Warning: Contains Spoilers

There is one word that I would wholeheartedly apply to this series: consistent. Every week I watched and every week, the quality rarely faltered and ultimately, this has been the best series of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. yet.

The series essentially closes the Hydra storyline and gradually introduces us to the Inhumans, of whom we will apparently be seeing more of in the MCU. On that note, I loved the Civil War references in the later episodes and seeing much more of Gideon Malick (the wonderfully dastardly Powers Booth), who we briefly got to know as part of the security council in Avengers Assemble. His backstory was very well developed and he made for a hissable, but also conflicted, antagonist. In addition, the background of how and why Hydra was set up in the first place, tracing its evolution, was fascinating.

In this series, Hive/Alveus certainly makes for an awesome antagonist, Brett Dalton getting to dress like Neo from The Matrix, acting all super shady and mysterious and revealing his true, excellently designed form in the final episode.

All of the characters on this series get their chance to shine; it was great to see a lot more of Mack (Henry Simmons), the episode looking at the relationship with his brother was great, and Fitz and Simmons get to further develop their relationship, which is nice. It was a shame to see Hunter and Bobbi leave the show though, I’ll miss the latter kicking all kinds of ass with her escrima sticks (or as I call them: the you-scream-a sticks!); if they do indeed get their own spin-off show, I would be curious to see how it turns out. I also loved the addition of the Secret Warriors, including Elena “yo-yo” Rodriguez and at least we still have Melinda May (Ming-Na Wen): ultimate badass!

The standout episode for me was the pivotal “Spacetime”, which featured the future visions; this episode was particularly tense, exciting and the idea of fate/destiny is always a fascinating subject. In addition, “4,722 Hours” is an interesting one, since Simmons is essentially the only character (plus Will Daniels). This is a unique episode and proves that the showrunners can step out of the box once in a while.

Through all of this the writing remains confident and intelligent, delivering heart and soul as well as tension and excitement. It is the kind of engaging storytelling that we have been lucky enough to see in MCU films like The Winter Soldier and Civil War, with similarly exciting action sequences to boot!

Consistently dramatic, exciting and gripping, the third series of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is a pitch perfect adventure with fully developed characters, excellent effects and an intriguing storyline.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★