AGENTS OF SHIELD Roundtable: “The Sign” and “New Life”

The two-hour season finale of Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD. aired on Friday night, focusing on the following in “The Sign” and “New Life.”

With time running short, the team has to go to hell and back to stop the end of everything.

Join NiceGirls Rueben, Christie and Roz as we discuss the episode, using our ratings system known as SASSY – S(tupid), A(wesome), S(o) S(o) and Y(Your Thoughts) along with our predictions for next season, which will be the show’s last:

STUPID

Roz: We have too many fake-outs –after a season of not knowing what the big bad really was– so I could have done without “killing” May and Coulson to bring them back. It’s also frustrating to see FitzSimmons separated once again. Can’t they get more than a few episodes together? Or are you really worried that their brains together are too strong to match against anything else?

Christie: I am probably alone in this, but Coulson needed to stay dead. I feel like this whole plot with Coulson was needless, and since we’re back to vague answers about where all of this is going, I feel like bringing him back is just as needless. If the team and show can’t exist without Coulson, why kill him in the first place?!

Rueben:  Why do Fitz and Simmons have to be apart again?  Why is that the go-to each time they get close to having a happy life together?  I just don’t get it.  And, I just don’t get the point of having Coulson back yet again; this time as an LMD (if I understood that final scene correctly).  I just so frustrated over those issues.

AWESOME

Roz: I want to highlight the kid who saved the Lighthouse before who appeared to help with the monoliths, but now isn’t dead again. Even if he was there in the beginning, and his work didn’t help the team, he’s still a good person to have around in times of crisis (which we’re in, yet again). May was also a bright spot, but she always is.

Christie: May. Brave and amazing to the end. Also, as much as I can’t stand Deke, he really stepped up in “The Sign,” so he gets an attaboy from me this week.

Rueben:  Yes, Christie.  May was a real stand-out, especially that fight sequence between her and Izel, and of course, her taking Izel in the end.  I screamed happy over that move.  And you’re right Deke actually stepped up for once.  I loved the line that Fitz screamed at Deke: “half of your ideas are mine” because they are!

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SO SO

Roz: What was the purpose of all those chronocoms being jerks? Is it just to raise some stakes and give next season something else? This doesn’t feel like the end of a season, but the end of half a season. I would have rather had an extra long season six than splitting up this arc into two seasons that feel awkward when we don’t have a clear picture of the end goal.

Christie: Fitz and Simmons can’t know where each other is AGAIN?! WHYYYYYY?! Also, I felt Clark Gregg’s acting to be oddly wooden. Maybe he just can’t play sinister? But the performance felt half-hearted.

Rueben:  As great as it was, how did May battle all those monsters to get through the portal to take out Izel?

YOUR THOUGHTS

Roz: I’m still not sure I understand why Izel and whatever had Coulson’s body were the big bads this season. Did anyone give an answer for the use of aliens that don’t fit into the larger MCU world. The show has been feeling less like the MCU for a while now (why stop something that helped to make sure the fans of the show and movies had a frame of reference?) but it’s less clear now and I don’t know what that means for the last season.

Christie: There were a lot of high points in this two-parter. But the episodes were uneven. The action moments and sense of a dire situation were strong, but they were mired by the villains and their empty dialogue. I don’t particularly know how I feel about the end. I’m not a fan of bringing Coulson back again, though I get the reasons. Hopefully there’s a payoff.

Rueben:  I’m so pleased that they took down Izel, saving Yoyo in the process; and getting rid of the demon inside Sarge.  At least that whole storyline is gone, but how does having an LMD of Coulson help them in now having to battle the chronicoms?  I loved the action sequences throughout the episode and the special effects are always great and I loved the tension that was built up throughout, but much like what Christie said the “big bads” were a bit off for me.

Final Season Predictions

Roz: Well, I suppose that the choice to do a retrospective from Comic Con makes sense because I would have forgotten most of the LMD storyline (save what we got in that episode FitzSimmons’ brains). Is the LMD just because they had to destroy whatever that body was holding Sarge? I’m not sure I know what we’ll see besides that LMD being oddly knowledgeable and hoping we get a Hayley Atwell cameo.

Christie: If we’re going into the past, I hope that means Agent Carter action. That would be cool! Does an LMD fangirl? The real Coulson would squee like a proper fan. Hopefully we get Peggy Carter back.

I also assume that means we might see some of the characters that have died over the years return… including Ward.  It’s a way to say goodbye, I guess. And maybe we’ll get really lucky and FitzSimmons will be able to reunite and live happily ever after, you monsters!

Rueben:  I don’t want to see anything about the monoliths ever again.  I want there to be a valid reason for a Coulson LMD.  And I love Christie’s idea of getting some previous characters to come back.  I want to see Lincoln again.  I also want Fitz and Simmons to be happy and TOGETHER for good finally; is that too much to ask.

Make sure to check out our coverage of the show here.

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has been renewed for a 7th and final season, which will return to will to ABC in the Spring 2020.