As we get ready for the big fall finale next week, this week’s episode of Agents of SHIELD took several unexpected turns, as Ward strikes Coulson in a big way, taking their war to the next level and solidifying “Closure” as of the most emotionally charged episodes of the whole season.
I can honestly not remember the last time I watched an episode of a TV show where either a main character or recurring character gets killed off within the first five minutes. However, that’s the case here as Ward interrupts a burger date between Coulson and Rosalind, who gets shot and dies in Coulson’s arms. Despite my issues with the character, I didn’t see Rosalind getting axed off so early in the season, and it was definitely tragic to see her die. Coulson’s reaction and how he acts in this episode is something that I’m mixed with because they are taking this character into new directions that I’m not used to seeing.
On the one hand, it’s good that we are seeing new layers to this character who has always been this pure force of good since his debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It gives Clark Gregg the opportunity to do something new with the character that he has been playing the same way for almost eight years now, since Iron Man came out in 2008. However, I can’t help but feel that this went maybe a little too fast in terms of how much Coulson went to that dark place. It’s understandable, though, because this is the last episode before the fall finale, and after that, Agents of SHIELD won’t be back till March, so the writers want and need to set up the next step of his arc. I guess I was just not ready to see THAT much of his progression from him getting furious with Hunter to him kidnapping and threatening Ward’s brother, Thomas, after Fitz and Simmons were taken by Ward.
If you needed another reminder that Fitz and Simmons ain’t what they used to be when the show first started, then this episode should serve as a good example. Seeing them and Ward in the same room after what he put them through in Season 1 was one of the most intense parts of the episode. I almost wished that Simmons had been allowed to just jump at Ward and punch him as much as she could, just to give us that nod to where she has gotten since the beginning. Despite Coulson having Ward’s brother, Ward manages to to convince Fitz into helping Hydra with opening the portal to the mysterious planet in an exchange for Simmons no longer being tortured.
Honestly, between getting all the plot twists while handling all the emotional beats that this episode put us viewers through, I can’t believe that this wasn’t the mid-season finale. The show could have literally ended the episode with Coulson falling down the gate to the mystery planet and cut to “Agents of SHIELD returns in March 2016 on ABC” and have that be a perfect cliffhanger till next year. Don’t get me wrong, I’m 100% fine with getting one more episode, because holy Stan Lee, do I have questions after seeing that final moment.
Overall, “Closure” was bigger than I had imagined, despite keeping in mind that this was one of the last two episodes before the hiatus, which meant that big things were bound to go down. After everything that happened in “Closure,” next week’s fall finale is, without a doubt, something that you should not miss.
Don’t miss the fall finale of Agents of SHIELD next Tuesday at 9/8c on ABC.
[Photo credit: Greg Gayne/ABC]
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