Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 5 Finale Plot Summary:
The team must decide whether to use the Centipede serum to save Coulson (Clark Gregg) or use it to stop Talbot (Adrian Pasdar).
Time travel narratives are difficult to write. I’ve said it before. Too often writers don’t present consistent rules. While it can be forgiven sometimes, other times the plot holes are too big to ignore.
In the case of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., the finale’s emotional moments outweigh the possible inconsistencies. Is the show cheating after saying time is a fixed loop for the entire season? Maybe. You might also be able to say it validates the idea of multiple futures, which is something the MCU cosmology sort of supports.
The season finale leaves the looming threat of Thanos unresolved, but it does wrap up the Talbot storyline and the season’s arc. For a show that’s been on the bubble for the past few years, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. continues to deliver great effects and action. The shot of the spaceship crashing into Chicago is spectacular. The fight between Daisy (Chloe Bennet) and Talbot is great too, even if it is short. And Coulson and Daisy’s use of the Centipede serum is clever. So long, Graviton.
However, as I already mentioned, the dramatic scenes are the highlight of the episode. Natalia-Cordova Buckley easily gives her best performance as Yo-Yo as she begs the team not to doom the future. And the most unexpected moment, the death of Fitz (Iain De Caestecker), is shocking. Unfortunately, it’s mostly an inconsequential fake-out, since our heroes can retrieve Fitz from the cryosleep he underwent earlier this season. The moment is here to show us the future is different.
Fans will no doubt debate if making Mack (Henry Simmons) the leader is the right call. May (Ming-Na Wen) seems the natural successor to Coulson. But the show is at least right in saying that he’s the team’s conscience. In fact, he’s the closest thing they have to Captain America, in that regard. Given S.H.I.E.L.D.’s history, it could use someone with a clear sense of morality.
“The End” would’ve been a fitting series finale, given how beautiful Coulson’s sendoff is. Daisy and Coulson saying they love each other is the most earned moment the show has ever had. Might we see Coulson again? Perhaps. He has some time left on the real Tahiti (AKA green screen Tahiti) with May.
The resolution to the time travel narrative is confusing, but “The End” is a satisfying season finale. Its strengths definitely outweigh its flaws.
