The 5 Best Episodes Of Marvel's Agents Of SHIELD

5. The Dirty Half Dozen

Season 2, Episode 19
Writers: Brent Fletcher and Drew Z. Greenberg
Director: Kevin Tancharoen

"The Dirty Half Dozen" is a late second season episode that showed just how far Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. had come. The episode reunited Coulson's original team from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 1, except that they are not the same characters from the show's first season. Skye is no longer a wide-eyed hacker, but a capable S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. Ward is no longer the model action agent, but a dangerous traitor and Fitz and Simmons have the scars to prove it.

"The Dirty Half Dozen" chooses to visually represent this shift by destroying The Bus, the mobile command center that served as the base of operations for Coulson's team up until then, replacing it with a quinjet.

As a bonus, "The Dirty Half Dozen" also ties into Avengers: Age of Ultron, with a cameo by Cobie Smulders as Maria Hill. Coulson has a bit of extra swagger in "The Dirty Half Dozen," despite the tension within the team, and it becomes clear why when the information he retrieved is revealed to be the location of Wolfgang Von Strucker's secret Hydra compound and the Avengers' next target.

4. The Beginning of the End

Season 1, Episode 22
Writers: Maurissa Tancharoen and Jed Whedon
Director: David Straiton

Even the most ardent fans of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. have to admit that the show didn't really hit it's stride until after the events of Captain America: The Winter Soldier. The revelation that S.H.I.E.L.D. had been infiltrated by Hydra made everything about the series seem less safe, and the reveal that Agent Grant Ward was a Hydra plant made the danger personal.

The first season finale, "Beginning of the End," brought the collapse of S.H.I.E.L.D. storyline to its conclusion. Many fans will remember it mostly for a guest appearance by Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury. And sure, Fury making jokes alongside Coulson is entertaining enough, but it's Iain De Caestecker as Leo Fitz that really steals the show.

This heartbreaking episode sees Ward at his most deplorable as he strands Fitz and Simmons at the bottom of the ocean. Seeing no other alternative, Fitz sacrifices himself in a desperate attempt to free Simmons. Fury comes to the duos rescue and Fitz survives what will end up becoming the first path on in his coming of age, a story arc that continued through Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s second and third seasons.

3. S.O.S.

Season 2, Episodes 21 & 22

Writers: Jeffrey Bell, Jed Whedon, and Maurissa Tancharoen
Directors: Vincent Misiano, Billy Gierhart.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has arguably never gone as big as it has in this two-part season finale.

Jiaying orchestrates a grand deception to begin a war between Inhumans and S.H.I.E.L.D. with her daughter, Daisy, stuck in the middle. With Gonzales dead, it takes a reunited S.H.I.E.L.D. and an uneasy alliance with Daisy's father Cal, now made monstrous by a chemical serum, to end the crisis.

"S.O.S." saw the deaths of Jiaying and Gordon, the loss of Coulson's arm, and the ascension of Ward as the new head of Hydra, plus the first hint at Daisy's Secret Warriors. Season 2 closed with as close to an Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. action movie as we've gotten so far.

2. What They Become

Season 2, Episode 10
Writer: Jeffrey Bell
Director: Michael Zinberg

The Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 2 midseason finale fulfilled so much of the promise the series had been building up to. Coulson's team races toward a hidden, underground Kree city to claim it before Hydra can.

This episode revealed that Skye's true name was Daisy and that her father was Cal, better known as Mr. Hyde to comic book fans. The episode is also the end of Hydra's Daniel Whitehall, and the first appearance of the teleporter called Gordon.

The most memorable moment of "What They Become" has to be the moment in the temple, where Raina, Trip, and Daisy find the Obelisk. Upon touching it, Raina and Daisy are transformed, with Raina becoming something monstrous and Daisy surging with new power. Trip, however, only crumbles to dust.

1. 4,722 Hours

Season 3, Episode 5
Writer: Craig Titley
Director: Jesse Bochco

At the end of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 2, Jemma Simmons is sucked into the alien monolith. She is rescued by Fitz early on in Season 3, and "4,722 Hours" tells the story of her time on a mysterious alien planet.

"4,722 Hours" stands out from the rest of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. for several reasons. No other episode of the series tone the action and focuses on the characters, or rather one character in particular in Jemma Simmons. The episode also employs a visual style that breaks from the norm, right down to the title card. And as if the story of Simmons and Will on Maveth wasn't tragic enough, Fitz's unflinching willingness to help reunite them makes it even more poignant.

Elizabeth Henstridge gives a powerful performance in this episodes, taking audiences on an emotional journey through despair, hope, determination, and guilt. There was never really any question. "4,722 Hours" is simply the best episode of Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. to date.