“Ascension” is episode twenty-two of season three of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the season finale.
In the previous episode, “Absolution”, Hive had been captured not that long into the episode and people promptly started considering everything to be over. A fatal mistake. The mysterious ‘absolution’ referred to a town that had sent some of Dr Radcliffe’s Inhuman/Sway virus to S.H.I.E.L.D.’s base, which exploded in the hanger, transforming several people. Who then promptly freed Hive. Although Hive’s missile had been stopped, Daisy realised that Hive knew that the Zephyr had the capability to deliver the virus as well – and that Hive knew all about it, thanks to her. The vision of the exploding spaceship that Daisy saw in “Spacetime” is possibly of the Zephyr. Daisy had managed to escape from her confinement and went to meet Hive on the Zephyr, begging him to take her back. An addict desperate for her fix, or something else? Daisy’s behaviour did seem rather different to how she had been behaving once Hive’s Sway was removed.
Hive is having problems remembering things, including Daisy, after what happened to him in the missile bunker in the previous episode. He says that he can’t bring Daisy back in, because she’s impervious to him. Presumably, when Lash cured Daisy in “Emancipation”, he cured her permanently. Daisy loses her temper at this point and uses her powers on Hive in quite an impressive fight scene, although she is eventually defeated.
James and Giyera arrive in their helicopter with the warhead, which is loaded onto the Zephyr – along with Daisy, and Hive pilots it out of the base.
Inside the base, there are problems as 28 former agents have been transformed in Radcliffe’s strong, Swayed and connected to Hive primitives. Although he isn’t that fond of them himself. Mack, Radcliffe, Lincoln and Coulson, as well as an injured Yoyo who prevented Mack from being killed, get trapped inside a room by the primitives.
Hive is going to take the Zephyr to 100,000 feet and then detonate the warhead over Europe, infecting a goodly chunk of three continents. Fitz and May have also managed to get on board the Zephyr, but stopping Hive is going to be problematical. Daisy remembers the vision she had of a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent’s death at the end of “Spacetime”, because she’s now carrying the cross which she saw in the vision. Admittedly, most people who saw a death in Charles’s visions did see their own.
A fairly desperate attempt to save the world from Hive’s machinations, and certain parts of the ending have been seen in the visions. Someone is presumably going to die. Hive also finally reveals his true appearance.
A post-logo scene that may be connected to season four.