Coulson and the team find themselves stranded on a mysterious ship in outer space.

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. kicks off its fifth season with a game changing opening in a two episode debut. As the fourth season wrapped up we saw that the Agents were no longer on Earth and were aboard a ship of some sort. Where are they? How did this happen? Some of those answers are found in the two episodes in what might be the strongest debut of any season.

Lets start with the story.

The team is disconnected, separated, and have no idea where they are. They need to figure out what’s happened and the episode is mostly them doing exactly that. It all flows nicely and through it all we’re introduced to the situation, the goal, and who the villains are. But the bigger question is, are they really the villains? This season feels like a tough one when it comes to that with a slightly more ambiguous situation.

But, what’s truly impressive is the twist that’s revealed as to exactly what the situation is. It’s not what I expected at all and there’s so much mystery left to figure out, not to mention how it all ties together with the rest of the live action Marvel universe.

The characters too are great. There’s some amazing lines by Mac and it’s clear that the writers are having fun with the genre and situation they’re all in. There’s some jokes about the situation, about some tropes, it’s just fun.

The story is solid and the production value has increased as well. The special fx look like the budget is higher and there’s a focus on the visuals. The aliens too look solid fitting well into the existing Marvel movie universe. It’s interesting and the only downside is that there’s a lot of darkness so it’s hard at times to tell exactly what’s going on. It’s good and forces you to pay more attention but it’s a downside too.

The two episodes together make for the strongest debut of any season so far. The characterizations are great, action is is solid, and special fx are improved. Hopefully this isn’t a fluke and what we can expect for the season going forward.

Overall Score: 9.45

Ghost Rider makes a surprising return; Coulson and the team work to stop Aida from ending the world.

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. wraps up its fourth season with an episode that feels a bit mixed in quality as if there’s both too much packed in and a sense folks weren’t quite sure how to end it all.

The episode’s really broken into two main parts. There’s the team’s taking on Aida as she continues to flip out and then there’s Yo Yo and Mac in the digital world.

The former is paint by numbers in many ways as the team has to figure out how to defeat her and they get help with Ghost Rider whose return feels a bit convenient and rushed. Something here doesn’t quite click for me but I can’t put my finger on exactly what that is. I think things a are presented so quickly and just thrown out there without any reflection it all feels like a flowing of scenes where we just accept everything that happens. It’s not bad and is absolutely the big fight you’d expect in the last bit of a movie a lot of flash, some twists, and not much depth.

The Yo Yo and Mac part of the episode is really where the heart of excellence of the episode is. We feel the pain and suffering from both characters as Mac has to realize the digital world around him is crumbling but also decide if he’ll stay with his daughter. No matter the choice he has to lose her twice. Yo Yo does what she can to get him to exit into the real world realizing the pain he’s suffering and his reaction makes her suffer too. It’s heartbreaking and the show has been its best when its focused on these types of interactions. It’s easily the best part of the episode and we get that interaction again as the team comes together at the end of the episode.

There’s also some set up. Coulson has to cut a deal with Ghost Rider and the end of the episode feels like it’s setting up the Inhumans… but how? This is absolutely one of the stronger season finales but it falls a bit flat like a lot of Marvel’s live action series and movies. The concepts are better than the execution and we see that again here.

It’ll be interesting to see where things go from here, but until then we’re left with a satisfying, yet not exciting, ending.

Overall Score: 7.45

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