Spoilers ahead!

Tuesday night was an epic night indeed. After a weird and long season, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. got to showcase quite a final episode (not of the series, that has at least one more season to go). It was explosive, witty, a bit whacked out, and piled on a heap of new questions for audiences to ponder before season two comes out, for better and for worse. The Whedons (Joss and Jed) have finally impressed me, and have me thinking about their cliffhangers already.

Let’s dive right in to this juicy episode.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D: The Writing's on the Wall

The story concluded as such: Iain Quinn got a bunch of high ranking military officials to check out a shiny new Deathlok machine at the same time as Coulson and his crew staged an awesome infiltration of the Cybertek base. Garrett totally lost it to the serum, stating things like, “I can feel the universe” and other pharmacologically enlightened jazz, leaving Ward with no orders and in an existential crisis (dude deserves it). Then there was a whole lot of rad action (Garrett stabbed a guy to death with his own rib), including an impassioned battle between Ward and May and some super soldier antics. And when all hope was lost, Skye, having hacked into Deathlok’s mind, rescued the aforementioned Mike Peterson’s son and got the super soldier to totally destroy Garrett, not killing him of course (Coulson got to evaporate him comically).

But none of this was as awesome as the scene in which Fitz and Simmons shared a passionate goodbye at the bottom of the ocean. Fitz, having figured out a way for one of them to survive and get to the surface, released his feelings for his female counterpart and rescued her, but then both were saved by none other than Samuel L. Jackson in a cameo as Nick Fury. This final scene between Fitz and Simmons was the best moment in the series so far, and may have spelled at least partial brain death for Fitz.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D: The Writing's on the Wall

As any Whedon show will do (more so as it exists in the Marvel universe), the final episode answered many questions while laying a path of even more uncertainty. We got to see Garrett’s demise, and Ward’s true motives, as well as why Samuel L. saved Coulson in the first place, to hand over the directorship to our man Phil.

So many questions, though, arose from the finale. First and foremost, we now know Skye’s father is alive, an acquaintance of Raina, and most likely covered in blood. Also, Coulson is now exhibiting side effects of the life-saving serum, having seemingly completed a design for something Garrett was working on (aliens?!!). Patton Oswalt made another appearance as the manager of another top-secret facility, meaning clones might exist now? And Ward’s ultimate fate is still up in the air.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D: The Writing's on the Wall

Basically, the final episode, while offering one hell of a climax to a series that’s been off and on for quite some time (and at the mercy of the Marvel film schedule), was only a prelude to a much more epic and interesting story yet to come. Coulson, now director of S.H.I.E.L.D. has been tasked with rebuilding the organization, all while feeling the effects of a serum taken from a blue alien of as of now unknown origin. And no one knows how much of Fitz actually survived his heroic rescue attempt.

Dust settled, this was one of the best season finales I’ve gotten to enjoy in quite some time, and really primes its viewership for an assuredly climactic season two. Maybe we’ll actually figure out where in the name of Thor Skye comes from. Or maybe we’ll never find out. The ride will be enjoyable either way.

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