Season 2 Finale – S.O.S. Part One, Part Two Plot Summary:
After suffering immense pain at the hands of Hydra, Jiaying (Dichen Lachman) has what she’s always wanted: war. Her first target is S.H.I.E.L.D. itself, which puts her daughter Skye (Chloe Bennet) in danger. It is up to Director Coulson (Clark Gregg) to avoid a global disaster.
Say what you will about Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., this is a show that knows how to deliver a finale. Last season we had the shocking return of Nick Fury and him passing ownership of S.H.I.E.L.D. to his biggest protege. It was an incredible episode, easily one of the best of the inaugural season, that laid some significant framework for the next season. Then at the halfway point of Season 2, the Inhumans made their much awaited appearance, getting us ready for a movie that’s not coming for another four years. It was an ambitious move that has worked out in spades. Of course, with a big introduction such as this, “S.O.S. Part One/S.O.S Part Two” had the expectation to deliver. There was no way that a season as great as this one could go away with anything average. Fortunately, it didn’t. This finale was top notch across the board.
Being able to pull off an episode like this one is quite a feat. This two hour mega-finale had to be a culmination of a lot of stories. First and foremost, it had to give us a strong conclusion to S.H.I.E.L.D.’s first encounter with Inhumans. We all knew conflict was coming between them. It was simply a matter of when. In the midst of all that fighting, we had the appropriate bookends to several other narratives too. Skye finding her place in this new world. Cal (Kyle MacLachlan) getting his closure after decades of strive. S.H.I.E.L.D. moving in a bold, new, and more uniform direction. There’s also stuff going on with Ward (Brett Dalton) and Kara/33 (Maya Stojan). It’s a lot to cram in at once, but bumping up the time gave us ample opportunity to focus on everything, along with some nice breathing room.
What I absolutely loved was the family focus in the midst of all the Inhuman issues. Yes, the Inhumans are important because they’re taking the MCU into a bold new direction. However, it’s undeniable that the most important aspect was the relationship between Cal, Skye, and Jiaying. It began as contentious with Cal as a big villain, then eventually grew to peaceful as Skye realized that her father was only misguided. Going into this finale, it looked like it would end with all three of them ready to take on the world. As last night’s events unfolded, this all completely changed. It wasn’t the ending that I’m sure many expected, but it was the closure that fits this show better than anything else.
Who could have thought Cal would get a happy ending? This is a character that was introduced as an apparent ally to Hydra. Skye wanted absolutely nothing to do with him. Thanks to Coulson though, and good old fashioned time, those evil layers were peeled away to reveal the pained man beneath. All he ever wanted was to bring his shattered family together. He’s a broken parent who went as far as self-experimentation and murder if that meant appeasing his clearly vengeful wife. If anything, he was Jiaying’s greatest victim in her quest of destruction. So it’s fitting that he was the one to finally put this self-imposed leader of the Inhumans down for good. It’s a cruel irony too that he was the one to permanently destroy all that he tried to build.
I’m very happy that Cal is now out in the world without memories of what happened and living as a Veterinarian, mainly because it opens the door for future cameos by Kyle MacLachlan. MacLachlan has completely owned the role of Calvin Zabo and “S.O.S.” saw him officially become Mr. Hyde (complete with some pretty goofy prosthetics) in a really exciting battle within S.H.I.E.L.D. HQ. With Skye’s new position of power, it will be nice to bring MacLachlan back as a means of comfort for her. He may never remember that he’s actually her father, but she knows, and that can make a world of difference.
Skye really has her work cut out for her too. With Jiaying dead, along with Gordon (Jamie Harris) and Raina (Ruth Negga), the Inhuman race is in a flux. It is now Skye’s responsibility to lead these people and turn them into valuable members of society. This honestly is the only way to avoid situations like what May (Ming-Na Wen) dealt with in Bahrain. Season 3 will probably be about her going through growing pains with this group and trying to figure out how to get everyone on board. You know there will still be Jiaying loyalists. Comic readers with predictions on what the Inhumans movie will be about may have a few guesses on how this will go.
Outside of anything Inhuman related, we had Ward and Kara holding Bobbi (Adrianne Palicki) hostage. This is probably my only complaint of the episode. In one scene, you’re getting deeply involved with the multi-layered story of Skye’s family and race. Then you’re thrust back into a dingy room with Ward torturing Bobbi. Apparently while she was undercover, Bobbi turned Kara over to Hydra for brainwashing. This is the justice Ward was demanding. Perhaps if this happened in a different episode, it would have worked better. It had the crazy spy elements that this show doesn’t use nearly as much. But at this stage, I care more about what is happening with everyone else than what Bobbi did before we even met her with a character we barely know. Plus, with all the news of a Bobbi/Hunter (Nick Blood) spinoff maybe in the works, I couldn’t get into the idea of them dying. It definitely took away some tension.
That being said, the idea of Ward forming a new Hydra is very interesting. Now that the show let him wander around and work as an unpredictable wild card, I can see Ward working out as S.H.I.E.L.D.’s next primary antagonist. This will mirror the advent of S.H.I.E.L.D. too. Hydra is the organization suffering from a lack of leadership and super powerful opposition now that S.H.I.E.L.D. is a unified whole with the Inhumans on board. Can Ward bring this group back to full strength? We’ll have to wait for that one next season too.
Amid all the insanity, “S.O.S.” had some wonderful character moments that can make anyone smile. I’ve already mentioned Skye and her father reconciling for good. Near the very end, which I’m sure ABC was hoping to be a backdoor pilot, was Bobbi telling Hunter that she “can’t do this anymore.” That’s expected considering all the shit she just dealt with. May decided to go on vacation too, finally showing us that she’s starting to get her fun side back. Mac (Henry Simmons) had awesome scenes too as the one man army against the Inhumans, briefly looking like Dwayne Johnson, which was weird. Even Fitz (Iain De Caestecker) and Simmons (Elizabeth Henstridge) were prepared to move their relationship forward with a planned date. I can’t believe it took a whole season for this to come up again but it finally did. It was really sweet.
Then that magic rock thing turned into a liquid and absorbed Simmons. What the hell right?! Just went those two finally made headway, Simmons is sucked into some Kree artifact. Why can’t you just let them be happy S.H.I.E.L.D.?
The twist near the end involving the Terrigen crystals was great too. It’s clear that we’re going in the direction of a massive Inhuman resurgence on Earth. Who knows how many people out there have dormant abilities. To bring Terrigenesis out on a global scale, someone could create a bomb or coat the sky with Terrigen mist. However, I’d say that accidentally infecting fish and fish oil is a much better, more subtler way, that works with this show. It allows the race to grow periodically as people take these pills and accidentally change their physiology. Things should get a little nuts with that stuff on the market.
“S.O.S.” was a really awesome finale. It wrapped up this season’s stories very well and gave certain characters happy endings that I would never expect. There were plenty of amazing fight scenes featuring gorgeous choreography. The set up for the future is pretty intense too. You can expect the Inhumans to play a bigger role in the years to come, and hopefully Ward will make the most of himself as a bad guy. I just wished the stuff with Kara happened sooner. It was important but felt very out of place here.
Rating: 9.5/10
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Luke Kalamar is Pop-Break.com’s television editor. Every Saturday afternoon you can read his retro video game column, Remembering the Classics. He covers Game of Thrones, Saturday Night Live and The Walking Dead (amongst others) every week. As for as his career and literary standing goes — take the best parts of Spider-man, Captain America and Luke Skywalker and you will fully understand his origin story.
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