Is it just me, or did the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. season finale sneak up on us? It seems like just yesterday that Skye was discovering her powers, and now she's part of an all-out war between S.H.I.E.L.D. (old and new) and her new family of Inhumans. Is Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. going to explore Inhumans in Season 3, or should we start preparing our goodbyes for this lovable band of weirdos? Jiaying may have revealed herself as an evil mastermind, but her story on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. could be coming to a close.
We obviously don't know much about Season 3, except that Bobbi Morse and Lance Hunter are sticking around after all. I would love for Ruth Negga, Luke Mitchell and Dichen Lachman to stick around and become series regulars. We've barely scratched the surface of this community and how it operates. Plus, Skye has a pretty big choice to make. At midseason, we had a "Dad versus Dad" showdown between Cal and Coulson. Now, with Jiaying and Melinda May, it's "Mom versus Mom." No matter which side Skye picks in this season's finale, a lot of feelings are going to get hurt.
The Kree and the Inhumans have been strategically placed since the fourth episode of Season 1 when Ward (then working for Hydra) first encountered the alien writing on a blackboard. So it stands to reason that Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. would not completely drop this storyline. Unfortunately, the consequences of Tuesday's finale might mean a departure from the Inhuman storyline completely. I can't think of a scenario that would end well for both parties.
Bagged & Tagged
What would be a win for S.H.I.E.L.D. in this scenario? If they were to win, one would think they'd want to round up all the gifted Inhumans, house and study them. Sure, they're not Hydra, but this isn't the least invasive situation. It's quite the opposite, in fact. The Inhumans aren't exactly harmless, but they do appear to have a decent system of checks and balances in place that results in minimal damage. On the other hand, the plot of Captain America: Civil War (based on Marvel Studio's description of Civil War and my understanding of the source material) involves an official government registry for powered people that sounds an awful lot like the S.H.I.E.L.D. index.
It would be interesting to see a Season 3 where S.H.I.E.L.D. becomes kind of the bad guys and our characters have to learn how to deal with that. Would that make Skye an anti-villain instead of an anti-hero? How cool would that be?
S.H.I.E.L.D. Down
This option is not great either. What if the Inhumans majorly dented the S.H.I.E.L.D. force in the battle and kicked them out of Afterlife? Hydra crippled S.H.I.E.L.D. once and it could happen again. That's a lot of wear and tear for a spy organization. What if Jiaying is being set up for an even larger villain arc in Season 3.
Extended Universe
The biggest question to me is — how does Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Inhuman backstory in Season 2 set up the Marvel Cinematic Universe's Inhumans movie, which won't premiere until 2019. According to IMDb, the official logline for the film is "an isolated community of superhumans fights to protect themselves."
How do Gordon, Raina, Jiaying and Lincoln factor in to that? I have a feeling that either Jiaying and her people are going to hitch a flight, or a Gordon, into outer space and find a new land to settle that will join up with the film. Either that, or they're going to come to a major discovery in a few years that there's a whole Inhuman royal family they didn't know about.
Images: Kelsey McNeal/ABC; Giphy (3)
