REVIEW: Agents Of SHIELD, Season Five

 REVIEW: Agents Of SHIELD, Season Five 

If any season could be considered as proof that Agents Of SHIELD could go anywhere, Season Five would be that season. Whilst we had previously seen Jemma Simmons (Elizabeth Henstridge) spend a considerable amount of time by herself on an alien planet all the way back in Season Two, Season Five was the first time we had seen the majority of the cast relocated to space, and dealing with the kind of storyline more typical of the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise. It's simply amazing to think that a television show like this could have the budget to set so many episodes within space, and it acts as further evidence that television as a medium has become more cinematic as CGI technology has advanced.

Of course, fancy visuals only get you so far; you still need a great storyline to justify the fancy aesthetics. Fortunately Agents Of SHIELD's fifth season has that in spades, with a plot concerning a mystery 'destroyer of worlds' and a futuristic human colony onboard a space station called the Lighthouse run by the Kree. These humans happen to have heard of SHIELD and view them as these grand heroes, in much the same way that everyday civilians in the Present Day MCU would see the likes of Iron Man or Captain America. It provides for a fun dynamic as the SHIELD agents find themselves grappling with this new form of hero worship, and it tackles some really interesting themes, such as the idea of SHIELD having become a symbol that the people of the future look towards for comfort. It makes sense too, as past seasons have seen the SHIELD agents dealing with these huge threats which seem almost like Avengers territory; it stands to reason that eventually they would get noticed as being protectors of the Earth. 

They are certainly pitted against worthy adversaries in the Kree. Kasius (Dominic Rains) is particularly brutal, kidnapping Jemma Simmons and Daisy Johnson (Chloe Bennet), pitting Daisy against Kree warrior Sinara (Florence Faivre) and auctioning off Inhumans including Daisy to the highest bidder. This member of the Kree race clearly has no morals, and you can tell actor Dominic Rains relishes playing someone so despicable. He's ruthless, power hungry and seems to view Inhumans as nothing more than commodities. Granted, he's no Grant Ward - who will forever remain Agents Of SHIELD's best antagonist - but he's still a brilliant villain in his own right, and one that truly captivates the screen.

This season also introduces three new important characters to the series - young Inhuman Flint (Coy Stewart), Chronicom Enoch (Joel Stoffer) and loveable roguish scavenger Deke Shaw (Jeff Ward). Flint seems quite a sweet character, with some interesting abilities that allow him to manipulate together Earth properties in order to create new structures (for example, he can control two rocks to meet together with his mind and form a boulder that can then be used against someone in a fight), but it's Enoch and Deke who are the more prominent highlights here. Enoch in particular is a character who really develops across the next three seasons of the show; on the face of it he seems quite emotionless with his monotone voice, but inside there's this deep loyalty and devotion to SHIELD and the agents who operate under that mantle. 

 Deke is a fascinating inclusion too; he's a character who is revealed to be Fitz (Iain De Caestecker) and Simmons' future grandson, and it makes for a truly unique relationship between the trio of Deke, Fitz and Simmons. Fitz at first is quite tetchy towards Deke as he sees him as a bit of a fool, but over the course of the season grows to warm to him and accept him for who he is. Simmons, meanwhile, shows more motherly instincts, and acknowledges the frankly weird situation for what it is. It's good to see the show fully embrace the weirder side of comic-book storylines, as I have always believed that this side of comic plots is something that should be embraced rather than ignored entirely. He also develops strong romantic feelings towards Daisy, something which feels especially awkward given Daisy's infamous bad luck in terms of relationships. She clearly isn't ready for a romance just yet, and who can blame her after how she so brutally lost Lincoln Campbell in the third season?

Fitz is the character you've most got to feel sorry for in this season though. Not only is he the only agent left behind by Enoch and his team, and so has to find his own way to space in order to reach them, but in this season he suffers from serious PTSD relating to his experiences within the Framework. The former storyline proves a great way to bring back Lance Hunter (Nick Blood), who assists in helping him track down Enoch, which leads to Enoch cryogenically freezing Fitz for seventy four years in order to reunite with his fellow agents. It also means that Fitz has a key role to play within the space storyline, as he is the one who rescues Daisy and Simmons from Kasius; it truly feels as though each character has a purpose to serve within the fifth season's narrative, and it shows a strong piece of screenwriting from all concerned with the screenplay. The PTSD/brain damage arc, meanwhile, which sees Fitz hallucinating himself as the doctor and performing a surgical procedure to remove the power inhibitors from Daisy despite her clear refusals, helps to develop Fitz's character considerably. It's a fantastic piece of character development that shows the ramifications of SHIELD's storylines continue for our protagonists long after they have occurred; they don't just forget about these experiences, they change and influence them as the show progresses.

