Here we are. The Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. season five finale. Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) is still dying, Talbot (Adrian Pasdar) is still on the loose, and the team haven’t broken the time loop. Is this “The End?” Let’s find out.
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We start where we left off. The team has just figured out that they only have a limited amount of Centipede serum that can only be used to either save Phil Coulson or stop Talbot from destroying the world. Deke (Jeff Ward) and Piper (Briana Venskus) stand outside of the room and hear the team arguing about what they should do. Even if they use the serum to stop Talbot, someone will have to get close to him. How will they do that? And who’s willing to sacrifice themselves?
Despite future YoYo’s (Natalia Cordova-Buckley) warning, Daisy (Chloe Bennet) decides they will use the serum to save Coulson. YoYo quickly takes the serum. She says no one is listening to her. They are talking about the end of the world verses saving one man. It’s the only way to break the time loop and save millions of people. Mack (Henry Simmons) tries to calm her down, saying they have to have hope. He says they should all get a vote. So Agent May (Ming-na Wen) casts her vote by throwing the vial of odium on the floor, destroying it. YoYo breaks down and May apologizes. She takes the serum from YoYo and gives it to Fitz (Iain De Caestecker) and Jemma (Elizabeth Henstridge) to complete the serum for Coulson. Fitz tells everyone to get ready for the end of the world.
Elsewhere, Talbot has Robin Hinton (Lexy Kolker) and her mother Polly (Lola Glaudini) hostage. He asks Robin to mark on a globe where the gravitonium is. Robin doesn’t cooperate and Talbot gets angry. He walks away for just a minutes. Polly tells Robin not to say anything, but Robin knows if she doesn’t help him, this will be the last time she sees her mother. The Remorths take Polly away, Robin has to cooperate.
YoYo sits in the hallway and Mack goes to check on her. She tells him that he’s going to die. He says everyone has to die. Then they have to answer to God for the things they did in life. YoYo says it’s not God that she’s afraid of.
CLARK GREGG, NATALIA CORDOVA-BUCKLEY
YoYo goes to check on Coulson. She tells him that she wasn’t arguing for Coulson to die. Her argument was to not bet everything on one man. Coulson says he would have taken her side. YoYo knows that.
Daisy checks in with Deke. He is getting the lighthouse ready for the end of the world. He shows her the bunker that was his room. There is a lot of books, twinkies, and other supplies in there. He’s been preparing for a while, but he tells Daisy that he’s not going to stay. He wants to see the world before it cracks.
Deke says he never really felt like a part of the gang. She asks if that’s all they are. He says when they arrived in his time, he though the team was the greatest thing he’s ever seen. And if Daisy wants to be the leader, she needs to fix the team first. Piper interrupts, telling Daisy that they found Talbot in Chicago. The team prepares to leave.
Jemma explains to Coulson how the serum will work. She prepares to inject him, but he reminders her of what happened to others who were injected. May pops in and asks to speak to Coulson alone.
May tells Coulson that they all want to see him stand up and lead the team. It’s up to him if he wants more time. May has made her feelings known and so has Coulson. He says he’s having a hard time leaving her behind. May tells him not to leave her. She leaves him with the serum next to his bed.
MING-NA WEN
Talbot lands in Chicago, destroying buildings as the ship descends. He finds a spot and pull the street out of the round. The gravitonium is very deep within the Earth. Talbot absorbs a small amount and lets the ground fall on the street.
The Zephyr is ready for take off. Daisy calls the team to the bridge and addresses them. She says she let her emotions get the best of her. She believed that Coulson could keep everyone on the same page. Coulson thought she was ready to lead and she agreed with him. But she can’t hold the team together. Mack can. So she says Mack should call the shots. He’s the moral center of the team and a leader they can get behind. Everyone unanimously agrees, including Coulson. Coulson asks Mack what they are to do now. Mack says they will save lives.
The police show up to the scene were Talbot is feeling for gravitonium. A woman points out that the cops’ guns won’t be enough to stop Talbot, but it’s all they have. Everyone’s phones start ringing. Mack is on the other line telling everyone to evacuate. S.H.I.E.L.D. has arrived and will handle things from there.
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The team exits the Zephyr and start loading people up. Mack finds the quinjet and Robin. Robin runs to May saying that ‘they’ took Polly away. Mack enters the quinjet to find Polly. Fitz finds May and Robin. He asks about Polly. May says Mack left to find her. Fitz reminds May that Polly and Mack don’t make it out alive.
Daisy prepares to meet Talbot with Coulson, but Coulson says he’s not going. He tells her that he can barely stand. Daisy realizes that Coulson did not inject the centipede serum. She tells Coulson that she cannot face Talbot alone. Coulson says he has given her all of the tools she needs to stand up to anything. If she can’t get through to Talbot, then she has the power to beat him senseless. Daisy leaves the Zephyr and yells at Coulson to return to the lighthouse and use the serum. Coulson sits down in the Zephyr.
