S.O.S. Part Two

This is such a marvelous and very well done season finale. It's filled with great action, great emotional moments and great moments of comic relief. Can't wait to see what the repercussions of these events will be in the next season.

Wow, what an episode!! After setting up avengers and then following it up, this episode has done the job of claiming its rights to season 3 and maybe beyond.

Inhumans are people with gifts and at times ridiculous powers, but this show has set them up so nicely that it is hard to believe that this is all fantasy. Everything is just so grounded. With Gonzales having lost his life to the mist, a war was on cards and it did what war does: change people. Some change in the middle of it and some after it. In the end, everyone in it pays a price and everyone does.

Jiaying, literally Cal's creation, started the war and led everyone into it. This was Inhumans vs SHIELD and Jiaying vs Coulson. Coulson is the director we want, he is the manager that we lost souls at work wants.

This was closure of all the stuff that season 2 presented to us and worked at its best for Coulson, Skye, Fitz, Jemma, Ward, Agent 33, Jiaying, Cal and everyone else.

It will be nice to see where this series goes into Season 3.

10/10

"S. O. S. Part Two" delivers a gripping, emotional, and action-packed conclusion to Season 2. It wraps up key arcs, changes the dynamic of the show going forward, and proves just how far Agents of S. H. I. E. L. D. has evolved from its early episodes. It's not just a season finale - it's a payoff for nearly two full seasons of character development, choices, and consequences.

Story: 9/10 The episode wastes no time in diving into the aftermath of Jiaying's war declaration. The conflict escalates fast, with S. H. I. E. L. D. trying to contain the situation without turning it into open warfare. Jiaying's true nature is fully exposed, and her confrontation with Skye is both heartbreaking and powerful. Cal's arc comes full circle in a surprisingly emotional way, and the fallout of the war sets up compelling threads for the next season. The closing scenes with Simmons and the monolith are chilling and unforgettable.

Characters: 9/10 Skye, Coulson, and Cal are the emotional center here, and all three deliver some of their best moments. Skye makes a defining choice that shows her growth as both a hero and a leader. Coulson shows incredible resilience, even as he suffers a shocking personal loss. Cal's final scenes are tragic and beautiful, giving depth to a character who could have been just another villain. The Bobbi and Hunter subplot resolves with tension and heart, while Fitz and Simmons continue to build chemistry - right up until the final gut punch.

Pacing: 9/10 This episode flies by without feeling rushed. Every scene matters, and the action is balanced with emotional beats. Whether it's a brutal one-on-one fight or a quiet conversation between former allies, the pacing keeps you locked in. The climax is tense and satisfying, and the final moments are packed with both closure and mystery.

Visuals and Effects: 8/10 For a TV budget, the episode continues to impress. Skye's powers are showcased effectively, especially in her face-off with Gordon. The show uses its sets well and makes the most of practical effects during the more brutal scenes. The monolith reveal is creepy and well-executed, and the prosthetics and makeup on Jiaying are suitably unsettling.

Writing: 9/10 The script is tight and emotionally charged. Characters make believable choices that stay true to their arcs. The writers manage to give closure while still planting intriguing seeds for the future. Jiaying's ideology and Cal's desperation are explored with nuance. Coulson's dry humor and unwavering determination help ground the chaos.

Overall: 9/10 "S. O. S. Part Two" is a near-perfect finale. It ties up major storylines, delivers emotional gut punches, and changes the landscape of the show in meaningful ways. It's the kind of episode that makes the whole season feel worthwhile and raises expectations for what's to come.

(will tackle this in reverse order, please bear with me and your patience will be rewarded)

1. The Ugly

I am pretty sure that 50 years from now historians and sociologists of the future will flag this series as a turning point in the corporate takeover of human culture. To viewers today, the fact that the scripts are designed -- at the highest corporate level, ie, Disney -- to "assume" that you have ALREADY been to the theatre to catch the missing bits may seem... quaint. To those looking back from a futuristic perspective, however, I suspect that "quaint" will prove to be a severe understatement.

2. The Bad

Actually there is no bad. That was a literary trick just to make the review header work. Since the Brothers Whedon are the most literary tagteam writing in Hollywood today, I did not think they would mind.

3. The Good

What a thrill ride! Team Whedon delivered in spades. Just as Woody Allen is known for his penchant to "deconstruct" traditional story arcs, Team Whedon is known for invariably putting character arcs ahead of story arcs as the season builds and then -- in the payoff -- making every arc pay off like a hot-wired Vegas slot machine. Only 22 episodes and I feel like I know the characters, like I went to school with them. Astonishing writing. Better action than a Van Damme movie. No other TV show even comes close. Makes the STRIKE BACK LEGACY team look like two old guys who spend most of their time playing with their walkie-talkies.

I enjoyed rewatching the first season of "Agents of Shield" more than I thought I might. The "Whedon" style worked more for me than I thought it might and the integration with the big Marvel Movies of that year was well done. The drift away though is underway now, as the Hydra twist and the fall of SHIELD effectively resets the show for this second season.

Though now operating with no budget and stolen resources, new Director of SHIELD Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) tries to battle the remaining forces of HYDRA, whilst not getting caught by General Talbot (Adrian Pasdar) who is bringing the army's might around in him. Daniel Whitehall (Reed Diamond) leads the Hydra forces, and seeks an obelisk of Alien origin and is using Raina (Ruth Negga) to get it, she has another, superior, leader though.

The first half of this season is spent dealing with the fallout of the HYDRA situation, which leads to the arrival of the Inhuman's in the MCU (Though not the Inhuman's series, that is still a little way away). This gives us the resolution of Daisy's parentage, including a fun performance from the always welcome Kyle MacLachlan. This season introduces Nick Blood and Adrianne Palicki as Lance Hunter and Bobbi Morse, whose chemistry was such that they hoped to spin them off into their own Marvel series, but it didn't progress beyond the pilot stage. The series also finds ways to keep Grant Ward involved in the story.

It's tie into "Age of Ultron" is a little stranger outside of the context of the film. It does explain where the Helicarriers came from in that film, but there's little return context here, or payoff to Raina's visions of "Metal men". In fact, Ruth Negga is perhaps the most illtreated by this season, robbed of intrigue, caked in prosthetics and then killed off.

It's another fun season of the show and I'm still enjoying it, perhaps more than I thought that I would. We'll see long it lasts into season three.