<http://schema.org/articleBody>
"It&amp;#039;s the end, but the moment has been prepared for. In the four weeks leading up to this season closer, Marvel&amp;#039;s Agents of SHIELD has laid the groundwork for a potentially dynamite finale with a strong set of episodes dealing with the aftermath of HYDRA&amp;#039;s resurgence and Ward&amp;#039;s betrayal. The only question now is\u2026 does &amp;#039;Beginning of the End&amp;#039; - penned by showrunners Maurissa Tancharoen &amp;amp; Jed Whedon - deliver?  Whedon and Tancharoen last shared a writing credit on the superlative &amp;#039;Turn, Turn, Turn&amp;#039; and while this episode lacks its predecessor&amp;#039;s power to shock, it does boast a pleasingly high action quotient - opening with our heroes&amp;#039; final siege on Cybertech and barely pausing to catch its breath. But there&amp;#039;s also a rich vein of emotion here to compliment the action. Agents of SHIELD has, in its lazier moments, exploited Fitz and Simmons - the token nerds - for easy comic relief, but in its final outing for the foreseeable, the show makes terrific use of Iain de Caestecker and Elizabeth Henstridge&amp;#039;s natural, compelling chemistry. Thrown - quite literally - into a high-pressure scenario, Fitz and Simmons are forced to make an impossible decision and when the former determines to show the latter just how much she means to him, it&amp;#039;s enormously powerful. Then, quite wonderfully, mere moments after it had you tearing up, &amp;#039;Beginning of the End&amp;#039; changes the game and has you sporting a broad grin. It doesn&amp;#039;t even matter that Samuel L Jackson&amp;#039;s appearance was spoiled in the opening credits - the moment when Nick Fury appears to save Fitzsimmons like a bad-ass angel motherf**ker is pure bliss. From the moment the uber-dynamic Jackson makes his debut, the episode kicks up a gear - though crucially, he shares rather than steals the spotlight, with Clark Gregg&amp;#039;s Phil Coulson still the hero of the hour.  The very definition of a breakout character, Coulson has transitioned from a minor role in a single movie to the lead in his own TV series - and said show has been building to a showdown between Phil and his boss all season, even more so once the full extent of Fury&amp;#039;s manipulations were revealed. Of course, Fury&amp;#039;s charisma is deft enough to deflect any tongue-lashing - meaning that Coulson doesn&amp;#039;t quite get his licks in - but the ex-Director&amp;#039;s gesture of appointing Coulson as his replacement speaks volumes. Delivering a one-two punch of explosive action and high emotion, our heroes&amp;#039; exploits more than deliver - but where &amp;#039;Beginning of the End&amp;#039; falls down is its villains. The lack of a decent bad guy is a problem that&amp;#039;s been haunting Agents of SHIELD all season. The culmination of Deathlok&amp;#039;s arc here neatly links back to the series pilot, but despite the ample screen-time afforded to J August Richards, he remains an underdeveloped antagonist, with an underwhelming design. His reveal as villain did John Garrett no favours either - with his character driven mad by a dose of miracle drug, Bill Paxton isn&amp;#039;t so much chewing the scenery here as swallowing it down whole.  Agent Ward could have been the show&amp;#039;s trump card - his initial reveal as a traitor was a fantastic device - but subsequent misguided attempts to redeem the character have softened that terrific twist. &amp;#039;Beginning of the End&amp;#039; is heavy on the backtracking - Ward isn&amp;#039;t a HYDRA &amp;quot;true believer&amp;quot; and even his murder of Patton Oswalt&amp;#039;s SHIELD agent feels like it&amp;#039;s been partly undone with the introduction of Eric Koenig&amp;#039;s identical twin brother Billy. But the whole thing rings false. Yes, Ward has been manipulated by Garrett since he was a young teen, but ultimately he remains a stone-cold killer happy to slaughter innocents - and, unless I&amp;#039;m very much mistaken, his exchange with Skye where he promises to &amp;quot;take what [he] want[s]&amp;quot; is a flat-out threat of rape. In short, the approach to Ward&amp;#039;s character is deeply confused - I wish the creative team would have had the confidence to just let him be bad, because a half-hearted redemption arc was never going to work. Marvel&amp;#039;s Agents of SHIELD started off strong when it launched last year and while the shine wore off around mid-season, the HYDRA twist that came courtesy of Captain America: The Winter Soldier gave the show a boost right when it needed it most. &amp;#039;Beginning of the End&amp;#039; is a fun but flawed finale - a handful of hugely satisfying moments undermined by the lack of a strong villain. But it&amp;#039;s a strong enough offering to have me convinced that - come season two - this show can continue to learn from its mistakes and build on what it&amp;#039;s achieved thus far. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/agents-of-shield/review/a574072/marvels-agents-of-shield-season-1-finale-recap-fun-but-flawed/>