At the quinjet, Mack calls out for Polly and hears her answer from one of the holding cells. He prys open the door and pulls her out. Two Remorth soldiers are waiting for them. Mack fights them off, trying to save Polly. May and Fitz show up and finish off the Remorth. They all head out of the quinjet together. Polly reunites with Robin. Robin tells her that something has changed.
CHLOE BENNET
Daisy runs toward Talbot and they fly through the Chicago streets. Daisy tells him to stop because people are dying. Talbot says they are at war; casualties are expected. Daisy tells him that he’s now the enemy. She tells Talbot to think about his son. She says the boy was scared of Talbot. Talbot says it’s because he looks different now that he has more power. The ends justify the means. Daisy says anyone who has to say that is doing bad things.
Talbot says he’s becoming a hero. Daisy says he’s already a hero. She tells him to look around. When he signed up he swore to protect humanity, just like she did. They need to join forces. Talbot says Hale and Coulson have given him the same speech. He grabs Daisy and agrees to join forces. They fly into the air.
Davis (Maximilian Osinski) lands the Zephyr and finds Coulson unconscious. He drags Coulson into the lighthouse where Jemma is and tells her that Coulson didn’t take the serum. Jemma runs to get the serum, but it’s gone. YoYo gets scared and starts CPR on Coulson while praying.
Talbot uses all of his force to throw Daisy to the ground. The earth shakes causing a lot of debris to fall around the city. In the building there the quinjet landed, Fitz is buried under a lot of debris. Mack and May work to uncover Fitz.
Talbot tries to absorb Daisy and she resists. Daisy finds the centipede serum in her gauntlet. She injects the serum into her neck and pushes Talbot off of her. Talbot runs to attack Daisy and she lays on the ground. Daisy quakes Talbot up into space.
Mack and May discover that Fitz is alive, but badly hurt. He’s bleeding out of his abdomen. They stay with him and talk to him. He tells Mack that both of his legs are broken and dies.
Coulson is revived and set up in the med bay. Mack returns to the lighthouse to give Jemma the news.
NATALIA CORDOVA-BUCKLEY, HENRY SIMMONS
Days later, Jemma packs up Fitz’s things. YoYo finds Mack in the hall and sits in his arms. Jemma finds Fitz’s knife and takes it with her. Daisy burns Robin’s drawings. And May destroys what is left of the monolith. Davis sets a plaque on the zephyr with a badge.
The team assembles in the cargo hold. They think about how the Zephyr has become their home. Coulson addresses them, calling them heros. He says they all signed up to be close to good people. They may have some of those people, and they should never be forgotten. He tells them they should move on., but Jemma says they don’t move on after they say goodbye. They remember. Coulson says he’s not dead yet. It’s just his retirement party.
Coulson apologizes for not being able to say goodbye to Fitz. He’s confident that Jemma will find him. She says Fitz will be happy to know that time isn’t fixed. Coulson has no doubt that Jemma will find him in space.
*Reminder: Fitz was left behind when the rest of the team was sent to the future. He put himself in a cryosleep and launched into space. He is on his way to meet the team in the future. Since the time loop was broken, Jemma will now go to space to find the cryochamber. *
Everyone, but May says goodbye to Coulson. Coulson saves Daisy for last. He tells her that he is very proud of her. She gets emotional and tells Coulson that she loves him. Coulson loves her too. He takes one last look at the team before exiting the Zephyr. The plaque that Davis set was a remembrance plaque in honor of Coulson. Everyone looks to Mack for their next destination.
Coulson comments that the beach is a magical place. May steps up next to him and asks what else is on the bucket list: parasailing. Coulson and May watch the Zephyr fly away.
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Thoughts
That was a serious roller coaster of emotions! I knew someone was going to die, but I didn’t expect it to be Fitz! After crying over a fictional character death, we learned that Jemma would seek the Fitz in the cryochamber. I completely forgot that Fitz put himself in cryosleep so he could catch up to the team in the future. I’m relieved and hopeful again.
And Coulson lives! Is he still dying though? Because he looked pretty good when he stepped off the Zephyr. I have to wonder if Clark Gregg is done with the tv series? Or will he find a good reason to return in season six.
And what about Deke? Did he fade away when Fitz died? Something tells me we will see Deke Shaw again. That exit was not emotional enough for him to be gone for good. And he didn’t even say goodbye to his grandparents.
I was fully expecting someone to die because of Thanos’ finger snap. Of course, when they filmed the finale, the movie had not been released. So the team could still be affected by the movie, but not enough to really change things.
Overall, season five was very exciting. My favorite moment was, of course, the FitzSimmons wedding. And the Philinda kiss is a very close second. The show has gained some momentum. Can it really get any better than this?
Thanks for reading!
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