It feels so harsh within the storytelling too that Fitz's mental breakdown comes after the wedding to Jemma Simmons. The wedding is exactly what many fans of this show had hoped for; Coulson (Clark Gregg) officiating the wedding in particular just feels right, as does their future grandson Deke witnessing their marriage before they became his grandparents. It's a beautiful ceremony that brings together characters we have grown to know and love throughout the show's past seasons, including the return of Deathlok (J. August Richards), and I honestly don't feel as though the show could have handled it any better. After so many seasons of pain and misery, it makes a change to see Fitz and Simmons just have a moment of happiness for once, without somebody trying to kill or separate them in a horrific manner.

A more bittersweet romance is that between Coulson and Melinda May (Ming-Na Wen). It was plainly obvious to many that these two had a shared affection between one another, but this is the season that confirms it, as they kiss behind Coulson's holographic shield. Coulson's hiding a dark secret, however; the deal he made in the previous season to possess Ghost Rider's Spirit of Vengeance means that he is facing a slow death as it is eating away at the Project TAHITI process that was used to revive him after the events of Avengers Assemble. This is a sad and poignant aspect of Coulson and May's romance, as it effectively means they are living on borrowed time. Coulson could die at any moment, and May has found herself with an unknown amount of time before she loses the man she's loved. It does mean that the final scene, with the SHIELD team leaving Coulson to live out the remainder of his live with May in Tahiti, does feel like a definitive ending to the show even though there were two further seasons beyond this point (although it's not surprising given that the ending to Season Five was written to be final in case the show didn't get renewed), but it's still a stunning and emotional way to end the season.

A weaker aspect of this season is the plot back on Earth regarding General Hale (Catherine Dent) and her daughter Ruby (Dove Cameron). General Hale is a Hydra operative who decides to resurrect a since defunct plan called 'Project Destroyer Of Worlds', which aimed to create a super soldier who could take on the properties of any material in existence. Hale plans to use it to double-cross an extra-terrestrial alliance called the Confederacy, who want the Earth's Gravitonium and Inhumans in exchange for the planet to be protected from the incoming threat of Thanos. Naturally, Ruby decides she'd be the perfect candidate to become a super soldier. It's not the most exciting Hydra storyline all-in-all, with even Ruby's rivalry with Daisy proving to be a little on the bland side, and neither character truly stand out among the most notable figures within Hydra. They're no Jasper Sitwell or Grant Ward, and instead end up coming across as generic Hydra bad guys, as opposed to characters in their own right. The most interesting thing either of them does is slice off Yo-Yo's (Natalia Cordova-Buckley) arms, which causes Yo-Yo to retaliate against Ruby and kill her in revenge, and even then it's only interesting because of how it affects Yo-Yo on an emotional level.

I also can't say I was particularly interested in seeing General Talbot (Adrian Pasdar) become a major supervillain. He inherits the Gravitonium and becomes obsessed with the idea that he can take on Thanos without any back-up, and he's not all that convincing as a threat. It doesn't help that in past seasons he was portrayed as little more than this bumbling nuisance who's mostly harmless but often gets in the way of SHIELD's plans; his past history within the show means that I just can't take him seriously when he's meant to be this major threat to our protagonists, and instead I just find myself laughing at his attempts to sound menacing.

I was much more impressed with the fear dimension. This sees a Kree orb exploding in the Lighthouse on Present Day Earth, which destroys the Monoliths contained within SHIELD's new base and creates a tear into the fear dimension. The agents find themselves confronted with their own greatest fears, and it's up to Fitz to find a way to close it off. As with the Fitz PTSD/brain damage character arc, this is a fantastic storyline that allows us to dig further into the characters and learn about their deep vulnerabilities. A plot like this is great for showing that our heroes are not infallible, and that in reality they are just as human or flawed as the rest of us despite the crazy situations that they face. It's what makes the SHIELD agents so relatable; they're not Thor or Captain Marvel, they're mostly ordinary SHIELD agents (well, bar Daisy and Yo-Yo) thrown into extraordinary scenarios.

Overall, Agents Of SHIELD's fifth season is another amazing season of the show. Whilst the later Earth storylines are a bit hit and miss, the space half of the season is both visually and narratively pleasing, offering many a memorable moment, and introducing us to some of the most important characters in Agents Of SHIELD's final three seasons. It's a show that continues to demonstrate the huge ambitions of its writers, whilst offering a deep and intrinsicate exploration of its characters and their flaws. Season Five could very easily have been the last of Agents Of SHIELD's run, and its testament to the strength of this season that it was later renewed so quickly for two final seasons. Clearly Marvel Television knew that they still had a winner.

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What are your thoughts on Agents Of SHIELD's fifth season? Let me know in the comments section.