This episode was billed as a tie-in/lead-in to The Avengers: Age of Ultron, and on that level, I think some viewers will be disappointed.  It is, and it isn’t; there are some very specific references in the final moments of the episode, but beyond that, the connections are more indirect.  SHIELD more or less clears the deck when it comes to Hydra, leaving the final coup de grace to the bigger guns.  What will be more interesting is how elements of Age of Ultron eventually pertain to the power struggle within SHIELD.  After all, Coulson’s casual confession to Gonsalez that Fury is still alive might change a couple things. 

In essence, this entire season has been laying the foundation for the background of Age of Ultron, in terms of tying the reveal at the end of Winter Soldier regarding Strucker and “the twins” to Hydra’s goal of developing “powered” individuals for their own nefarious use.  And that ties to the whole Inhumans arc, and therefore to this mission to rescue Lincoln and Deathlok from Hydra.  It all works out fine in the end, but you have to be a devoted MCU fan to see (or care) about how it all ties together.



Far more interesting is bringing the original team back together.  I’ve said it often enough: the seemingly slow and silly beginning of the series was designed to give the audience a clear sense of how much things later changed, and this episode brings that point to a head.  It’s a great way to show how characters like Skye, Fitz, and Simmons have changed in fundamental ways.  If nothing else, that stunning action sequence with Skye was equal parts Daredevil and Kingsmen, which should once again shut up those who still see Skye as a mere Mary Sue.

SHIELD is still divided going into the future, but with Bobbi and Mack both starting to question their loyalties to Gonsalez to differing degrees, that’s going to have to be resolved.  The big question is what the future might hold for Ward: he makes sense as an independent player who is trying to make up for the terrible choices he’s made, but aware that “redemption” isn’t something he can define for himself.  Given how some effort has been made to show how Coulson can be as calculating as Fury, I could see Coulson using Ward as something of a “shadow agent” for quite some time.