For those of you that hung out until the end, spoilers for Inhumans up ahead.

Here we are.  Just eight short weeks ago, Black Bolt (Anson Mount), Medusa (Serinda Swan), and the rest of the Royal Family entered live-action for the first time ever.  It’s no secret that the series got off to a rocky start.  Thanks to an unfinished screener episode sent out to the press for advance reviews, Inhumans was heavily criticized from the very beginnings, and most of the MCU fandom latched onto the poor reviews and it went downhill from there.

A few months back, I wrote a piece on why we needed to give the show a chance.  I lived by my own advice and gave the show a chance, watching live every Friday night and — quite frankly — I’m glad I did.

Don’t get me wrong — the first four episodes might be the worst pieces of product Marvel Entertainment has ever put out.  But once the clunkiness got out of the way and the characters had time to breathe and develop, Inhumans was a quality, respectable show.

Last night’s season finale “…And Finally:  Black Bolt” gave us the best episode of the season.  The King and Queen both got their chance to show us what kind of leaders they could be as they evacuated all of Attilan to Earth.

Swan’s performance as Medusa very well could have been her best performance of the season — she managed to be sympathetic towards Maximus (Iwan Rheon) while continuing to be a fearless leader.  It’s a difficult balance to make and Swan most certainly nailed it in the finale.

I probably sound like a broken record at this point, but Ken Leung and Eme Ikwaukor continued to shine in their roles as Karnak and Gorgon, respectively.  Leung’s performance in the finale — where he had to confront his family about resurrecting his cousin Gorgon — might have been one of my favorite parts of the season.  Plus we got another humorous tidbit when Karnak and Gorgon broke out of the Quiet Room.

I’m in the minority of Inhumans watchers that didn’t thoroughly enjoy Rheon as Maximus.  Maybe because I’m not a Game of Thrones fan, but I thought he fell flat most of the time.  There were a few moments he was pretty damn good, only to wait a few seconds before he got tied up in some less-than-stellar subplot with his weak supporting characters.

All in all, Inhumans was by in large a lot better than most have given it credit for.  It’s a far cry from being the best thing Marvel TV has put out, but the pieces are in place, cast-wise, for a chance to make something good.

Final Verdict:

5 Hey Look, New Attilan!s out of 5.  This is my first perfect rating of the season — and I think it’s most certainly deserved.  Sure, the finale opened a few more plotlines, but it brought a great about a great close to the season.  The main plot was resolved and we saw some pretty solid character development to boot.

One-shots:

  • Elle Woglom’s Louise was a welcome return to the show.  I’m pretty bummed she wasn’t able to get to the Moon (damn it, Maxmius), but at least she was able to convince Medusa to allow it to be her father’s final resting place.
  • Ken Leung killed it as Karnak.  The Inhuman who sees the flaw in all things might be a top five favorite comic book character of mine.  Leung’s portrayal was a relatively faithul comic adaptation, while giving us enough new stuff to keep us interested and satisfied.
  • I wasn’t impressed by Mount and Swan for the most of the season, but they both really had a chance to shine last night.  The writers completely butchered Black Bolt — at least as far as I’m concerned — so I can’t fault Mount with that.
  • It’s no secret:  I’m on Team #InhumansSeason2.  Yes, this season has been the MCU’s worst-rated property to date but they have a solid-enough cast in place.  All it would take — ahem, I’m looking at you Jeph — would be a showrunner that cares about the property as it is rather than trying to turn it into something it’s not.