Coulson and the team’s victory in the Framework is short-lived, revealing an even deadlier looming against them all.

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. heads into its season finale with an episode that sets things up for a clash with Madame Hydra who now exists in the real world and apparently now has a whole bunch of powers. But, there’s also SHIELD on the run after blowing things up. It’s not looking good and then a certain flaming someone shows up in the end? There’s a lot packed in here.

But, through all of that action, the episode really focuses on the relationships particularly between Fitz and Simmons and Mac and Yo Yo. There’s also a little bit between Coulson and May. Fitz especially gets the focus as he must deal with what he’s done in the virtual world and decide if he is the person in there. There’s also the fact his heart belongs to two individuals.

And the show when it does the above, focus on relationships, feels stronger for that. It adds depth to the characters and gives us reasons to care about them. Here this is done in an intelligent way in that it swerves around but also sets up the conflict that drives these last two episodes. It also helps define a big difference between these heroes and the villains they fight.

The episode is decent and continues some of the stronger threads of the season, specifically the group’s relationships and friendships. It’s a fun episode in many ways and does a solid job of mixing action and the quieter moments and sets up the season finale in a solid way. While this has been a bumpy season overall, this lead up to the finale has done well to make it a memorable one.

Overall Score: 7.65

The clock is ticking for Daisy and Simmons to get the team out of the Framework, but not everyone is ready and willing to leave.

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is winding down this season as the team needs to escape the contruct and get back to the real world. The question keeps being thrown out as to who will return to the real world and who will remain. It’s pretty obvious some will. There’s also the question as to the characters who have died, what will happen to them?

The episode is a build as the team both tries to escape but also get Fitz out of the system. At the same time Aida is escaping herself in her new “real” body.

It all comes together nicely in the final half of the episode which instead of focusing on action and special fx instead giving the best moments to team members and friends attempting to get each other to exit. There’s doubt since this could be a trap or worse. It all leads to touching moments and interesting to see who follows who, why, and how. It all leads to… well I’m not going to ruin that.

But, the episode really gives us its best moments based around who decides to stay. It’s the most emotional moment of the series and one that had me a little flustered since it’s such a good character.

We’ve got a few episodes left and it should be an interesting one to see where things go for the team and in the bigger picture, where it’ll go for the series as a whole.

Overall Score: 7.35

Daisy teams up with an unlikely partner; Aida prepares to put her endgame into effect.

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is interesting in that the final game plan for Aida is clear and it doesn’t make a hell of a lot of sense when you think about it.

Aida is using Fitz to try to build a system to give her a real body, because? I don’t quite understand the reasoning behind it all since she’s a robot, has free will for the most part, and is in full control. Why would she want to make herself weaker? This also the question as to why she’s keeping everyone alive? Other than Fitz, I’m not really seeing the point at all.

But the episode is all about that build to the point where the team will eventually defeat her and escape. We know it’s coming, it’s just more of a question as a how and what the fallout will be.

What’s also interesting is so many characters being willing to accept that they don’t live in the real world and go along with things. There’s some serious flaws in Aida’s program apparently. You’d think she’d make it all work in her favor a bit more, wouldn’t you?

This part of the season has gotten to the point where the concept is better than the actual execution. It’s not bad and there’s lots of action but the holes in the plot are a bit too big to ignore.

With the future of the show up in the air, it’ll be interesting see how far the series will go, and maybe it’ll be able to revitalize itself a bit before the season wraps up. The story here had a lot of promise when it began but has quickly fallen into a lot of the issues that we’ve seen before.

Overall Score: 7.05

The truth behind Fitz’s turn threatens to bring down all of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. builds towards the eventual battle with Aida as the team makes some moves to free some individuals and gain more allies. There’s also some questions as to Jemma’s loyalties and what she knows.

The episode to me is mostly forgettable though. There’s the return of Trip which is great to see since he’s a favorite of mine, but other than that, it’s rather blah as a whole. There’s action. There’s some solid sneaking around. But, it’s all about the end of the episode.

But, watching this episode, I can’t help but thinking, of all the holes that are in our faces. Aida is shown with the bodies of all of the individuals in the construct which had me wondering why she hasn’t bothered killing them? There’s also a character getting Terrigen mist around her, but she doesn’t die?

Both of those things were enough to take me out of the episode and at this point, I’m just waiting for the eventual battle and to see how everyone gets out of this simulation. We know it’s coming, so it all just feels like a build to something we know will happen, which unfortunately has me just counting down the episodes for what’s coming.

The series has lost steam as they’ve gone into this new world. The first episode of this specific arc sequence was full of possibilities and you can tell the writers were willing to do whatever they felt like. This and the previous episode though feel much more on the rails and by the book in many ways. The series needs to get back to that anything can happen and if they do that, this season will end on a strong note.

Overall Score: 7.05