Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. - World's End

It's fitting that the end to an up-and-down season of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. would have it's share of highs and lows as well. Connecting back the first-half of the season, the return of Ghost Rider gives Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) and his team an easy out to destroy Aida (Mallory Jansen) and her creations. I certainly wasn't clamoring for the character's return, and I'm already sick and tired of the gimmick of Robbie Reyes (Gabriel Luna) temporarily passing the Spirit of Vengeance to another host (this marks the second time the show has used this cheat this season). The episode wraps up the threat of Aida and her murderous rampage, but not the after-effects of a plan already put into action.

Other than the fact it felt a bit lazy to bring him back only to kill Aida, I actually didn't mind the small dose of Reyes this episode. However, I'm not keen on the episode's unsubtle tease of a Robbie/Daisy (Chloe Bennet) relationship in the cards somewhere down the line. The return to the framework, however, didn't work for me. The story was finished with the team's escape. Yo-Yo (Natalia Cordova-Buckley) going back in to bring back Mack (Henry Simmons) may have saved that character for next year, but it also created a big chunk of dead weight in the finale for a storyline every other character had already moved past and went back over ground already well-covered in previous episodes.

By the end of the episode S.H.I.E.L.D. and Inhumans are public enemy number one with Daisy the face of the threat (thank's to Aida's Daisybot making a very public murderous display). Coulson and May (Ming-Na Wen), and Fitz (Iain De Caestecker) and Simmons (Elizabeth Henstridge), all have more than a little personal baggage to sift through. However, it looks like all of that will have to wait as the season ends on a bizarre cliffhanger sending Phil (and maybe his team?) into space. I'm guessing the setting will help the show more closely tie into Marvel's failed Inhumans movie project which has been scrapped in favor of a television show beginning on ABC this Fall.