Marvel’s Inhumans Season Finale Plot Summary:
Black Bolt (Anson Mount) and the Royal Family evacuate the people of Attilan before Maximus (Iwan Rheon) kills them all.
Last week I was cautiously optimistic. I said Marvel’s Inhumans was improving and that a satisfying ending might be in sight. Well, throw all of that out the window. Inhumans is more interested in last minute plot twists that are unnecessary or depend on ABC renewing the series.
Apparently, Black Bolt had to be king so he could avert some danger. This could’ve been a good twist, and it would have justified how aloof Black Bolt was as a ruler. But because the finale leaves this threat a mystery, chances are we’ll never find out what it is. There are a lot of things to be frustrated about when it comes to Inhumans, but this takes the cake. There’s a value in a lack of closure, in leaving things open-ended, but this is not one of those cases, nor is it the intent of the writers.
Moving on, we have the twist that Maximus tricked Black Bolt into killing their parents. This does nothing for the story. It fails to make us sympathize with Black Bolt or make us hate Maximus more. Black Bolt already had plenty of reasons to kill Maximus, and even with this knowledge he doesn’t. No, instead he saves him from the dome collapsing by trapping him in the bunker. This might seem more humane than killing him, but all alone Maximus is bound to go completely insane.
Maximus had already started to lose his mind, of course, but his actions are beyond foolish in the finale. He doesn’t hide his self-centeredness and then expects his allies to still be on his side. He naively trusts Bronaja (Ari Dalbert), who previously betrayed him. If he’s really that paranoid, why is he listening to him? Bronaja does tell the truth, but Maximus doesn’t know that until he’s trapped.
Gorgon (Eme Ikwuakor) also loses his mind, but the effects are surprisingly mild. He has a sudden outburst one second and is mostly fine the next. They keep saying bringing him back was a mistake, but it just seems like he needs counseling. In contrast, the Lazarus Pit in Arrow has a much more severe effect, ranging from an unquenchable bloodlust to bringing back a soulless husk with no sense of self or control.
There are a few good moments in the finale. Triton (Mike Moh) performs some awesome takedowns, and Medusa (Serinda Swan) shares some emotional moments with Maximus and Louise (Ellen Woglom). Unfortunately, they’re few and far between. One might commend Inhumans for not going the typical big, dumb superhero-supervillain fight route, but that would have been more entertaining. I kind of wanted to see an all-powerful Maximus test his new abilities on Black Bolt. Alas, the show probably didn’t have the budget. It’s more than likely the reason Medusa lost her hair in the premiere and why the plot sidelined Lockjaw for a couple episodes.
If Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. could somehow salvage Inhumans, I might reevaluate this finale. The agents are in space, after all. But I don’t expect it to happen. Inhumans, like Agent Carter before it, will end with its mystery unresolved.
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