Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: The End Is at Hand/What We're Fighting For (7x12/13)

 And so we're at the end! Let's dive in.

Cons:

I wish I could give a different response, but a lot of this finale had me feeling a little cold. It's not that it was bad, but all the time spent on Kora and Garrett and on other characters who I don't give a shit about... it felt wasted to me. Kora showing up, and the whole "hello sister" thing, like she's Damon from The Vampire Diaries or some shit... and the redemption arc... all of it felt so telegraphed, and so unsatisfying, seeing as Kora is a new character who we haven't had time to get to know. Daisy's emotional arc ends up being about two characters who were only introduced in this season: Daniel and Kora. I liked the stuff with Sousa, but come on! It's supposed to be about family or whatever... Kora is brand new, there was no time to make it land.

The fact that the whole plan hinges on Kora, and on connecting with Daisy... I loved what Daisy said in last week's episode, about how Simmons is her sister and that's where her focus should be. Found Family > A stranger that you just met who happens to share blood with you. Yikes.

And then I thought about the characters they chose to bring back, and the characters that didn't get even a mention. What about Bobbi and Hunter, for goodness' sake?!

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Brand New Day (7x11)

Well, S.H.I.E.L.D. is being destroyed... this is getting pretty wild!

Cons:

I don't care about Kora. I'm sorry. I want to, I want to be compelled by this drama, but it just doesn't do much for me. We have this episode where all kinds of relationships are being explored: Daisy and Daniel, Fitz and Simmons, Simmons and Deke, Mack and Daisy, May and Coulson... and then have screen-time at the end devoted to Kora and Nathaniel? Who gives a crap?

It was painful to see Fitz for this brief moment in flashback. I understand that people who looked into the background of the show might have known all along that Fitz literally wasn't going to be in the season at all beyond a few moments (except the finale, one would assume), but I feel cheated. I didn't realize it was going to be the whole time. I kept holding out hope that he'd show up in the end-credit stinger, and every time he didn't, it really was disheartening. I liked seeing him, but it was almost worse to have him so briefly!