[No specific spoilers, I think, but still …]
I've been conflicted over MAoS this season. It's definitely been a step up from the first two-thirds of Season 1, but a far cry from the post-Winter Soldier fun that wrapped up that season.
Season 2 has been a bit more … less. In part, because the cast expanded hugely, in part because so much time was taken up with Whiny Skye, whose agency (so to speak) has steadily diminished from episode 1.
The themes in Season 2 were pretty cool — reforming SHIELD, dealing with crazy Kree blood stuff for Coulson and (sigh) Sky, Terregenesis, then the dual threats of the Real SHIELD and the Inhumans. But with so many threads to follow, and so much time taken up with Whiny Skye, it was difficult to feel enthusiasm or engagement over all but the biggest moments. It was maddeningly world-building, but without dramatic pay-off. It was caramel and marinara and crisp apples and tater tots and dark chocolate and cheap chocolate easter eggs … all muddled together to where one can still see and appreciate individual elements, but the mixture is a bit of a mess.
The two-hour season finale managed to bring so (dare I say) closure to the far-too-many balls juggled into the air — Ward and Agent 33, Hunter and Mockingbird, May and her husband, Mack, Coulson, Fitz and Simmons, Skye, Skye's mom, Skye's dad, the nature of SHIELD itself (and that;s just the stuff in the second half of the season) … everything gets touched on and dealt with remarkably well, if a bit rushed. And we even got a tag scene that had my daughter bleating in protest.
So … glad I've watched the season, frustrated by the muddle it's been so much of the time, satisfied by the resolution … and ready for the fall and Season 3.
Tag scene? There was actual bleating? Do tell.
Like I said, AoS has been really close to the delete from the DVR all season, and like ST:TNG where the first and last Eps where the only really good eps, with the other 20+ in between being all over the place, like a giant tease. It hasn't been as good as Sleepy Hollow or Orphan Black or Black Sails where each Ep is great leading to another great Ep. And sadly all of this is just going to lead to just more whiny Skye next season.
+Stan Pedzick I'll hold off on spoilers for a bit.
I continue to enjoy the individual characters (except for, usually, Skye), but the I've been less wowed by the story lines than I've wanted to be. The final double-length wrap was arguably the best one of the season, largely due to paying off so much of what had been built up, but the bar for that was too low.
On the other hand, Cal (Skye's dad) has been a delight whenever he's been on the screen, so there's that.
I haven't seen the season finale yet so leaven my comments with that knowledge. For myself, I am very very very tired of watching a show about the bad guys.
I mean, if there was a show out there about the drama of working inside the NSA, I wouldn't watch it. It doesn't matter if the actors were fantastic and the characters were interesting, they're still working for the NSA.
(And I know they have to keep hammering the Index theme throughout the series, so they can properly foreshadow the events surrounding Captain America Civil War, but despite the fact I know why they want to do this, all it really means to me is I have to put up with rage inducing politics of fear for at least another year.)
Even the people working against shield, like Skye's mom, when they're right about something like the fact that Shield is working primarily out of fear and doing horrible things, still manages to be a bad person.
The only good resolution for characters I like is that actor permanently leaving the show.
+Dave Hill yes, yes he has been the best part of this season, mostly because his goals are very real and understandable.
+Doyce Testerman I'm not as convinced that SHIELD is the "bad guys," nor that they are ignoring or condoning the problematic aspects of the Index. One of the few positive sides of Skye's arc this season has been calling the treatment and view of metahumans as threats first and last into serious question.
(Of course, I felt one of the biggest flaws in the comics "Civil War" saga was that Mark Millar sandbagged the pro-registration argument by populating its proponents with a bunch of dicks.)
Is it about fear? Sure, that's part of it. But unlike "CSI: NSA," there's not the rah-rah nab-those-wascally-enhanced and endorsement of getting Them before they get Us. There's a lot more nuance about it in MAoS than, say, "The Flash."
MAoS is, perhaps, increasingly about that tightrope walk of how to assess and address threats, past, present, and future. That's a theme that, yes, will be played up big in "Civil War" — with luck it will actually be dealt with in greater depth than will be manageable in a 2+ hour movie.
And yet I actually look forward to watching the flash, whereas watching agents of shield feels like some sort of penance I need to pay to keep up with the rest of the Cinematic Universe.
We're definitely getting to the point in genre television where I don't feel I need to support a show I don't like, just so it stays on the air, even if it has the mutant enemy logo at the end. There's very good competition. Very enjoyable competition. And lots more on the way.