Home at last and while I’m tired I’m also restless so it seemed like the perfect night to watch the finale of AGENTS OF SHIELD for a second time.  Len and I were doing a great deal of hooting and hollering so I wanted to watch it again with a more critical eye.  My initial reaction hasn’t changed — it was too damn easy.  (Picture Samuel Jackson saying that in his Nick Fury voice.)

I had really liked the shake up to the show — SHIELD has been designated as a terrorist organization.  Our little gang of heroes are on there own with few resources and the pain and horror at a traitor in their midst.  And then the writers went and undid it all, but more on that later.

The good news is the show is coming back.  The better news it’s been moved an hour later which should help deepen and darken the stories they can tell.  Word is that both Ward and Fitz will be back next season.  I’m glad about Ward, he became very interesting once he went dark.  Fitz I can take or leave though I liked the scene in the pod just before he blew out the window.  It was the best moment those two actors have been given thus far, and they pulled it off.

I love Nick Fury as channeled  by Jackson, he’s a great character, but the quippy, Buffyesque dialog between Coulson and Fury about Garrett didn’t work for me.  I think because they let it go on for a beat too long.

I really liked the fact that Skye and Ward didn’t have a cliched conversation about “how could you!?”  Instead she just let May kick his ass which was very satisfying.

Coulson casually vaporizing Garrett also didn’t work for me.  The point of Coulson is his inherent decency.  it was apparent that he and Garrett had worked together, been friends.  They have both experienced the creepy alien drug and returned to life.  Mad Garrett is a mirror image of Coulson, and in fact they imply that they are closely linked and have mad insights into the universe in the final scene of the show.  The nonchalant killing shook my faith in Coulson.  It felt cheap and manipulative like the moment in the first Avengers movie where Thor says (as regards Loki) “He’s adopted.”  Good for a laugh or a cheer in the case of killing Garrett, but undermining the character or emotions.

For me one of the best and most moving moments in the episode was when Fury basically tells Coulson — “You’re an Avenger too.”  The idea that the little guy, the normal guy was just as important as Ironman, and Captain America, etc. etc. was a lovely moment.

I was less happy about making Coulson the new director of SHIELD.  Yes, he’s a good and honorable man who, unlike Fury, does not believe that the end justifies the means, but he’s become a bureaucrat and the guy who sits behind the desk and gives orders is not very interesting.  Since Coulson has always been the heart and soul of this show making him an administrator may prove to be a misstep.  And if he’s off leading missions, and waving around a gun it will also seem unrealistic because the Director of SHIELD should not be in the field.

I think my discomfort arises from the fact that at the end everything had been wrapped up with far too neat a bow.  Yes, there are questions still to be answered — why is Skye’s daddy dripping blood?  Why is Coulson scrawling alien circuit boards on a wall (and does no one in this universe own a pen?), but it feels like the show has just been rolled back to the beginning in terms of the trappings.  Yes Fitz may be brain damaged now and Ward is a nasty, but it just feels like a reset..

Contrast this ending with PERSON OF INTEREST that just shook all the pieces and completely jumbled the board.  The writers on that show didn’t assume that a handful of people could “win” against the might of the government and a shady, well financed international company.  They had a small win, but they have lost the war and each other.  I want to rematch that finale too before I write up anything.

As I look back at this post I realized I disliked more than I liked, but I’ll be there when the show comes back.  I like the universe Marvel has built and I like these characters.