Loved it? Hated it? What did you think about "Absolution/Ascension"? (S3 Finale)

[President_Luthor]

I thought it was overall a solid ending to one of AoS' strongest seasons to date.

A few thoughts for now ...

The 2-hour running time was long and while there were some slower lulls in it re: action and drama it was mostly a full-throttle action-heavy finale.

The mystery of who ultimately ended up in space was solved, didn't think it was going to be [SPOILER]Lincoln[/SPOILER]. But at least the person went out a hero -- the way any Team Coulson member would want to go.

I didn't think they'd catch Hive so soon into the finale, but I can't say it was a surprise that he'd manage to break out. "Grant Ward" Hive has been one of the highlights of the season, seeing him play out that messianic cult-like villain role to the hilt. Ward was a bit boring as a dutiful agent, but over the past two seasons his evolution from troubled hero to unabashed villain has been one of the more intriguing arcs in the show.

They had a whole lot of red herrings thrown into the mix, where it could have been almost anyone paying the price for the team.

It was definitely a Daisy-focused finale and it was interesting to see her evolve from the expected self-loathing after her time as Hive-influenced Bad!Daisy back to being a member -- and Mack's role in looking out for his fallen partner. I was never really crazy about the Daisy/Linc melodrama on AoS, but I didn't have too much of a problem with it in this finale.

Now that ABC has passed on Most Wanted and dropped Agent Carter, AoS is basically my only network TV Marvel fix. Marvel keeps saying its a shared universe, but this has rarely materialized esp. of late. It seems to be a one-sided benefit: more for the MCU side than for the TV universe. The alleged tie-ins to the show have been hit-and-miss, with Ward's HYDRA heel turn re: WS movie's fallout being the best of them to date for me.

And Chloe Bennet's recent remarks would seem to reflect fans' understandable frustration with the studio treating its TV cousins as after-thoughts. I agree with some reviews that it makes little sense, plot-wise, that they couldn't even get some heavy-hitting Avenger backup for a potentially world-ending scenario. Maybe they didn't want to outshine Team Coulson in a season finale had they just injected a movie superhero in it, but Hive's doomsday scheme does seem like a threat big enough to require even a single Avenger's help.

I tend to be a DC guy, but AoS has done some solid work this year. Overall I really liked S3 and this finale, they've had some pretty solid eps. this season.

And what was up with that six months later flash forward? Lots of questions about the status of the team in the future ...

[Welling_is_pretty]

I really found myself liking the first hour but not so much the second.

The sneaking in and overriding stuff was all tense and exciting and I enjoyed it. Frying Hive's brain like that? Wow, that was pretty impressive. Then freezing him in amber? Um, does no one at SHIELD remember the last time they tried to 'capture' a villain and contain him like that? *cough*Loki*cough*

Mack forgives Daisy, nice moment.

The reveal on Absolution was clever and loved Jemma saving Fitz. (We seriously needed more Jemma in this finale, IMO.)

Daisy showing she could have gotten out at any time. And begging Hive to take her back. Interesting twist.

Then finding out Lash made her impervious to Hive's control (I wonder if Lash also made her impervious to other forms of control. Could be interesting, if so.).

She and Hive fight.

Lincoln finally does the doctor thing again (his skills as a doctor seem to come and go) and cauterizes (well, Mack does) Yo-yo's wound.

The doc geeking out over Coulson's hand was cute.

Fitz's cloaked gun. Okay.

Coulson calling the Quinjet on his arm. (why didn't he do that earlier?)

And then the best part of the episode, for me. The hologram of Phil. And even a Star Wars reference. Loved it!

Lincoln goes to sacrifice himself (I'd guessed that so I sort of sighed when it happened). The jumping around with the necklace was obviously intended to make you wonder who would die but it seemed to be narrowed down to Mack, Yo-yo or Lincoln. Yo-yo was too obvious and Mack seemed a long shot. When Daisy found the necklace so close to the end I found myself going "okay, Lincoln's gonna take it from her somehow" and sure enough...

6 months later. Weird but rolling with it. Coulson doesn't seem to be Director anymore (Fury? Or someone else?), Daisy is on her own, FitzSimmons are working with the Doc (under SHIELD or no?), and the doc is creating LMDs?!

And we didn't see what happened to Melinda or Yo-yo or several others, which bummed me out a bit.

Marvel keeps saying its a shared universe, but this has rarely materialized esp. of late. It seems to be a one-sided benefit: more for the MCU side than for the TV universe. The alleged tie-ins to the show have been hit-and-miss, with Ward's HYDRA heel turn re: WS movie's fallout being the best of them to date for me.

Agreed. Season 1 (and even 2) seemed to have more links--at least more mentions--but 3? Not so much. I don't know if it's because we turned the focus so much to the Inhumans (and there was an inhuman movie on the slate for MCU. That got pushed back and then all but cancelled, I believe?) or not.

Maybe they didn't want to outshine Team Coulson in a season finale had they just injected a movie superhero in it, but Hive's doomsday scheme does seem like a threat big enough to require even a single Avenger's help.

Or, at the very least, those Avengers who are also SHIELD agents (or were). I get that maybe the actors weren't available or that they couldn't afford them or something. But not even a mention? "Should we call in the Avengers?" "No, they're busy."

[Quark]

Fabulous finale.

The only thing I didn't like was the 6 months later bit. Found it rather jarring.