It’s almost time for the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. season 4 finale, and we’ve got hints on the highs and heartbreaks of “World’s End!”
The spirit meets the flesh
It’s the clash of the semi-human titans in the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. season 4 finale, as Robbie Reyes returns from Hell to take on the powerfully pissed-off Aida. (Her mood has decidedly not improved since last week.)
Robbie is as slick as ever, and he’s picked up a few tricks in his long sojourn with Ghost Rider — but Aida and her gang of multiplying Russians have more than one ace up their sleeves. Evenly matched in brutality, this duel becomes a game of outwit and outlast, and the victor may not even reap the spoils.
The sh*t hits the fan in the Framework
Elena played her full hand in last week’s episode when she dove into the Framework to save Mack; unfortunately, the horrifying reality she awoke to was just the beginning of her trials.
Time is running out within Aida’s constructed world, and Elena is forced to reckon with a version of Mack with radically different priorities. The wrenching pull of love works a tragic triangle between Elena, Mack, and Hope, and as “World’s End” reaches its climax, it becomes clear that the paradigm for a happy ending has become painfully subjective.
Ships ahoy?
Even with so much at stake in the realm of the flesh, the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. season 4 finale takes some time to contemplate matters of the heart. But as writer Jeff Bell tells us, romance can be a prickly subject in the best of times, and these are definitely not the best of times.
Expect some good feelings in “World’s End,” but also an episode that respects the magnitude of our agents’ challenges. There’s no neatly wrapped bow for these kinds of entanglements, and as always with Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., moving forward proves radically more important than lingering on the past.
Someone has a secret
In between robots, broken hearts, and a guy whose head is on fire, the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. season 4 finale hides a much more quiet kind of mystery. One of our agents knows something that the others do not — and its the kind of secret that could shake this little world of S.H.I.E.L.D. to its very foundations.
A change of pace
With every successive season finale, the writers of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. have taken it upon themselves to shock and confound their viewers with radical changes to the narrative. This year is no exception… in fact, I think we have hit a new high bar. “World’s End” concludes with a twist of events that suits the name perfectly; it’s a shift so profoundly surprising, it all but defies description.
All I’ll say is this: Truly, there are more things in heaven and earth than were dreamt of in my philosophy.
The Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. season 4 finale, “World’s End,” airs Tuesday, May 16 at 10:00 p.m. on ABC.