Personal Story-arcs making the story:

Our heroes all have a personal story-arc in season three, for all of them, not only their job is a rollercoaster ride, there is many hardship on a personal level too. This is certainly also the case for Phil Coulson, he already is a father figure for his team, he cares for them all, Skye aka Daisy is like a daughter to him and he has a special bond with May, Fitz and Simmons. Then he also gets to feel love again for another person, a woman, this relationship is nicely being built up but then Grant Ward kills her. It takes a while before he can get his revenge, but this also turns out disastrous.

Skye aka Daisy first has to still deal with her mother’s death in season two and knows that her father no longer will recognize her. She also is struggling with her powers and trying to help other Inhumans who aren’t as lucky as Skye is. And when she comes under the influence of the Demon inside Ward, she betrays her colleagues, her friends and even hurts them when they are trying to free her from Ward. May loses her ex-husband Andrew Garner with the knowledge that if she would have started a new life with him on Hawaii, he would still live and they could both have been happy.

Jemma definitely had the most to endure, being sucked into the monolith to another planet where it is always dark, were she seems to be alone, without any food. She is convinced that Fitz is looking for a way to get her back, which he is, but it is taking very long. Meanwhile Jemma does find someone on that planet, Will, an astronaut, in reality he is sent by HYDRA, to be sustenance for the demon, and he is not the first. Meanwhile Fitz is going crazy, trying to get her back and when he does get her back, she is torn between her love for Fitz and for Will. For Fitz this is also very hard because he loves Jemma, he is in love with Jemma. Note – Episode 5 “4,722 Hours” is the episode where we follow Jemma on that alien planet, a fantastic episode, where Jemma is desperate to get back, desperate to see Fitz again, checking out a video on her phone as long as she can, where Fitz talks to her. When she finally thinks she isn’t going to be saved, she gives in to her feelings of Will. A very strong performance from Elizabeth Henstridge who carried this episode well. The relationship between Fitz and Simmons to me is the heart of the show, these two characters always hit a nerve with me, in a very positive way, I love them both.

Mack brings his brother in danger, their relationship is already an uneasy one and Mack having to lie about his work does not help. He really feels guilty that he did not see Daisy change, while she is his partner in the field. He almost dies by the hands of Daisy when he tries to free her from the demon. Mack had a good quote that stuck with me: Mack's line "maybe it's not about what they do, but how we react". I immediately think of all those power hungry people who coincidentally are also our world leaders, who seem to want only one thing, WAR! Bobbi and Hunter, formally married, both working for S.H.I.E.L.D., still love each other. Hunter almost lost Bobbi during the end of the second season. Bobbi is still recuperating from that in season three. Hunter wants revenge on Ward for this. In episode 13 “Parting Shot” we get a true spy episode centered around these two characters which became favorite characters of mine. But their actions make it impossible for them to become S.H.I.E.L.D. agents ever again, so they receive a spy’s goodbye, in a pub, their former team sit alone, buy and raise a drink. Emotionally poignant, I could not keep it dry.

I am not sure what I can say about Grant Ward as a personal story-arc. Of course, he has one too, wanting nothing more than to destroy S.H.I.E.L.D., creating a new HYDRA, dying at the hands of Coulson on that alien planet, comes back as the demon, the reason HYDRA was founded in the first place. Then you have Malick, all his life a member of HYDRA, in the high ranks. He becomes a tragic figure in the end, he was always loyal to HYDRA, had the faith, he knew what needed to be done and he did it, getting the demon to earth after all these years of trying to. But in the end seeing everything falling apart, his daughter alienates from him and the demon sacrifices his daughter. He then gets killed at S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters by a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent under the influence of the demon.

Supposed spin-off from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.:

The reason why these two characters, Bobbi and Hunter, left was because they were supposed to get their own TV show called Marvel’s Most Wanted! A pilot was even created for this spin-off, created by Jeffrey Bell and Paul Zbyszewski for ABC! I for one would have been very interested in this, because as I said, really liked the characters, especially Hunter, mainly because of his humor but also because of the way he looks at a problem, he is loyal, tries to do the right thing. A real shame this never got to see the light of day. If you want to read about it more, you can read it on this wiki page.

Final Word:

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has become one my favorite TV shows of late, it has everything, big story-arcs, character development, lots of humor, drama and action and lots of SCI-FI. This is a show you can easily revisit every number of years, this doesn’t get boring. Knowing what is yet to come, I am even more looking forward to last four seasons. Yes, I did try to write it yet another way as the first two seasons. I am really struggling to write a blog for this show, probably because so much happens, it is hard to keep track and I easily get trapped into the details. I just find it hard to write a general overview for S.H.I.E.L.D. as also with the show Foundation. I felt this too with the shows 12 Monkeys, that’s why you won’t find it on the website here, but it will happen with my next rewatch.