Anghus Houvouras reviews the season one finale of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D…
I’m glad we’re not eulogizing Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. at the conclusion of the first season. It’s a wonderfully imperfect show that has had some interesting highs and baffling lows. Yet, I still think that there’s a workable rhythm to this whole enterprise that the show occasionally finds and/or stumbles into. The season finale caps off the first year with a lot of energy in a frantic conclusion that highlights everything right and wrong with the show. I’ll say this for the producers of the series: they certainly aren’t afraid to double down on their concept of what they want this show to be.
After last week’s slog through Agent Ward’s origin story we’re dropped head first into the battle for the soul of S.H.I.E.L.D.. Agent Coulson and his ragtag group of remaining loyalists are taking the battle to Cybertek and the traitorous Agent Garrett. After being injected with the alien formula that resurrected Coulson and Skye, Garrett goes a little loony talking about a kind of cosmic clarity and marvels as he develops super strength. Bill Paxton is such a fantastic scenery chewing, mustache twirling villain that the whole thing kind of works. Garrett is far more interesting as a would be world conquering madman. Watching him pull a Mola Ram on an Army General was laugh out loud funny. The kind of over the top ridiculousness that the show regularly engages in and it often hit or miss. In Paxton’s hand, it felt like a hit.
The finale blends a lot of action and a lot of trademark Whedon moments, especially when Nick Fury shows up to help take down Garrett. It’s always great seeing part of the larger Marvel Universe appear on the show. Fury sweeps in with some special weapons in tow that help level the playing field. The chemistry between Samuel L. Jackson and Clark Gregg really takes the episode to another level. The final confrontation between Garrett, Fury, Coulson, and Deathlok contains the kind of manic energy and pithy one liners that really pop.
There’s a great sense of finality to the episode as it wraps up a whole lot of loose ends and even manages to plant some interesting seeds for season 2. Garrett gets his comeuppance in a hilarious fashion. Deathlok finally makes the right choice and begins his journey to atone for his sins. Ward gets nailed by Agent May in a nice bout of pugilism. Even Fitz and Simmons get some nice character moments as they try to survive being dumped in the middle of the ocean.
This was an extremely satisfying season finale chock full of inspired lunacy. We leave the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. in an exciting new place: Coulson now has to rebuild the agency he devoted his life to and finally gets a proper explanation from Fury about why he decided to bring him back. This was a great season finale. The kind of episode that will greatly reward fans of the show and infuriate the detractors who don’t like the show’s manic tone.
Anghus Houvouras is a North Carolina based writer and filmmaker. His latest work, the novel My Career Suicide Note, is available from Amazon. Follow him on Twitter.
Originally published May 14, 2014. Updated April 12, 2018.
