Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Beginning of the End is the first season’s finale and has the team making one final push against Garrett and his Hydra forces including Ward. However they first need to take care of the Hydra soldiers surrounding them and when one of them makes the mistake of calling May the Calvary she neutralizes him and takes his berserker staff giving her even more strength to contend with the others. She brings the house down literally while Coulson holds off some of the other soldiers so Skye could finish infiltrating Cybertek’s systems. Triplett is injured slightly during this encounter but they got what they needed and were able to get away with their plan still on track. But considering Fitz and Simmons haven’t answered any of Coulson’s calls they’re worried about their fate despite successfully tracking Garrett’s plane, and they have every reason to be concerned because the two of them are trapped at the bottom of the ocean in a pod with no way out. And since Garrett was given the GH-325 he’s not only stronger than ever before, as demonstrated by him ripping a door off completely. but he feels he’s now connected to the universe and can see so many things others can’t. So he says he’s unconcerned that Coulson and his team escaped and tells a doubting Ward that it’s bigger than Hydra now, it’s a full uprising. Everything appears to be in Garrett’s favor, and even if the team is able to stop him somehow will they have to do so at the expense of Simmons and Fitz’s lives since no one even knows where they are?

And it didn’t feel as if these resolutions were rushed, as I legitimately cheered some things such as Nick Fury’s appearance, laughed out loud at other moments, and felt satisfied once it was all over. And not one character next season will be in the exact same position as this season so yes there are some momentous series changing events.   It was unusual to me for a character not to be shown and only talked about when discussing his or her fate, and of course we’ll get that answer next season but it made me wonder if a decision was reversed because it did feel that way. There’s also at least one that can tie into the Guardians of the Galaxy and I would speculate on why another event took so long to occur or what it could mean to the entire Marvel universe but I don’t want to give away the final scene, which is extremely intriguing. So yes next season has plenty of story lines to explore and not at the expense of the most pertinent ones going unresolved.

SUMMARY

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Beginning of the End was a satisfying season finale that did a really good in tying up the more recent story lines while introducing a few elements that has me anticipating not just the start of next season but the impact on the entire Marvel universe. I enjoyed the tone of this episode more than the last one and the legit laugh out loud moments didn’t take away from that. I loved Nick Fury’s extended appearance and the new state of affairs for next season. I think the penultimate episode did a disservice to the finale and as a result a couple of things that weren’t addressed felt like they could’ve been if they started earlier in the penultimate. Overall I’m very satisfied with the first season and how this show truly found its stride, and I’m expecting more episodes like the second half of the inaugural season and this show to remain one of my favorites.