SPOILER ALERT: This post contains spoilers from Agents of SHIELD episode “The Real Deal” Proceed with caution.
Agents of SHIELD celebrated its 100th episode this week. The episode was a tribute to five seasons of storytelling that began back in 2013 with the #CoulsonLives movement. Coulson faced his most difficult challenge yet, as he put his life at risk one last time for the team.
The episode also revealed the secret identity of one new cast member and featured the return of a fan favorite from Season 1, well technically three fan favorites. Let’s jump into the most memorable and shocking moments from Agents of SHIELD‘s 100th episode.
#CoulsonLives
It all began with Coulson, and in this episode, it almost all ended with him. After discovering an inter-dimensional rift in the Lighthouse base, Fitz built a device to close it. Coulson volunteered for the dangerous job of sealing the rift because he was already dying — again. Whatever life the Kree serum had given him back in Season 1 was burned out by the Spirit of Vengeance in Season 4. That’s right, we might lose Coulson, again.
While Coulson was attempting to close the rift, he encountered an old friend, Mike Peterson. This vision of Mike Peterson tried to convince Coulson that everything that had happened to him since The Avengers was a lie. Mike tried to tell Coulson he had hallucinated everything and that he was actually still dying on an operating table from Loki’s wound.
Deathlok Returns
Coulson was able to overcome the lies and defeat the vision of Mike Peterson when the real Mike Peterson — AKA Deathlok — showed up to help. It was quite the BOOM moment! Deathlok then killed visions of two other fan favorite villains, Lash and Hive. Both baddies were formidable during Season 3, so it was cool to see them return for the 100th episode, even for a few moments.
Out of all the characters who have appeared on Agents of SHIELD over five seasons, Deathlok was the perfect guy to bring back. He was the first superhero whom Skye met during the pilot episode. He was Skye’s first recruit. He was also the only survivor of the Deathlok project.
Fitzsimmons Feels
The episode concluded with the TV WEDDING OF THE CENTURY: FITZSIMMONS! Jemma Simmons and Leopold Fitz have been destined for marriage since the moment they were introduced on the show. Their friendship quickly blossomed into a love that could not be broken. Their bond literally spanned all of time and space, with Fitz traveling light years to find Jemma on Maveth back in Season 3 and traveling decades into the future this season.
Their love has been the heartbeart of the show, so it was perfect to see Coulson marry them during the 100th episode.
A Secret Revealed
Perhaps the sweetest revelation of the episode was that Deke, the wayward traveler from the future, was actually a distant relative of Fitz and Simmons. *Insert heart-eyed emoji here* The episode was already incredibly emotional, but this reveal absolutely put the feels over the top. Coulson had tasked Deke with all the wedding preparations, including finding a ring in a pawn shop. The ring, he said, looked like his grandmother’s. Womp, womp, that’s because Fitzsimmons are his grandparents!
Between Coulson reliving the day he died with the Avengers and Fitzsimmons finally saying “i do,” this episode was absolutely best way to celebrate 100 episodes. All the team has to do now is find a way to save Coulson’s life — again — shouldn’t be hard, ey?
Agents of SHIELD airs Fridays on ABC at 9PM.
