than Coulson throughout the entire season. The series did directly tackle the issue of him not being Coulson, but the last episode harkened back to Season One Coulson and recreated a dynamic between two regular characters, one of whom had died and came back as a LMD, which brought me joy, especially since I fmistakenly thought that I would finally hear the story, but it cheapens the LMD Coulson’s emotional progression, which was similar and distinct from Coulson’s progression since his time in the Framework, and the challenge that none of the characters truly had to accept that even though he was as emotionally satisfying as Coulson, he was not Coulson, and it was a denial of the finality of Coulson’s death. LMD Coulson is a separate character who can be appreciated and treasured, but the other characters, except for May, were permitted to pretend that he was interchangeable. I felt bad for Coulson. By the eighties, LMD Coulson was getting a little looser like his real-life counterpart, who went darker and more survivalist barebones, but with a completely different demeanor. It felt like a step backward for LMD Coulson simply to revert to the emotionally less mature Coulson/American version Bond ripoff instead of the person that he was becoming, an individual likeable for sharing many of the same memories as Coulson, but unique for not having the same experiences. They are not the same, and it made me like everyone else a skosh less for pretending that he was. Coulson and Coulson LMD deserve their own separate relationships and identities.
I begged for Gideon Malick to stay around longer, but instead I got a passel of lame ass Malicks whom I never bought would become A list villains worthy to face off against Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. I will not spoil them, but by the last one, I was like, “Come on. Light work.” It also made me despise a new character that I was supposed to sympathize with because I never trust people with double standards for her man and everyone else. I cannot have my entire relationship with you be dependent on the quality of your romantic choices. I’m with Daisy. I’m out. Do not act as if Daisy was wrong for opting out of that soul saving challenge. They served their purpose of making our heroes more interesting, but I was unimpressed by them, and it took a lot of suspension of disbelief that Sibyl would briefly tolerate such impudence. She killed people who adored her.
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., similar to many sci fi movies and television shows, equates human beings as good, and any machines that embrace their humanity as sympathetic. We are supposed to cheer the mutants who want to protect humanity even when humanity would not do the same for them. I adore Enoch, but Sibyl’s militant, pro-machine stance to the point that she would not demean herself by talking to anyone on the opposing side who was not a machine, i.e. LMD Coulson, was refreshing, and it felt like the series missed an opportunity to fully develop a world in which we could see Enoch as Sibyl does, an unforgiveable turncoat of the machine world and sympathize with the Chronicoms’ view of humanity. Maybe humanity is not worth saving?
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s final season was an ambitious, satisfying end to a series that consistently became better with each subsequent season. I never wanted it to end, but the best things in life have to. Unlike other series that may have started stronger or ran a similar race, it did not disappoint in the end. Even its flaws ultimately worked. I am certain that I will rewatch and enjoy it one day.
