Quaking and Hiving.
Warning: Full spoilers for the episode below.
After its rocky start, Agents of SHIELD had turned into a much more entertaining, involving series by its second season. Season 3 of the Marvel series found the show not quite operating on as strong a level as the year before, though there was still a lot to enjoy amongst some beats that didn’t quite work as well.
The show used the mid-season split to essentially divide between two villains – both played by Brett Dalton. In the fall, Dalton was still playing Ward and in the spring, he was Hive (walking around in Ward’s dead body). Overall, the fall run felt like the stronger, more cohesive of the two halves. The rising threats, including Gideon Malick and Lash, were intriguing, the storyline about Simmons’ time on another planet really compelling and the tragically short love story between Coulson and Ros (a very strong Constance Zimmer) played well – even if his quest for revenge after Ward shockingly killed her was a bit heightened, given how quick their relationship was.
That aforementioned Simmons storyline was a standout, with Elizabeth Henstridge and Iain De Caestecker both doing excellent work, as Fitz did all he could to rescue Simmons, only to find she had changed while she was gone. It all led up to the phenomenal episode “4,722 Hours,” which is the best hour of Agents of SHIELD to date. A very offbeat, ambitious episode, “4,722 Hours” took place almost entirely on the alien planet Simmons was trapped on, with only her and the Earthling astronaut she discovered there, Will (Dillon Casey), anchoring the story. The reveals in this episode set up a love triangle that felt earned (something that often isn’t the case on TV shows), as we could understand the pain this situation was causing both Fitz and Simmons, and feel sympathetic towards both of them. Once more, I have to note that these two characters have come a long way since the show began, backed by two great performances.
One problem that SHIELD did suffer from at this point though -- which would pop up throughout the season -- was uneven pacing. The first season suffered from moving far too slow and that changed, for the better, in Season 2, with reveals and twists coming at a much quicker rate. That continued in Season 3, often in a strong mannner, but some episodes felt a bit jumbled and could have benefitted from slowing down a bit - or simply not trying to do so much at once. Sometimes it was just a question of including too many characters or storylines in single episodes, causing some scenarios to not have time to breath or get the proper build up they might have with more character-focused episodes.
You really can’t go wrong with Powers Boothe as a villain and it was very fun to see the veteran actor greatly expand upon his shadowy role in the Avengers as Hydra leader Gideon Malick. The way they used Malick to connect some dots on Hydra history from the MCU was cool and in his final episodes, he did a great job showing the loving father beneath the scary façade – who realized too late he was messing with the wrong Inhuman alien-god creature.
That being said, it’s hard not to feel like tying Hydra’s origins into something so alien feels unnecessary. Malick could still have wanted to use Hive for his own purposes without the reveal that Hydra itself has always been about worshiping and trying to bring back Hive. It just feels like an awkward fit with the group as we knew them up until now, who were more than willing to use supernatural power, sure, but didn’t seem to have been forged because of something so fantastical.
Two other issues Season 3 had were tied together – Lincoln and the Secret Warriors. The idea of the Secret Warriors was cool, as Agents of SHIELD amped up its superhero side and we met characters like Joey (Juan Pablo Raba) and Elena/Yo-Yo (Natalia Cordova-Buckley), but there was a lot of teasing and set up here with not enough payoff. When this team within the team finally went on their first mission, in "The Team," it was immediately followed by them turning on one another, with no time to really see what their dynamic might be like.
Lincoln meanwhile, in an expanded role, just didn’t work as a character. His best material was early in the season, when he was on the run and refusing to join SHIELD. But once he was part of the team (officially or not), it became clear he was a fairly dull inclusion, and there was no chemistry between Lincoln and Daisy, even as a love story between the two occurred. This duo felt completely dispassionate, meaning his eventual sacrifice in the season finale, which included a big “what could have been” exchange with Daisy, was lessened of its impact.
Daisy herself however, fared better. Now fully aware of and embracing her Inhuman heritage and superpowers, she was re-introduced as a kick ass, capable superhero. The early days of Agents of SHIELD pushed “Skye” too much as being special when she hadn’t earned it, but now, it was much easier to buy into her transformation and Chloe Bennet flourished showing off Daisy’s dangerous physicality, which allowed her to blend martial arts with those increasingly powerful earthquake powers.
Amongst the rest of the cast, Mack (Henry Simmons) was a very likable, easy too root for part of the team in Season 3, and making him and Daisy field partners turned out to be a clever pairing. May’s storyline was mostly centered around Lash and the reveal he was truly Andrew, which initially was pretty compelling, but somewhat faded into tbe background in the spring – making Lash’s eventual death feel less emotional than it was intended.
Hunter and Bobbi continued to be a cool couple, and getting Bobbi back in the field after the early episodes was easy too root for. The two got a big, sad (albeit overwrought) send off for a spinoff that now isn’t happening, so it will be interesting to see if they return to Agents of SHIELD ore not in Season 4.
As for Coulson, his aforementioned romance with Ros worked well, and him killing Ward was a suitably big moment. Some of his angst and guilt over that murder felt a bit unfocused in the spring run, but there was some good material here as well – including the show retroactively accounting for Coulson being so damn adoring and protective of Daisy since the beginning.
The season ended with a bit of goofiness (Hive’s Primitive minions!) to be sure, and revealing Lincoln as the big death teased since the midseason premiere looked to be a meh moment initially because of Lincoln’s failure to register – but it was then redeemed in a big way with Lincoln’s actual final moments and a rather wonderful, poignant exchange between Lincoln and Hive, as the two enemies peacefully met their maker together.
Brett Dalton had done great work on SHIELD since we learned Ward was a Hydra agent, taking the bland boy scout he appeared to be and subverting it in a big way. And I was glad that SHIELD’s creators never tried to redeem Ward or put him back on the team somehow – we understood what shaped him, but also never forgot he was a broken, bad person. However, it was time for Ward to go and while the Hive storyline allowed them to put it off for a few months more, it was good to see the season end with the sense that it was indeed going to shift focus in a big way, saying goodbye to Hydra and all villains that looked like Grant Ward.
The Verdict
SHIELD: Season 3 had its up and downs, mixing in elements that worked (Daisy getting her Quake on, the Fitz and Simmons drama), elements we could have used more of (Secret Warriors!) and elements that just never felt right (Lincoln and his relationship with Daisy). There was a lack of consistency and some episodes felt unfocused, but then you had some true highlights – none more so than “4,722 Hours” -- that showed how far a character like Simmons had come since the show began. The fact that Agents of SHIELD continues to change as it goes along continues to be a cool element of the show, and though some of those changes were better incorporated than others, the season ended with some intriguing threads on where things will go in Season 4.
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