Agents of SHIELD, Season 3, Episode 9: Closure
In the first five minutes they go from two characters eating a burger to them killing off a character and that totally threw me off. It ended with Coulson skydiving into a portal made of goop alien rock into the planet of blue camera filters. Holy shit, this episode!
Yeah, it escalated absolutely rapidly from Coulson and Rosalind eating burgers and wine in one of those 'what the actual fuck' wacky yet charming scenes that the two of them can manage to pull off. And then bang random sniper shot, and Rosalind's bleeding to death. And actually bled to death, something that absolutely surprised me. Grant Ward makes himself known that he's the one responsible, and Coulson... well, we haven't had a properly good Coulson episode since his romance with Rosalind was... haphazardly-handled and paced at best.
But damn, kill off Rosalind, and Coulson just goes on a rampage. It's not enough that he gets an totally physical action scene against the Hydra mooks that Ward sics on him in the opening scene, he also goes from grief to team-interrogating to Hunter-strangling to absolutely focused, recruiting Hunter and pulling all the stops to get to Ward. This includes robbing a bank with Hunter, kidnapping Ward's brother, doing mind-games with Ward, and finally parachuting out of a flying plane while Hydra's shooting at them into that damned portal.
Damn, Coulson, you hardcore. Fresh off an episode of Gotham where literally the entire plot of the episode could be predicted, Agents of SHIELD's utter unpredictability in what's going to happen is a delightful treat.
The non-action-hero-Coulson moments are great, too. The short little montage of him interrogating May, Fitz, Simmons and Skye about Ward are handled well, with them being cooperative yet visibly unsettled considering the topic subject. We get some nice realistic comments from both Fitz and Simmons about how they viewed Ward in the past, and Coulson basically dealing with the darker facets of running a secretive spy organization -- going dark, interrogating his friends... definitely far, far superior than etching random alien glyphs into walls.
Coulson also puts Mack in charge as interim leader, which is actually great, because no one else is really qualified. Skye, Fitz and Simmons aren't cut out to be leaders and, as Coulson points out, May's as liable to make emotional decisions regarding Ward. Mack himself doesn't really get to do much in his new job as leader, but what little he did get was pretty fun. He struggled a bit with choices, your standard leader stuff, before legitimizing the Inhuman squad and lets Lincoln and Joey into the team. They don't get to do much this episode, but the idea of a second superhuman team around in the MCU is fun.
After the whole 'everything is connected' deal in the previous episode, Ward himself ties into ATCU by, well, proving himself as a credible threat once more when he's previously been a dangerous thorn but far from being the biggest threat. The likes of Jiaying, Lash, Reinhardt and Garrett have always made it hard for Ward to shine beyond the second villain to give the B-team someone to fight against, now really felt like a truly credible threat. Ward and Gideon Malick really make for a great pair, and the two of them talking are, well, absolutely interesting -- far more interesting when Ward's just being a random wildcard. It really isn't a coincidence, I think, that Malick is trying to be a hard father-figure to Ward, after all the hints from Coulson talking to Fitz and co that all the dude truly wanted was a family... something that Garrett exploited and something that Malick seems to exploit now. They talk a bit about Ward's backstory and goals, and Ward's fixation with the vendetta, and seeing Ward actually develop a bit and go into the planet beyond to secure greater destinies for Hydra is cool. Ward's moment with his not-abusive brother, and how the brother he supposedly loves is really absolutely scared of him was handled well, even if I didn't remember off the top of my head that Ward is supposed to still have another brother alive.
Mind you, Malick himself may have questionable goals for the Inhuman King, but he's still a great character. He compares himself to the likes of Price (a.k.a. Hydra head dude from Winter Soldier) and Garrett, and while he doesn't really seem to be planning long-term and putting too much stock in Hydra 'goblin myths' as Fitz puts it, he really fits his role well.
Fitz and Simmons get kidnapped by Ward's people in an attempt to find someone who can reopen the portal on the other side, and, well, the two of them are at least definitely on the same page. I'm honestly not quite sure just why Fitz is so hellbent on getting Will back even when Simmons realizes it's a bad idea to open that portal especially on Hydra grounds, but hey, when in love you do dumb things. The show loves doing terrible things to Fitz and having Ward crack deadpan jokes while Simmons is screaming while she's being tortured next door... yeah, show, why do you hate Fitz? And now Fitz is forced to go with Ward to rescue "It" and, if his plans go well, Will. You go, Fitz. I'm rooting for you.
The smaller characters... poor Banks is brought in after Rosalind's death, which is cool -- he would be out for blood. But that dickwad Giyera returns with a vengeance, uses his metal-controlling ability to take control of Banks' gun and kill him as well as the other SHIELD agents with him. RIP Banks, I will mourn you, you jackass. Giyera's awesome, isn't he? I hope he sticks around for a bit.
There are, of course, some odd moments where you'd think the characters would know better -- Coulson taunting Ward about tracing his call indirectly led to Ward speeding up the torture timetable and putting up a welcoming party, though really Mack does lampshade this as Coulson going unstable, and, well, the dude gets to fall down an alien cliffside and whack his head on a rock. Making history, people!
Great stuff, tying this all together, yeah? And you didn't have to destroy the first half of the season to do it! And ironically in an episode titled 'Closure'... we really didn't get any. We still the midseason finale to go and I'm honestly surprised how much great character moments and plot twists they packed into this particular one. Good job!
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