Marvel’s Agents of Shield finally came to an end with the seventh season, and fans are now reminiscing the show’s best moments throughout these years. The show saw some drastic changes in these seven years as it dealt with some of the show’s highest and show’s lowest moments.
Most fans will agree that the show improved from the first season and became more story focused. The show’s content became more focused and elevated, which continued to meet fan expectations with each season. However, Agents of Shield is not perfect as it also faced some low points in its plot and reached a peak in its content.
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10 Improved: Hydra Twist
During the majority of the first season, viewers were critical of the show’s weak direction and lack of cohesive story since each episode was a standalone mission. Fans were not satisfied with this format, adding to the show’s cheesy tone throughout each episode.
However, the Hydra twist changed the direction and tone of the show forever. Following the events of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Agents of Shield was also hit by the Hydra reveal with many characters suffering the consequences. Grant Ward, who was promoted as one of the main characters, was revealed to be a Hydra agent, which left fans shocked but impressed with the show’s bold decision. Considering it is called Agents of Shield, viewers had many questions about the aftermath of Hydra and the team’s ability to rebuild in its later seasons.
9 Worse: Progressively Boring Villains
The show’s early seasons had some of the best villains written into the story. Villains like Gideon Malick and Hive were considered respectable and smart, showing themselves as a strong challenge to the team. Also, Grant Ward was noted as one of the best villains of the show due to the character’s complex background.
Unfortunately, the show suffered from villain problems in the show’s later seasons. From season five and onward, many of the villains became too generic and had unconvincing motives throughout the show. Even characters like Sarge and Nathaniel Malick were deemed boring and did little to elevate the content and quality in its story.
8 Improved: Great Character Development
In the show’s early seasons, many of the characters had little character development as they felt uninspiring and boring. However, as the show progressed, many of the characters dramatically changed as they faced trauma and dealt with life-changing events.
For instance, Sky became Daisy as she learned more about her parentage and her Inhuman abilities. Fitz and Simmons became more than just scientists as they faced the reality of the dangerous world and learned to adapt to those changes. Improved character development also applied to villains, such as Grant Ward and Aida. Nevertheless, these character developments played well with the story, showing the character’s maturity throughout the series.
7 Worse: Sidelining Daisy
Considering Daisy was the team’s resourceful and most powerful character, she slowly became sidelined after season five. She rarely used her powers throughout the fifth and sixth seasons of the show, which left fans disappointed with Daisy’s lack of on-field action.
Much of her power inactivity were integrated into the season’s story by trying to keep her powers under disguise from enemies. However, the lack of powers did not build her character arc throughout the show’s later seasons. Unfortunately, one of Shield’s most vital characters became less prominent throughout the series.
6 Improved: Diverting From The MCU
Though the show continued to have its crossovers with the MCU, Agents of Shield mostly developed original stories that did not rely on the MCU films. Some of the diversions included introducing Ghost Rider to explore mysticism and explaining time travel that was different from the quantum realm.
Even if the show mentioned the events of MCU like the Sokovia Accords, they were merely acknowledged and only integrated small elements from the MCU to develop its unique story. Furthermore, fans praised the show for being its own thing rather than forcing itself to be like the MCU.
5 Worse: Overdoing the Hydra Story
Even though the Hydra twist changed the framework of the show, Agent of Shield became too reliant on the Hydra plot. It became the primary focus in the TV show for about four seasons.
Though different versions of the Hydra story worked in most plots, the show could have developed on newer and original content. The show did not sway away from the Hydra story until season five, which is too long for a TV show to focus on just one plot.
4 Improved: Best Content To Explore The Inhumans
During the second season, Marvel Studios had plans to introduce the Inhumans story in both the TV show and the films. An Inhumans film was in development as one of the movies for Phase Three. The film downgraded to a television show that was released in 2017. However, it canceled after the first season for being critically panned by both critics and audiences.
Despite the hiccups with the Inhumans, Agents of Shield was the one platform that managed to do justice for it. It was a crucial plot that impacted Daisy Johnson’s character arc and set precedence to the show’s future content. These contents include the introduction of Yo-Yo and Daisy’s struggles in controlling her powers.
3 Worse: Dragging The Show’s Ending
Though the show was performing well through the first seasons, fans were anticipating the show to come to an end. Fans were pondering if season five was going to be the last since the story was seemingly concluding story arcs for Daisy and Coulson. However, the show renewed for a sixth and seventh season but not without the consequences.
Season six did not fare well with fans since the story was not as impressive as its previous seasons. The writing for season six showed that the superhero show initially did not anticipate additional seasons after season five. Though season six was tolerable to watch, the season still dragged the show’s ending.
2 Improved: The Team Became A Family
One of the best things about the show was the chemistry between each character. The chemistry between each character elevated the show’s story, making the character’s motives personal when trying to solve the problems they faced. Even newer characters like Deke were accepted to the SHIELD family, adding new personalities to the ever-growing inclusive team.
Unfortunately, even families have to say goodbye to their loved ones. Before the show’s finale, several characters that were integral to the Shield team left throughout the series. In season three, Lance Hunter and Bobbi Morse forcibly left Shield, creating a heartbreaking and emotional exit of Shield’s two valuable agents. Of course, the season seven finale left fans in tears as the members of the Shield family went their separate ways but not without celebrating their accomplishments.
1 Worse: Unnecessarily Killing Main Characters (For Future Plots)
Agents of Shield has its fair share of reviving dead characters for the sake of plot development. The show itself would not exist if it were not for Fury’s orders to revive Coulson with T.A.H.I.T.I. While reviving characters may seem decent a few times, it becomes an old and unoriginal plot, especially when the main characters come back to life.
This plot device was the main issue in season six for two main characters. Fitz died during the season five finale, which then became a motive for Gemma and Daisy to find his 2019 cryo. Also, a version of Coulson came back as Sarge for the sake of having an appearance of Coulson. Unfortunately, these deaths become meaningless when the writers plan to bring them back to life.
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